Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S7 E12 Potential

You aren't special. You're extraordinary.

Buffy and Spike continue training the Potentials. When the Scoobies discover a Potential is in Sunnydale, Dawn thinks it might be her.

• Alien Lunch: Or Demon Booze, in this case.

Buffy: Down all the yak urine shots or pig's blood spritzers you like.

• Analogy Backfire / Brutal Honesty

Dawn: Everything's different for me now. Anya: That's because you're a part of something larger. Like being swallowed. By something larger. [Dawn flees upstairs] Xander: Nice job with the "getting swallowed" analogy. Anya: Well, it is a mixed bag, you know. If she gets to be the Slayer, then her life is short and brutal. And if she doesn't, then it smells of unfulfilled potential. My swallowed analogy looks pretty sweet right now, doesn't it?

• An Axe to Grind: Buffy's Noisy Shut Up to the yakking Potentials.
• And That Would Be Wrong

Kennedy: You don't drink? Buffy: Sure I do... I mean, no. That would be wrong.

• Anywhere but Their Lips: Xander kisses Dawn on the forehead.
• A Shared Suffering / What You Are in the Dark: Xander and Dawn.
• Bad Guy Bar: It's like a gay bar. But with demons.
• Bait and Switch: Willow's glowy spell shoots towards Dawn, but was actually heading through her to Amanda, who was standing outside the door having come to see Buffy.
• Battle Discretion Shot: The Potentials fighting the vampire.
• Big Damn Villains / Big Damn Heroes: The Bringers crash through the window in time to interrupt Dawn's death at the fangs of a vampire. Then the Scoobies turn up in time to stop Dawn and Amanda being killed by both parties.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Amanda asks Buffy if it's weird to be attracted to a boy you're always fighting with.

Buffy: Well, it depends. Sometimes that's how people relate. Being mean to each other. Even mortal enemies... (increasingly emphatic) Then with the-- And that leads to no good, absolutely no good. And much confusion. A-and then it's over. Absolutely, seriously, definitely over. And that's confusing too. The over part. Which it is. Over! (catches herself, calms a bit) So, maybe.

• Black Dude Dies First

Spike: OK, these two are dead. Why? Rona: 'Cause the black chick always gets it first?

• Buffy-Speak: Firsty Circus. Womany Power.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Buffy lecturing the Potentials while fighting a vampire.
• Cat Scare: The window slamming down after Dawn and Amanda climb through it.
• Ceiling Cling: Dawn and Amanda open the door to the classroom to find it empty; the vampire has apparently escaped. Cue Reveal Shot showing the vampire is holding itself between a couple of air ducts, waiting to ambush them when they walk in.
• Chekhov's Lecture: Buffy's lecture to the Potentials on how to fight a vampire is intercut with Dawn doing the same things Buffy is talking about.
• The Chosen One
• Continuity Nod
  • "Death is what a Slayer dreams about when she sleeps." Buffy has had Bad Dreams and Prophetic Dreams of apocalyptic events.
  • Andrew: "Killing pigs is just so wrong. And also hard."
  • Buffy notes that not all vampires live in dank crypts, as seen in Angel.
• Cowardly Lion: Vi appears to be the Xander (Season 1) of the group.
• Deadly Dodging: Buffy tells Spike to charge at her, stepping aside and letting him crash into a tombstone.
• Fake Action Prologue: The Potentials being stalked by Spike in The Teaser.
• Foreshadowing
  • Xander is the one who sees everything. Just as well he can't see what's coming.
  • Giles is in Shanghai getting a new Potential — this turns out to be Chao Ahn, who appears in "First Date".
  • The Xander/Dawn scene takes on additional significance given what happens in the Season 8 comics.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar
  • "I like the feel of wood in my hand." "Lost me there."
  • Dawn climbing in through the window. "I think I sprained something I'm going to need later in life."
• The Heart: Xander
• Hero with Bad Publicity: After being attacked by a vampire, Amanda goes to see Buffy.

