Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S7/E12 Potential

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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.

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 Beetlejuice.
  • 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?

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?

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.

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

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.
 

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer/Recap/S7/E12_Potential?oldid=1622965"