Normal Again as the series finale?

[WileyDairyGnome]

I saw this on Tumblr and it got me curious. How would you have reacted to that?

 

[Xin Rong]

It would have been interesting, and would have probably been controversial enough to get buffy mentioned in any discussion over tv endings. I would have hated it, I enjoyed it as a slightly comic end to an episode, but as the actual end, No! I would have been mortified, it would have felt like a cop out, and would have upset. It may sound sad, but for me the buffyverse is 'real,' or we are supposed to see it as such, so for it all to be a figment of a deranged girls imagination would have been disastrous for me.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I would have been absolutely, without a doubt, enraged. I hated "Normal Again", and if that was the series finale, it would have felt like a kick in the teeth to those of us diehard fans who loved the show and invested so much time in these characters.

 

[Taake]

I like Normal Again, I like the concept of it, and I think it's a great episode. Had it been the finale it certainly would have been interesting as long as they left the question of whether it was only in Buffy's head or not was up to the viewer's choice.

But I still don't think I would have liked it, it would have been a little bit too much Bobby in the shower in Dallas, ooh this year was just a dream, nevermind it..., only with the entire show... I felt like it would have undermined a lot of it

 

[ashleigh]

I think I might have cried if Normal Again had been the series finale. I like to pretend that this episode doesn't exist, and that would be hard if it was the series finale.

Really, even though it's not the series finale, it still poses the question of whether everything before and after it is just in Buffy's imagination. It would have been a bit too much if it was the finale.

"The Gift" should have been the series finale in my opinion. 😛

 

[Living Dead Boy]

As the series finale? Nope. Like others have said, it would feel like a cop out, and it would undermine everything we've seen. But as an episode, I thought it was absolutely brilliant. Never understood the hate for it, IMO.

 

[Vamp Jenny]

I knew someone who liked Buffy too and said it would have been a great ending to the serie.

I think it would have been a waste. I didn't like that episode much and to have it be the end of the serie would have been the worst mistake ever.

 

[JCoatsworth]

This would have been the twist of the twists. I don't think it would have been very well liked though.
I don't think you can do something like that to the fans. I for one wouldn't have liked it.

It would have been a bit like in Roseanne

Spoiler

when we learn in the last episode that Dan's dead and Roseanne wrote everything since then in her book.

Only to a greater degree, in my opinion.

 

[Robb Stark]

I thought that the episode worked as a vehicle to help drive the over-arching message of the sixth season, but as a finale to the entire series? No, that wouldn't have worked for me at all.

It was fun, in a silly sort of way, to see the doctors explaining all of the inconsistencies of the series to Buffy in the hospital, but after six amazing seasons, to end the series like that would have been a major let down. I know that the episode has an ambiguous ending, but I don't think we were ever supposed to take that seriously. I've read an interview with JW where he talked about how much fun they had writing that episode because the entire Buffyverse is really all in his head. I think it was a bit of a joke from him.

As part of the S6 arc, with Buffy figuring out how to deal with everyday life, it worked well I thought. Her sort of realizing that the big problems in life aren't just solved with quick fixes, that you have to work at them, and that they don't just go away if you close yourself off to them. In that mold, it worked well.

 

[Valjavertjinn]

I wouldn't like that at all. I sort of skirt around that episode, and don't like to think of it as canon.
And I would be VERY mad if it was the ending.

 

[white avenger]

Having the series end with "Normal Again" the way that it was presented would have been ending with a sense of hopelessness, and that I could not abide. If the episode had ended on a hopeful note, say, for instance, Buffy manages to recognize and escape from her fantasy world, then I could accept it. Especially if all of the other cast characters turn out to be real people in the real world, people who Buffy knows and loves.

But just ending with a final shot of that broken, haunted girl, with absolutely no hope for any kind of recovery? I would have hunted Joss down and dismembered him slowly.

 

[Jodast]

This would have been an insult to the fans and lazy writing in the extreme. It was all a dream,they were dead all along, it's just imaginary etc has been done to death well before Buffy came along and I would certainly not be the Whedon fanboy I am today had that been the ending.

Spoiler for the end of another show ahead....

Spoiler

It might have forced the writers of Lost to come up with an imaginitve explanation though. 2 shows in 6 years with essentially the same ending would have caused a riot

 

[BuffyElevated]

This would have been the twist of the twists. I don't think it would have been very well liked though.
I don't think you can do something like that to the fans. I for one wouldn't have liked it.

Definitely agree. I feel like the episode, as it is, feels like a slap in the face to the fans, and if it was the series finale Joss Whedon would have gotten some serious hate mail from me.

 

[EVIL UU]

I'd like that. Scratch that. I'd LOVE that.

Why? Because it makes sense.

Buffy is an incoherent mess, nothing makes sense in this show, NOTHING. The lore doesn't make sense, the magic doesn't make sense, characters don't make sense, the world makes no sense at all, OK? And I still love it because of attractive people, funny puns and those rocket launcher/hammer to the face moments and don't you judge me ,)

Buffy being mentally ill person? It makes perfect sense.

 

[Aloverssoulz]

I'd have found it interesting the first time I watch it, but i'd murder any desire to re-watch the series.

 

[JCoatsworth]

I'd like that. Scratch that. I'd LOVE that.

Why? Because it makes sense.

Buffy is an incoherent mess, nothing makes sense in this show, NOTHING. The lore doesn't make sense, the magic doesn't make sense, characters don't make sense, the world makes no sense at all, OK? And I still love it because of attractive people, funny puns and those rocket launcher/hammer to the face moments and don't you judge me ,)

Buffy being mentally ill person? It makes perfect sense.

Your notion of this show seems rather peculiar to me...

 

[brinkster130]

It would have made for an interesting but frustrating end to the series. I have a feeling that if it was the finale that people could easily "forget" about it and not let it influence their enjoyment of the show.

 

[Ripper666]

I think I would have fall into a deep psycho-trauma. Laying in the corner like Buffy in the picture and murmuring to myself: It can't end like that, it simply can't!
😀 😀

 

[Bluebird]

Nah, Buffy's way too much of an intelligent show to have ended on a overdone tacky ending like that. The whole point of the show was to show Buffy growing up and overcoming life's challenges, and I think if they'd used the Normal Again ending it would have ignored all of that.

 

[MarlieTheSlayer]

I like the episode, but as final episode? NO WAY!