"Potential"

[Bangelxx]

So what did you think of Potential? I thought at the beginning it would be just like the other boring potentials eps but at the end i was practically bawling! Xander's speech about not being chosen and how hard it is to watch your friends become powerful while he was the one fixing windows just touched my heart! :love0::love0: I am currently having a short xander obsession!:p


Xander: Seven years, Dawn. Working with the Slayer. Seeing my friends get more and more powerful. A witch, a demon. Hell, I could fit Oz in my shaving kit but come a full moon he had a wolfy mojo not to be messed with. Powerful, all of them. And I'm the guy who fixes the windows.

Xander: They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie. To be the one who isn't chosen, to live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You're not special. You're extraordinary.

[BuffyBloke]

That was a beautiful scene between Dawn and Xander. I would have thought Buffy would have had a chat with her sister about that, but I think Xander was the perfect choice. He could speak from his heart and he knew exactly how she felt because he had lived with that fact over the last seven years. It really gave an insight to how awesome Xander was.. and how insightful, and how he could see things in people.

[SpikedBuffy]

I really did like this episode. It has some totally great parts.

I like the way that Dawn responds to being a potential. She's not really concerned with the fact her life could possible change. She's more concerned with the fact that in order for her life to change, her sister would have to die. That was a nice part that I enjoyed.

And yes, you do have to love Xander's speech at the end. It really made me appreciate him.

[BuffyBloke]

When he gave that speech I was like.. wow he's certainly grown up :) I can't picture that speech coming out of Spike or Anya's.. (lol either though Anya would have jumbled it up with her weirdness talk lol)...

[Joyce Summers]

I did have a post for this before but then my internet went doolally and now that reply is lost in cyberspace.

Generally I was just saying how I love this episode and it just reminds me how much I love Dawn and that she has grown up so much.

Like Xander says when she finds out she's a Potential she thinks she's Little Miss Sunnydale 2003, but the instant she realized the power wasn't hers she handed it over without a moment's pause. A subtle hero.

And yes, I adore Xander's speech also. Everytime I watch that scene I get as teared up as Dawn. You find yourself feeling really sympathetic and even empathic to these two ordinary yet extraordinary characters as we've never considered that was how Xander felt because we've always focused on the ones with the superpowers

Of course it's then undercut by typical Whedonverse humor with Xander's comment of 'Maybe I should get a cape'

[Buffy obsessed fan]

When I started watching Potential I was slightly bored. I can't remember how it starts right now, but I was bored by it. But I thought this episode was amazing once I got into it! I like the fact they experimented with Dawn being a potential without actually making her be one, 'cause that would just be too obvious. And Xander's speech...Wow. I was amazed by it. It really inspired me. :)

[Vicariously]

It made Xander getting his eye ripped out all the more excrucaiting to watch! I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Dawn says "Maybe thats your power? Your one that sees everything"

great forshadow there, you kinda knew it was coming as soon as caleb was alone with Xander. :(

[Tranquillity]

I love the teaser to this one - with Buffy and Spike training the girls and how Buffy tries to check out his sore ribs and Amanda asks if they're supposed to like make out with the vamps that they find. it's just so cute.

[bradlee]

This ties with Selfless as my fave ep of the season. I loved the fact that Dawn went Slayer Chick for the episode. Not to mention it showed that she had really grown up and could be an integral part of the battle when needed.

And as everyone has already stated.. I teared up at the speech. It made me a little upset that we didn't get to see Buffy talk to Dawn about anything because it seems like this year she kinda ignored Dawnie after the first few eps.

[xgirlanachronism245x]

I think this episode is my favorite out of the season.
I showed the more grown up side of Dawn and it gave us a peak (as did the Zeppo) of what it was like to be on the outside of the "hot chicks with superpowers."
The speech was beautiful and really showcased how much Buffy and other said hot chicks really needed people like Dawn and Xander.
They are the resident window fixers and researchers. But they do see everything.
Which I think is why Buffy and co need them so much.
They see what the others can't.

[Giants Rule 04]

This was not one of my favorite season 7 episodes, but it did have some very poignant moments. Xander and Dawn's interaction was a very emotional scene, and a heartwarming one at that. It was very well written.

[IdiotJed]

What Xander said pretty much adressed what always bothered me. To me, he always got the short end of the stick. Never got the girl, (in the beginning, anyway), wasn't always that intellegent, and always got his ass handed to him by various demons, all the while his friends are getting stronger. I always hated seeing him get the short end of the stick. Him saying what he did justified it all for me.