Normal Again

[Bluebird]

A lot of people criticised the ending of this episode with its lack of a definite resolution to which reality is the genuine one, ending on a shot of Buffy in the hospital. Maybe it's implying there is another reality where Buffy is just a sick girl in hospital. Also why, in her delusion would Buffy kill off her own mother?

Saying that, I did like this episode. I thought the storyline reflected Buffy's feelings, throughout season 6, of wanting to escape from the world.

Want are other opinions of this ep?

 

[Lyri]

This is my favorite BTVS episode. I loved everything about it. The fact that the ending was left open for us to make up our own mind, or even for something in the future, maybe something Joss could return to if he ever feels like ending the universe altogether.

As for Buffy killing off her mother in her 'delusion', it could have something to do with Sick-Buffy's view of her mother leaving her in the mental hospital in the first place. She would have probably felt very abandoned by Joyce, and so, to make herself feel better about her mother leaving her, she simply decided that Joyce died. It was probably easier for her to think that her mother died, rather than to think that she abandoned her to a specialist hospital. Thefact that Joyce comes to visit and sees her every so often probably confused Sick-Buffy even more, so she retreated in her 'delusion'. Which the doctors would have seen as Sick-Buffy getting worse.

 

[LorneyTunes]

well

This ep made me wanna turn it off because its just so horrible for Buffy. Joyce Alive one second dead the next Its like Buffys being tortured for saving the world x I still like it nice concept tho x

 

[Aethra]

I love this episode. It's definitely one of my favorites. We'd watched six years of Buffy's life, and then with this one episode, we were made to doubt if any of it had ever actually happened. That's not easy to do, but the ambiguous nature of the episode made the concept completely plausible. In my opinion, this is a completely underrated episode.

 

[caitaintdead]

I'm in two minds about this episode, I did enjoy it, but initially I felt a bit cheated. Joss had made me believe in Buffy and her world and then questioned it's reality. It wasn't a nice feeling! Then I decided that there had been many alternate realities shown in the Buffyverse and this just happened to be one of them. Anya said that there were millions of realities for anything you could imagine and this just happened to be one of them. So I don't think it had any bearing whatsoever on the real Buffy world. Unfortunately she was just forced to think it did.

 

[LittleMissLikesToFight]

I actually just watched this episode the other day and i think it has become my all time favorite episode, ahead of The Wish. I watched it with the commentary and after hearing that it just furthered my appreciation for the episode and the brilliance of it.

Wouldn't it be neat if it really all was true? I like the idea that maybe everything was just an illusion.

 

[LorneyTunes]

True True

You know Buffys always wanting to be a normal Girl. Even in her other reality shes still trapped with something that no matter what she does she has to die to get out of it . she was never going to get out of that asylum unless dead !! Buffy is a bit of a masochist x

 

[Washburne]

A lot of people criticised the ending of this episode with its lack of a definite resolution to which reality is the genuine one, ending on a shot of Buffy in the hospital.

I think that´s a great ending. You can choose what to believe. Truth be told, if you are looking it the whole situation in a realistic way, the whole asylum thing is your best bet. (Like you all didnt know that.) But which "reality" do we as viewers prefer? Come on, it´s no contest, but I think it´s a great twist. You´re thinking "Yeah, that makes so much more sence." But as Buffy you prefer the "dreamworld", so lets continue on that path.

 

[November]

I don't really know how I feel about this episode. I did like the ending I will say that. I love it when things are left open to interpretation but at the same time it sometimes infuriates me! I think in the future I could really enjoy the episode but at the moment the who psyc ward thing hits a bit too close to home.
Do you think Buffy would have thought about it again or just forgotten about it as another spell/attack on her?

 

[Blondie Bear]

Do you think Buffy would have thought about it again or just forgotten about it as another spell/attack on her?

