Re: Re: Normal Again Mini-Review

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

The 

Spoiler 

Space 

Isn't

Really 

Needed

Here,

But

What

The 

Heck?


DEM wrote,

>I keep trying to give Dawn the benefit of the "15-year-old" doubt,
but?

I think Cindy & Tanya at the-buzz.com had it best in their review of
"Older and Far Away". I don't have the exact quote, but they pointed
out that whereas back in the day, Buffy and the gang were written as
real people, nowadays they seem to be writing Dawn as how adults imagine
teenagers are.

Possibly this is because Joss did so much more of the writing back then.
But this treatment of Dawn is so one-note--yes, 15-year-olds can be
this way, but not all the time, dammit! Adolescence is a little more
complex than one long bitch of "nobody wants to be around me".

I mean, Cordelia (admittedly not the deepest person on Earth, but still
more varied and less grating than Dawn) was 15 for most of Season 1, and
for all we know, Willow might have been, too. I guess the monks only
put so much variation into the brain beneath all that shiny, shiny hair.

Come to think of it, when was the last time Dawn cracked a joke or
turned a good phrase? (I think it was at the end of "Tough Love", where
she's ribbing Buffy's eggplant sandwich.) When the gang was in high
school, this show had the freshest, quirkiest dialogue on TV--Dawn's
not only a brat, she's a DULL brat, which is a lot worse.

I also liked the rest of your comments, but I'll just confine myself to
this. Thanks.

Dan

(now all grumpy again)