help me!

[romina]

hey everyone,

i need some help from buffy fans! i'm doing my thesis on btvs and just need some real fans opinions on the episode 'normal again'.

just wanna know what ppl thought on the idea that everything we grew to love, xander, willow, etc, is just the figment of a teenage girls imagination.

what do you think joss was trying to say to his audience by placing an episode like this so far into the series?

did you like the final scene of buffy in the hospital? or would you have rather it ended in sunnydale?

please let me now!

thanks,

romina

[Rachster]

heyy yeah cool it made me doubt what i knew about buffy and thats never good but it was a great episode i was happy with the ending the way she made her choice but it still had me wondering what if that was the reality and all that we knew about buffyverse was in her mind... i think im gonna go rewatch it now lol

[mandikaye]

I'm still bummed that the episode ended the way it did. I tend to forget about that episode because, to me, it cheapens the whole universe. I have no idea what Joss has ever said about the ep, but it seems to me that ending it the way it did that he was actually saying that the whole Buffyverse was really just in her head and not real. That it was just a coping mechanism for a crappy life. And I'm not okay.

So, for the most part, I pretend like that episode never happened.

[meghann]

I'm not a fan of Normal Again. The only positive aspect of the episode for me is the closer Buffy gets with Joyce and Hank. Even if it was within her imagination, I think she needed that moment with them.

The overall premise bugs me. I think it demeans a show when they place it in a situation where it may not/did not happen. It's not a new concept. There are two shows come to mind. One is Dallas where Patrick Duffy's character is killed, but then at the end it's all a dream. The other is St. Elsewhere. The whole show was the dream or in the imagination of an Autistic child.

As for Normal Again, how can they end it as they did when there is the spin off of Angel?!?!?!? It seems silly to me. Was Ats all in her imagination as well?

Has anyone seen They with Marc Blucas??? I can't recall if it's the alternate ending or theatrical ending, but it reminds me of Normal Again. With Marc being in the flick, it makes me giggle more.

I respect if there are people who are fans of the episode. As for myself, I just don't get it's appeal.

[Wyndam]

I've always just viewed the ending as Joss wanting to stir things up and play with our minds a little bit. It never bothered me that much, as I love the episode.

[commandercool]

I love that episode. Part of me wanted that to be the real ending. It would have pissed me off more than a lot if that had happen, but it wouldn've been brilliant.

[meghann]

It's been a while since I listened to the commentary. But I want to say that it was mentioned how they discussed it being aired at a later time and possibly as a season finale. I would have been freaking out with the wait if they had done that! *lol*

[eternalspikefan]

Yeah I think Joss was just trying to play with the fans minds a little you know?

I mean I know personally that the episode made me think,Is it or Isn't it? So in that respect it was successful.

But yup if that had of been the season finale I think I would have cried...well more than I did haha =P

[ded1]

I've always enjoyed things that mess peoples minds a bit.

[Emmie]

There's something very paradoxical about us fans who submerge ourselves in the buffyverse, a fantasy-based fictional world, abjectly refusing to believe that the heroine of this fictional world has created her own fantasy-based fictional reality.

The beauty of the ending is its ambiguity. Which side of the mirror is showing a true reality?

I see this episode as a prime example of the complexity of meaning the Buffyverse places on reality and perception. That everything around us has complex layers - that truth and reality are ambiguous states defined by the individual mindset.

The end scene is so powerful to me because it causes the very same crisis within the audience that Buffy was experiencing throughout the episode - is the Buffyverse real?

Layers upon layers reflected and all twisted around to confuse the heck out of us. Joss hurt my brain...

Anyways hope that was somewhat clear and helpful