Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series) Potential (2003) User Reviews

In defense of a great episode

[BuffyTheVampireSlapper · 9/10 · 21 March 2010]

I have to balance the other review here claiming this episode is skippable. On watching Season 7 again I find I'd forgotten just how good it is. This episode is wonderful and ultimately pretty heart-wrenching, not to mention very funny as well.

The experience Dawn goes through is the major point of the episode, and is not to be missed - the stuff with the other potentials is just the background to that - the club that Dawn secretly wants to belong to, as a way to get closer to her sister, or just to belong to her peer group.

Besides, the potential slayers are not all bad, Vi (Felicia Day) in particular is very funny in this episode during the Spike training scene and in the demon bar.

This episode also contains one of Anya's funniest lines ever, when Dawn realizes that Buffy would have to die before a new slayer is chosen: "Yes, it's a lot like being the Pope, in that way. Except you don't have to be some old Catholic!" And the Xander/Andrew interaction is all-time-great. "I'll PAY you to talk about Star Wars!"

If anything, the only weakness is that Buffy's "speechifying" (which will become a running joke in later episodes) is already getting quite tiresome at this point. But even this turns out to have a season-arc significance - Buffy is having to become unpopular, separate from the group, because she's got to step up to being the leader in a much more obvious way than previously.

Also, the moment where Willow glares at Andrew as he messes around with the snakeskin - the whole point of that is that he shouldn't be doing it, not to mention talking about people shedding their skin, in front of Willow! Just pointing this out because I've noticed many times how people imply that the writers of TV shows are making a mistake, when clearly it's the *fictional character* that is making the mistake.

And one more thing - about Spike's chip and whether it can still hurt Spike, this is actually covered in the very next episode.

Dawn's significance

[ossie85 · 7/10 · 15 September 2022]

With the First temporarily out of commission, Buffy takes the four potential slayers on a training run with Spike helping her. When word comes in that there is another potential in Sunnydale, Willow does a locater spell and it tells them that it is Dawn. Dawn, confused by this, helps her friend Amanda with vampire problems.

Why It's So Good - Dawn had a major role in season 5, but since then, her place in the series has been less clear cut. That's not to say the others haven't had their own existential crises, but there has always been a nagging feeling that Dawn has to justify her existence which this episode plays with very well.

Watch Out For - Xander's speech at the end is arguably one of his best moments in the entire show.

Quote - "Why do we always have to yell?!" - Andrew.

Probably the most skip-able episode of the season

[katierose295 · 7/10 · 8 September 2006]

I never think of the characters on BTVS as actors. I'm usually just drawn into the world of Sunnydale and I forget that it's a TV show. (That sounds kinna crazy, but you know what I mean.) Anyway, "Potential" is one of the few episodes that jars me out of the Buffyverse. The Potentials are just so horrible, that it just drives me insane. I still see Spike and Buffy, but they're suddenly surrounded by vacuous bratty Potentials played by actors who- generally speaking- can't act. Is the show trying to kill me? With ten episodes to go of the entire series, it's just a waste of time to spend so much time on the Potentials. Anyway, if you're watching the season on DVD, you can skip this episode and really not miss much.

Basically, "Potential" revolves around-- Obviously-- The Potentials. Spike and Buffy are training them, while Willow searches for more. Poor Spike stands out in a graveyard, while the Potentials try to attack him. Then, when he easily disarms them, Buffy lectures the girls about what they did wrong. (To be honest, it's kinna silly. Spike killed two Slayers. Of course, he's gonna crush these little wanna-be's without batting an eyelash. How is this teaching them anything?) Dawn is feeling more and more left out, as Buffy spends all her time with the Potentials. The next night, Buffy and Spike take the girls cruising demon bars to teach them how to... um... talk? Question demons properly? I actually have no clue why they would need to bar hop in their battle with the First but, it does allow them to meet up with Clem. He scares the girls a bit, just for fun. Then it's off to the cemetery to battle a real vamp.

