I think Normal Again is a brilliant episode. It's like an episode from a season that doesn't horribly suck, so yeah, it stands out like a broken thumb.
I love "Normal Again." It's such a great idea, and I love the meta of it all. Although I want to slap Dawn silly when she complains about not existing in Buffy's "ideal world." Ideal world? SHE'S IN A FUCKING INSANE ASYLUM.
Yeah, but it's a fucking insane asylum WITH NO DAWN IN IT.
There are things to recommend the experience. IJS.
I love "Normal Again." It's such a great idea, and I love the meta of it all.
One of the many, many reasons I hate Normal Again is the meta of it all. I can make my own meta. I don't need the show to start telling me in big easy words about how Buffy USED TO FIGHT DEMONS and now FIGHTS DORKY PEOPLE.
Me with Maysa on the meta.
OK, I'm sorry about that. But it's still true.
The only thing that bothered me about "Normal Again" was the asspull of "Oh, back in LA, my parents put me in the looney bin briefly."
I don't need the show to start telling me in big easy words about how Buffy USED TO FIGHT DEMONS and now FIGHTS DORKY PEOPLE.
Well, I liked how the meta was converted into psychobabble.
The only thing that bothered me about "Normal Again" was the asspull of "Oh, back in LA, my parents put me in the looney bin briefly."
Yeah, I really couldn't cope with that, because it makes a whole bunch of interactions between Buffy and Joyce make no sense at all. So I told myself "never happened pre-Dawn!" which just put me back in my "wah! The first four seasons didn't happen like I remember them!" place. Which was off-putting.
The meta I didn't mind so much.
This is also true. Huh. You'd think I was a Libra, arguing both sides this way.
The only thing that bothered me about "Normal Again" was the asspull of "Oh, back in LA, my parents put me in the looney bin briefly."
Oh, god, I had actually blocked that part out. That was so awful.