Buffy 5x5

"You can't even take an apology, ever since..." and then Buffy realized that whatever it was she was thinking about never actually happened since the memory was implanted in her brain by the monks.

Ross43

7:30 is not only a reference to Dawn. It's also a countdown of days. It's mentioned by Faith about Little Miss Muffet and the clock in Buffy's dream.

ThePowerDrome

Really liking Anya now! I'm glad that my comment section will go back to normal now haha

Vic

Oh wow she was referred a lot earlier than I thought! I didn't know it was Czech, that's cool!

Vic

Honestly that would make more sense, because else, it really looks like they were trying to fool the audience. I like that idea a lot better haha!

Vic

Yeah that's very true, I loved how they foreshadowed it!

Vic

Slayer dreams always have some kind of prophecy, even if it's not obvious. Remember the episode where Faith wakes up from her coma? As she and Buffy are making a white sheet over the bed, Faith remembers that little sister is coming. And of course, the season four finale. In Buffy's dream in her room, Tara refers to Dawn several times. Basically, the entire season four finale is a series of hints or spoilers about the future, as well as the past and post-analysis of the characters. When Buffy stutters when she says that Dawn never knew how to accept an apology, she mentions that these memories of Dawn, like all the others, are a fabrication.

ThePowerDrome

The first two or three times I watched this I thought making Dawn act creepy was kind of bad writing. Obviously it's supposed to make us suspect Dawn is some kind of demon just before the twist that she's just "an innocent." But in-world I thought it made no sense. Then eventually I realized.. it did make sense. We saw when she was kidnapped by Harmony's gang she warned one of the vampires "If you touch me my sister will kill you." Dawn is a 14 year old girl living in a world that she knows contains vampires and demons. The only thing that makes her feel safe is that her sister is the slayer and can protect her. Now her sister has suddenly gone insane. "You're not my sister." "What are you?" "You stay away from MY mother." Dawn's whole foundation has just been yanked from under her, her sister is suddenly her enemy and is threatening to separate her from her mother too. She's being defiant to Buffy to cover up her fear. Then she's desperately trying to be nice to Joyce hoping that at least her mom will stay on her side. The weirdness of "Want tea mom? I made it for you" is because she's terrified but trying to pretend like everything's fine, so it comes across as creepy and fake. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but this made it all make sense to me.

The Value of Life

Dawn is my favorite inside joke because if you’ve seen the series then she’s “always existed”. It’s a retcon that alters the show meta the same way it altered everyone’s memories and once you know about her you can’t help but watch and see all the ‘clues’ of Dawn existing all along. The jokes were never malicious but now you’re in the club 🥳

Isaiah Bryant

slypeartree good catch hope she didn't see it

Jon Mackay

Fun Facts: In the Abomination's rant, after interrogating the monk, she mentions that "someone sits on a tuffet." Dawn is referred to as Little Miss Muffet in Faith's Dream while in a coma in Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999). (Miles to go. Little Miss Muffet is counting down from 7-3-0.) A sign under the cash register in Giles's new business, the Magic Box, reads: "Shoplifters will be transfigured." At the end of the episode right after Dawn storms upstairs, Joyce is reading a magazine and there is an advertisement that features Sarah Michelle Gellar in the ad. Riley says: "Giles, you got that Danger Room set up out back?". The Danger Room is part of the comic/TV series X-Men - a room where the teammates go to work out; computers simulate a variety of dangers, allowing the mutants to practice in various conditions. The flashback scenes take place in the Czech Republic in 2000. The Czech lines spoken by monks, in the beginning, translate to: "It's going to kill us. Our lives don't matter, we have to protect the Key. Help me with the ritual. Concentrate".

Jon Mackay

Hey little Miss Sunshine, you take that "Bitches" back! .... Ah, just kidding 😁 So glad to see you warm up to Anya, she is my second-most liked character in the show (after Buffy). Its always hard to be spoiled something in a movie or series. But at least from what you described its very likely that you got a wrong impression. But there is only one way to find out I guess. PS: its now a long-standing tradition in the Buffy reactor viewers community to gaslight every reactor at the start of season 5 and try to convince them that Dawn was always existing. So much fun, hehe. But kudos to the writers of the show, they added a sister to a main character to the show without explaining anything and tried to act like nothing special happened. In the 80s and 90s this was often done in TV shows in very weird ways and was usually a sign that the writers didn't have any ideas anymore. But it worked in Buffy and perfectly makes sense in the universe too.

Minister Kosh

It's not exactly a spoiler that means anything but we don't learn the lady in red's name in this episode.

slypeartree

If you have any questions about the show, feel free to ask me or any other Patreon member. No need for you to get spoiled.

Jon Mackay

Jon Mackay