Season 7 Episode 12 - Potential

In the cemetery, some nervous Slayerettes are on the hunt. From the shadows, a dark figure leaps out and moves in for the kill, knocking down Rona and grabbing Vi around the throat. They'd be dead in a heartbeat except...the Vamp is Spike, and he's helping Buffy train the girls to use their instincts in combating the bad guys. Since the First is in temporary retreat, they need to use this time to learn how to kill. Buff and her ex demonstrate some supposed fighting techniques, but even the girls can sense the heat still simmering between them.

The next day, Buffy is back at her school job, counseling a student, Amanda, who feels like she's weirder than normal when it comes to relationships. Buffy can relate, and ends up going off on a tangent of her own on the subject. It's clear there's one thing on her mind: Spike.

There's a training outing planned for the potentials, to Dawn's dismay. Buff nearly cancels when she hears from Willow that there's another possible Slayer in town, living right under their noses. But Willow talks her into going through with the outing, deciding to do a locator spell while Buffy and the girls are practicing.

Dawn's got a serious inferiority complex going on; apparently the novelty of being the Key has finally worn off. She's always being left out of the loop these days, and it's weighing heavily on her self-esteem. Dawn, Xander, Anya and Andrew hover around Willow during her exceptionally stinky locator spell. When the spell is complete, Dawn is thrown against the front door and is surrounded by a glow, indicating that SHE is the potential Slayer. She's shocked, and so is everyone else. Emotions run high, and no one seems to know what to do with the new information, especially Dawn. She goes to her room to be alone, and overhears the gang debating pros and cons of her new Chosen status. Confused, she climbs out her window and slips away from the house.

The Slayerette outing is a trip to a Demon Bar so the girls can get used to places teeming with inside information. Buffy warns them, "There's not a being in here who wouldn't gladly rip out your throat." However, there's one exception present: Clem! He and Buffy enthusiastically catch up, much to the girls' amusement. At Buffy's request, Clem makes some big monster googly eyes at them and reminds them that despite his friendly appearance, he's still a demon.

While out walking the neighborhood, Dawn runs into Amanda, who's had a bizarre night. She stayed late at Swing choir practice and got jumped by some guy with a crinkled-up face, and somehow she locked the guy in a classroom. Dawn, Future Slayer, decides she's the girl to take on this job. They arrive at the room with the Vamp inside, and are surprised when he leaps down from the ceiling to attack. Dawn gets some good licks in, then grabs Amanda and runs.

Meanwhile, Buffy has the Slayerettes in a crypt, looking for bad guys. They find a body that turns out to be a fresh Vamp, and Buffy takes it on. She's totally in control, unlike Dawn, who's fumbling in her attempts to kill the Vampire at the school. Buffy plays cat-and-mouse with her prey, until she and Spike leave the girls in the crypt with the bloodsucker for a trial by fire. Meanwhile, Dawn and Amanda are about to be taken out by the Vamp when the Bringers inadvertently save the day, bursting through the windows to get to their target. Only the target isn't Dawn; it's Amanda. She's the real potential Slayer.

Luckily, Dawn knows her way around a science lab and turns a big flame on them to escape with Amanda. The rest of the posse shows up just in time (thank goodness for cell phones) and takes on the Bringers. Amanda somehow calls on her instincts and wields a mean stake, dusting the Vampire and doing some damage to a Bringer. Buffy reveals her Slayerness to Amanda, and the student is comically irritated with her. She'd gone to see Buffy earlier that night, since the counselor had said to come to her with her problems. At the front door, she got hit with a strange orange light that made her feel all woozy--Willow's locator spell. Dawn just got caught in the magical crossfire, then later met up with Amanda on the street.

The next morning, the girls (who were obviously successful getting rid of their Vamp the night before), embrace a new understanding of their powers, as well as their new inductee. Dawn's feeling alone and dejected, but Xander comes to the rescue. He knows how she feels, since he's been in the same boat for years. Through his understanding and kindness, he makes Dawn realize that even though she's not a Chosen, she's still special.