[continued from previous message]   
      
   >  and didn't originally use it.   
      
   While I loathe the idea that Xander would be dumb enough to use the   
   talisman, if he did, then Xander caused that mess.  You've already   
   addressed Dawn's kleptomania.  This is just a side-effect of that issue.   
      
   >  3 Dawn's Dalliance With A Vengeance Demon   
   >   
   >  Halfrek, the vengeance demon, is another summoning that results from   
   >  Dawn's teen angst. Her wish leads to everyone being stuck in the   
   >  Summers house with her with no way to escape. She wants the world to   
   >  revolve around her and hadn't seen that people still cared in their   
   >  own ways without putting her in the center. It is through this wish   
   >  that her collection of stolen items is found. Her big feelings are   
   >  revealed and she gets exactly what she wants before the gang finds a   
   >  way to escape the house.   
      
   Dawn did not summon Halfrek.  Dawn was a target because she was being   
   ignored, not because of what she did.  She had no idea that Halfrek was   
   a vengeance demon.  Not Dawn's fault.   
      
   >  2 "The First" Convinced Dawn That Buffy Wouldn't Choose Her When It   
   >  Mattered   
   >   
   >  In Season 7, The First Evil returned to mess with everyone's   
   >  heads. Dawn became convinced that when it really mattered, Buffy   
   >  wouldn't choose her and would cast her aside. This brought all of   
   >  Dawn's feelings of abandonment back to the surface. She'd worked hard   
   >  up until that point to become useful as a sort of "Junior Watcher"   
   >  but she wanted more than anything to be chosen as a potential slayer   
   >  instead. Dawn is quick to believe this notion instead of having faith   
   >  that her sister, who died for her, would always have her back.   
      
   The First Evil sewing doubt and confusion wasn't on Dawn.  It wasn't as   
   if Buffy got choose the potentials anyway.   
      
   >  1 Dawn's Perpetual Schoolgirl Crush On Xander   
   >   
   >  The memories inserted into everyone's heads when Dawn appears on the   
   >  scene include her worship of Xander in a schoolgirl crush that   
   >  continues throughout her teen years and into the end of the   
   >  show. This crush makes Dawn hate Anya at first, resent Buffy every   
   >  time she says or does something remotely degrading towards Xander,   
   >  and inflates Xander's fragile ego when he comes back to Sunnydale as   
   >  a townie instead of traveling the world.   
      
   How is a teenager crushing on someone a big deal?  The story-line was a   
   little over dramatic.  I seem to recall her being a little jealous of   
   Anya and annoyed at Buffy.  (She was frequently annoyed with Buffy.)   
      
   >          [Sorry , but the worst thing Dawn did was go against Buffy in   
   >  the S7 episode 'Empty Places' when she tells Buffy she has to leave.]   
      
   While I wasn't crazy about it, the logistics were, Buffy could leave, or   
   Dawn and everyone else.  Dawn was right that it was her house too.   
      
   Generally speaking Dawn was an immature and needy typical teenager.  She   
   was annoying and her kleptomania really bit her in the a$$.  She wasn't   
   a particularly bad child.  She seemed a lot worse than she was because   
   of all the damn whining they forced us to watch, and we saw more of the   
   gangs problems than Dawn did.  Dawn and Buffy did not communicate well   
   or often at all.  Better communication could have staved off some of   
   their problems.   
      
   It bugged me when Dawn slapped Willow.  I would not have had a problem   
   with Dawn screaming and hollering at Willow and deriding her for being   
   so completely reckless.  I'd not have had much of a problem if Buffy hit   
   Willow though.  Willow deserved worse and Buffy forgave her much too   
   easily.  I've got a problem with hitting your elders unless it is in   
   self-defense.   
      
   JMTC,   
      
   Michael J. Chappell   
   --   
   mjchappell@verizon.net http://mcsuper5.freeshell.org/   
      
   I know it all.  I just can't remember it all at once.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)