"Normal Again" Or, Why Every Episode After "The Gift" is Canonically Non-Canon

[NotASlayer]

So, this is about the infamous ending of this episode, in which Buffy has supposedly been having hallucinations.

At the end of the episode, after Buffy has supposedly stopped hallucinating, there is a final scene. That shows she wasn't hallucinating at all, and has now retreated into a fantasy world. Now, some have argued that this is one last hallucination, a lingering effect of the demon's drug. However, this is not shown as such.

Buffy has no idea the "hallucination" is happening. If the person having the hallucination doesn't know it's happening, it's not a hallucination she's having. It's real. This is compounded by how it's shot; if this was Buffy's hallucination, it would be shown from her viewpoint; instead it's shown from the viewpoint of those looking at her. Conclusion: The Buffyverse is the hallucination and the last two seasons are actually Buffy the Mental Patient, not Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Why only the last two seasons if the Buffyverse is a hallucination? Why not all of them?

Well, the characters in S6&7 are not the ones from S1-5. Plus, this isn't the same Sunnydale. Consider the Sunnydale of the first five seasons. It's coastal, as it has docks and a beach, and is surrounded by trees. The desert needed driving to. The Sunnydale at the end of S7 was an inland town surrounded by desert. Not a tree in sight. Nowhere for trees to grow. The lush woods of, for example, "Listening to Fear", did not exist around it and could not exist around it; the climate was simply wrong.

So, seasons 6&7 are different characters in a different Sunnydale. And one that is, according to canon, the hallucination of a mental patient who has now completely broken from reality. Making the final two seasons, according to canon, non-canon.

Discuss...

😀

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

This episode is never referenced by another episode, right? Then I am happy to dismiss it as a one off idea that's interesting but has no larger significance to the larger story.

 

[NotASlayer]

This episode is never referenced by another episode, right? Then I am happy to dismiss it as a one off idea that's interesting but has no larger significance to the larger story.

Well, it would never be mentioned again, because what is shown is Buffy having a complete break from reality. So, as long as the viewpoint is inside Buffy's fantasy world, nothing would be shown outside it. Not mentioning it again doesn't make it irrelevant.

Yes, I know that the real reason is because the writing in S6 is what even the writers admitted was pure drek.

 

[nightshade]

How does that affect Angel seasons 4 and 5?

 

[NotASlayer]

It would make those non-canon too, and S3 is on shaky ground. There isn't much interaction, but Buffy's return is mentioned.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I absolutely hate "Normal Again" and I will never accept that Buffy's world was a hallucination.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

This episode sort of haunts me because what if all of this is in Buffy's mind, and she really is just a mentally ill girl in an asylum who believes she is a vampire slayer?

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Well, it would never be mentioned again, because what is shown is Buffy having a complete break from reality. So, as long as the viewpoint is inside Buffy's fantasy world, nothing would be shown outside it. Not mentioning it again doesn't make it irrelevant.

Yes, I know that the real reason is because the writing in S6 is what even the writers admitted was pure drek.

Okay, a changed premise of that magnitude would be really important. It change how all Buffy, Angel and Fray stories are written and viewed, right? But if nobody ever brings it up again, it's not really important. So, I feel safe in ignoring the implications, as if the writers can't explain a plot twist of that magnitude, I don't feel it is incumbent to me to take it into consideration.

It's like when the X-Files decided there were no aliens, but didn't bother to explain how that worked with the existing alien encounters?

 

[thrasherpix]

I know someone who loved Buffy, but after watching this ep he said he turned off the TV and just went to bed very upset. He stopped watching it so this ep was the last Buffy ep for him. It was many years later while talking to me that he decided to give the series a rewatch, but was careful to skip this episode.

I'm glad to say it didn't affect me that way, but I'm a little jealous that he could be so engrossed in the show that this episode would seemingly traumatize him!

 

[NotASlayer]

I absolutely hate "Normal Again" and I will never accept that Buffy's world was a hallucination.

This episode sort of haunts me because what if all of this is in Buffy's mind, and she really is just a mentally ill girl in an asylum who believes she is a vampire slayer?

I know someone who loved Buffy, but after watching this ep he said he turned off the TV and just went to bed very upset. He stopped watching it so this ep was the last Buffy ep for him. It was many years later while talking to me that he decided to give the series a rewatch, but was careful to skip this episode.

I'm glad to say it didn't affect me that way, but I'm a little jealous that he could be so engrossed in the show that this episode would seemingly traumatize him!

It is probably the episode most offensive in its treatment of fans in the entire series.

Okay, a changed premise of that magnitude would be really important. It change how all Buffy, Angel and Fray stories are written and viewed, right? But if nobody ever brings it up again, it's not really important. So, I feel safe in ignoring the implications, as if the writers can't explain a plot twist of that magnitude, I don't feel it is incumbent to me to take it into consideration.

It's like when the X-Files decided there were no aliens, but didn't bother to explain how that worked with the existing alien encounters?

The difference is that, if it was true, it would never come up again. Unlike in The X-Files. By its very nature, Buffy has at this point completely broken from reality and would never consider it again. Perhaps, years later with improvements in treatments, the real world could try and break into her hallucination again, but until then, how the series presents itself is consistent with it being Buffy's hallucination.

