Normal Again

Production details

Joss Whedon described this episode as 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." Producer/writer Marti Noxon commented, "It was a fake out; we were having some fun with the audience." She added, "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." Noxon concluded, "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."

Cultural references

The website Women at Warp compares the "none of this is real" theme with the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Frame of Mind." In that episode, 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. The comparison highlights a similar plot device where a character shifts 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.