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Anyone who decided to catch up with Anora because of Oscar buzz might find themselves confused early on. The movie begins as a Cinderella story with a sex worker in the princess role and the son of a Russian oligarch as the prince, and then switches to a broad farce that veers between slapstick comedy […]

The post The Power of Anora Comes from Its Last 10 Minutes and Final Scene appeared first on Den of Geek.

After leaving high school behind in the season 3 finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggled to find its footing in young adulthood. Season 4 was an epic mix of highs and lows, with each episode being a toss-up between a series-defining masterpiece and a well-intended misfire. In the wake of that often disappointing 22-episode run, it was clear that Buffy needed a change of pace. By perfectly blending the show’s signature supernatural elements with relatable, grounded drama, season 5 is brave, moving, and masterful – thanks, in no small part, to the introduction of Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) brand-new little sister Dawn, played by Michelle Trachtenberg, who tragically passed away on Feb. 26, 2025.

In what remains one of the best teen drama twists of all time, season 5’s opening episode drops a bombshell before a quick cut-to-black: the young girl briefly shown in Buffy’s room is, according to their mother, her little sister—despite never being part of the series prior to this moment. As the season continues on, Buffy eventually learns that Dawn was created by a group of monks, transformed from a magical key into a person that Buffy herself would ultimately die to protect from an angry god. While this premise is as harebrained as it gets (and par for the course in the series’ supernatural wheelhouse), Dawn’s evolution from annoying little sister to beloved pillar of the show all circles back to the brilliant writing elevated by Trachtenberg’s vulnerable and moving performance. 

Dawn herself could have easily devolved into nothing more than a plot device. Her presence in the fifth season’s story is straightforward and often predictable, and, in less capable hands, it’s easy to see how one-note this key-turned-sister could’ve been. But from her very first full episode on the show (titled “Real Me,” season 5 episode 2), Trachtenberg imbues her with a tangibility that is only matched by Gellar’s early work on the series as Buffy herself. 

There’s a gentle touch behind every move Dawn makes, where her charming, troublemaking streak blends with her heartbreaking, grounded fear layered with a heavy dose of supernatural symbolism. Dawn questions whether or not she’s a real person deserving of love, mirroring the fears of many teenagers as they try to develop into themselves. Dawn acts out when Buffy’s larger-than-life stakes overshadow her teenage drama, injecting an even stronger inferiority complex against Buffy’s godly position within her family and friend group. 

In one of Trachtenberg’s greatest moments on Buffy, Dawn and Buffy regroup after a fight with the season’s Big Bad, and Buffy asks if Dawn is alright. Dawn asks why Buffy cares, she’s not really her sister, after all. She’s just an object that a group of monks made flesh, why should Buffy concern herself with her feelings? Who’s to say she even has them? But when Buffy takes her own blood and clasps Dawn’s bloody hand within her own, it’s clear that these two women are bound for life. Even without the Summers blood running through her veins, Buffy loves Dawn, and no amount of cosmic intervention could change that. 

While Gellar is often the focal point of the scene, Trachtenberg gives such a stunning performance, even after her lines have finished. You can see as she puts up her walls, preemptively shutting Buffy out before her sister can hurt her by insisting that she’s not a person at all. Those walls slowly come down throughout Buffy’s heartfelt speech, genuine love and surprise clouding Trachtenberg’s wide, blue eyes. When Buffy finally hugs her, her face fully collapses, crying into her sister’s shoulder as she finally admits that she’s just a scared kid, facing problems and obstacles far beyond her reach. 

💔 pic.twitter.com/U7JkdUQ8xm

— ໊ (@buffys) February 26, 2025

It’s that admission that defines Dawn’s arc throughout the rest of the season, elevated by the absolutely pitch-perfect performance given in that moment. Nine episodes later, when Buffy tells Dawn that the hardest thing in this world is to live in it before she jumps to her own death to save her sister’s life, it’s that blood-tying moment that Buffy flashes back to. Of course, it’s to explain just how and why Buffy can sacrifice herself in Dawn’s place, but it’s also to remind audiences that Dawn is, truly, just a scared kid who doesn’t believe her life is worth saving, especially over Buffy’s. 

Even if Dawn didn’t believe she was worth Buffy’s sacrifice at the time, Michelle Trachtenberg made us believe she was. She made us believe she was the little sister we never had, but always wanted; she made us believe in the power of teenage whims and the weight of heartache and sorrow on a soul too young to have gone through so much; she made us believe in the magnitude of both being a teenager and being a lynchpin in one of the greatest supernatural stories ever told. 

As the series goes on, Dawn becomes further enmeshed in the canon, despite only appearing in the final three seasons. She becomes Spike’s (James Marsters) odd-couple friend, she becomes Tara (Amber Benson) and Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) number one shipper before it was cool, and she becomes the narrative’s beating heart, long after Buffy herself lost some of the light that used to shine in her eyes. 

Trachtenberg brought humor, heart, light, and relatability to Dawn that allowed her to become one of the series’ most iconic figures, picking up the baton from Gellar to bring grounded, teenage drama back into a series that knew its hero needed to grow up. While fans have rallied for decades behind their assertions that Dawn was “annoying” and stilted the show’s evolution, this one-dimensional take on this ultimately iconic character diminishes not only importance of the teenage aspects of Buffy to the show’s everlasting legacy, but also the incredible performance Trachtenberg delivered across 66 episodes. 

In the twelfth episode of the final season, Xander (Nicholas Brennan) sits Dawn down for a pep talk. With their house overflowing with potential slayers and an apocalypse looming on the horizon, Dawn is feeling useless and frustrated as her sister and their friends all prepare for battle. He tells her that he knows what it’s like to not be “chosen,” to not be “special.” “You’re not special,” he flat-out tells her. Dawn takes a tearful pause, Trachtenberg plays her humility and disappointment with a marked grace; but Xander isn’t done: “You’re extraordinary.” She’s special not because she has infinite power and a calling to save the world, but simply because she cares enough to stand by those who do. If Buffy herself represents heroism by force, Dawn represents heroism by choice, inspired by her sister to do what is right and good, no matter the cost. 

Extraordinary feels like the perfect word to describe both Dawn and Trachtenberg. The kind of perfect storm created by a character and performance so moving and incredible that it defines the series itself, that it becomes seminal to the genre in a way that is absolutely undeniable. The world is infinitely less bright without Trachtenberg in it, but, at the very least, her performance as Dawn Summers—TV’s greatest little sister, still, to this day—will live on as one of the best to grace both the series and the genre itself. 

The post Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Dawn Summers Is TV’s Most Important Sister appeared first on Den of Geek.

This review contains spoilers for Yellowjackets season 3 episode 4. As the name of episode 4 suggests, “12 Angry Girls and 1 Drunk Travis” is centered on the trial of Coach Scott (Steven Krueger) as he desperately tries to plead his case to the Yellowjackets (and Travis). This episode of Yellowjackets might not be quite […]

The post Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 4 Review: An Unexpected Death appeared first on Den of Geek.

After leaving high school behind in the season 3 finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggled to find its footing in young adulthood. Season 4 was an epic mix of highs and lows, with each episode being a toss-up between a series-defining masterpiece and a well-intended misfire. In the wake of that often disappointing 22-episode run, it was clear that Buffy needed a change of pace. By perfectly blending the show’s signature supernatural elements with relatable, grounded drama, season 5 is brave, moving, and masterful – thanks, in no small part, to the introduction of Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) brand-new little sister Dawn, played by Michelle Trachtenberg, who tragically passed away on Feb. 26, 2025.

In what remains one of the best teen drama twists of all time, season 5’s opening episode drops a bombshell before a quick cut-to-black: the young girl briefly shown in Buffy’s room is, according to their mother, her little sister—despite never being part of the series prior to this moment. As the season continues on, Buffy eventually learns that Dawn was created by a group of monks, transformed from a magical key into a person that Buffy herself would ultimately die to protect from an angry god. While this premise is as harebrained as it gets (and par for the course in the series’ supernatural wheelhouse), Dawn’s evolution from annoying little sister to beloved pillar of the show all circles back to the brilliant writing elevated by Trachtenberg’s vulnerable and moving performance. 

