TiVo Community Forums Archives - "Normal Again" ... your thoughts?

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"Normal Again" ... your thoughts?
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Posted by: GameGuru

It seems like alot of you here are really into the Buffy-verse so I was wondering about your thoughts on this episode. I only saw it once so I might not remember everything about it.

After watching the episode I actually felt that she possibly really was in a mental instituition and all this vampire fighting was in her head. To me it seemed like she chose her imaginary life over her real life. Did I interprete it wrong? I really need to watch it again.

Posted by: jwjody

quote:
Originally posted by GameGuru
To me it seemed like she chose her imaginary life over her real life. Did I interprete it wrong? I really need to watch it again.

It seemed that's the way the episode ended. I thought and still do that that's what really happened. She's no vampire slayer, none of that stuff has ever happened.

J

Posted by: LoadStar

That was the problem with the way that they ended the episode... it left the viewer thinking that it was all in her head (as the last scene they showed was Buffy in the asylum in a fugue state). What the INTENDED outcome of the episode was to leave it all up to the viewer to decide.

Personally, I don't like the conclusion that it was all in her head. If it was, it feels rather insulting to the viewer. That would mean all 7 seasons of Buffy and all 5 seasons of Angel have been in Buffy's head. The reason I say "insulting" is that it feels like its telling the viewer "You've wasted your time getting into this series, as none of it really happened." (Obviously, none of it happened - it's a fictional series. But to say none of it even happened in the TV world as WELL as the real world is the insulting part.)

Additionally, to try and believe that one girl is envisioning the entire buffyverse spanning two entire cities... that's a little hard to swallow.

Posted by: TiVaholic

Loadstar, did you copy that from a previous post you made? I swear I've seen just about that exact post before.

Posted by: LoadStar

quote:
Originally posted by TiVaholic
Loadstar, did you copy that from a previous post you made? I swear I've seen just about that exact post before.

Hah! I don't think so... I'd have to go and search through all of my old posts... I might have said the same thing back then, if the episode came up though.

I'm rather scared if I'm starting to repeat myself and don't remember it. :)

Edit: Nope. (Phew.) Just checked, and the only full thread on "Normal Again" is: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-v...&threadid=64491

My only comment on the episode was not even in that thread - it was in a thread on "Once More, With Feeling": http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-v...0292#post590292

Posted by: Peter000

I remember this episode as being a real shocker, and one of my favorites. I was thinking back then that it could be true, that she's really in a mental hospital imagining all this, etc. Then I saw a quote from one of the writers or Joss, and they intended to have the Slayer Buffy as the real Buffy, no questions. This ep does take you for a ride!

Looking back at it now, it seems obvious to me that Institutionalized Buffy was a way of her escape from the slayer world (not the other way around as suggested by the show). And the last shot of the I-Buffy drugged and lying comatose represented Slayer Buffy coming to terms with her situation and getting on with life. Not to metioned being cured of the monster venom that caused it in the first place. :)