Something I just found about 'Normal Again'.

[Perny]

Well Whedon has admitted that the cast and crew sometimes held Shakespeare nights at his house...So yeah it might be from Hamlet

 

[BuffyElevated]

I don't care where he got the idea; I thought the concept for that episode was stupid. Just my opinion, but I hated this ep. I can respect it, since it's part of the story arc for the season, but I don't like it.

 

[entropy]

I've said quite a few times that I believe that the demon that stabs Buffy links her to a parallel version of herself and that the choice is a very real one.

You mean like into a parallel world/dimension that she gets to see what would her life be like, or that she's placed into a parallel world and when she tries to explain herself and find her friend, since they do not exist in that reality, she is then institutionalized?

 

[white avenger]

I don't know how many of you remember it, but an entire season of "Dallas" was written off as a bad dream so that they could bring Bobby Ewing back, and the entire series "St Elsewhere" was revealed to be actually just the fantasy of an autistic child. The "it didn't really happen" gimmick has been around for quite awhile in TV Series Land.

 

[Mommatis]

I don't care where he got the idea; I thought the concept for that episode was stupid. Just my opinion, but I hated this ep. I can respect it, since it's part of the story arc for the season, but I don't like it.

Ditto~and I just write the episode off like the bad demon goo acid trip that it was portrayed to be in the end.

 

[Crashing Doors]

I actually really like the episode; I never thought that it suggested Buffy was crazy, she was just drugged by a demon. It never crossed my mind that they were trying to imply anything else. They "drugged" Buffy up to go through this meta-fictiony writing experiment. Anyway I think it's an important part of the season as a whole. Having a depressed character think it's all a dream, wishing she could be back with her mom and dad, that she didn't have to deal with demons and pain all the time? Then coming to the realization that the only way to get the things you want is to work through the bad things (ie: the crazy goo demon guy, the thing that makes you question yourself and what you're worth) to get to the good things (ie: your friends, the people who are still there, that still care about you).

Of all the shows that've done an episode like this, I think Buffy did it best, and with the most purpose. Not just a "what-if".

 

[faeriegrrl27]

Normal Again is hands down my favorite episode because of the question of if it's real. I don't really know if it's what Joss intended, but I was getting head over heels stuck inside the Buffyverse with no intention of ever getting out and the episode was like a slap in the face.
It was telling me "This isn't real. This isn't your life. Face things, go back to the real world." Which is enough to make me respect that episode quite a bit. But then when Buffy makes the choice the stay in Sunnydale and that that is the real world, the episode was saying "It doesn't matter if it's real. It's real to you. It helps you. This is what you want. There's no need for the real" which is just what I needed.
Maybe that just indicates how insane I am and how pathetically I need BtVS, but hey- it's real to me!

The fact that the episodes talk to me might also indicate insanity...

 

[BuffyElevated]

Normal Again is hands down my favorite episode because of the question of if it's real. I don't really know if it's what Joss intended, but I was getting head over heels stuck inside the Buffyverse with no intention of ever getting out and the episode was like a slap in the face.
It was telling me "This isn't real. This isn't your life. Face things, go back to the real world." Which is enough to make me respect that episode quite a bit. But then when Buffy makes the choice the stay in Sunnydale and that that is the real world, the episode was saying "It doesn't matter if it's real. It's real to you. It helps you. This is what you want. There's no need for the real" which is just what I needed.
Maybe that just indicates how insane I am and how pathetically I need BtVS, but hey- it's real to me!

The fact that the episodes talk to me might also indicate insanity...

See, your reason for liking it is my exact reason for not liking it. I felt like by them making this episode it was like an insult to the fans to work so hard to make us believe in this world for all these years and then insinuate that it was all gonna be some dilusion in Buffy's mind... I would have been SO pissed if that was the way he had decided to end the series.

 

[riddle]

In my mind - Both worlds are real. We just happen to be following the more exciting of the two worlds.

it might also be that the show is implying that NEITHER world is real. notice how the switching between "realities" is made to look like switching between TV shows on different channels.
the implication of this is that is is US, not Buffy, who is making the choice... between a real world of vulnerability and a fantasy world of heroes.

quite meta indeed (and just how i like it; this is one of the best BTVS episodes imo.)

also, i don't think the point of the show is so much to question BTVS's premise, as to show how the improbable events of the Slayer lifestyle weigh on those fated to live with the consequences. this episode shows how such unreal horror can strain the mind/heart of even the Slayer and thus, helps set up Willow's descent into madness.