Judging by her discussion with Giles, it seems that she chose to believe that it was just part of the spell and not real at all. Or, at least, she decided that she had chosen her path and was not going to allow herself second thoughts.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

I love this episode! I do personally believe that the mental hospital is the true reality, for one it give a ready made explaination for any plot holes! About Joyce dying in the "fantasy", I think that was alluded to as a side effect of Dawn's insertion. Buffy felt the need for more affection, so she created Dawn, but that just made things worse as her fantasy became unstable. This led to her "awakening" after The Gift - note that in Normal Again Buffy needed to kill off her links in the delusion to reawaken. Joyce was her biggest link with Angel gone....

Thats a point; is Buffy sub-subconciously dreaming about Angel in LA with Cordelia and the rest of the Angelverse?......this gets complicated.

 

[Starlet]

Not one of my favourites but still very good episode. The idea was portrayed in very interesting way. And when I first saw it the ending made me think about it for two days!
Although the concept of that hospital was really frightening.

 

[frayadjacent]

Just fell asleep re-watching this last night (not cuz of the episode, for this current marathon I usually just keep watching until I fall asleep and finish what I slept through the next day) and I remember all the mixed emotions I felt while watching this episode for the first time. At that time with the confusion of Buffy ending and dying on one network and starting on a new network (which I didn't know for sure was gonna happen at the time either) and with rumors that Buffy might be cancelled even on this new network - it made me seriously think that this is where they were gonna go to end the series.

It's always good to wonder...leaves the imagination open.

 

[white avenger]

I always thought that there would be a sequel to this episode, some sort of explanation (like that was a parallel reality like the Wish Verse, or even that the institutionalized Buffy was in our REAL world, and she and Buffyverse Buffy were in some way connected (or that there were many realities, each with identical people but living in different circumstances...) but it just never happened.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

I always thought that there would be a sequel to this episode, some sort of explanation (like that was a parallel reality like the Wish Verse, or even that the institutionalized Buffy was in our REAL world, and she and Buffyverse Buffy were in some way connected (or that there were many realities, each with identical people but living in different circumstances...) but it just never happened.

See, I prefer the ambiguity. Too many things are overexplained on Buffy. It was so refreshing to be left not knowing.

 

[LittleMissLikesToFight]

Totally agreed. I didn't want explanation, i wanted the open ended question at the end. which is what we got. I think this episode is brilliant and as of right now, is my favorite episode.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

Totally agreed. I didn't want explanation, i wanted the open ended question at the end. which is what we got. I think this episode is brilliant and as of right now, is my favorite episode.

I would actually have felt cheated if they had closed it off now that I think about it. The episode would have lost all of its power. And I always like it when shows acknowledge their more ridiculous aspects. Buffy seems to do it a lot, (e.g. in OMWF 'It's do or die...' 'Hey, I've died twice!') but this challenged the very premise of the show in a very interesting way without breaking it down.

 

[Superstar]

I always thought that there would be a sequel to this episode, some sort of explanation

Well, on the commentary the writers felt this would be a great season finale episode and were a bit disappointed that it wasn't used as such.

It was left open and in a way more than open.
Recall the last scenes; Buffy has made her choice. Closing scene is back in the institution after her choice has been made.

I really hope we get to revisit this premise in season 8 or 9.
I even joked about it as the series finale in another thread.

Would it invalidate the Buffyverse?
Maybe not completely. We really don't know what pushed her over the edge - knowledge that vampires are real and that she truly is the chosen slayer destined to die in battle? Is it something she possibly couldn't deal with unless she played it out in her mind first? Now that would be a total mindscrew.
You could start a whole new series with all new characters... The fractured mind of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

[white avenger]

I always thought that it would be a parallel dimension thing like in "The Wish," and they would connect again at some point and straighten the whole mess out, but I guess not...

 

[Violette]

The ambiguous ending of this episode is what makes it great. The viewers are left with wondering & the option to choose either reality. When I watched it for the first time, I thought it's really clever how the writers made that "possible reality", that perhaps the whole show is just a product of Buffy's imagination. It links a lot of other elements too, like the fake memories of Dawn. When Buffy chose the reality of the world with vampires and demons, it really puts things into perspective... that life's reality is what you make of it.