Dawn herself could have easily devolved into nothing more than a plot device. Her presence in the fifth season’s story is straightforward and often predictable, and, in less capable hands, it’s easy to see how one-note this key-turned-sister could’ve been. But from her very first full episode on the show (titled “Real Me,” season 5 episode 2), Trachtenberg imbues her with a tangibility that is only matched by Gellar’s early work on the series as Buffy herself. 

There’s a gentle touch behind every move Dawn makes, where her charming, troublemaking streak blends with her heartbreaking, grounded fear layered with a heavy dose of supernatural symbolism. Dawn questions whether or not she’s a real person deserving of love, mirroring the fears of many teenagers as they try to develop into themselves. Dawn acts out when Buffy’s larger-than-life stakes overshadow her teenage drama, injecting an even stronger inferiority complex against Buffy’s godly position within her family and friend group. 

In one of Trachtenberg’s greatest moments on Buffy, Dawn and Buffy regroup after a fight with the season’s Big Bad, and Buffy asks if Dawn is alright. Dawn asks why Buffy cares, she’s not really her sister, after all. She’s just an object that a group of monks made flesh, why should Buffy concern herself with her feelings? Who’s to say she even has them? But when Buffy takes her own blood and clasps Dawn’s bloody hand within her own, it’s clear that these two women are bound for life. Even without the Summers blood running through her veins, Buffy loves Dawn, and no amount of cosmic intervention could change that. 

While Gellar is often the focal point of the scene, Trachtenberg gives such a stunning performance, even after her lines have finished. You can see as she puts up her walls, preemptively shutting Buffy out before her sister can hurt her by insisting that she’s not a person at all. Those walls slowly come down throughout Buffy’s heartfelt speech, genuine love and surprise clouding Trachtenberg’s wide, blue eyes. When Buffy finally hugs her, her face fully collapses, crying into her sister’s shoulder as she finally admits that she’s just a scared kid, facing problems and obstacles far beyond her reach. 

💔 pic.twitter.com/U7JkdUQ8xm

— ໊ (@buffys) February 26, 2025

It’s that admission that defines Dawn’s arc throughout the rest of the season, elevated by the absolutely pitch-perfect performance given in that moment. Nine episodes later, when Buffy tells Dawn that the hardest thing in this world is to live in it before she jumps to her own death to save her sister’s life, it’s that blood-tying moment that Buffy flashes back to. Of course, it’s to explain just how and why Buffy can sacrifice herself in Dawn’s place, but it’s also to remind audiences that Dawn is, truly, just a scared kid who doesn’t believe her life is worth saving, especially over Buffy’s. 

Even if Dawn didn’t believe she was worth Buffy’s sacrifice at the time, Michelle Trachtenberg made us believe she was. She made us believe she was the little sister we never had, but always wanted; she made us believe in the power of teenage whims and the weight of heartache and sorrow on a soul too young to have gone through so much; she made us believe in the magnitude of both being a teenager and being a lynchpin in one of the greatest supernatural stories ever told. 

As the series goes on, Dawn becomes further enmeshed in the canon, despite only appearing in the final three seasons. She becomes Spike’s (James Marsters) odd-couple friend, she becomes Tara (Amber Benson) and Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) number one shipper before it was cool, and she becomes the narrative’s beating heart, long after Buffy herself lost some of the light that used to shine in her eyes. 

Trachtenberg brought humor, heart, light, and relatability to Dawn that allowed her to become one of the series’ most iconic figures, picking up the baton from Gellar to bring grounded, teenage drama back into a series that knew its hero needed to grow up. While fans have rallied for decades behind their assertions that Dawn was “annoying” and stilted the show’s evolution, this one-dimensional take on this ultimately iconic character diminishes not only importance of the teenage aspects of Buffy to the show’s everlasting legacy, but also the incredible performance Trachtenberg delivered across 66 episodes. 

In the twelfth episode of the final season, Xander (Nicholas Brennan) sits Dawn down for a pep talk. With their house overflowing with potential slayers and an apocalypse looming on the horizon, Dawn is feeling useless and frustrated as her sister and their friends all prepare for battle. He tells her that he knows what it’s like to not be “chosen,” to not be “special.” “You’re not special,” he flat-out tells her. Dawn takes a tearful pause, Trachtenberg plays her humility and disappointment with a marked grace; but Xander isn’t done: “You’re extraordinary.” She’s special not because she has infinite power and a calling to save the world, but simply because she cares enough to stand by those who do. If Buffy herself represents heroism by force, Dawn represents heroism by choice, inspired by her sister to do what is right and good, no matter the cost. 

Extraordinary feels like the perfect word to describe both Dawn and Trachtenberg. The kind of perfect storm created by a character and performance so moving and incredible that it defines the series itself, that it becomes seminal to the genre in a way that is absolutely undeniable. The world is infinitely less bright without Trachtenberg in it, but, at the very least, her performance as Dawn Summers—TV’s greatest little sister, still, to this day—will live on as one of the best to grace both the series and the genre itself. 

The post Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Dawn Summers Is TV’s Most Important Sister appeared first on Den of Geek.

As art forms, literature and video games couldn’t be more unalike…at least on the surface. Video games are hypersensory, stimulating with sight, sound, and touch while giving the player agency to play their way. Novels on the other hand are hyperlinear and unfold in the theater of the mind. One would think it would be […]

The post The 15 Best Video Games Inspired by Books appeared first on Den of Geek.

After leaving high school behind in the season 3 finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggled to find its footing in young adulthood. Season 4 was an epic mix of highs and lows, with each episode being a toss-up between a series-defining masterpiece and a well-intended misfire. In the wake of that often disappointing 22-episode run, it was clear that Buffy needed a change of pace. By perfectly blending the show’s signature supernatural elements with relatable, grounded drama, season 5 is brave, moving, and masterful – thanks, in no small part, to the introduction of Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) brand-new little sister Dawn, played by Michelle Trachtenberg, who tragically passed away on Feb. 26, 2025.

In what remains one of the best teen drama twists of all time, season 5’s opening episode drops a bombshell before a quick cut-to-black: the young girl briefly shown in Buffy’s room is, according to their mother, her little sister—despite never being part of the series prior to this moment. As the season continues on, Buffy eventually learns that Dawn was created by a group of monks, transformed from a magical key into a person that Buffy herself would ultimately die to protect from an angry god. While this premise is as harebrained as it gets (and par for the course in the series’ supernatural wheelhouse), Dawn’s evolution from annoying little sister to beloved pillar of the show all circles back to the brilliant writing elevated by Trachtenberg’s vulnerable and moving performance. 

Dawn herself could have easily devolved into nothing more than a plot device. Her presence in the fifth season’s story is straightforward and often predictable, and, in less capable hands, it’s easy to see how one-note this key-turned-sister could’ve been. But from her very first full episode on the show (titled “Real Me,” season 5 episode 2), Trachtenberg imbues her with a tangibility that is only matched by Gellar’s early work on the series as Buffy herself. 

There’s a gentle touch behind every move Dawn makes, where her charming, troublemaking streak blends with her heartbreaking, grounded fear layered with a heavy dose of supernatural symbolism. Dawn questions whether or not she’s a real person deserving of love, mirroring the fears of many teenagers as they try to develop into themselves. Dawn acts out when Buffy’s larger-than-life stakes overshadow her teenage drama, injecting an even stronger inferiority complex against Buffy’s godly position within her family and friend group. 

In one of Trachtenberg’s greatest moments on Buffy, Dawn and Buffy regroup after a fight with the season’s Big Bad, and Buffy asks if Dawn is alright. Dawn asks why Buffy cares, she’s not really her sister, after all. She’s just an object that a group of monks made flesh, why should Buffy concern herself with her feelings? Who’s to say she even has them? But when Buffy takes her own blood and clasps Dawn’s bloody hand within her own, it’s clear that these two women are bound for life. Even without the Summers blood running through her veins, Buffy loves Dawn, and no amount of cosmic intervention could change that. 

