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LOCKDOWN HYPE! ahaha...

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Buffy 6x14.mp4

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Raven Dark

Nice to see another reaction from you, Liam. This is another one of those episodes that feels like a weaker one for season six, but watching it with you made it feel a lot more enjoyable than it was watching it by myself. It's also a lot better on rewatches. Couple of quick things. I can't remember if you've ever asked, but every other reactor I've seen so far who has reached this point asks about why Dawn steals and never really fully understands it. It took me quite a while to get it, too. I've been putting off explaining it until this episode, because in this one, it's as clear as the show will ever make it, so saying it now means I don't have to worry about spoilers. Stealing among teens is a very common way of getting attention. It happens with adults too, but I think it's far more common with teens. It's hard to explain this well, how stealing equates to getting attention without it sounding dumb or severely trivializing/oversimplifying the issue, but the best analogy I can make is comparing it to something like anorexia. Anorexia is usually about control. People who starve themselves as a form of weight loss often feel as if they don't have control over their lives, so they stop eating, not only because they believe it's the only way to lose weight, but because it's the one way they can control something in their lives that others can't. But, the same disorder is also often about getting attention. When someone feels as if no one is paying any attention to them and nothing else works, they will sometimes do things like starve themselves or steal to get people to pay attention to them, because bad attention is better than none at all. It might seem weird to say that because Dawn wouldn't want to get caught and she tried to hide it. But that's the thing, with stealing, the person usually hides it and doesn't want to get caught because they know it's wrong, but it's as if part of them does want to be caught, because then all the things others have to do to deal with it (going to the police, punishing them, ect) forces them to pay a form of attention to them. It's possible that when Dawn gave Buffy the jacket with the security tag on it, she left the tag on by accident, but it's also possible she did it on purpose, because she subconsciously hoped she'd get caught. By now, Dawn's thieving, what started as an attention seeking tactic has now become a compulsion, sort of like an addiction, so it may not be as simple as stopping. Anorexia sort of does the same thing. Which, again, would result in her wanting to get caught so she doesn't have to do it anymore, either as an addiction, or to get attention. I hope I'm explaining this in a way that makes sense and isn't offensive. Also, keep in mind, my knowledge of both stealing for attention and anorexia both come from over twenty years ago, so if it's been since discovered that things work differently than I said here, please forgive me. Also, there is a possibility that what the show was trying to do is in line with what I'm saying, but the show itself is working with out of date understandings of both issues. I did a huge project on anorexia in school, which required a lot of research, but it was over twenty years ago, even longer than the time this episode has been out. I also lived with a lot of troubled teens and ended up taking courses on things about what Dawn is doing in order to understand what they were doing, so that's where the knowledge comes from, but that was also well over twenty years ago, so my knowledge is likely at least somewhat out of date. Second thing. Did you recognize Halfrek from somewhere else? The actress who played Haily is also the same one who played Cecilie, the woman William was in love with before he was turned and became Spike in Fool For Love. In this episode, Helfrek/Haily looked at him and seemed to know him. Notice that she called him William, not Spike. This suggests that it's not just the same actress, but that Halfrek is actually Cecilie, I can't recall if the writers confirmed that it is supposed to be the same person, or not, but it's definitely supposed to appear as if it is. Great reaction.

KT

Great comment! I'm also not an expert in eating disorders or kleptomania despite having struggled with both and am sorta just thinking out loud in this comment, but Dawn's behavior here feels accurate and very relatable. We first saw her steal something in Intervention (or maybe Tough Love?), right after Joyce died. Stealing was specifically a reaction to loss, combined with the things you listed. Feeling like you don't "have" anything/anyone, causing the impulse to hoard material items, just to have something to hold onto and you can't hoard your loved ones. It is about control, but it's telling that she adopted an external behavior like stealing to cope rather than an internal one like anorexia or other forms of self harm. Also I think the notion of doing something for attention gets a bad rap. People tend to dismiss it as trivial or not real, as if a suicide attempt done for attention isn't all that serious (!). Attention is extremely important, especially at that age, and someone going to such extreme lengths to get it should make people take their issues more seriously, not less.

Ryan Moore

My favorite part of this reaction: learning that you're an uncle! And yeah, we all LOVE Sassy Tara.

Devon Martin

Tara is that friend we all need❤...this season takes me back to when I first watched season 6 when they moved to UPN

Glorie Bluestein

One of the biggest issues i had with this episode had nothing to do with the plot line but rather plot hole honestly. ......what the hell happened to Sophia? After her comment about the beer run she's not seen again......including when they all walk out the door.....it's xander and anya with the injured guy, then tara and willow, calem. and then spike walking out.

Claire Eyles

The part where Willow admits to keeping stuff so she doesn't stress out too much and can focus on her recovery is so freakin' accurate that it actually makes me wonder if someone on the show had direct experience with addiction. This is a really common thing in addiction recovery, the sense that if you keep a few things (even though you're not going to use them) it stops that part of your brain from starting to trip out and gives you a little bit of breathing space to focus on getting better. Think of it like a child who knows they should give up their security blanket, but there's a difference between just tearing it away from them completely, and having them know that its put away somewhere safe if they need it. You don't think about something as much when you know it's there for you.

Merkavar

in the last like 5 mins of the episode she appears like 7 or 8 times as the camera flicks from people to people. Including the walk out scene. she is directly behind the injured guy on the stairs. bit late, was just surprised by your comment cause she seemed to be all over the episode.