From: bruwestro@hotmail.com   
      
   On Saturday, June 27, 2015 at 8:29:12 AM UTC-4, david milligan wrote:   
   > http://community.ew.com/2015/06/26/buffy-blood-ties/   
   >   
   > 'Buffy' nostalgia recap: Imagining a world without Dawn   
   >   
   > Season 5 | Episode 13 | "Blood Ties" | Aired Feb 6, 2001   
   >   
   > "Blood Ties" is maybe better known as "The One Where Dawn Finds Out She's   
   > the Key and Goes Psycho." You know, she cuts her wrist and starts babbling   
   > about if she's real or not. She has the kind of breakdown most 14-year-olds   
   > only contemplate in their most melodramatic of teenage moments. "Blood Ties"   
   > is also the one where Buffy tells the rest of the Scoobies that Dawn doesn't   
   > exist. It's also Buffy's birthday, which we all know never means anything   
   > good. When Dawn gives her sister a framed picture from a trip that, at this   
   > point, everyone but her knows never really happened, things get awkward and   
   > the truth comes out.   
   >   
   > Did this episode need to happen for the arc of season five to progress? Yes.   
   > Of course. Does that make it any more bearable to watch Dawn be the center   
   > of attention and shriek and whine at frequencies you thought (hoped) only   
   > dogs could hear? No. No it doesn't.   
   >   
   > Since "Blood Ties" also reminds us, for the umpteenth time this season, that   
   > Dawn was not real until late 2000 and that everything before that is   
   > fabricated memory, courtesy of a group of very thorough and detail-oriented   
   > monks, let's take this opportunity to imagine the glory (pun only partially   
   > intended) of a world without Dawn.   
   >   
   > In a world without Dawn, Buffy never died (um, the second time). If Buffy   
   > never died (you know, the second time), season six becomes instantly more   
   > enjoyable, as we get to skip the portion in which she was haunted by her   
   > return to the mortal coil and depressed about being ripped out of heaven.   
   > That was a bummer to find out, and the more I think about it, the sadder I   
   > get. Boo, Dawn.   
   >                [so, who would be the Big Bad for S5 if not Glory looking for   
   > her Key?]   
   >   
   > In a world without Dawn, Joyce wouldn't have almost been a zombie. That was   
   > weird and sad and yuck. Boo, Dawn.   
   >   
   > In a world without Dawn, Joyce might STILL BE ALIVE. I don't know if this   
   > theory holds water in the actual, true Buffy-verse, but I theorize that   
   > Joyce's tumor is a result of having her brain totally wonkified by the   
   > monks. Joyce and Buffy would have had more mind-melding done than anyone   
   > else (be thankful you were such an absentee father, Hank). It stands to   
   > reason that, on a normal human mind, that might take a toll. I blame Dawn   
   > for Joyce's tumor and death. BOO, DAWN.   
   >   
   >         [Joss likes to kill off fave characters. This time it was Joyce.]   
   >   
   > In a world without Dawn, Xander has less power. Dawn and Xander are cut from   
   > the same cloth, and each is strengthened (in an annoying kind of way, not an   
   > empowering kind of way) by the other's existence. It's a "we're normal and   
   > boring" pity party with a guest list of two. Boo, Dawn. (And Xander).   
   >   
   > In a world without Dawn, this shrill banshee shriek never happened:   
   > "getoutGetOutGETOUT!"   
   > You can never unhear the sound of Dawn's pubescent screams. Boo, Dawn.   
   >   
   > In a world without Dawn, Buffy gets to eat a damn bowl of cereal once in a   
   > while.   
   > Slayers need the energy provided by a well-balanced breakfast if they're   
   > going to save the world every Tuesday. The sidekicks must make sacrifices,   
   > and Dawn has clearly never learned that lesson. Boo, Dawn.   
   >   
   > In a world without Dawn, Gossip Girl would be the only show that people   
   > complain about Michelle Trachtenberg being on.   
   > I don't even watch Gossip Girl, but I hear talk. Boo, Dawn/Georgina.   
   >   
   > In a world without Dawn, we probably would have cured all cancers by now.   
   > Because the brilliant nerds of the world wouldn't have had to waste time   
   > being annoyed by this nonsense. Boo, Dawn.   
   >   
   > But maybe I'm being too hard on Dawn. Maybe she's the Jessica Rabbit of   
   > Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Maybe she's not really terrible; the monks just   
   > created all knowledge and memory of her that way.   
   >   
   > Who am I kidding? Boo, Dawn. A million boos.   
   >   
   > http://daviderl.com/MichelleTrachtenberg.html .   
   > http://daviderl31.blogspot.com/   
      
   I like Dawn too. Gotta be tough to find out you were created to be a plot   
   device.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)