[Tech Noir]

As I rewatched S6, I was finding myself hoping Dawn would stay out of harm’s way, mostly because her piercing shrieks literally pained my poor ears.
I guess sometime during my S6 rewatch, I must have reached a point past annoyance with Dawn’s teenage “attitude” that I was actually relaxed and chuckling at it. I found peace with Dawn’s little attitude.

I get that in S5, Dawn had a purpose, but I’m wondering why in S6, the show runners continued in the path of Dawn acting bratty -a lot. She was the same age the scoobies were in S1, and I can’t recall any of them behaving that way.

[Charmed Slayer Angel]

I think it's just that Dawn's entire existence was really dependent on the fact she was the Key in Season 5. Without being in that role, she was kinda trying to fit in with the rest of the world. In some ways, it's similar to how Buffy tried to deal with being the Slayer early on in the show. It's different, however, because Dawn had no idea of what a normal existence really was.

[starryeyesxx]

They had to show her struggling in s6, they just did. She was mostly over having found out she was the key imo, but her mom had died, her sister had died & even though Buffy had come back, she still had a very unstable home life. She spent most of the season living with Buffy & Willow who were both dealing with a load of their issues & Dawn definitely slipped through the cracks in a lot of ways. I think she was pretty unhappy & she was going to act out in one way or another.

[Tech Noir]

I totally get what you are saying, and I wish I could naturally be more sympathetic towards the character. I don’t hate/ dislike Dawn, and a lot of the annoyance I was feeling earlier in S5 has lessened to a great degree. She seems to be a bit more bearable so far in S7.

Xander: Dawn? What's wrong? Is this- Did that guy in the jacket-
Dawn: Ugh! I don't even want to hear his name anymore!
Xander: I just called him "that guy in the jacket.”
Dawn: That's what I used to call him in my head before I knew his real name!

This exchange in the episode “Him” was one of teenage things to which I could relate with Dawn. I once had a crush on “the guy with the pants.”

[Charmed Slayer Angel]

Dawn/Michelle really suffered as a result of people's first impressions from Season 5. I remember hearing she got sent a lot of hate mail over her role early on sadly

[starryeyesxx]

Yeah, they did mishandle her character I'm afraid....& I'm not really sure if s6 was that much of an improvement, so I do get why a lot of people struggled to like her.

[Charmed Slayer Angel]

Originally Posted by starryeyesxx (View Post) Yeah, they did mishandle her character I'm afraid....& I'm not really sure if s6 was that much of an improvement, so I do get why a lot of people struggled to like her.

Definitely. I think that a stronger arc to her character might have been able to turn that around in Season 6, but it just seems the writers weren't able to come up with something that was honestly meaningful to the character. Which is disappointing altogether

[starryeyesxx]

Yeah, I think they never really knew how to write her, All the Way felt like a filler ep & like the writers weren't really all that invested in her story

Potential was much better though, wish there could have been more of a follow up to it...

[Charmed Slayer Angel]

Agreed It just seemed like once they were passed Season 5, none of the writers could come up with with a strong storyline for her.

[starryeyesxx]

Yeah, their priorties seemed to change....

She should have got more after Potential as well, I would have loved to see her embrace being a junior watcher a little more & some recognition of how well she does from Buffy would have been good too...

[Charmed Slayer Angel]

I think it's just that they had such a good idea for a character in Season 5, and once they'd gotten past that point, they continually drew a blank for her character

[Tech Noir]

For me, it wasn’t particularly the lack of a proper sl for Dawn that bugged me; I would have been okay with that. What I found a bit irritating was Dawn’s constant victim mentality; it was draining to watch at times.

I do feel for Michelle T. It must have been rough on her as a teenager to receive any hate for a character whom she had no control over.

[starryeyesxx]

I think she had moved past that in s6, & the second half of season 5 to a degree as well - I think that losing her mother put a lot of things into perspective for her

[Charmed Slayer Angel]

^ Agreed. But I do think that she probably had a lot of unresolved baggage from the situation with her mom, then losing Buffy, and the whole fallout early in Season 6.

[starryeyesxx]

Definitely, but I don't think she was self-centred as she had been in s5 - which might have made some of her issues worse, it's always hard to find the right balance