Normal Again

[Lindsey McDonald]

I don't think this has been said before, but it's been bugging me.

The fact that her parents shipped her off to an insane asylum for a week pre-Sunnydale is so very inconsistent with the rest of the series. Why wouldn't Buffy have mentioned this before, even in passing? Like "I can't tell my mom about being a slayer, last time I tried she thought I was crazy." Buffy claims that in the institution, she stopped talking about vampires, they let her go, and her parents just forgot about it. Does that seem likely? Does it seem likely that you send your child to a mental institution for a week because she's hallucinating about vampires, and then you FORGET about it? And when Buffy tells her mom she's the Slayer in S2, why didn't Joyce say anything like, "Oh no, this again?" or "I thought these hallucinations stopped" or "Should I get you help again?" I mean, it just doesn't make sense.

I'm not using this to support whether or not Buffy's life is real or a delusion. Frankly, I think it's real (well, "real" in context of a fictional TV show), and if it had all been a delusion of Buffy's, I think that would greatly take away from how great the show is. But when Buffy told Willow that side-story, I was just like "What....?" Bugs me.

That always did annoy me too. I did think that it may perhaps be a Dawn memory though. It wasn't mentioned in Season two, cause it never happened, but perhaps if Joyce had had another younger child to think about, it could have come to that. That cuts down on the inconsistencies. Either that, or it's a symptom of Buffy's delusion breaking down, if you want to believe that.


Or, y'know, plot hole.

 

[sk]

ok, I agree that reason for the mental institution not being mention is of course that the writers didn't know about it until this episode...

But I have no problem with this.
To me that probably isn't anything that you talk about.
Don't think anyone actually forgot about it, just something that they (silently) agreed not to talk about.

And in S2 I guess it was much going on. Joyce had just seen some weird stuff and I can see why see didn't bring it up at that moment.
Besides, Joyce says something about Buffy needing help. And Buffy answers that she's not crazy.
If you want you can take that as some kind of reference to the mental institution incident 🙂

/SK

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

ok, I agree that reason for the mental institution not being mention is of course that the writers didn't know about it until this episode...

But I have no problem with this.
To me that probably isn't anything that you talk about.
Don't think anyone actually forgot about it, just something that they (silently) agreed not to talk about.

And in S2 I guess it was much going on. Joyce had just seen some weird stuff and I can see why see didn't bring it up at that moment.
Besides, Joyce says something about Buffy needing help. And Buffy answers that she's not crazy.
If you want you can take that as some kind of reference to the mental institution incident 🙂

/SK

The incident that is most often brought up as being a problem was way back before Joyce knew of Buffy's Slayerness. I can't remember the episode name, but they were in a store (it may have been circa Prophecy Girl buying a dress) and Buffy mentions fighting vampires in passing. Joyce isn't at all affected, which would be strange if she had put her daughter in an institution only a few years ago for the same thing. That's why I think it's a Dawn memory. It doesn't fit otherwise.

 

[sk]

The incident that is most often brought up as being a problem was way back before Joyce knew of Buffy's Slayerness. I can't remember the episode name, but they were in a store (it may have been circa Prophecy Girl buying a dress) and Buffy mentions fighting vampires in passing. Joyce isn't at all affected, which would be strange if she had put her daughter in an institution only a few years ago for the same thing. That's why I think it's a Dawn memory. It doesn't fit otherwise.

hmm, I guess you mean from Bad Eggs
Joyce: A little responsibility is all I ask. Honestly, don't you ever think about anything besides boys and clothes?
Buffy: Saving the world from vampires?
Joyce: I swear, sometimes I don't know what goes on in your head.

I would take that as Joyce thinks it is a really bad joke from Buffy.
That Buffy actually is saying, well remember that time when I talked about vampires. I didn't think of boys and clothes then.
And Joyce is in disbelief on how inappropriate that was.

Buffy also mention Vampires so Joyce hears it in Killed by Death.
That time its just the fever talking though, so I understand why Joyce let it passed that time also.

/SK

 

[Perny]

It was an absolutely brilliant episode. It was so twisted. It totally made my view on the Buffyverse change. I can go crazy thinking about it. So many things makes sense if she really was mentally ill, and it just...What the worst part is, we never really found out what it was. Was it real, or not.

One of the most brilliant episodes ever. Truly

 

[fly on the wall]

hmm, I guess you mean from Bad Eggs
Joyce: A little responsibility is all I ask. Honestly, don't you ever think about anything besides boys and clothes?
Buffy: Saving the world from vampires?
Joyce: I swear, sometimes I don't know what goes on in your head.

I would take that as Joyce thinks it is a really bad joke from Buffy.
That Buffy actually is saying, well remember that time when I talked about vampires. I didn't think of boys and clothes then.
And Joyce is in disbelief on how inappropriate that was.

Buffy also mention Vampires so Joyce hears it in Killed by Death.
That time its just the fever talking though, so I understand why Joyce let it passed that time also.