While Gellar is often the focal point of the scene, Trachtenberg gives such a stunning performance, even after her lines have finished. You can see as she puts up her walls, preemptively shutting Buffy out before her sister can hurt her by insisting that she’s not a person at all. Those walls slowly come down throughout Buffy’s heartfelt speech, genuine love and surprise clouding Trachtenberg’s wide, blue eyes. When Buffy finally hugs her, her face fully collapses, crying into her sister’s shoulder as she finally admits that she’s just a scared kid, facing problems and obstacles far beyond her reach. 

💔 pic.twitter.com/U7JkdUQ8xm

— ໊ (@buffys) February 26, 2025

It’s that admission that defines Dawn’s arc throughout the rest of the season, elevated by the absolutely pitch-perfect performance given in that moment. Nine episodes later, when Buffy tells Dawn that the hardest thing in this world is to live in it before she jumps to her own death to save her sister’s life, it’s that blood-tying moment that Buffy flashes back to. Of course, it’s to explain just how and why Buffy can sacrifice herself in Dawn’s place, but it’s also to remind audiences that Dawn is, truly, just a scared kid who doesn’t believe her life is worth saving, especially over Buffy’s. 

Even if Dawn didn’t believe she was worth Buffy’s sacrifice at the time, Michelle Trachtenberg made us believe she was. She made us believe she was the little sister we never had, but always wanted; she made us believe in the power of teenage whims and the weight of heartache and sorrow on a soul too young to have gone through so much; she made us believe in the magnitude of both being a teenager and being a lynchpin in one of the greatest supernatural stories ever told. 

As the series goes on, Dawn becomes further enmeshed in the canon, despite only appearing in the final three seasons. She becomes Spike’s (James Marsters) odd-couple friend, she becomes Tara (Amber Benson) and Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) number one shipper before it was cool, and she becomes the narrative’s beating heart, long after Buffy herself lost some of the light that used to shine in her eyes. 

Trachtenberg brought humor, heart, light, and relatability to Dawn that allowed her to become one of the series’ most iconic figures, picking up the baton from Gellar to bring grounded, teenage drama back into a series that knew its hero needed to grow up. While fans have rallied for decades behind their assertions that Dawn was “annoying” and stilted the show’s evolution, this one-dimensional take on this ultimately iconic character diminishes not only importance of the teenage aspects of Buffy to the show’s everlasting legacy, but also the incredible performance Trachtenberg delivered across 66 episodes. 

In the twelfth episode of the final season, Xander (Nicholas Brennan) sits Dawn down for a pep talk. With their house overflowing with potential slayers and an apocalypse looming on the horizon, Dawn is feeling useless and frustrated as her sister and their friends all prepare for battle. He tells her that he knows what it’s like to not be “chosen,” to not be “special.” “You’re not special,” he flat-out tells her. Dawn takes a tearful pause, Trachtenberg plays her humility and disappointment with a marked grace; but Xander isn’t done: “You’re extraordinary.” She’s special not because she has infinite power and a calling to save the world, but simply because she cares enough to stand by those who do. If Buffy herself represents heroism by force, Dawn represents heroism by choice, inspired by her sister to do what is right and good, no matter the cost. 

Extraordinary feels like the perfect word to describe both Dawn and Trachtenberg. The kind of perfect storm created by a character and performance so moving and incredible that it defines the series itself, that it becomes seminal to the genre in a way that is absolutely undeniable. The world is infinitely less bright without Trachtenberg in it, but, at the very least, her performance as Dawn Summers—TV’s greatest little sister, still, to this day—will live on as one of the best to grace both the series and the genre itself. 

The post Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Dawn Summers Is TV’s Most Important Sister appeared first on Den of Geek.

A murder mystery set at a luxury coastal resort filled with wealthy, glamorous, hateful suspects? Somebody should make a TV show about that.  Somebody has, other than the makers of HBO’s eat-the-rich satire The White Lotus. The BBC’s latest Agatha Christie adaptation Towards Zero is a stylish whodunnit with a cast so good looking they could be whispering […]

The post Towards Zero Review: A Sizzling Agatha Christie Murder Mystery appeared first on Den of Geek.

After leaving high school behind in the season 3 finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggled to find its footing in young adulthood. Season 4 was an epic mix of highs and lows, with each episode being a toss-up between a series-defining masterpiece and a well-intended misfire. In the wake of that often disappointing 22-episode run, it was clear that Buffy needed a change of pace. By perfectly blending the show’s signature supernatural elements with relatable, grounded drama, season 5 is brave, moving, and masterful – thanks, in no small part, to the introduction of Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) brand-new little sister Dawn, played by Michelle Trachtenberg, who tragically passed away on Feb. 26, 2025.

In what remains one of the best teen drama twists of all time, season 5’s opening episode drops a bombshell before a quick cut-to-black: the young girl briefly shown in Buffy’s room is, according to their mother, her little sister—despite never being part of the series prior to this moment. As the season continues on, Buffy eventually learns that Dawn was created by a group of monks, transformed from a magical key into a person that Buffy herself would ultimately die to protect from an angry god. While this premise is as harebrained as it gets (and par for the course in the series’ supernatural wheelhouse), Dawn’s evolution from annoying little sister to beloved pillar of the show all circles back to the brilliant writing elevated by Trachtenberg’s vulnerable and moving performance. 

Dawn herself could have easily devolved into nothing more than a plot device. Her presence in the fifth season’s story is straightforward and often predictable, and, in less capable hands, it’s easy to see how one-note this key-turned-sister could’ve been. But from her very first full episode on the show (titled “Real Me,” season 5 episode 2), Trachtenberg imbues her with a tangibility that is only matched by Gellar’s early work on the series as Buffy herself. 

There’s a gentle touch behind every move Dawn makes, where her charming, troublemaking streak blends with her heartbreaking, grounded fear layered with a heavy dose of supernatural symbolism. Dawn questions whether or not she’s a real person deserving of love, mirroring the fears of many teenagers as they try to develop into themselves. Dawn acts out when Buffy’s larger-than-life stakes overshadow her teenage drama, injecting an even stronger inferiority complex against Buffy’s godly position within her family and friend group. 

In one of Trachtenberg’s greatest moments on Buffy, Dawn and Buffy regroup after a fight with the season’s Big Bad, and Buffy asks if Dawn is alright. Dawn asks why Buffy cares, she’s not really her sister, after all. She’s just an object that a group of monks made flesh, why should Buffy concern herself with her feelings? Who’s to say she even has them? But when Buffy takes her own blood and clasps Dawn’s bloody hand within her own, it’s clear that these two women are bound for life. Even without the Summers blood running through her veins, Buffy loves Dawn, and no amount of cosmic intervention could change that. 

While Gellar is often the focal point of the scene, Trachtenberg gives such a stunning performance, even after her lines have finished. You can see as she puts up her walls, preemptively shutting Buffy out before her sister can hurt her by insisting that she’s not a person at all. Those walls slowly come down throughout Buffy’s heartfelt speech, genuine love and surprise clouding Trachtenberg’s wide, blue eyes. When Buffy finally hugs her, her face fully collapses, crying into her sister’s shoulder as she finally admits that she’s just a scared kid, facing problems and obstacles far beyond her reach. 

💔 pic.twitter.com/U7JkdUQ8xm

— ໊ (@buffys) February 26, 2025

It’s that admission that defines Dawn’s arc throughout the rest of the season, elevated by the absolutely pitch-perfect performance given in that moment. Nine episodes later, when Buffy tells Dawn that the hardest thing in this world is to live in it before she jumps to her own death to save her sister’s life, it’s that blood-tying moment that Buffy flashes back to. Of course, it’s to explain just how and why Buffy can sacrifice herself in Dawn’s place, but it’s also to remind audiences that Dawn is, truly, just a scared kid who doesn’t believe her life is worth saving, especially over Buffy’s. 

Even if Dawn didn’t believe she was worth Buffy’s sacrifice at the time, Michelle Trachtenberg made us believe she was. She made us believe she was the little sister we never had, but always wanted; she made us believe in the power of teenage whims and the weight of heartache and sorrow on a soul too young to have gone through so much; she made us believe in the magnitude of both being a teenager and being a lynchpin in one of the greatest supernatural stories ever told. 