@thrasherpix I find it completely impossible to reconcile the two Sunnydales. The second one is very definitely not the same one as in S1-5; it cannot be. That means that whatever S6&7 are, they are not in the same continuity as S1-5.

 

[BuffyElevated]

It is probably the episode most offensive in its treatment of fans in the entire series.

This. The first time I saw it, I felt furious with Joss and the writers. It felt like a slap in the face to the fandom who love and support the show so much.

 

[NoShip]

The actual problem is that by S6 the writers, especially Whedon, had come to believe the press about how awesome they were, and, stopped caring about what the audience rhought.

Hence, S6's trauma porn & just revelling in all the abuse & incoherent plots & incoherent characterizations & vanity episodes & continuity breaks & on & on & on.

On top of eveeything else, Marty Noxon was installed as showrunner and she was an absolute failure in S6 and S7 as well.

 

[Tome]

The actual problem is that by S6 the writers, especially Whedon, had come to believe the press about how awesome they were, and, stopped caring about what the audience rhought.

Hence, S6's trauma porn & just revelling in all the abuse & incoherent plots & incoherent characterizations & vanity episodes & continuity breaks & on & on & on.

On top of eveeything else, Marty Noxon was installed as showrunner and she was an absolute failure in S6 and S7 as well.

Damn, you really do hate S6 and S7. I think S7 is the weakest in the show, but it was still quality television since it was Buffy. As for S6, it's always been quite a meaningful season for me. My main issues with it were the Trio and some episodes that were just kind of boring.

As for OP, 'Normal Again' is a great WHAT IF episode. I've always enjoyed it as SMG does some of her best acting in it. That being said, it's pretty clear that all of it couldn't have been in Buffy's head, because we see through the perspective of so many other characters in the Buffyverse. That sort of twist could have worked in a different story or medium, maybe... unreliable narrator and all... but not in this show.

 

[NotASlayer]

As for OP, 'Normal Again' is a great WHAT IF episode. I've always enjoyed it as SMG does some of her best acting in it. That being said, it's pretty clear that all of it couldn't have been in Buffy's head, because we see through the perspective of so many other characters in the Buffyverse. That sort of twist could have worked in a different story or medium, maybe... unreliable narrator and all... but not in this show.

Ah, but we should never have seen from the POV of Joyce, Hank and the doctor at the end if they were a hallucination. And if it's argued that we could view from the POV of a hallucination, then all the character viewpoints during the episode are that, and the final viewpoint, being Buffy has broken from reality at this point, is the actual one.

In truth, it's because of lousy, downright insulting writing.

 

[NoShip]

Damn, you really do hate S6 and S7. I think S7 is the weakest in the show, but it was still quality television since it was Buffy. As for S6, it's always been quite a meaningful season for me. My main issues with it were the Trio and some episodes that were just kind of boring.

For me S6 is where Buffy fell of a cliff. The quality writing that I had enjoyed for 5 years basically disappeared. A new showrunner took over and she decided to change everything that had gone before, and, worst of all, she produced a show (not just a few episodes) that was kinda boring.

S6 lacked the funny, quirky, cooly weird, one off episodes that every other season, including S7, had. I think "Normal Again" was supposed to be this, but, it didn't work.

Seeing the entire cast spend the entire season meander around and through various pits of despair every week got really old. "Boring" is a word I NEVER thought I would use in connection with anything Buffy. And yet, "Boring" is a great description for much of S6.

To me The Trio, as assinine as that concept was, were the only storylines to look forward to. At least they provided some despedately needed comic relief.

I see S6 as worse than S7. At least S7 had a plot. It was a really bad plot, but, it was a plot. I could never really figure out what S6's plot actually was beyond "Life Sucks". Other than Gellar, the acting was mediocre at best. Again, The Trio's reveling in their own redicliousness was a highlight.

So..... IMNSHO I don't hate S6, BUT, I really don't have much good to say about it. One truly good thing I can unreservedly say is that, as bad as S6 is, it was and is far better than about 80% of all TV shows ever shown.

 

[thetopher]

The only way I can square 'Normal Again' with what came before is that the demon juice gave Buffy the delusion that she had once been in a mental institute, it not only warps her sense of reality and self but also her memory.
My evidence is that Buffy being in an asylum was never mentioned before or after this episode; and it certainly would've been mentioned before, or we would've seen a reaction from Joyce to Buffy's previously witnessed claims of vampires with alarm rather than puzzlement.

Buffy mentions vampires in Joyce's presence 3 times; in S1 'The Witch', when she's under a spell's influence, and S2 'Killed By Death' when she's sick, feverish and hallucinating.
Oh, and in S2 'Bad Eggs' when Joyce angrily asks why Buffy was late at the mall and Buffy- jokingly- says that she was slaying a vampire. Oh, right, yeah, definite trauma evident from being put in a loony bin for claiming this exact thing.
Also so Buffy never threw this fact in her Mom's face during their many arguments over her calling post-Becoming? Yeah, nah its clear the writers forgot and reconned this for stupid martyr-drama.
A lot of S6's crappy writing problems come about through stupid ill-considered short-term writing choices that principally harm character, Joyce's were just retroactive and- again- make zero sense in the context of the previous seasons.