/SK

Buffy also lets vampires slip in Witch (S1) when she's under Amy's mom's spell...and it just does NOT seem likely that these many references wouldn't jostle Joyce if she'd put Buffy into a mental institution for the same kind of talk.

Sure, maybe she takes it to be bad jokes, or a fever, or whatever...but she shows no real concern. In Witch, she asks Buffy if she's feeling all right...but wouldn't she become VERY worried that her delusions were back? In Bad Eggs, wouldn't her face fall, wouldn't she look worried, frightened, upset, instead of just idly saying "Oh, what an imagination you have."

I mean, it just doesn't make sense...it seems that it's a Dawn memory (although we've been under the impression that Dawn was just sort of inserted into the memories that were already there; she didn't change anything. Unless I'm mistaken) or it's a plot hole.

 

[sk]

Well, as I said from the beginning, of course it is a inconsistency, or plot hole, if you like.
I just don't have a big problem with it since Joyce behavior makes good enough sense to me.

I have a much bigger problem with that the monks would add some random memory of a mental institution. Why would they?
Than having Joyce, probably worrying about Buffy, but not making a big deal out of the fact that Buffy has some strange ideas about vampires.

I had forget about the witch episode though.
It doesn't exactly help my cause. But Joyce do look worried and ask if Buffy feels alright etc.
She acts a bit too suprised at the vampire slayer comment I admit... maybe she was just suprised hearing that coming up again or something 🙂

/SK

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

Well, as I said from the beginning, of course it is a inconsistency, or plot hole, if you like.
I just don't have a big problem with it since Joyce behavior makes good enough sense to me.

I have a much bigger problem with that the monks would add some random memory of a mental institution. Why would they?
Than having Joyce, probably worrying about Buffy, but not making a big deal out of the fact that Buffy has some strange ideas about vampires.

I had forget about the witch episode though.
It doesn't exactly help my cause. But Joyce do look worried and ask if Buffy feels alright etc.
She acts a bit too suprised at the vampire slayer comment I admit... maybe she was just suprised hearing that coming up again or something 🙂

/SK

I get the feeling that the monks added in Dawn, and the memory creation snowballed by itself from their. And, if they did handcraft each memory, that could have been an experience of Buffy being torn away from Dawn and not liking it. Therefore, she's more likely (even subconciously) to protect her family.

 

[EveryNiteISaveU]

Well I think it sorta does fit. Even though Joyce as a character grew as the series went on...I definitely saw Joyce as a super push-over type mom. Apparently she was put into an institution when her parents were still together, so you never know..it could have been at the encouragement of Buffy's father, and then after a week Joyce could have been "Eh...whatever."

 

[fly on the wall]

I don't think it's out-of-character for Joyce to have wanted Buffy in an institution. I think it's out-of-plot for that to have happened at all. We heard NOTHING about it for six seasons, then all of a sudden it pops up cuz it would make for an interesting episode.

 

[Karol]

I think she is really delusional u.u

 

[Veyron]

As I've said before on this thread, I think that she's delusional myself. She's in the institution and the whole of Buffy and Angel is a huge fantasy world that she's built up. Why this occurred in the first place is a mystery - she might have seen one too many vampire movies as a young child and became fixated by the mythology of them that she created the roles of Slayer, Watchers, her friends and the Big Bads. Angel would have been a side track fantasy in which she appears every now and then just to keep up the relationship with the characters she's created.

So that would mean that Bangel and Spuffy and all of the other relationships created by Buffy are all false positives. Her first love Angel disappears after Graduation and rather than be alone she wants to find a new love, hence the one night stand - which turns out badly for her, and then Riley, which doesn't go that well either considering her track record. Enter Spike. She knows that she has an over-all attraction for vampires (hence her being in the institution in the first place) and because Angel isn't available she goes for Spike, and we all know that right up until near the end of the final season she's playing with Spike's emotions - bedding him, then rejecting him, accepting him as something more than a vampire once he gets his soul back - you know the rest.

Why Buffy is playing games with Spike though is a thought provoking thing. She's already been hurt by her first love who tried to kill her. Her second relationship turned out to be a one night stand with a player and Riley and the initiative turned out not to be as good a thing as she first suspected. Her inbred fear of being hurt by her lovers or potential lovers is what keeps both Riley and Spike at arms length and why Buffy lets Riley go in the first instance - even though she throws caution to the wind and tries to get Riley to stay with her.

Riley of course lives up to her expectations and on his return to Sunnydale with his wife he shatters that part of the illusion. So now all her focus in so far as a relationship now goes to Spike. She knows what he is, what is reputation says about him and because of that she blows hot and cold with him - she rejects his advances, plays her own sexual games with him (see Gone), rejects his pleas of unrequited love and then when she feels that the game has gone far enough she opens herself up to him. Only because Spike made his feelings known to her on numerous occassions does Buffy decide to continue the relationship between them - Spike gets his soul back and this is what Buffy needs to happen as Spike is no longer a demon in her eyes. He's a man again, and it's a man she wants to have 'the' relationship with.