Meanwhile, Willow's gotten word that there is another Potential living right there in Sunnydale. She preforms a locater spell to find the girl and it hits Dawn. Dawn is overwhelmed by the idea of becoming a Slayer. She isn't sure whether to be happy or upset, but she is excited to be "special." She sneaks out of the house and meets up with Amanda, a Sunnydale High student. Amanda has just been attacked by a vampire and locked it in the school. Eager to try out her new powers, Dawn heads off to fight it. When Bringers come after Amanda, though, Dawn realizes that she isn't the Potential after all. Amanda is. Dawn is saddened, but helps Amanda fight. Buffy shows up to help. The other Potentials kill their first vamp. Xander gives Dawn a pep-talk telling her that she's an extraordinary young woman.

There are some good parts to this episode. I love Andrew talking about his attempted pig slaughtering with Willow and Dawn. "Stabbing things is wrong... And also hard." And Spike and Buffy are cute together as they train the Potentials. I like them discussing his "comfy" crypt. Plus, Spike actually knocks a few girls around, which is just a guilty pleasure to watch. And, Clem's in this episode, doing some kind of weird demon-face thing. Anytime Clem's on, I'm pretty happy. He's just really likable and fun. Finally, I think that Xander's speech to Dawn at the end of the episode is nice. He tells her that it's hard being the "normal" ones in a group full of super-powered friends, but that doesn't meant that they aren't important or special. Xander doesn't have enough moments to shine this season and his talk with Dawn shows that he's still the "heart" of the Scoobie gang.

On the down side, how did Spike hurt Rona and that other Potential without setting off his chip? Also, should Andrew really be joking around with Willow about people slithering out of their skins like snakes? Willow did flay Warren alive just last season.

My favorite part of the episode: Willow and Anya discussing Dawn and Buffy's "they share the same blood" thing from season five's "The Gift. "Yeah, I never got that."

Small and important

[Geedeeb · 10/10 · 15 January 2023]

I don't know what kind of person watches this episode wose first and only reaction is to whine that it doesn't push the story forward, as if a final season is completely forbidden from being introspective and giving certain overlooked characters their flowers.

I have never hated Dawn and I think the people that do need to do some serious soul-searching about what they expect from literal children and how they are portrayed, especially in a setting rife with trauma and terrifying monsters. On top of that this is probably the episode where Dawn is at her most mature and fluid, quickly understanding her wish fulfilment needs to be traded in for resourcefulness and championing the girl who kind of steals her thunder. This episode actually made me wish we got more Dawn-centric plots because it established the potential (heh) for her character to be such an interesting opposite to her sister.

The speech at the end, of course, is one of the best emotional beats of the season.

Don't care for bad review.

[creamy_amande · 10/10 · 12 June 2019]

Years after years, everytime i watch this episode, I cry at the end. Xander's speech to Dawnie is just a fantastic self esteem pep talk.

God, Dawn can be annoying

[roryhughevans · 6/10 · 11 June 2010]

Dawn can be an amazing asset and a good character, like a Buffy in training, in some episodes, and sometimes she makes me so angry I want to cry. She's just selfish and whiny and throws irritating tantrums every five seconds, as if the characters don't have enough on their plate already.

This episode is a classic for irritating Dawn moments. When she discovers she's a slayer she sneaks out of the house for no reason, putting herself in massive danger and risking everyone else's lives to come and help her at the same time. Then she coincidentally runs into a girl who, coincidentally, turns out to be a potential slayer. How coincidental. In another thoroughly tired plot device, Dawn sneaking out and generally being selfish and annoying leads to her near death but she comes around at the last minute to do something vaguely heroic, which then leads to her being given a heart-rending speech instead of someone telling her to stop being such an immature little child.

This is definitely the weakest episode of the season, and totally skippable. For one of the first times ever in Buffy I actually found myself getting bored... mainly because the potentials are so annoying and the British one's accent is so goddamn awful.

