Killed by Death
side note: I can't function under a 3 pic per post restriction
A lot of fans think the
Normal Again reveal was a horrible retcon but I think it fits well what was shown in the early seasons. In this episode Buffy was fine being in a hospital, a little whimsical from medication, but when they tell her she has to spend the night as a patient, that she isn't allowed to leave, she freaks out and has to be held down & sedated. "The vampires! I have to kill the vampires! They're out there. Giles, tell them." She begs her mom, "I want to go home. Please don't make me stay here." Seeing her get injected while trying to get away is a lot like her first hallucination in NA. It would've been nice continuity if they had the same doctor. At least the doctor is black in both.
In the prequel
Slayer Interrupted there was a demon preying on patients in the psych ward when Buffy was there and she had to kill it. She really does have good reason to hate hospitals.
There is something about Buffy wearing a cross necklace in a hospital. In s7 Holden told her one of the theories her peers had was that she was super religious.
I like the wheelchair & pink blanket. It showed how serious it was. This wasn't the fever from school. She even asked "Is it the same thing the kids have?" She tells Ryan "I've already got what you've got." And when she fights dar kindestod she puns "You make me sick." Even then her Slayer immune system healed her so fast she had to dose herself with the virus so she could see him.
Look how these scenes between Buffy (8 in '89) & Buffy (17 in '98) are paralleled. In both her hair is down, her dress is the same length, her shoes/socks are white. It is a full body shot from behind, then the front is closer and closer and closer. Corridors are so creepy, a liminal space.
Someone mentioned that this was originally going to be a s1 episode. There is a s1 ep of Supernatural called
Something Wicked that parallels
Killed by Death. In it a creature targets children causing an epidemic, Dean remembers that when he was 10 it tried to kill his brother. He gets the chance to kill the creature and save more kids. In that one it was the doctor but here that was a red herring.
When Buffy was 8 she cosplayed as a cape wearing superhero. In s7 she says "It's about power, who's got it, and who knows how to use it" & "I use the power that I have." She saw herself as Power Girl to save people and not to feel better than others. She has never been power hungry. It's always been about altruism and responsibility. She's a Gryffinpuff.
It's heartbreaking that the play acting had Celia calling out to Buffy "Help! Help me!" and her murder she's screaming for Buffy to help her.
Do you think when Buffy was 15 and tried to tell her parents about the paranormal they tied it to her trauma 7 years earlier in seeing her cousin die screaming in delirium?
I like the parallel between Celia in the past and Buffy in the present. Sleeping in a hospital bed, being attacked by dar kindestod. Some think Buffy shouldn't of killed him so easily but he was a child predator, attacked the defenseless. Just like with Dean, it was an easy kill, a snap of the neck v gunshots.