As the series goes on, Dawn becomes further enmeshed in the canon, despite only appearing in the final three seasons. She becomes Spike’s (James Marsters) odd-couple friend, she becomes Tara (Amber Benson) and Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) number one shipper before it was cool, and she becomes the narrative’s beating heart, long after Buffy herself lost some of the light that used to shine in her eyes. 

Trachtenberg brought humor, heart, light, and relatability to Dawn that allowed her to become one of the series’ most iconic figures, picking up the baton from Gellar to bring grounded, teenage drama back into a series that knew its hero needed to grow up. While fans have rallied for decades behind their assertions that Dawn was “annoying” and stilted the show’s evolution, this one-dimensional take on this ultimately iconic character diminishes not only importance of the teenage aspects of Buffy to the show’s everlasting legacy, but also the incredible performance Trachtenberg delivered across 66 episodes. 

In the twelfth episode of the final season, Xander (Nicholas Brennan) sits Dawn down for a pep talk. With their house overflowing with potential slayers and an apocalypse looming on the horizon, Dawn is feeling useless and frustrated as her sister and their friends all prepare for battle. He tells her that he knows what it’s like to not be “chosen,” to not be “special.” “You’re not special,” he flat-out tells her. Dawn takes a tearful pause, Trachtenberg plays her humility and disappointment with a marked grace; but Xander isn’t done: “You’re extraordinary.” She’s special not because she has infinite power and a calling to save the world, but simply because she cares enough to stand by those who do. If Buffy herself represents heroism by force, Dawn represents heroism by choice, inspired by her sister to do what is right and good, no matter the cost. 

Extraordinary feels like the perfect word to describe both Dawn and Trachtenberg. The kind of perfect storm created by a character and performance so moving and incredible that it defines the series itself, that it becomes seminal to the genre in a way that is absolutely undeniable. The world is infinitely less bright without Trachtenberg in it, but, at the very least, her performance as Dawn Summers—TV’s greatest little sister, still, to this day—will live on as one of the best to grace both the series and the genre itself. 

The post Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Dawn Summers Is TV’s Most Important Sister appeared first on Den of Geek.

When most people sign up for a Disney+ subscription, they’re probably thinking about catching up with Disney Channel Originals they loved as kids or watching the latest Marvel movie at home. For most, Disney+ means access to endless streams of frothy entertainment, with social issues presented in the form of cartoon allegories like Zootopia. The […]

The post One of the Best Oscar Nominated Documentaries Is Streaming Now on Disney+ appeared first on Den of Geek.

After leaving high school behind in the season 3 finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggled to find its footing in young adulthood. Season 4 was an epic mix of highs and lows, with each episode being a toss-up between a series-defining masterpiece and a well-intended misfire. In the wake of that often disappointing 22-episode run, it was clear that Buffy needed a change of pace. By perfectly blending the show’s signature supernatural elements with relatable, grounded drama, season 5 is brave, moving, and masterful – thanks, in no small part, to the introduction of Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) brand-new little sister Dawn, played by Michelle Trachtenberg, who tragically passed away on Feb. 26, 2025.

In what remains one of the best teen drama twists of all time, season 5’s opening episode drops a bombshell before a quick cut-to-black: the young girl briefly shown in Buffy’s room is, according to their mother, her little sister—despite never being part of the series prior to this moment. As the season continues on, Buffy eventually learns that Dawn was created by a group of monks, transformed from a magical key into a person that Buffy herself would ultimately die to protect from an angry god. While this premise is as harebrained as it gets (and par for the course in the series’ supernatural wheelhouse), Dawn’s evolution from annoying little sister to beloved pillar of the show all circles back to the brilliant writing elevated by Trachtenberg’s vulnerable and moving performance. 

Dawn herself could have easily devolved into nothing more than a plot device. Her presence in the fifth season’s story is straightforward and often predictable, and, in less capable hands, it’s easy to see how one-note this key-turned-sister could’ve been. But from her very first full episode on the show (titled “Real Me,” season 5 episode 2), Trachtenberg imbues her with a tangibility that is only matched by Gellar’s early work on the series as Buffy herself. 

There’s a gentle touch behind every move Dawn makes, where her charming, troublemaking streak blends with her heartbreaking, grounded fear layered with a heavy dose of supernatural symbolism. Dawn questions whether or not she’s a real person deserving of love, mirroring the fears of many teenagers as they try to develop into themselves. Dawn acts out when Buffy’s larger-than-life stakes overshadow her teenage drama, injecting an even stronger inferiority complex against Buffy’s godly position within her family and friend group. 

In one of Trachtenberg’s greatest moments on Buffy, Dawn and Buffy regroup after a fight with the season’s Big Bad, and Buffy asks if Dawn is alright. Dawn asks why Buffy cares, she’s not really her sister, after all. She’s just an object that a group of monks made flesh, why should Buffy concern herself with her feelings? Who’s to say she even has them? But when Buffy takes her own blood and clasps Dawn’s bloody hand within her own, it’s clear that these two women are bound for life. Even without the Summers blood running through her veins, Buffy loves Dawn, and no amount of cosmic intervention could change that. 

While Gellar is often the focal point of the scene, Trachtenberg gives such a stunning performance, even after her lines have finished. You can see as she puts up her walls, preemptively shutting Buffy out before her sister can hurt her by insisting that she’s not a person at all. Those walls slowly come down throughout Buffy’s heartfelt speech, genuine love and surprise clouding Trachtenberg’s wide, blue eyes. When Buffy finally hugs her, her face fully collapses, crying into her sister’s shoulder as she finally admits that she’s just a scared kid, facing problems and obstacles far beyond her reach. 

💔 pic.twitter.com/U7JkdUQ8xm

— ໊ (@buffys) February 26, 2025

It’s that admission that defines Dawn’s arc throughout the rest of the season, elevated by the absolutely pitch-perfect performance given in that moment. Nine episodes later, when Buffy tells Dawn that the hardest thing in this world is to live in it before she jumps to her own death to save her sister’s life, it’s that blood-tying moment that Buffy flashes back to. Of course, it’s to explain just how and why Buffy can sacrifice herself in Dawn’s place, but it’s also to remind audiences that Dawn is, truly, just a scared kid who doesn’t believe her life is worth saving, especially over Buffy’s. 

Even if Dawn didn’t believe she was worth Buffy’s sacrifice at the time, Michelle Trachtenberg made us believe she was. She made us believe she was the little sister we never had, but always wanted; she made us believe in the power of teenage whims and the weight of heartache and sorrow on a soul too young to have gone through so much; she made us believe in the magnitude of both being a teenager and being a lynchpin in one of the greatest supernatural stories ever told. 

As the series goes on, Dawn becomes further enmeshed in the canon, despite only appearing in the final three seasons. She becomes Spike’s (James Marsters) odd-couple friend, she becomes Tara (Amber Benson) and Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) number one shipper before it was cool, and she becomes the narrative’s beating heart, long after Buffy herself lost some of the light that used to shine in her eyes. 

Trachtenberg brought humor, heart, light, and relatability to Dawn that allowed her to become one of the series’ most iconic figures, picking up the baton from Gellar to bring grounded, teenage drama back into a series that knew its hero needed to grow up. While fans have rallied for decades behind their assertions that Dawn was “annoying” and stilted the show’s evolution, this one-dimensional take on this ultimately iconic character diminishes not only importance of the teenage aspects of Buffy to the show’s everlasting legacy, but also the incredible performance Trachtenberg delivered across 66 episodes. 

In the twelfth episode of the final season, Xander (Nicholas Brennan) sits Dawn down for a pep talk. With their house overflowing with potential slayers and an apocalypse looming on the horizon, Dawn is feeling useless and frustrated as her sister and their friends all prepare for battle. He tells her that he knows what it’s like to not be “chosen,” to not be “special.” “You’re not special,” he flat-out tells her. Dawn takes a tearful pause, Trachtenberg plays her humility and disappointment with a marked grace; but Xander isn’t done: “You’re extraordinary.” She’s special not because she has infinite power and a calling to save the world, but simply because she cares enough to stand by those who do. If Buffy herself represents heroism by force, Dawn represents heroism by choice, inspired by her sister to do what is right and good, no matter the cost. 

