Real Me (Buffy episode)

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Real Me
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Episode no. Season 5
Episode 2
Written by David Fury
Directed by David Grossman
Production no. 5ABB02
Original airdate October 3, 2000
Episode chronology
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"Buffy vs. Dracula" "The Replacement"
List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

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

Contents

[edit] Plot synopsis

[edit] Summary

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.

[edit] 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 the 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.

[edit] Acting

[edit] Starring

[edit] Recurring role

[edit] Guest starring

  • Bob Morrisey as Crazy Guy #1

[edit] Co-starring

[edit] 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 old[citation needed], 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.

[edit] 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."[1]

[edit] Music

[edit] Quotes and trivia

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
"I bet the death rate [of shopkeepers] keeps the rent down." — Giles
"Most magic shop owners of Sunnydale have a life expectancy of a Spinal Tap drummer." — Buffy
"I was a librarian for years. This is the same except this time people pay for the things they never return." — Giles
Buffy: "How bored were you last year?
Giles: "I watched Passions with Spike, let us never speak of it"
  • 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 Windstone Editions unicorn by American sculptor M. Peña, which may cost as much as $79.99 [1] to $91 [2].

[edit] 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")

[edit] Continuity

[edit] 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".

[edit] Timing

  • Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
Location, time
(if known)
Buffyverse chronology: Fall 2000 - December 2000
(non-canon = italic)
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.01 Buffy vs. Dracula
L.A., 2000 A2.01 Judgment
Sunnydale, 2000 Buffy graphic novel: Haunted (by Jane Espenson)
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.02 Real Me
L.A., 2000 A2.02 Are You Now or Have You Ever Been
L.A., 2000 Angel novel: Image
L.A., 2000 Angel novel: Stranger to the Sun
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.03 The Replacement
Sunnydale, 2000 Buffy graphic novel: False Memories
Sunnydale, 2000 Buffy Graphic novel story: Willow & Tara: Wannablessedbe
L.A., 2000 A2.03 First Impressions
L.A., 2000 Angel graphic novel: Long Night's Journey
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.04 Out of My Mind
L.A., 2000 A2.04 Untouched
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.05 No Place Like Home
L.A., 2000 A2.05 Dear Boy
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.06 Family
Sunnydale, 2000 Buffy graphic novel: Autumnal
L.A., 2000 Angel graphic novel: Autumnal
L.A., 2000 A2.06 Guise Will Be Guise
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.07 Fool for Love
L.A., 2000 A2.07 Darla
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.08 Shadow
L.A., 2000 A2.08 The Shroud of Rahmon
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.09 Listening to Fear
L.A., 2000 A2.09 The Trial
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.10 Into the Woods
L.A., 2000 A2.10 Reunion
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.11 Triangle
L.A., 2000 A2.11 Redefinition

[edit] References

[edit] External links