The other explanation is that its a post-Dawn invented memory that one of the monks put in to give Dawn's living experience a bit of verisimilitude, which is messed up monks, what the hell?

 

[garfan]

The only way I can square 'Normal Again' with what came before is that the demon juice gave Buffy the delusion that she had once been in a mental institute, it not only warps her sense of reality and self but also her memory.
My evidence is that Buffy being in an asylum was never mentioned before or after this episode; and it certainly would've been mentioned before, or we would've seen a reaction from Joyce to Buffy's previously witnessed claims of vampires with alarm rather than puzzlement.

Buffy mentions vampires in Joyce's presence 3 times; in S1 'The Witch', when she's under a spell's influence, and S2 'Killed By Death' when she's sick, feverish and hallucinating.
Oh, and in S2 'Bad Eggs' when Joyce angrily asks why Buffy was late at the mall and Buffy- jokingly- says that she was slaying a vampire. Oh, right, yeah, definite trauma evident from being put in a loony bin for claiming this exact thing.
Also so Buffy never threw this fact in her Mom's face during their many arguments over her calling post-Becoming? Yeah, nah its clear the writers forgot and reconned this for stupid martyr-drama.
A lot of S6's crappy writing problems come about through stupid ill-considered short-term writing choices that principally harm character, Joyce's were just retroactive and- again- make zero sense in the context of the previous seasons.

The other explanation is that its a post-Dawn invented memory that one of the monks put in to give Dawn's living experience a bit of verisimilitude, which is messed up monks, what the hell?

the non-canon pre- season 8 comics did have Dawn responsible for it by reading Buffy's diary and telling their parents about the crazyness

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

IIRC, one of Joss's X-Men comics had a line where Slim Summers reveals that he had a cousin who was in an insane asylum. Maybe that's what was happening in the episode, Buffy was perceiving one of the myriad paths of infinity, one in which she was trapped in an insane asylum. Ed. That line was deleted, interesting idea, thought.

 

[NotASlayer]

IIRC, one of Joss's X-Men comics had a line where Slim Summers reveals that he had a cousin who was in an insane asylum. Maybe that's what was happening in the episode, Buffy was perceiving one of the myriad paths of infinity, one in which she was trapped in an insane asylum. Ed. That line was deleted, interesting idea, thought.

Either that, or seasons 6 & 7 are one of those multiple paths, and are the delusions of someone in an insane asylum. Which nicely fixes the, sometimes massive, character changes and the fact that this is not the same frackin' Sunnydale!

My evidence is that Buffy being in an asylum was never mentioned before or after this episode; and it certainly would've been mentioned before, or we would've seen a reaction from Joyce to Buffy's previously witnessed claims of vampires with alarm rather than puzzlement.

More evidence that this is either the delusion of a crazy person* or a different timeline where the asylum event did happen.

*Translation: Season 6's gawdawful writing

 

[Btvs fan]

So, this is about the infamous ending of this episode, in which Buffy has supposedly been having hallucinations.

At the end of the episode, after Buffy has supposedly stopped hallucinating, there is a final scene. That shows she wasn't hallucinating at all, and has now retreated into a fantasy world. Now, some have argued that this is one last hallucination, a lingering effect of the demon's drug. However, this is not shown as such.

Buffy has no idea the "hallucination" is happening. If the person having the hallucination doesn't know it's happening, it's not a hallucination she's having. It's real. This is compounded by how it's shot; if this was Buffy's hallucination, it would be shown from her viewpoint; instead it's shown from the viewpoint of those looking at her. Conclusion: The Buffyverse is the hallucination and the last two seasons are actually Buffy the Mental Patient, not Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Why only the last two seasons if the Buffyverse is a hallucination? Why not all of them?

Well, the characters in S6&7 are not the ones from S1-5. Plus, this isn't the same Sunnydale. Consider the Sunnydale of the first five seasons. It's coastal, as it has docks and a beach, and is surrounded by trees. The desert needed driving to. The Sunnydale at the end of S7 was an inland town surrounded by desert. Not a tree in sight. Nowhere for trees to grow. The lush woods of, for example, "Listening to Fear", did not exist around it and could not exist around it; the climate was simply wrong.

So, seasons 6&7 are different characters in a different Sunnydale. And one that is, according to canon, the hallucination of a mental patient who has now completely broken from reality. Making the final two seasons, according to canon, non-canon.

Discuss...

😀

At the time of airing on the Buffy Boards the Writers were all having to come out and post having to reassure fans that no the whole show wasn't just all in Buffys head.
Essentially it was just Joss and Co being to clever for there own good. Joss was to up his own arse by this point to think through what he thought was a great end scene it was.
The end is the reveal scene, think Kyser Soze in The Usual Suspects and they really messed up
To me this was one of the big failures of writing of the season and showed how skewed they were from there own audience.
By the way in his X-Men script Joss did have Scott Summers mention that he had a cousin who was an insane Asylum