Extraordinary feels like the perfect word to describe both Dawn and Trachtenberg. The kind of perfect storm created by a character and performance so moving and incredible that it defines the series itself, that it becomes seminal to the genre in a way that is absolutely undeniable. The world is infinitely less bright without Trachtenberg in it, but, at the very least, her performance as Dawn Summers—TV’s greatest little sister, still, to this day—will live on as one of the best to grace both the series and the genre itself. 

The post Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Dawn Summers Is TV’s Most Important Sister appeared first on Den of Geek.

After leaving high school behind in the season 3 finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggled to find its footing in young adulthood. Season 4 was an epic mix of highs and lows, with each episode being a toss-up between a series-defining masterpiece and a well-intended misfire. In the wake of that often disappointing 22-episode run, […]

The post Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Dawn Summers Is TV’s Most Important Sister appeared first on Den of Geek.

After leaving high school behind in the season 3 finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggled to find its footing in young adulthood. Season 4 was an epic mix of highs and lows, with each episode being a toss-up between a series-defining masterpiece and a well-intended misfire. In the wake of that often disappointing 22-episode run, it was clear that Buffy needed a change of pace. By perfectly blending the show’s signature supernatural elements with relatable, grounded drama, season 5 is brave, moving, and masterful – thanks, in no small part, to the introduction of Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) brand-new little sister Dawn, played by Michelle Trachtenberg, who tragically passed away on Feb. 26, 2025.

In what remains one of the best teen drama twists of all time, season 5’s opening episode drops a bombshell before a quick cut-to-black: the young girl briefly shown in Buffy’s room is, according to their mother, her little sister—despite never being part of the series prior to this moment. As the season continues on, Buffy eventually learns that Dawn was created by a group of monks, transformed from a magical key into a person that Buffy herself would ultimately die to protect from an angry god. While this premise is as harebrained as it gets (and par for the course in the series’ supernatural wheelhouse), Dawn’s evolution from annoying little sister to beloved pillar of the show all circles back to the brilliant writing elevated by Trachtenberg’s vulnerable and moving performance. 

Dawn herself could have easily devolved into nothing more than a plot device. Her presence in the fifth season’s story is straightforward and often predictable, and, in less capable hands, it’s easy to see how one-note this key-turned-sister could’ve been. But from her very first full episode on the show (titled “Real Me,” season 5 episode 2), Trachtenberg imbues her with a tangibility that is only matched by Gellar’s early work on the series as Buffy herself. 

There’s a gentle touch behind every move Dawn makes, where her charming, troublemaking streak blends with her heartbreaking, grounded fear layered with a heavy dose of supernatural symbolism. Dawn questions whether or not she’s a real person deserving of love, mirroring the fears of many teenagers as they try to develop into themselves. Dawn acts out when Buffy’s larger-than-life stakes overshadow her teenage drama, injecting an even stronger inferiority complex against Buffy’s godly position within her family and friend group. 

In one of Trachtenberg’s greatest moments on Buffy, Dawn and Buffy regroup after a fight with the season’s Big Bad, and Buffy asks if Dawn is alright. Dawn asks why Buffy cares, she’s not really her sister, after all. She’s just an object that a group of monks made flesh, why should Buffy concern herself with her feelings? Who’s to say she even has them? But when Buffy takes her own blood and clasps Dawn’s bloody hand within her own, it’s clear that these two women are bound for life. Even without the Summers blood running through her veins, Buffy loves Dawn, and no amount of cosmic intervention could change that. 

While Gellar is often the focal point of the scene, Trachtenberg gives such a stunning performance, even after her lines have finished. You can see as she puts up her walls, preemptively shutting Buffy out before her sister can hurt her by insisting that she’s not a person at all. Those walls slowly come down throughout Buffy’s heartfelt speech, genuine love and surprise clouding Trachtenberg’s wide, blue eyes. When Buffy finally hugs her, her face fully collapses, crying into her sister’s shoulder as she finally admits that she’s just a scared kid, facing problems and obstacles far beyond her reach. 

💔 pic.twitter.com/U7JkdUQ8xm

— ໊ (@buffys) February 26, 2025

It’s that admission that defines Dawn’s arc throughout the rest of the season, elevated by the absolutely pitch-perfect performance given in that moment. Nine episodes later, when Buffy tells Dawn that the hardest thing in this world is to live in it before she jumps to her own death to save her sister’s life, it’s that blood-tying moment that Buffy flashes back to. Of course, it’s to explain just how and why Buffy can sacrifice herself in Dawn’s place, but it’s also to remind audiences that Dawn is, truly, just a scared kid who doesn’t believe her life is worth saving, especially over Buffy’s. 

Even if Dawn didn’t believe she was worth Buffy’s sacrifice at the time, Michelle Trachtenberg made us believe she was. She made us believe she was the little sister we never had, but always wanted; she made us believe in the power of teenage whims and the weight of heartache and sorrow on a soul too young to have gone through so much; she made us believe in the magnitude of both being a teenager and being a lynchpin in one of the greatest supernatural stories ever told. 

As the series goes on, Dawn becomes further enmeshed in the canon, despite only appearing in the final three seasons. She becomes Spike’s (James Marsters) odd-couple friend, she becomes Tara (Amber Benson) and Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) number one shipper before it was cool, and she becomes the narrative’s beating heart, long after Buffy herself lost some of the light that used to shine in her eyes. 

Trachtenberg brought humor, heart, light, and relatability to Dawn that allowed her to become one of the series’ most iconic figures, picking up the baton from Gellar to bring grounded, teenage drama back into a series that knew its hero needed to grow up. While fans have rallied for decades behind their assertions that Dawn was “annoying” and stilted the show’s evolution, this one-dimensional take on this ultimately iconic character diminishes not only importance of the teenage aspects of Buffy to the show’s everlasting legacy, but also the incredible performance Trachtenberg delivered across 66 episodes. 

In the twelfth episode of the final season, Xander (Nicholas Brennan) sits Dawn down for a pep talk. With their house overflowing with potential slayers and an apocalypse looming on the horizon, Dawn is feeling useless and frustrated as her sister and their friends all prepare for battle. He tells her that he knows what it’s like to not be “chosen,” to not be “special.” “You’re not special,” he flat-out tells her. Dawn takes a tearful pause, Trachtenberg plays her humility and disappointment with a marked grace; but Xander isn’t done: “You’re extraordinary.” She’s special not because she has infinite power and a calling to save the world, but simply because she cares enough to stand by those who do. If Buffy herself represents heroism by force, Dawn represents heroism by choice, inspired by her sister to do what is right and good, no matter the cost. 

Extraordinary feels like the perfect word to describe both Dawn and Trachtenberg. The kind of perfect storm created by a character and performance so moving and incredible that it defines the series itself, that it becomes seminal to the genre in a way that is absolutely undeniable. The world is infinitely less bright without Trachtenberg in it, but, at the very least, her performance as Dawn Summers—TV’s greatest little sister, still, to this day—will live on as one of the best to grace both the series and the genre itself. 

The post Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Dawn Summers Is TV’s Most Important Sister appeared first on Den of Geek.

“Rey Skywalker.” With those two words, the final words spoken in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, many fans threw up their hands in disgust. Honestly, no part of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker worked beyond clunky fan service that, ironically, only further alienated viewers. But even by those standards, Rey’s nonsense turn to adopt […]

The post Star Wars: Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling Have Opportunity to Ignore the Skywalker Saga appeared first on Den of Geek.

After leaving high school behind in the season 3 finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggled to find its footing in young adulthood. Season 4 was an epic mix of highs and lows, with each episode being a toss-up between a series-defining masterpiece and a well-intended misfire. In the wake of that often disappointing 22-episode run, it was clear that Buffy needed a change of pace. By perfectly blending the show’s signature supernatural elements with relatable, grounded drama, season 5 is brave, moving, and masterful – thanks, in no small part, to the introduction of Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) brand-new little sister Dawn, played by Michelle Trachtenberg, who tragically passed away on Feb. 26, 2025.

