Real Me (Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title=Real Me


Series=Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season=5
Episode=2
Airdate=October 3 2000
Production=5ABB02
Writer=David Fury
Director=David Grossman
Episode list=List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
Prev=Buffy vs. Dracula
Next=The Replacement

"Real Me" is the second episode of season 5 of the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

Plot synopsis

ummary

Dawn is introduced through her journal writings, which she narrates while summarizing her relationships with the others. Buffy and Dawn have difficulties coming to terms with each other, exacerbated by the appearance of Harmony and her new gang, who are after the Slayer.

Expanded overview

Buffy trains and works on her strength with the help of Giles and some crystals. She practices a handstand on a block of wood, but falls when her sister, Dawn, knocks over the crystals. In the morning, Dawn continues annoying Buffy by emptying the milk carton. Joyce asks Buffy to take Dawn shopping for school supplies, but Riley reminds her they had already made plans. Buffy has to cancel so she can go work with Giles.

Giles drives the sisters on their errands, having trouble with the automatic transmission in his new BMW convertible. They spot Willow and Tara heading for the magic shop, and Buffy tells Willow that she's dropping Drama in favor of more slayer training. At the shop, the gang finds the owner dead, killed by vampires. Buffy sends Dawn outside where she encounters a deranged man. He seems to recognize her, saying, "You don't belong here." She is upset until Tara comes to keep her company.

The gang realizes that a pack of vampires raided the shop for books on how to defeat the Slayer, under Harmony's leadership. Giles admires the shop and its potential for a future business.

That night, Dawn is happy to have Xander as her babysitter, until she discovers Anya is coming too. Harmony arrives to challenge Buffy but is disappointed when she's not there. Xander taunts Harmony and her minions from the safety of the house until Dawn mistakenly invites the vampire inside. After Harmony puts up a fight, Xander kicks her out of the house. Harmony later encounters Spike in the graveyard, and the two talk about Harmony's plans to kill the Slayer. While unpacking in their new place, Tara and Willow discuss how Dawn is having a hard time as the outsider of the Scooby Gang. Tara reveals that she has similar feelings as an outsider.

On patrol, Buffy is fuming about the lecture she received from her mother about allowing Dawn to see a dead body. Riley tries to talk some sense into her, pointing out she and Dawn resent each other for similar reasons. When they return home, Xander tells Buffy about Harmony and - after the Slayer stops laughing - she gets angry that Dawn invited Harmony inside. Buffy complains to Riley and Xander about the trouble Dawn causes and how she can't always be there to protect her; Dawn listens from the hall and runs outside in tears. Before Anya can bring Dawn back inside, Harmony's vampire minions capture Dawn and attack Anya causing her to be hospitalized. Buffy then runs out to find her sister leaving Xander and Riley to take care of Anya.

Harmony explains to her minions that Dawn is bait, meaning they can't eat her. Harmony complains to Dawn about her problems until her mutinous minions attempt to kill them both. Buffy - who had threatened Spike until he revealed Harmony's location - arrives and easily kills most of the minions as Harmony escapes. The Slayer frees her sister and when they get home, they agree not to tell their mother. The next day, Buffy and Giles talk about his decision to take over the magic shop, while Dawn writes in her journal that Buffy still thinks she's a nobody, but she's going to be in for a surprise.

Acting

tarring

*Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
*Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
*Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
*Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
*Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins
*Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers
*James Marsters as Spike
*Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

*Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
*Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
*Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall
*Bob Morrisey as Crazy Guy #1

Co-starring

*Brian Turk as Mort
*Chaney Kley Minnis as Brad
*Faith S. Abrahams as Peaches
*Tom Lenk as Cyrus

Production details

When casting the role of "Dawn", Sarah Michelle Gellar suggested they take a look at Michelle Trachtenberg. Dawn was originally conceived to be 12 years oldFact|date=July 2007, but after casting Trachtenberg, the writers raised the character's age to 14. However, the first few scripts were still written in the voice of a 12-year-old. Before being cast, Trachtenberg, a fan of the show, had written a letter to Joss Whedon that suggested how she could become a character on "Buffy".

Writing

Writer David Fury says he was "given a lot of freedom to develop Dawn" as her background was completely unknown. He set up her relationships with other characters, such as Willow's status as Dawn's "Favorite Aunt", and provided additional backstory that - although not necessarily appearing in the finished script - "infused her character in future episodes." [Citation
title =David Fury: Developing the character of Dawn
url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/interviews/fury/page4.shtml
accessdate = 2007-07-18 ]

Music

*Edvard Grieg - "Holberg Suite Prelude"

Translations

* Italian title: "Un invito pericoloso" ("A dangerous invitation")
* German title: "Lieb Schwesterlein mein" ("Dear little sister of mine")
* French title: "Jalousies" ("Jealousy")
* Spanish title: "Mi verdadero yo" ("The real me")

Quotes and trivia

* The role of Cyrus, one of Harmony's gang, is played by Tom Lenk. This was Lenk's first appearance on the show, but he later portrayed Andrew Wells in seasons six and seven, and then in the fifth and final season of the "Angel" series.
*In her second appearance, (her first was in "Buffy vs. Dracula", and only for a moment at the end) Michelle Trachtenberg appears in the opening credits.
* The "10-inch ceramic unicorn imported from Thailand . . . List price, $12.95" is a [http://www.windstoneeditions.com/ Windstone Editions] unicorn by American sculptor M. Peña, which may cost as much as $79.99 [http://www.magicalomaha.com/penaothers.htm] to $91 [http://www.ccgs.com/cgi-bin/miva?Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=AC&Category_Code=1202] .

Continuity

Arc significance

* This episode marks the first instance of someone "outside reality" (i.e., crazy) seeing Dawn as not human, but as a ball of energy (the key).

* "Real Me" also allows us to see Dawn as part of the Buffyverse, and the characters' interaction with her. Somewhat like "Superstar" in Season Four, the credit roll has been changed to include Dawn as if she were already a known character.

* The Magic Box, a major set for the next two seasons, is introduced in this episode.

* The crazy man who scares Dawn outside the Magic Box says, "I know you. Curds and whey." This is a reference to the nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet, which Faith quotes from in "Graduation Day, Part Two" when she is foreshadowing Dawn's arrival: "Little Ms. Muffet counting down from 7-3-0".

Timing

*Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

References

External links

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