Potential

"Potential" is the twelfth episode of season 7 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Willow learns from her contacts that there is another Slayer-to-be in Sunnydale, the next Potential. She casts a reveal spell that makes all the Scoobies (save Buffy, who is not home) think this new Slayer is Dawn. After Dawn sneaks out of the house and takes a walk to clear her head, she meets her friend Amanda, who tells her that all sorts of strange things have been happenning to her at Sunnydale High, like facing a vampire and so. Dawn believes her and she and Amanda head to the school to investigate; after running into the vampire and encountering several Bringers, Dawn discovers that Amanda is the real next Potential and not her. As the Bringers move to kill Amanda, Dawn blasts The First's disciples with flame from a Bunsen burner gas valve, enabling her and Amanda to escape before telling her friend that she, not Dawn, is the special one; while Amanda battles and dusts the vampire she first encountered, Buffy, Spike and Xander arrive in time to defeat the Bringers.

Quotes and trivia

 * The role of Amanda (who first appeared in "Help") was originally intended as a one-episode part, but was brought back as a recurring character (beginning with this episode) due to Sarah Hagan's connection to episode writer Rebecca Rand Kirshner, who wrote for Hagan's previous series Freaks and Geeks.