Normal Again (12 Mar. 2002)

After Buffy is stung by a demon, she begins to have vivid day-dreams about a mental asylum. She gradually begins to believe that she is a crazy girl back in L.A and that Sunnydale and all her friends are just a figment of her imagination.

Director:

Rick Rosenthal

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Diego Gutierrez

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Emma Caulfield

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Emma Caulfield	...	Anya (credit only)
Michelle Trachtenberg	...	Dawn Summers
James Marsters	...	Spike
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Danny Strong	...	Jonathan Levinson
Adam Busch	...	Warren Meers
Tom Lenk	...	Andrew Wells
Dean Butler	...	Hank Summers
Michael Warren	...	Doctor
Kirsten Nelson	...	Lorraine Ross
Amber Benson	...	Tara Maclay
Kristine Sutherland	...	Joyce Summers
Sarah Scivier	...	Nurse

Storyline

After being poisoned by a demon, Buffy comes to believe that she is confined to a mental hospital, her mother is alive, her parents are still together, and that her life as a Slayer has all been an hallucination for the past six years. Deciding that she prefers this "normal" life with her parents, Buffy attempts to destroy the things that tether her to the "fantasy" life of the Slayer: her friends.

---

Plot Keywords:

sister sister relationship | lesbian | heroine | female protagonist | bound and gagged

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

---

Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 March 2002 (USA)

Filming Locations:

1800 Stewart St., Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Buffy's pre-Sunnydale experience in an asylum was later told in the comic book "Slayer, Interrupted", a title reference to Girl, Interrupted which co-starred Clea DuVall who appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Out of Mind, Out of Sight.

---

Goofs

When Buffy locks the cellar door, she inserts the key into the keyhole upside down (the key she uses is clearly too small to properly fit the lock).

---

Quotes

Warren Meers: [looking at vault schematics] Ah. There's the vault.
Andrew Wells: I still say we're gonna need eight other guys to pull this off.
Warren Meers: I never should have let you see that movie.

---

Connections

References Ocean's Eleven (2001)

User Reviews

An episode about different concepts of reality

"Normal Again" is about different concepts of reality. What if Buffy is imagining Sunnydale? What if she isn't the Slayer? What if her mother is still alive and with her father? What if Buffy is really in a mental hospital and she's been living in an alternate reality for the past six years? This isn't my favorite episode, it's sort of strange and doesn't contribute much to the overall story arc. But, it raises some really interesting questions and has some cool scenes. "Normal Again" is worth a look if you're watching the season.

The episode revolves around Buffy questioning her entire "world." While tracking the Trio, Buffy is attacked by a demon and stung by it. She begins to hallucinate. Popping between her "normal" life in Sunnydale and a vision of a mental hospital. Confused, she slowly realizes that she's seeing another whole reality. In it, she's not the Slayer, after all. Instead, she's a sick girl in a mental hospital. Her mother is still alive and everyone's telling her that her life in Sunnydale is imaginary. Back in Sunnydale, the Scoobies work on an antidote to the demon's sting. They tell Buffy that she's just drugged and not to believe the visions. Buffy admits that she was once in a mental hospital, after she saw her first vampire as a girl. Now she wonders if she ever really left it.

Meanwhile, Spike is unwilling to let Buffy go. He tells her that she's just addicted to misery and it's time for her to snap out of it. He'll tell the Scoobies about their relationship himself, if she won't. Dawn is angry that Buffy's vision doesn't include her. And Buffy's work at the Doublemeat Palace continues to depress her. She realizes that she'd rather be the crazy girl in LA than the Slayer. She asks the doctor how she can stay out of her Sunnyddale "delusions" and he explains that she can't break free because she loves her friends too much. In order to get well, she has to kill them. Buffy ties up Xander, Willow and Dawn and sets the demon loose on them. Tara arrives and tries to helps the Scoobies. Back in LA, Buffy finally realizes that she can't hurt the Scoobies. She says good-bye to her mother and slips back into Sunnydale. Then she saves her friends from the demons and finally takes the antidote. As the episode ends, we are left wondering which reality was "real": Sunnydale or the mental hospital.

There are some good parts to this episode. It's nice to see Joyce again, even if it is only for a few moments. And I like the doctor in the vision giving a run down of the show and the problems of the season. "You used to battle mythic demons and gods, not its just three ordinary boys you went to high school with." Pretty funny and also an interesting take on Buffy's present dissatisfaction. She has no real purpose or quest this season and it's playing into her feelings of alienation from the world. Then there's his explanation for her "death" last season. She came out of her catatonic state, but was pulled back in by her "friends." Which corresponds to the Scoobies preforming the resurrection spell back in "Bargaining." It all ties together well. Also, I love the last the three seconds of the episode. Instead of ending with "real" Sunnydale, "Normal Again" fades out during a scene in the LA mental hospital. Leaving us to wonder if Buffy really is imagining everything, after all. It's kind of cool.

On the down side, sorry, but I'm just not buying the Buffy was once in a mental institution thing. That was never mentioned before. Not when all the people Glory brained sucked were going so crazy, or when Joyce found out that Buffy really was a Vampire Slayer or in the flashbacks of Buffy killing her first vamp in LA. They're just making it up to fit this episode's story line. Also, is Dawn kidding about the vision being Buffy's "ideal" reality? Buffy's in a mental hospital, how is that ideal? Dawn just has to make everything about her. Finally, didn't Spike promise Willow to make Buffy drink that antidote? Instead, he just leaves and Buffy dumps it. Kind of irresponsible of him.

My favorite part of the episode: Spike giving Xander a hard time for leaving Anya at the alter. It's about time someone told him what a immature coward he'd been, abandoning his bride like that. Granted I'm usually on Anya's side anyway, but for the rest of the season I'm really voting for her to reek some vengeance on Xander and I appreciate Spike taking her side.