 

[Angelic Slayer]

This episode's really grown on me, the more I watch it the more I like it.

It was just really interesting: for years on BtVS it becomes clear that Buffy desperately wants a normal life (one without slaying and demon boyfriends and apocalypses). And finally after 6 years, Joss gave it to her. I thought it was really interesting to see Buffy have a normal life handed to her on a silver platter, then if she was willing to give up the life she had built in exchange for a new, normal one. The end left me wondering if she made the right choice, or how I felt about the whole thing! Definitely a mind-bender.

the episode was saying "It doesn't matter if it's real. It's real to you. It helps you. This is what you want. There's no need for the real"

You made a really interesting point here, FG. The show often comes under fire from non-fans that it's "not real" and that a show about "vampires and demons and slayers" is ridiculous. Maybe this was a way for the writer's to say that the show (or the "Sunnydale" Reality for Buffy) may be about vampires and demons, but that's not the reason why we watch it (or why Buffy would want to stay in that reality). Like you said, the way the show has been written and presented, there was no need for it to be entirely about "real" stuff-- it's still stories that a lot of fans can relate to. I'd never thought about looking it that way, before 🙂

But I do see where you are coming from too, HisMrs. When I saw the episode for the first time, my immediate reaction was about the same.

 

[GrrArghx]

I don't understand why people don't like this episode. I really like it 😛 I think it's extremely interesting.

 

[Wild At Heart]

I agree with whoever said that if this really happened, we would only see the show from Buffy's POV. Plus what did she do, imagine the whole Angel series too even though she wasn't there?? Obviously, she just was affected by the demon & there's nothing else to it. That's my opinion though.

 

[white avenger]

Whether you choose to accept the "alternate reality/dimension" theory, the "it was just a bad dream" theory, or something else entirely, I think that it is significant that it depicts Buffy, who we all know is depressed nearly to the point of being suicidal, who should have been eager to jump at ANY opportunity to escape the existence that had been forced upon her from the beginning of the season, actually choosing her Slayer world, family, friends, and responsibilities, over what might very well have been an escape from it and a chance to live like that "normal person" who Faith mentioned at the end of "Chosen.' At that point, in "Normal Again," there in that basement, Buffy made the conscious decision to accept the fact that I imagine every Slayer has to make at some point after being Called. What both Nikki Wood AND Buffy told Robin. "It's the mission that counts." For Buffy, Sunnydale, Spike, the Scoobies, and all of the vampires, demons, and hardships of a life after Heaven, was her "Normal." It was the other life, with its promise of comfort, love, and the prospect of a long happy life, even marriage (almost certainly with William, the British boy who she had met her senior year in high school and had fallen head over heels in love with immediately, even telling her former boyfriend, Lee, to hit the road and never show his face in Sunnydale again) and children, was the fantasy world.

(What? You thought I wouldn't manage to slip a Spuffy reference in there somewhere? Then you OBVIOUSLY don't know the White Avenger)

 

[nogoodtrying]

Hi all, new to the forum. I know that this thread is just about dead, but I do have a theory regarding the 'Normal Again' ep and am loving reading some of your arguments for and against the break in reality concept. I have watched the episode several times, and the first time I saw it I had a full on anxiety attack because of the ending. Now, I, like the lot of you, want to believe that I did not invest season after season of Buffy to find out that it's all been inside her head. I truly truly WANT to believe that. But I don't.

If you watch past episodes through the not-so-rosy glasses provided to you by 'Normal Again', its very easy to see how the entire series could very well have been the creation of a delusional young woman. I challenge you all to help explore this theme by truly thinking back to seasons 1-5 and with the conclusion of 'Normal Again' in mind, look for indicators of its truth. Or, if you don't think this sounds like a fun exercise, I'll shut up and keep my theories to my self! My only ground rule is that you cannot argue that because they explored character development without Buffy's appearance, did scenes without her, etc 'Normal Again' is false. I say this because it has been documented in studies of schizophrenic and other delusional folks that the delusions can sometimes be completely void of the actual person, and are often times compared to "watching television". I highly suggest this article as a precursor to our discussion: ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/158/4/527.

Enjoy and if this conversation never gets off the ground, I look forward to discussing other Buffy stuff with you in the future!