Dawn's ep

[Joxerlives · 10/10 · 14 May 2012]

The Good; Amanda, by far my favourite Potential, love her to bits, the way she talks is rather reminiscent of Dana Scully from the X-files. She comes just ahead of Vi who is also great (so nice to have Felicia on Dollhouse), they both remind me of season 1 Willow. Great stuff from Dawn too, fun training scenes and the final scene with Xander is too wonderful for words.

The Bad; Spike attacks the Potentials? What about his chip?

Best line; Xander; (to Dawn) "You're not special. You're extraordinary" (how true!)

Women good/men bad; Andrew refers back to the female legacy of Eve. Actually we'll soon see where the real legacy of the Slayer began and it's not too empowering for the girls in question.

Jeez!; Amanda wants to unleash the vamp on the marching band?

Kinky dinky; During the training session Buffy ends up straddling Spike and feeling him up beneath his shirt. The Potentials comment that 'That's hot' and ask if they're expected to make out with the vampires? They also wonder how Buffy knows that Spike's crypt is comfy and seem to be peeking at Xander whilst he's in the shower at the Summer's house. What a load of saucy minxes! Amanda thinks that a guy who picks on her is quite cute. A sadomasochistic fondness for bad boys who make her miserable? All the makings of a Slayer RIGHT THERE! She just needs to get tied up and knocked out a few times. Buffy obviously thinks the same as she draws a comparison between Amanda and her tormentor and her and Spike. Rhona says she likes the feel of wood in her hand (Joss gives 15 year old girls this kind of dialogue? Worse than Dawn's 'Meat party in my mouth' line). Andrew says he hate's his free will. Dawn may have injured 'something she'll need later in life' whilst climbing into the school. She considers Xander's army training sexy and get's a kiss from him at the end (awwwww!).

Captain Subtext; The obvious subtext here is that Dawn finally has a house full of girls of her age but they're all special because they're Potentials and she's not, Buffy is spending all her time with them and giving them her attention and she's excluded even though she's already killed a vampire and a demon. So close but so far. Dawn admires a girl in her gym class as a 'glamazon', interesting phrasing! She also seems to enjoy Amanda helping her through the window and considers being a sailor as she likes the water, well you know what all the nice girls like? Vi says the demon bar is like a gay bar, has she been to many? Clem once again resembles Buffy's gay best friend whilst Xander is referred to as the one who sees which will have greater significance later in the season. Buffy and Spike getting closer and closer.

Guantanamo Bay; Buffy and Spike lock the girls into a crypt with a vamp, awfully like the Cruciantenam? But 5 to one with weapons and Spike and her waiting just outside

Kills: Spike kills a Bringer as does Buffy. 1 vamp for Amanda and 1 vamp for Kennedy (although that's more of a group effort)

Buffy: 118 vamps, 60 demons, 6 monsters, 10 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot

Giles: 8 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human/1 god.

Will: 6 vamps + 3 demons +1 fawn+1 human.

Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie

Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans

Xander: 6 vamps, 2 zombies, 1 a demon, 2 humans

Anya: 1 vamp and 1 a demon

Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons

Spike; 9 vamps and 6 demons+1 human

Buffybot; 2 vamps

Tara; 1 demon

Dawn; 1 vamp + 1 demon

Kennedy; 1 human+1 vampire

Amanda; 1 vampire

Total number of scoobies: Add Amanda so 13. HOWEVER where is Chloe this week? (doesn't look good for her) Or Molly?

Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, Spike, Giles, Kennedy, Molly, Vi, Chloe, Rhona, Amanda

What the fanficcers thought; No shortage of Dawn the Vampire Slayer fics out there. Also Dawn and Amanda are a pretty popular slashfic couple, try The Circle

Buffy and Dawn more than sisters? Anya comments that Dawn and Buffy share the same blood.