Dawn: You know something about my sister? Amanda: Well, I've heard people talking. A lot of 'em think she's some kind of high-functioning schizophrenic. But I also heard that maybe—like, maybe she could help with this kind of thing.

• Idiot Ball: Going to take on a vampire because you think you're a Potential is one thing, but Dawn isn't even holding a stake!
• I Just Want to Be Special
• Improvised Weapon: Dawn uses a fire extinguisher, flasks of acid, a gas burner, and a flagpole.

Buffy: Know your environment. Know what's around you, and know how to use it. In the hands of a Slayer, everything is a potential weapon.

• I Need a Freaking Drink: Buffy is showing the potential slayers the demon bar, Clem plays a particularly frightening joke on them, causing Vi to say, "I could use a shot of that yak urine right about now."
• Insane Troll Logic: Amanda's idea of sicking the vampire onto the school marching band.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Anya's off-handed comment about the Buffy/Dawn blood connection (in "The Gift") never really making any sense, mirroring fan confusion on the subject. Dawn saying that the reason only girls are Slayers is down to Rule of Cool.
• Mentor Archetype: Buffy/Spike as Watcher to the Potentials, and (less obviously) Dawn as Watcher to Amanda.
• Neck Snap: Buffy to a Bringer about to stab Amanda In the Back.
• Nightmare Face: Mild-mannered demon Clem is capable of showing one, while we only see the back of his head, in an obvious Shout-Out to Beetle Juice.
• No Except Yes

Amanda: Do people ever think you're weird? Buffy: Well, I guess, sure, in a charming, endearing, lovable... yes.

• Not Helping Your Case: Buffy is talking about there's not a single demon in the Bad Guy Bar who wouldn't rip their throats out, when Clem walks up and gives Buffy a hug.

Kennedy: You think she dated him too?

• Oblivious Mockery: Buffy's Rousing Speech to the Potentials doesn't make Dawn feel any better. Also her comment re vampires in front of Spike, "The animal inside, always the same."
• Reckless Crossbow Usage: Lampshaded
• Rousing Speech: Buffy to the Potentials, Dawn to Amanda, Xander to Dawn.
• Saying Too Much: Buffy says that Spike's crypt was 'comfy'.

Kennedy: Excuse me? When did you find it comfy?

• Series Continuity Error: It would take Faith's death - not Buffy's - to activate the next Potential.
• Ship Tease: Spuffy strides again!
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Buffy and Spike lock the Potentials in a crypt with a vampire.
• Suggestive Collision: During her demonstration Buffy throws herself on top of Spike, stake poised to dust him. She then notices Spike grimacing in pain, but Spike removes her hand when she tries lifting his shirt to look at the damage — they end up Holding Hands and trying not to exchange Longing Looks.

Rona: That's hot. Molly: (taking notes) So, we're, supposed to, like...make out with him or something?

• Staircase Tumble
• Take Up My Sword: When Dawn realises Amanda is a Potential, she hands over the sharp wooden pole she's carrying.
• Tempting Fate / Twisted Echo Cut: Dawn and Amanda barricade themselves in the school lab.

Amanda: Think we're safe? [Vampire starts to break in. Cut to Buffy lecturing the Potentials while facing off with a vampire] Buffy: No one's safe. Not here, not ever.

• Super Window Jump: The Bringers crashing into the school lab.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Buffy and Spike; obvious even to the Potentials.
• Perplexing Plurals: Willow assembling her ingredients for her spell.

"OK, I got my tumbleweed, my eggs...got my chrysalises...chrysali?"

• Wasn't That Fun?: The day after, the Potentials talk excitedly about their defeat of the vampire.
• What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic

Andrew: It's like...well, it's almost like this metaphor for womanhood, isn't it? The sort of flowering that happens when a girl realizes that she's part of a fertile heritage stretching back to Eve, and-- Xander: (covers his face with his hands) I'll pay you to talk about Star Wars again.