posted
Okay, I missed most of Season Six and Seven when they were originally broadcast because I was working nights.
I've just now been catching up by watching rerurns on FX.
So...those who've seen it, how do you interpret the final scene of "Normal Again"?
Sure Buffy hadn't taken the antidote yet so it could be seen as a final gasp of her "hallucination"...but it didn't seem to be from her point of view like the previous "hallucinations" were.
It seemed to be taking place from the point of view of...well...the people she had decided were "the dream" during the climax.
Was this ever touched upon again? Was it meant to be ambigious to the point of implying the Buffy's life for the duration of the show was really not what it seemed?
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
I pictured it as the death of the hallucination - i.e., at the same time this was happening, Buffy was drinking the antidote.
I considered whether they meant to imply it was the real world, but decided it just didn't make sense.
Now, as a series finale, that would have taken a lot of guts. But it would have been very unsatisfying.
As far as I know, it's not touched on except for Dawn to whine about how Buffy's ideal life doesn't include her.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I came up with some pretty wacky theories about other dimensions when I first watched it. Now that I've seen the whole series, I can't use those theories anymore to explain it.
But anyway... I just think it was a tease for the audience to make us wonder. Perhaps the last episode before the cure started working.
Or maybe there really is another dimension Buffy who's power and strength are drained, which gives the slayer her power (she "steals" it from other-dimension selves). This experience creates a bit of bleeding between the two worlds, making a crazy weak Buffy in one world, and a super strong Buffy in another world.
Like I said.. it was a crazy theory. Doesn't work with Season 7's revelations anyway.
It is more likely that her heaven was manifested as a happy home with two loving parents, which was destroyed when they brought her back..regressing into a mental hospital state in the back of her mind which was brought into the forefront by the demon's poison.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
In my opinion, that is the worst episode of the series. It was writer Diego Guiterrez's first and thankfully only Buffy episode. The ending was intented to suggest that maybe Buffy did make it all up. He thought it would be cool as a season finale, but more reasonable people disagreed.
Even more than the ending, I hated the suggestion that Buffy's parents put her in a mental institute for having seen vampires. If this had happened, then the first two seasons would not have happened in the way they did. Joyce would have been far more cautious about Buffy. Also, the frequent comments/ jokes Buffy makes about vampires would have been cause for grave concern for Joyce. While the episode had its good points, it ruins the chronology of the Buffy world.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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It was a great episode IMO. It was more to make the audiance think than anything else. Its all part of the mystery that is Buffy. Episodes like that come with the territory. I think the Sunnydale world is the real one but maybe thats just because i dont want to think of Willow, Xander ect being a figment of someones imagination.(and i know that they actually are a figment if Joss Whedons imagination but you know what I mean.)
Posts: 243 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Speaking of Alternate Realities, I just watched the season 4 episode "Superstar" - I went from, "What the HELL?" to, "Alright, this is hilarious" by the time the 'Revised' title sequence ended.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
Here's a hint: Giles reveals he owns a Swimsuit Calendar of someone named 'Jonathan' and nobody questions this.
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