Questions and observations; Bloody long teaser, almost a mini-ep in itself. Rhona comments that the 'black chick always gets it first'. Actually one of the points of the Scream series was that black people were very seldom the victims (possibly because most slasher flicks are set in small, middle-class rural towns with an overwhelmingly white population). Buffy once again shows her mettle as a general, her training of the Potentials is masterful. She makes first reference to the big dessert at the end of the meal, believing in heaven and telling the Potentials to expect their big reward, very Christian. Dawn warns the Potentials to be careful with their crossbows hinting at Miss Kitty's fate. Love Dawn's little smile when Amanda says that people say Buffy is a high-functioning schizophrenic, again the Slayer an open secret. Dawn seems very innovative fighting the vamp and the Bringers, she's a regular MacGyver. Dawn seems to remember Oz and gives another little smile when Xander mentions him. Adore Amanda, Sarah Hagan is wonderful (was so proud of myself when I spotted her as one of Ally McBeals childhood friends in a flashback). You should check her out on IMDb, she's really blossomed, looks like Katy Perry now.

Marks out of 10; controversial I'm sure but I love Amanda, I love Dawn, I love the final scene and I love this ep so 10/10 from me.

Mind-boggling error

[dave-48711 · 7/10 · 22 August 2022]

This episode is decent by S7's standards, but the way everybody completely forgot about Faith's existence this episode is hilarious. What the hell happened to the writers this season?

Xander, you beautiful man.

[antonemilamundsen · 8/10 · 6 January 2024]

This episode was pretty straight forward for the first half, and I thought it was predictable. By that I mean that I saw Dawn being the potential slayer from a mile away, the second Willow said "Slayer in Sunnydale." But then, as I thought they really wanted to push Dawn in the footsteps of her sister, the twist was that much more unexpected, yet fitting. Dawn has struggled with her place in the gang and identity overall for some time now, and the fact that they didn't do the obvious and, frankly, what I thought they had planned from her introduction, was impressive.

Seeing Buff embrace the role of leader and teacher, doing what Giles once did for her, was interesting as well. Spike helping out in teaching the gals all about vampires is something I like seeing, and it seems like Spike and Buffy's friendship is close to healed.

All in all though, Buffy's part of this episode is just fine. The thing that makes this entire episode, is the final scene with Dawn and Xander. I've been wanting a pay-off to Xander's role in the gang for a long time, and by god, did they deliver. I'm sure they're going to develop it even further, but this is a fantastic start. This scene fit perfectly with the direction they took Dawn in this episode, and making Xander the person to console her is just *chef's kiss*.

I havent really loved Dawn yet, and it was a bold choice of Whedon to suddenly give Buffy a sister, and essentially ret-conning her into the memory of all the other characters, and I can't say it landed perfectly with me. Not to say she hasn't had her moments, like "The Body", where she was absolutely brilliant. But, like Dawn herself, I think she hasn't really found her place yet. So it was great to have an episode that explored that, and seeing her and Xand bond so over their identities made me tear up.

Xander remains one of my favorite characters. He has been consistently hilarious and reliable throughout all seasons, and I hope he finally gets the recognition he deserves. Though, if they don't develop it any further, I will be content with this scene with Dawn, because it is fantastic.

This review is for reviewer KatieRosie

[NatashaJAmos2015 · 6/10 · 13 December 2020]

You asked why Spike's chip didn't go off while he attacked the brats. Don't forget it stopped working a few episodes back when he was attacking all those people .

Spoiled Brats

[drexmaverick · 6/10 · 5 April 2020]

By this point in the long line of Slayers are a bunch of whiny little brats ... Angel is a far better show in season 4 that actually has real men in it and even that has much stupidity involved.

Teaching the Slayers to Be

[Samuel-Shovel · 4/10 · 3 January 2019]

In "Potential", Buffy teaches the newbies all about what it's like to be the Slayer. The gang learns of another Potential right in Sunnyvale and a locator spell done by Willow leads them to believe it's Dawn. Confused by this knowledge, Dawn runs off, running into a girl from class. The two of them fight a vampire at the high school. Dawn realizes this new girl is the potential and the two of them fight the vamp and the First's followers who show up. The rest of the gang show up and help. They all head back and Dawn and Xander bond over not having any special powers.

