Talk:Normal Again

Hallucination Episodes
Is there any category for hallucination episodes where the main character remembers reality, but is convinced not to accept it? There's this, Smallville ep Labyrinth, and several others. samwaltz 06:47, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Someone should probably just cut out the whole "Numerous other shows..." section and replace it with a link to this. --DocumentN 22:03, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Influence
Didn't the events of this episode directly influence other episodes? I dimly remember Willow and Dawn having freakouts because they knew Buffy (for a time) preferred crazy hospital to them. Lots42 (talk) 23:14, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

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BetacommandBot (talk) 19:20, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Naïve realism
I keep wondering whether or not I myself am a brain in a vat or a mental patient somewhere for that matter. Usually I guess there is no way to tell, at least not for someone who happens to be a non-believer regarding realism. In the case of such sub-realities like a series however we have the authority to distinguish between "reality" and hallucination if possible. At the time I write this in the article it says: "[...] completely unresponsive as the doctor shines light into her pupils. He tells Buffy's heartbroken parents that she's "gone," as the camera pulls away out of the room; Buffy has succumbed to her illness and will be trapped in her life as "Vampire Slayer" forever." "gone" seems quite ambiguous in that context -- and what is it with these commas inside the quote...? However the article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupillary_light_reflex states that there must be some kind of brain damage or damage to a nerve or something when the pupil does not react to the light, so it seems quite likely to me that the literally blue Buffy in the clinic died, and since there are more episodes after "Normal Again" and brain dead patients lack the brains to imagine so much stuff (or anything), this reality must be a hallucination (I don't say the other one was "real"). (Regarding Butterfly Effect I maintain the opposite opinion, btw.) Now please correct me. -- 79.192.234.196 (talk) 15:29, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Entire Series
Just as a thought, the final scene in the hospital ("she's gone") would never have existed if the people weren't real - doesn't this mean that the entire Buffy series is a figment of her psyche? -- Burningmace 13:21, 18 December 2008 (UTC)


 * well, i once read that joss whedon purposly left that open to interpretation, that this episode might be true. 75.72.25.219 (talk) 00:50, 24 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, it's quite obvious... the entire Series IS rewritten in this episode. It's all about a mental patient's dreams...84.152.96.163 (talk) 13:18, 30 December 2009 (UTC)


 * "Still I always feel this strange estrangement: nothing here is real, nothing here is right." —Tamfang (talk) 01:42, 25 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Actually this could just be the haven that Buffy talked about both could be equally real just on a different plane so to speak — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tenstar2004 (talk • contribs) 18:02, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Hallucination Episodes
I think you should distinguish between which of these examples preceded NORMAL AGAIN and which followed, so we can trace what influenced what. I know that STAR TREK examples were earlier and the SMALLVILLE one later (and embaressingly dependent on the BUFFY model).

An additional example not listed here is "The Silence" from JOAN OF ARCADIA, where JOan falls ill and is temporarily convinced that her religious visions (and thus most of the show's story line) were hallucinations.

Another example is "A BEATIFUL MIND", though in that case it is made clear that the mental-patient version of reality is the true one.

One of the contributors above comments from medical evidence that "insane Buffy" must have died. I think this is just a medical error on the writers' part, not a clue. CharlesTheBold (talk) 04:42, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Star Trek parallel
What's the STNG episode where Riker, captured as a spy by Cardassians, is in a hospital where they tell him the Enterprise is imaginary? —Tamfang (talk) 01:40, 25 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Frame of Mind, but it wasn't Cardassians. Cheddargyle (talk) 05:32, 13 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Thank you. —Tamfang (talk) 07:15, 13 June 2010 (UTC)

Similar Plots
Is it really encyclopedic to list other television series' that had a plot line where the real9ity of the show is questioned? Not only do they lack citation, but the Charmed entry seems to be implying that the Buffy writers copied Charmed. Also, if you must list television shows that had similar twists you should step out of the fantasy/sci-fi genre. Newhart, St. Elsewhere, and Roseanne were all critically acclaimed television programs that pulled in millions of veiwers, and then in the last few minutes of the series revealed to the viewer that the entire show had either been imagined or dreamt by one of the characters. Not an ambiguous one-off episode, the entire series is revealed to be a fantasy, no questions asked. Joss Whedon was even a writer for Roseanne. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.63.206.239 (talk) 21:24, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

Cultural References
One of the Trio accuses another member that he didn't read Legion of Doom (DC Comics). 80.99.221.200 (talk) 13:25, 8 April 2015 (UTC)