In what remains one of the best teen drama twists of all time, season 5’s opening episode drops a bombshell before a quick cut-to-black: the young girl briefly shown in Buffy’s room is, according to their mother, her little sister—despite never being part of the series prior to this moment. As the season continues on, Buffy eventually learns that Dawn was created by a group of monks, transformed from a magical key into a person that Buffy herself would ultimately die to protect from an angry god. While this premise is as harebrained as it gets (and par for the course in the series’ supernatural wheelhouse), Dawn’s evolution from annoying little sister to beloved pillar of the show all circles back to the brilliant writing elevated by Trachtenberg’s vulnerable and moving performance. 

Dawn herself could have easily devolved into nothing more than a plot device. Her presence in the fifth season’s story is straightforward and often predictable, and, in less capable hands, it’s easy to see how one-note this key-turned-sister could’ve been. But from her very first full episode on the show (titled “Real Me,” season 5 episode 2), Trachtenberg imbues her with a tangibility that is only matched by Gellar’s early work on the series as Buffy herself. 

There’s a gentle touch behind every move Dawn makes, where her charming, troublemaking streak blends with her heartbreaking, grounded fear layered with a heavy dose of supernatural symbolism. Dawn questions whether or not she’s a real person deserving of love, mirroring the fears of many teenagers as they try to develop into themselves. Dawn acts out when Buffy’s larger-than-life stakes overshadow her teenage drama, injecting an even stronger inferiority complex against Buffy’s godly position within her family and friend group. 

In one of Trachtenberg’s greatest moments on Buffy, Dawn and Buffy regroup after a fight with the season’s Big Bad, and Buffy asks if Dawn is alright. Dawn asks why Buffy cares, she’s not really her sister, after all. She’s just an object that a group of monks made flesh, why should Buffy concern herself with her feelings? Who’s to say she even has them? But when Buffy takes her own blood and clasps Dawn’s bloody hand within her own, it’s clear that these two women are bound for life. Even without the Summers blood running through her veins, Buffy loves Dawn, and no amount of cosmic intervention could change that. 

While Gellar is often the focal point of the scene, Trachtenberg gives such a stunning performance, even after her lines have finished. You can see as she puts up her walls, preemptively shutting Buffy out before her sister can hurt her by insisting that she’s not a person at all. Those walls slowly come down throughout Buffy’s heartfelt speech, genuine love and surprise clouding Trachtenberg’s wide, blue eyes. When Buffy finally hugs her, her face fully collapses, crying into her sister’s shoulder as she finally admits that she’s just a scared kid, facing problems and obstacles far beyond her reach. 

💔 pic.twitter.com/U7JkdUQ8xm

— ໊ (@buffys) February 26, 2025

It’s that admission that defines Dawn’s arc throughout the rest of the season, elevated by the absolutely pitch-perfect performance given in that moment. Nine episodes later, when Buffy tells Dawn that the hardest thing in this world is to live in it before she jumps to her own death to save her sister’s life, it’s that blood-tying moment that Buffy flashes back to. Of course, it’s to explain just how and why Buffy can sacrifice herself in Dawn’s place, but it’s also to remind audiences that Dawn is, truly, just a scared kid who doesn’t believe her life is worth saving, especially over Buffy’s. 

Even if Dawn didn’t believe she was worth Buffy’s sacrifice at the time, Michelle Trachtenberg made us believe she was. She made us believe she was the little sister we never had, but always wanted; she made us believe in the power of teenage whims and the weight of heartache and sorrow on a soul too young to have gone through so much; she made us believe in the magnitude of both being a teenager and being a lynchpin in one of the greatest supernatural stories ever told. 

As the series goes on, Dawn becomes further enmeshed in the canon, despite only appearing in the final three seasons. She becomes Spike’s (James Marsters) odd-couple friend, she becomes Tara (Amber Benson) and Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) number one shipper before it was cool, and she becomes the narrative’s beating heart, long after Buffy herself lost some of the light that used to shine in her eyes. 

Trachtenberg brought humor, heart, light, and relatability to Dawn that allowed her to become one of the series’ most iconic figures, picking up the baton from Gellar to bring grounded, teenage drama back into a series that knew its hero needed to grow up. While fans have rallied for decades behind their assertions that Dawn was “annoying” and stilted the show’s evolution, this one-dimensional take on this ultimately iconic character diminishes not only importance of the teenage aspects of Buffy to the show’s everlasting legacy, but also the incredible performance Trachtenberg delivered across 66 episodes. 

In the twelfth episode of the final season, Xander (Nicholas Brennan) sits Dawn down for a pep talk. With their house overflowing with potential slayers and an apocalypse looming on the horizon, Dawn is feeling useless and frustrated as her sister and their friends all prepare for battle. He tells her that he knows what it’s like to not be “chosen,” to not be “special.” “You’re not special,” he flat-out tells her. Dawn takes a tearful pause, Trachtenberg plays her humility and disappointment with a marked grace; but Xander isn’t done: “You’re extraordinary.” She’s special not because she has infinite power and a calling to save the world, but simply because she cares enough to stand by those who do. If Buffy herself represents heroism by force, Dawn represents heroism by choice, inspired by her sister to do what is right and good, no matter the cost. 

Extraordinary feels like the perfect word to describe both Dawn and Trachtenberg. The kind of perfect storm created by a character and performance so moving and incredible that it defines the series itself, that it becomes seminal to the genre in a way that is absolutely undeniable. The world is infinitely less bright without Trachtenberg in it, but, at the very least, her performance as Dawn Summers—TV’s greatest little sister, still, to this day—will live on as one of the best to grace both the series and the genre itself. 

The post Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Dawn Summers Is TV’s Most Important Sister appeared first on Den of Geek.

Warning: contains finale spoilers for Netflix’s Toxic Town. “Certain places get inside you, you know?” says Aimee Lou Wood’s character Tracey Taylor in Netflix’s Toxic Town. If Jack Thorne were a less sensitive screenwriter, that line might be seen as a gag in a drama about a group of mothers whose infants were poisoned in […]

The post Netflix’s Toxic Town Is a Battle Cry in Support of Experts and So-Called ‘Red Tape’ appeared first on Den of Geek.

After leaving high school behind in the season 3 finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggled to find its footing in young adulthood. Season 4 was an epic mix of highs and lows, with each episode being a toss-up between a series-defining masterpiece and a well-intended misfire. In the wake of that often disappointing 22-episode run, it was clear that Buffy needed a change of pace. By perfectly blending the show’s signature supernatural elements with relatable, grounded drama, season 5 is brave, moving, and masterful – thanks, in no small part, to the introduction of Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) brand-new little sister Dawn, played by Michelle Trachtenberg, who tragically passed away on Feb. 26, 2025.

In what remains one of the best teen drama twists of all time, season 5’s opening episode drops a bombshell before a quick cut-to-black: the young girl briefly shown in Buffy’s room is, according to their mother, her little sister—despite never being part of the series prior to this moment. As the season continues on, Buffy eventually learns that Dawn was created by a group of monks, transformed from a magical key into a person that Buffy herself would ultimately die to protect from an angry god. While this premise is as harebrained as it gets (and par for the course in the series’ supernatural wheelhouse), Dawn’s evolution from annoying little sister to beloved pillar of the show all circles back to the brilliant writing elevated by Trachtenberg’s vulnerable and moving performance. 

Dawn herself could have easily devolved into nothing more than a plot device. Her presence in the fifth season’s story is straightforward and often predictable, and, in less capable hands, it’s easy to see how one-note this key-turned-sister could’ve been. But from her very first full episode on the show (titled “Real Me,” season 5 episode 2), Trachtenberg imbues her with a tangibility that is only matched by Gellar’s early work on the series as Buffy herself. 

There’s a gentle touch behind every move Dawn makes, where her charming, troublemaking streak blends with her heartbreaking, grounded fear layered with a heavy dose of supernatural symbolism. Dawn questions whether or not she’s a real person deserving of love, mirroring the fears of many teenagers as they try to develop into themselves. Dawn acts out when Buffy’s larger-than-life stakes overshadow her teenage drama, injecting an even stronger inferiority complex against Buffy’s godly position within her family and friend group. 