Dawn can be the worst sometimes! She's always complaining and just feels like the little brat sister that doesn't know what she wants. She's upset she isn't included as a Potential, then doesn't want to be a Potential, she screams a lot and it gives me a headache. She complains about not being special... DAWN! You were the Key for heaven's sake! An entire season revolved around you being the chosen one or whatever! You weren't even born, you just appeared upon the Earth as Buffy's little sister. To say that you have nothing special about you sounds whiny and pathetic. She really makes it hard for me to root for her sometimes.

Besides discovering this new Potential, nothing of note occurs here. Fairly skippable. Definitely an episode where they're treading water as we hit the midway point in the season.

Should've been called, Buffy: the next generation...

[m-47826 · 4/10 · 13 July 2021]

I'm sure the network was proud of this finding. Making the show more appealing to early 2000s younger audience. Was so wrong. The potentials are a bunch of stereotypes. And the actresses they picked as regulars or cameos, don't fit the spirit of the show. At least the one of these past six years... This shift of tone is shocking, when you think of « day one » people, agreeing to it... Killing off the Chaka Kahn, an episode earlier, prevented us from another corny looking monster, this season. But everything that happened in Potential, was painful to watch. It's like the show is written by clueless people, who joined the writing team only recently. Spike and Buffy acting like they were in a middle of a fan fiction, Dawn (the former key to open the gates of hell) turning out to be the new slayer (!?) Only not really, because Amanda (???) is... And the return of the most cartoonish and random nice demon of season 6, were things that made this episode so cringeworthy to me... I still give it four stars, but only because it was interesting and very ironic, to see Buffy in the Watcher's role...

Say it with me now: WASTED Potential!!!

[skay_baltimore · 4/10 · 10 August 2010]

Well...since football season is almost upon us, what better way to kick it off than with "Buffy The Coach", training new potential slayers? (Actually, I could think of a LOT of things. In fact, getting attacked by rabid dogs would be a marked improvement.) The BtVS series is winding down, and THIS is the best the writers can serve up? I'd rather eat liver and onions with a side of mushy lima beans. Of course when she briefly flashes back to Buffy The Vampire Banger mode, and the pots witness it, there is a brief bit of nauseous humor.

Buffy the Existential Philosopher: "Death...is what a Slayer lives". I slay...therefore I live. I slay...therefore I die. Watch out, Rene Descartes. Prepare to be posthumously unseated from your historical philosophical chair by Buffy The Philosophy Butcher.

We learn some VERY IMPORTANT things in this episode. Like...The First (i.e. The First Evil. Primordial Evil. The Evil of all Evil. The Root Of All Evil) is now in "remission". (Seriously...just saying that makes me laugh out loud.) But it gets better. WHY is The First in "remission" (there goes that laughing thing again)? Because the Uber-Vamp was defeated, and The First hadn't planned on that. So it's taking a temporary hiatus so it can regroup. (Man...I don't know about you...but I had higher expectations for The Evil Of All Evils.)

Willow announces: "Althenea said the seers located another potential slayer here in Sunnydale. Someone that already lives here".

Great. The more, the merrier. You can never have enough adolescent potential slayers.

Willow does a really smelly spell (say THAT 10 times -- really really fast) and it indicates that Dawn is a Potential.

And say what you want about Kennedy...when they're all in the demon bar, and Buffy goes off to talk to Clem, and Kennedy says to Rona: "You think she dated him too?" THAT'S FUNNY!

But by around the 30 minute mark, I was wishing someone would drive a stake through my heart.

If you stay awake long enough you'll learn that Dawn is not a Potential; Amanda is. That's about it for learning new stuff.

Xander delivers his "Ode To The NOT Chosen" to Dawn. It's a tender moment. "You're not special. You're extraordinary". Unfortunately...this episode...is not.