One of the biggest swings in television historyhappens in Season 5 ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer. After four seasons with Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) – the Chosen One, the Slayer, and demonstrably an only child — the show introduces a little sister. Dawn’s arrival (Michelle Trachtenberg) is actually foreshadowed as early as Season 3, alongside Buffy’s eventual death in “The Gift,” the other huge swing in Season 5 — first by Faith (Eliza Dushku), “Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0,” as she and Buffy make up a bed for “little sis,” then by Tara (Amber Benson), who tells Buffy to “be back before Dawn.&rdquo
But in an era before streaming and binge-watching, weekly episodes, and a much more limited online fandom, no one could even begin to make the connection — not to mention that many tropes that genre television now relies on started inBuffy the Vampire Slayer. Dawn’s existence was a total surprise, but Buffy, the “Scoobies,” her mother Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), and all the other characters accepted her as if she had always been there. It was a bold choice, pulling the rug out from under an audience that had loved the show and its existing character dynamics for four full seasons.This rug pull only works if Dawn feels real to the audience.If the actor portraying Dawn is too inexperienced or otherwise ill-suited to picking up a sibling dynamic and meeting the expectations of a genre show, the entirety of Season 5 — or maybe the show as a whole — crumbles.
Luckily for the audience, the series found the late, great Michelle Trachtenberg. While Trachtenberg had already skillfully adapted the iconic book character of Harriet the Spy at 10, Dawn’s arc inBuffy the Vampire Slayermeant going from zero to 100 on an emotional scale regularly. Balancing more typical teen meltdowns with the complexities of being a girl who isn’t real, a pawn in a greater cosmic terror, and mounting dissociation, trauma, and grief as the story goes on,Trachtenberg made the perfect addition toBuffyin its later seasons.
Michelle Trachtenberg Kept Up With an Expert Cast in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
While Dawn’s first appearance is simple — she and Buffy yell “mom!” in synchronized protest against Joyce’s request —Michelle Trachtenberg wasn’t given a grace period from the intense storylines and emotional momentum ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer. The first time she’s asked to transcend a standard teeny-bopper performance is in Season 5, Episode 2, “Real Me.” Dawn is confronted by a wandering man who seems unwell, but because this is Buffy, he has a “second sight,” and perceives what Dawn really is — “The Key,” a mystical energetic force that has the power to unlock the gates separating different dimensions. A group of monks sworn to protect this energy from evildoers who would seek to wield it, likethe season’s Big Bad, Glory, know that Glory will come in the time of a specific Slayer, Buffy. They create Dawn, a human vessel to carry this energy so that Buffy will instinctively protect it. As this wanderer approaches Dawn, telling her she’s nothing inside, chanting “curds and whey,” her fear is palpable, as is her confusion. This is book-ended by the episode’s framing of Dawn’s journaling. Her diary entries are as sweet as they are observant, with her affection for Buffy’s friends a mirror to the audience.
Twelve episodes into Dawn’s existence, “Blood Ties,” she rounds out the fabric of the supernaturally-enhanced trauma representation that makesBuffy the Vampire Slayergreat. In contrast to Buffy’s usual means of recklessness and self-harm — kicking ass, taking names, getting caught up in toxic romance —Dawn’s pain turns inward. Overwhelmed by the bickering and secrecy that has sprung up around her, Dawn, with an enabling but protective Spike (James Marsters) at her side, breaks into Giles’ magic shop, reads his research and notes, and discovers the truth. A spiraling Dawn returns home, where she cuts into her arms and watches them bleed. Self-harm is inherently triggering and can often be used for empty shock value, but Trachtenberg plays it perfectly. Exhausted, half-gone, and heartbroken. “Am I real?” she quietly asks her mother and sister. It’s the most sincere and heartbreaking moment in the series since Buffy’s delivery of “I’m 16 years old, Giles. I don’t wanna die,” inSeason 1’s “Prophecy Girl.“While most of us aren’t a matrix of energy trapped in the body of a teenage girl, there has been no greater representation of the dissociation and derealization that might lead someone to self-harm before or since.
Michelle Trachtenberg’s Best Starring Role Was in This Unfairly Overlooked Disney Teen Drama
The late great actor held her own against Joan Cusack and Kim Cattrall.
Dawn Summers Elevated ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Thanks to Michelle Trachtenberg
Dawn Summers makes it out of Season 5 and all the way through the finale ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, and she is a crucial part of every later episode of the series that regularly makes it onto Top 10 lists, both of the show itself and the genre as a whole. In what is considered the show’s most heartbreaking episode — and arguably its best — “The Body,” Buffy goes to Dawn’s school to tell her that their mother has died.It’s a small, muted scene, but one of Trachtenberg’s most physical. Through a window between Dawn’s art class and the hallway where she insists Buffy tells her what’s going on, her classmates and viewers at home watch as Dawn stammers, tries to hold herself up, and eventually collapses. It transcends the usual Whedonisms of stammered quips and emotionally stunted lip-biting. She’s the only child actor in the episode, and she rivals the emotional peaks that Buffy, Willow (Alyson Hannigan), and Anya (Emma Caulfield) hit supported by full monologues.
Perhaps the greatest testament to Dawn Summers as a character, andTrachtenberg’s nuanced portrayal of her at such a young age, is the way Dawn manages to humanize everyone else. From her early days of diary entry voiceovers, Dawn offers a fresh perspective that supplemented characterization. With Dawn, Spike is not just protective but open, as she brings out a version of him too doting to be fixated on his tough facade or the moral failings he tends to spiral over. Dawn also admires and adoresXander (Nicholas Brendon)for his sense of humor, his consistent bravery despite his vocalized fears, and his loyalty. One of Xander’s most sincere moments in the show is his speech to Dawn in “Potential.” Dawn is crushed after discovering that she’s not a potential Slayer, and Xander connects with her on the basis that they’re both “ordinary”:
“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. […] You’re not ‘special’. You’re extraordinary.”
Beyond this, Dawn humanizes Buffy. Season after season of near-death experiences, some actual death experiences, and adaptability that see the Slayer survive and save the day even when she finds herself outnumbered or overpowered, Dawn reminds us that Buffy is human. It’s Dawn who Buffy finally breaks down with and cries over Joyce’s death. When the Scoobies bring Buffy back from the dead, tearing her out of heaven, it’s Dawn who gets Buffy to stay and try to live. None of this is only alive on the page;it’s all shaped by Trachtenberg’sbeautifully alive, wonderfully teenaged, and overall truthful portrayalof a character initially tied to a twist that might’ve ruined the show in different hands.
Buffy the Vampire Slayeris available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
A young woman, destined to slay vampires, demons and other infernal creatures, deals with her life fighting evil, with the help of her friends.