In one of Trachtenberg’s greatest moments on Buffy, Dawn and Buffy regroup after a fight with the season’s Big Bad, and Buffy asks if Dawn is alright. Dawn asks why Buffy cares, she’s not really her sister, after all. She’s just an object that a group of monks made flesh, why should Buffy concern herself with her feelings? Who’s to say she even has them? But when Buffy takes her own blood and clasps Dawn’s bloody hand within her own, it’s clear that these two women are bound for life. Even without the Summers blood running through her veins, Buffy loves Dawn, and no amount of cosmic intervention could change that. 

While Gellar is often the focal point of the scene, Trachtenberg gives such a stunning performance, even after her lines have finished. You can see as she puts up her walls, preemptively shutting Buffy out before her sister can hurt her by insisting that she’s not a person at all. Those walls slowly come down throughout Buffy’s heartfelt speech, genuine love and surprise clouding Trachtenberg’s wide, blue eyes. When Buffy finally hugs her, her face fully collapses, crying into her sister’s shoulder as she finally admits that she’s just a scared kid, facing problems and obstacles far beyond her reach. 

💔 pic.twitter.com/U7JkdUQ8xm

— ໊ (@buffys) February 26, 2025

It’s that admission that defines Dawn’s arc throughout the rest of the season, elevated by the absolutely pitch-perfect performance given in that moment. Nine episodes later, when Buffy tells Dawn that the hardest thing in this world is to live in it before she jumps to her own death to save her sister’s life, it’s that blood-tying moment that Buffy flashes back to. Of course, it’s to explain just how and why Buffy can sacrifice herself in Dawn’s place, but it’s also to remind audiences that Dawn is, truly, just a scared kid who doesn’t believe her life is worth saving, especially over Buffy’s. 

Even if Dawn didn’t believe she was worth Buffy’s sacrifice at the time, Michelle Trachtenberg made us believe she was. She made us believe she was the little sister we never had, but always wanted; she made us believe in the power of teenage whims and the weight of heartache and sorrow on a soul too young to have gone through so much; she made us believe in the magnitude of both being a teenager and being a lynchpin in one of the greatest supernatural stories ever told. 

As the series goes on, Dawn becomes further enmeshed in the canon, despite only appearing in the final three seasons. She becomes Spike’s (James Marsters) odd-couple friend, she becomes Tara (Amber Benson) and Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) number one shipper before it was cool, and she becomes the narrative’s beating heart, long after Buffy herself lost some of the light that used to shine in her eyes. 

Trachtenberg brought humor, heart, light, and relatability to Dawn that allowed her to become one of the series’ most iconic figures, picking up the baton from Gellar to bring grounded, teenage drama back into a series that knew its hero needed to grow up. While fans have rallied for decades behind their assertions that Dawn was “annoying” and stilted the show’s evolution, this one-dimensional take on this ultimately iconic character diminishes not only importance of the teenage aspects of Buffy to the show’s everlasting legacy, but also the incredible performance Trachtenberg delivered across 66 episodes. 

In the twelfth episode of the final season, Xander (Nicholas Brennan) sits Dawn down for a pep talk. With their house overflowing with potential slayers and an apocalypse looming on the horizon, Dawn is feeling useless and frustrated as her sister and their friends all prepare for battle. He tells her that he knows what it’s like to not be “chosen,” to not be “special.” “You’re not special,” he flat-out tells her. Dawn takes a tearful pause, Trachtenberg plays her humility and disappointment with a marked grace; but Xander isn’t done: “You’re extraordinary.” She’s special not because she has infinite power and a calling to save the world, but simply because she cares enough to stand by those who do. If Buffy herself represents heroism by force, Dawn represents heroism by choice, inspired by her sister to do what is right and good, no matter the cost. 

Extraordinary feels like the perfect word to describe both Dawn and Trachtenberg. The kind of perfect storm created by a character and performance so moving and incredible that it defines the series itself, that it becomes seminal to the genre in a way that is absolutely undeniable. The world is infinitely less bright without Trachtenberg in it, but, at the very least, her performance as Dawn Summers—TV’s greatest little sister, still, to this day—will live on as one of the best to grace both the series and the genre itself. 

The post Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Dawn Summers Is TV’s Most Important Sister appeared first on Den of Geek.

It was a career highlight that “blew people away,” wrote Today. Her big moment “jolted awake” and stunned audiences, enthused the LA Times. And it was an “emotional career revelation,” as per The Independent. Such were the heaps of praise showered onto Demi Moore—albeit not for her genuinely amazing career highlight in Coralie Fargeat’s The […]

The post Oscars 2025: Demi Moore Could End the Academy’s Bias Against Horror appeared first on Den of Geek.

If the public response to Toxic Town, Jack Thorne’s new inspired-by-a-true-story Netflix drama, is half as energised as that of last year’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office, this won’t be the last we hear about this landmark legal case from 2009. The four-part series tells the true story of a group of mothers in the Northamptonshire town whose babies were born with upper and lower limb differences, as well as other health issues, as a result of toxins released due to negligent management of reclaimed wasteland by Corby Borough Council.

As well as an urgent story, Toxic Town has an excellent cast, featuring actors from Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Sex Education, Trainspotting and many more. Find out all about the characters and who’s playing them below.

Jodie Whittaker as Susan McIntyre

Susan McIntyre is a real Corby resident and the mother of Connor McIntyre, who was born with an upper limb difference as a result of poisons from toxic brownfield sites entering Susan’s system during pregnancy. She was one of 18 women with children harmed by the toxins who, along with solicitor Des Collins, took Corby Borough Council to court in 2009.

She’s played by former Doctor Who actor Jodie Whittaker, who flew the TARDIS between 2017 and 2022 (and continues to voice the 13th Doctor in audio stories), and who in 2023 gave an acclaimed performance opposite The Last of Us‘ Bella Ramsey in the second series of Jimmy McGovern’s prison-set drama Time. Whittaker will soon be seen alongside Suranne Jones in crime drama Frauds.

Aimee Lou Wood as Tracey Taylor

Tracey Taylor is another real Corby resident whose family was seriously affected by the toxins carried by dust from the reclaimed steelworks site. Her husband Mark is played by Matthew Durkan.

Tracey is played by Aimee Lou Wood, who established her name alongside fellow stars Ncuti Gatwa and Emma Mackey in Netflix’s teen comedy-drama Sex Education, and has been booked and busy ever since. Wood is filming a second series of BBC comedy Daddy Issues with David Morrissey, starred with Bill Nighy in feature film Living, and is currently appearing in season three of the hottest show around, HBO’s The White Lotus opposite Walton Goggins.

Rory Kinnear as Des Collins

Des Collins is the real solicitor who led the negligence claim against Corby Borough Council alongside 18 of the mothers whose pregnancies were affected by the toxins. As mentioned in the drama, he and his firm also represented train crash victims of the Southall and Paddington rail disasters.

He’s played by Rory Kinnear, a much-loved British screen and stage actor (and incidentally, the son of another well-loved actor: Roy Kinnear) seen recently in the role of Dave “Bank of Dave” Fishwick in Netflix’s follow-up film to the first. He’s been in Bond films, played John Clare in Penny Dreadful (and came back for sequel City of Angels), recently starred in The Diplomat and played Tom Bombadil in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Brendan Coyle as Roy Thomas

Corby Borough Council Labour deputy leader and then leader Roy Thomas is a fictionalised character based, as it says in Toxic Town‘s closing credits, “…on a number of men, none of whom lived to see their plans for Corby fully realised.”

He’s played by Brendan Coyle, who’s well known for playing the Earl of Grantham’s valet Mr Bates in the Downton Abbey TV series and feature film spin-offs. In between playing Bates, he slotted in a role in BBC crime drama Requiem and film Mary Queen of Scots, and before that, he played Robert in Lark Rise to Candleford and appeared in a huge range of TV dramas from Prime Suspect to literary adaptation North and South to Dangerfield and many more.

Robert Carlyle as Sam Hagen

Sam Hagen was a real Corby Borough Councillor who raised concerns about corner-cutting in the steelworks reclamation process. Toxic Town is dedicated to his memory.

He’s played by Scottish actor Robert Carlyle, who came to fame in the 1990s after TV roles in Jimmy McGovern’s Cracker and the BBC’s Hamish Macbeth, and in films Trainspotting and The Full Monty, and has since done all sorts, from Bond films to a long stint in US ABC fantasy Once Upon a Time, before returning to The Full Monty‘s TV sequel and taking the lead in Sky political thriller COBRA.