In reality each of us knows deep down inside what we want out of a partner - whether we hold out for that ultimate person or go with the one who's closest at that particular point in our lives is again something that each of us must decide upon on a case by case basis. Buffy's delusion reaches the point where she's got to make up her mind about having a relationship with Spike and I feel that she actually accepts him as her lover, friend, confidant and ultimately the one she wants to spend the rest of her life with - be he a vampire with a soul (as her first love was) or not.

Knowing what Spike is however isn't enough as I think that Buffy's own insecurities about relationships and Spike's reputation (see the accidental time he slept with Anya and the numerous times he's slept with Harmony) with other women make her think that sooner or later he's going to reject her and move on to his next sexual conquest which is why at the end of Chosen she's in two minds about him - she tells him she loves him, Spike's classic reply, "No, you don't, but thanks for saying it." or words that effect is her way of justifying ending the relationship by testing Spike one final time.

In her brain Buffy has come to the decision (rightly or wrongly) that he'd probably do what ever other man in her life has done and left her when she needs him the most and with the classic line as described above she's said come with me and live (with me) but her delusional thought patterns and the feeling that she knows he's going to reject her (again rightly or wrongly) makes her make Spike tell her to leave which she does, Spike ends up dying as far as she's aware and this lets the illusion of her life move on her concious clear - she no longer needs to be concerned about a man in her life and her mixed up feelings.

Her appearances in Angel firstly sleeping with Angel and then later after the rest of the world is reset by twenty-four hours (except for Angel) and her arguement(s) with him tell her that her initial thoughts about the men in her life have been proven correct. They'll use you for what they can get and then leave - in this case it's her leaving him, but it's the same principal.

So all in all - Buffy knows that she's never going to have a meaningful relationship with man or vampire and lets them all go because she knows she's in an institution for the rest of life and not having a relationship is the only way to make her life that much easier.

Obviously season 8 and the events therein aren't taken into consideration here.

 

[luckystar]

great post veyron and i agree with all you said i analised this episode many times even though i cant put it into words as good as you i agree with you, it makes perfect sense

 

[palabravampiress]

Hmm. I'm not sure I would analyze Normal Again all in terms of her romantic relationships. She did decide not to drink the antidote after Spike threatened to expose their relationship, so I do think her feelings about that relationship did influence her; however, her relationships with Dawn, the Scoobies, and even her parents were clearly front-and-center in her decision making, as well. I have to go to PT, so I don't have time for a long reply, but I'll try to say more when I get back.

 

[Kanazaka]

I see this either as a fanfiction or an alternate reality, but not strictly canon. The alternate reality possibility is intriguing, since that has been brought up again in "Time of Your Life" in Season 8. However, that latter case is not quite as ambiguous, since it is more likely that Buffy time-traveled and simply did not affect the future to the point that Fray, Harth, etc. did not exist. But that does raise an interesting question--if Future Dark Willow died at Buffy's hands, will that be Present Willow's fate? Possibly, if Buffy doesn't prevent Present Willow from becoming Future Dark Willow. But if that was simply an alternate future, then yes, Future Dark Willow stays dead since Buffy is not likely to travel again to that future. But yes, that's confusing.

Back to "Normal Again", I like how this episode showed that Buffy is not infallible, and demons can influence her behavior. Is that because she is part demon, or in spite of it? The mental institution doctor's logic was well thought-out, and a very nice idea on the writer's part. It's also genuinely suspenseful when Buffy tries to kill the rest of the Scoobies, especially Dawn (due to Dawn's terror). Overall, a great episode.

 

[Willowsgirl]

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.

That is the reason I love this episode! The feeling of unease was just so powerful and I am big into the question of "what is reality."

I also think of the world in the hospital as the "heaven" that Buffy went to when she died. The doctor in the hospital said that she had an temparory "awakening" over the summer, when she was dead. Then she relapsed and went back, possibly because Willow did her resurrection spell and pulled her back. I think Buffy wanting to stay in that world showed she thought so to. She didn't want to stay in the world that she declared as "hell", at first anyway. The love of her friends made her decide to stay.

When she stayed, it symbolized that she was ready to embrace the darkness that was in her. She didn't want to deny it anymore. She wanted to face that part of herself and find a balance between the light and the dark. This was her first major step into embracing her shadow, Spike.

 

[Sunnydale Siren]

There was a medical show several years ago, "Saint Elsewhere," in which the final episode revealed that the entire series had only been the imaginings of an autistic child, and one entire season of the night time soap opera "Dallas" was explained away as just a bad dream, so Joss wouldn't have been the first one to use that idea.

As I recall both were HATED by most fans.

especially the St. Elsewhere SNOWGLOBE series finale.

Normal Again is a good episode, that would've been an awful way to end the series.

 

[Revolver]

It worked just fine for Newhart.

 

[Sunnydale Siren]

It worked just fine for Newhart.

Yes it did, fans loved it.

 

[Jersh]

I really dislike this episode.
It's convincing fans that Buffy's universe of vampires is fake.