# Normal Again > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Normal_Again > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Normal_Again.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Again > Source revision: 1267225713 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox television episode | series = [Buffy the Vampire Slayer](/source/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer) | image = | season = 6 | episode = 17 | airdate = {{Start date|2002|03|12}} | production = 6ABB17 | writer = [Diego Gutierrez](/source/Diego_Gutierrez_(writer)) | director = [Rick Rosenthal](/source/Rick_Rosenthal) | guests = *[Danny Strong](/source/Danny_Strong) as [Jonathan Levinson](/source/Jonathan_Levinson) *[Adam Busch](/source/Adam_Busch) as [Warren Mears](/source/Warren_Mears) *[Tom Lenk](/source/Tom_Lenk) as [Andrew Wells](/source/Andrew_Wells) *[Dean Butler](/source/Dean_Butler_(actor)) as [Hank Summers](/source/List_of_minor_Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer_characters) *[Michael Warren](/source/Michael_Warren_(actor)) as Doctor *[Kirsten Nelson](/source/Kirsten_Nelson) as Lorraine Ross *[Amber Benson](/source/Amber_Benson) as [Tara Maclay](/source/Tara_Maclay) *[Kristine Sutherland](/source/Kristine_Sutherland) as [Joyce Summers](/source/Joyce_Summers) *Sarah Scivier as Nurse *Rodney Charles as Orderly *April Dion as Kissing Girl | episode_list = List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes | season_article = Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6 | prev = [Hell's Bells](/source/Hell's_Bells_(Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer)) | next = [Entropy](/source/Entropy_(Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer)) }} "'''Normal Again'''" is the 17th episode of season 6 of the television series ''[Buffy the Vampire Slayer](/source/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer)''. The episode aired on March 12, 2002, on [UPN](/source/UPN). The Futon Critic named it the 35th best episode of 2002.{{cite web |author=Brian Ford Sullivan |date=January 7, 2003 |title=The 50 Best Episodes of 2002 - #40-31 |url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/reviews/2003/01/07/the-50-best-episodes-of-2002-number-40-31-15257/20030107_bestof2002/ |access-date=August 2, 2010 |work=The Futon Critic}} [The Trio](/source/Trio_(Buffyverse)) summon a [demon](/source/demon) whose [hallucinogen](/source/hallucinogen)ic [venom](/source/venom) makes [Buffy](/source/Buffy_Summers) believe that her implausible and nightmarish life as vampire slayer has actually been her own elaborate [hallucination](/source/hallucination) as a mental patient, [catatonic](/source/catatonia) in a hospital for the past six years. ==Production details== According to Joss Whedon, this episode was the "ultimate postmodern look at the concept of a writer writing a show", as it questioned fantastical or inconsistent elements of the show "the way any normal person would". Whedon added that the episode is intentionally left open to interpretation; the actual cause of the delusions, either the poison or Buffy's return to "reality", is not made explicitly clear. "If the viewer wants," Whedon says, "the entire series takes place in the mind of a lunatic locked up somewhere in Los Angeles... and that crazy person is me." Although, "Personally, I think it really happened."{{cite news | title = 10 Questions for Joss Whedon| work = New York Times| date = May 16, 2003 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/16/readersopinions/16WHED.html?ex=1185076800&en=7c66de4a5f0e124b&ei=5070 | access-date = 2007-07-20 }} Producer/writer Marti Noxon commented, "It was a fake out; we were having some fun with the audience. I don't want to denigrate what the whole show has meant. If Buffy's not empowered then what are we saying? If Buffy's crazy, then there is no girl power; it's all fantasy. And really the whole show stands for the opposite of that, which is that it isn't just a fantasy. There should be girls that can kick ass. So I'd be really sad if we made that statement at the end. That's why it's just somewhere in the middle saying "Wouldn't this be funny if ...?" or "Wouldn't this be sad or tragic if...?" In my feeling, and I believe in Joss' as well that's not the reality of the show. It was just a tease and a trick".Slayers and Vampires; The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized, Oral History of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel {{ISBN|978-0-7522-6635-0}} p238-9 ==Cultural references== The website Women at Warp compares the "none of this is real" theme with the ''[Star Trek: The Next Generation](/source/Star_Trek%3A_The_Next_Generation)'' episode "[Frame of Mind](/source/Frame_of_Mind_(Star_Trek%3A_The_Next_Generation))." "One of the series' most controversial episodes, "Normal Again" finds Buffy shifting between two worlds: one where her friends and monsters she's battled are real, and one where doctors in a mental health facility try to convince her that those same friends and monsters are actually figments of her imagination. It's a powerful episode, and it's also a plot we've seen before on ''TNG'', when [Riker](/source/William_Riker) is held captive during a reconnaissance mission, and his captors act as doctors to make him believe that his experiences aboard ''The Enterprise'' were all in his mind."{{Cite web |last=Eley |first=Candice Renee |date=16 March 2020 |title=10 Times Buffy the Vampire Slayer Mirrored Star Trek: The Next Generation |url=https://www.womenatwarp.com/10-times-buffy-the-vampire-slayers-plot-mirrored-star-trek-the-next-generation/ |access-date=22 December 2023 |website=Women at Warp |language=en-US}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{wikiquote|Buffy the Vampire Slayer#Normal Again|Normal Again}} * {{IMDb episode|0533464}} {{Buffy episodes}} Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6 episodes Category:2002 American television episodes Category:Television episodes set in psychiatric hospitals --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Normal Again](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Again) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Again?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.