Joe Dempsie as Derek Mahon

Derek Mahon was a real employee of the company who carried out the groundworks at the former steelworks reclamation site. He and his wife Maggie Mahon (played by Bridgerton and Line of Duty‘s Claudia Jessie) had a child affected by the toxins released in the process. He’s played by Joe Dempsie, a well-known actor whose career started out in Channel 4 teen drama Skins, and who went on to play Gendry in Game of Thrones, and have prominent roles in Adult Material, Showtrial and many more acclaimed dramas. He can soon be seen in Channel 4 crime drama Get Millie Black.

Karla Crome as Pattie Walker

Actor-writer Karla Crome plays Pattie Walker, a character whose child was born with limb difference as a result of the toxins. Crome’s biggest previous roles were in Misfits, Under the Dome and Carnival Row, as well as BBC comedy-drama Am I Being Unreasonable?

ALSO APPEARING

– Bridgerton‘s Eloise Claudia Jessie as real-life Corby mother Maggie Mahon
– Domina and Our Girl’s Ben Batt as fictional business owner Pat Miller
– Boiling Point and The North Water’s Stephen McMillan as council engineer Ted Jenkins
– This is England and The Gallows Pole’s Michael Socha as Susan’s partner Peter
– Endeavour and Until I Kill You’s Simon Harrison as fictional council worker Bill Martin
– Daddy Issues’ and Outlander’s Matthew Durkan as Tracey’s husband Mark Taylor
– Karen Pirie, The Outrun and Vigil’s Lauren Lyle plays real-life case solicitor Dani Holliday
– EastEnders’ Kheerat, aka Jaz Singh Deol, plays the council chief executive
– Newcomer Ralph Falkingham plays Susan’s son Connor McIntyre

All episodes of Toxic Town are streaming now on Netflix.

The post Toxic Town Cast: Meet the Netflix True Story Drama’s Characters appeared first on Den of Geek.

This article contains spoilers for INVINCIBLE season 3 episode 6. Three seasons in to its planned multiple-season run, Prime Video animated superhero saga Invincible has already built up a hell of a rogues’ gallery for its titular hero. From largely ineffective irritants like Elephant and Doc Seismic to threatening heavies like Angstrom Levy and Machine Head, young […]

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If the public response to Toxic Town, Jack Thorne’s new inspired-by-a-true-story Netflix drama, is half as energised as that of last year’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office, this won’t be the last we hear about this landmark legal case from 2009. The four-part series tells the true story of a group of mothers in the Northamptonshire town whose babies were born with upper and lower limb differences, as well as other health issues, as a result of toxins released due to negligent management of reclaimed wasteland by Corby Borough Council.

As well as an urgent story, Toxic Town has an excellent cast, featuring actors from Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Sex Education, Trainspotting and many more. Find out all about the characters and who’s playing them below.

Jodie Whittaker as Susan McIntyre

Susan McIntyre is a real Corby resident and the mother of Connor McIntyre, who was born with an upper limb difference as a result of poisons from toxic brownfield sites entering Susan’s system during pregnancy. She was one of 18 women with children harmed by the toxins who, along with solicitor Des Collins, took Corby Borough Council to court in 2009.

She’s played by former Doctor Who actor Jodie Whittaker, who flew the TARDIS between 2017 and 2022 (and continues to voice the 13th Doctor in audio stories), and who in 2023 gave an acclaimed performance opposite The Last of Us‘ Bella Ramsey in the second series of Jimmy McGovern’s prison-set drama Time. Whittaker will soon be seen alongside Suranne Jones in crime drama Frauds.

Aimee Lou Wood as Tracey Taylor

Tracey Taylor is another real Corby resident whose family was seriously affected by the toxins carried by dust from the reclaimed steelworks site. Her husband Mark is played by Matthew Durkan.

Tracey is played by Aimee Lou Wood, who established her name alongside fellow stars Ncuti Gatwa and Emma Mackey in Netflix’s teen comedy-drama Sex Education, and has been booked and busy ever since. Wood is filming a second series of BBC comedy Daddy Issues with David Morrissey, starred with Bill Nighy in feature film Living, and is currently appearing in season three of the hottest show around, HBO’s The White Lotus opposite Walton Goggins.

Rory Kinnear as Des Collins

Des Collins is the real solicitor who led the negligence claim against Corby Borough Council alongside 18 of the mothers whose pregnancies were affected by the toxins. As mentioned in the drama, he and his firm also represented train crash victims of the Southall and Paddington rail disasters.

He’s played by Rory Kinnear, a much-loved British screen and stage actor (and incidentally, the son of another well-loved actor: Roy Kinnear) seen recently in the role of Dave “Bank of Dave” Fishwick in Netflix’s follow-up film to the first. He’s been in Bond films, played John Clare in Penny Dreadful (and came back for sequel City of Angels), recently starred in The Diplomat and played Tom Bombadil in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Brendan Coyle as Roy Thomas

Corby Borough Council Labour deputy leader and then leader Roy Thomas is a fictionalised character based, as it says in Toxic Town‘s closing credits, “…on a number of men, none of whom lived to see their plans for Corby fully realised.”

He’s played by Brendan Coyle, who’s well known for playing the Earl of Grantham’s valet Mr Bates in the Downton Abbey TV series and feature film spin-offs. In between playing Bates, he slotted in a role in BBC crime drama Requiem and film Mary Queen of Scots, and before that, he played Robert in Lark Rise to Candleford and appeared in a huge range of TV dramas from Prime Suspect to literary adaptation North and South to Dangerfield and many more.

Robert Carlyle as Sam Hagen

Sam Hagen was a real Corby Borough Councillor who raised concerns about corner-cutting in the steelworks reclamation process. Toxic Town is dedicated to his memory.

He’s played by Scottish actor Robert Carlyle, who came to fame in the 1990s after TV roles in Jimmy McGovern’s Cracker and the BBC’s Hamish Macbeth, and in films Trainspotting and The Full Monty, and has since done all sorts, from Bond films to a long stint in US ABC fantasy Once Upon a Time, before returning to The Full Monty‘s TV sequel and taking the lead in Sky political thriller COBRA.

Joe Dempsie as Derek Mahon

Derek Mahon was a real employee of the company who carried out the groundworks at the former steelworks reclamation site. He and his wife Maggie Mahon (played by Bridgerton and Line of Duty‘s Claudia Jessie) had a child affected by the toxins released in the process. He’s played by Joe Dempsie, a well-known actor whose career started out in Channel 4 teen drama Skins, and who went on to play Gendry in Game of Thrones, and have prominent roles in Adult Material, Showtrial and many more acclaimed dramas. He can soon be seen in Channel 4 crime drama Get Millie Black.

Karla Crome as Pattie Walker

Actor-writer Karla Crome plays Pattie Walker, a character whose child was born with limb difference as a result of the toxins. Crome’s biggest previous roles were in Misfits, Under the Dome and Carnival Row, as well as BBC comedy-drama Am I Being Unreasonable?

ALSO APPEARING

– Bridgerton‘s Eloise Claudia Jessie as real-life Corby mother Maggie Mahon
– Domina and Our Girl’s Ben Batt as fictional business owner Pat Miller
– Boiling Point and The North Water’s Stephen McMillan as council engineer Ted Jenkins
– This is England and The Gallows Pole’s Michael Socha as Susan’s partner Peter
– Endeavour and Until I Kill You’s Simon Harrison as fictional council worker Bill Martin
– Daddy Issues’ and Outlander’s Matthew Durkan as Tracey’s husband Mark Taylor
– Karen Pirie, The Outrun and Vigil’s Lauren Lyle plays real-life case solicitor Dani Holliday
– EastEnders’ Kheerat, aka Jaz Singh Deol, plays the council chief executive
– Newcomer Ralph Falkingham plays Susan’s son Connor McIntyre

All episodes of Toxic Town are streaming now on Netflix.

The post Toxic Town Cast: Meet the Netflix True Story Drama’s Characters appeared first on Den of Geek.