6/17:Normal Again

[Techno-bot]

Written by Diego Gutierrez
Directed by Rick Rosenthal
Air date: 3/12/02

A demon which Jonathan, Andrew, and Warren unleash on Buffy causes her to drift between her friends in the real world and an alternate reality where her mother is still alive.

[beccaelizabeth]

So this is a real old question: If your world were the creation of a demon, how would you know?
Buffy has to figure which world is demon made.
... and with that ending so does the viewer.

I figure it's impossible to tell from logic. Since when is reality logical? And dreams and hallucinations can feel perfectly real, just as reality can feel like a dream.

So Buffy makes a choice.

Or, rather, two choices in a row.

First she chooses to decide she's the only wrong thing and the whole world is right outside of her. Which is pretty much depression in a nutshell. And it's a simple world, the Normal one. No stress, no strain, no slaying. Just go home and let parents take care of their only little girl. Easy to see the appeal.

But not the right choice. Math can prove it. See if she's in an institution and all the Buffyverse is her hallucination then the only one in danger is her. But if she's in the Buffyverse and the whole world rests on her sometimes there are billions in danger. So math says, go with the universe where you can make a difference. The possibility of hurting people for delusional reasons complicates hell out of that math, but if she's restrained in the Normal place and saving the world in the other one? No contest. Go save billions.

But Buffy has this big speech about 'how plausible is that'. The idea that one girl can make a difference? Is that plausible? And at first she thinks no, because that's how she's feeling lately. Well the 'Normal' world has a speech from her mum that basically says yes, it is, you can be strong. So Buffy chooses to be strong. But she needs her friends to do it.

So a lot of the Buffyverse goes. One person can make a difference, but more people really help.

But the interesting bit is about people trying to persuade you your perception of threat, of evil, is wrong. Delusional. There's a lot of that in the Buffyverse. People who can see things going on right in front of them and yet explain them away and be utterly surprised next time. I find it a great if uncomfortable metaphor for so much in RL. Abuse can be like that. People in their comfortable normal lives can look right past it, not see what's happening right in front of them. And other things, big systemic things, like racism and sexism and homophobia. There's always someone who can stand up and say, plainly believing it, that there's no such thing now and the ones who see it are being crazy. So it's a particular kind of strength to stand up for your perception of evil, to continue to believe that you can see the demons, even if others cannot.

But it's a dangerous one. Because, really, how do you know? Where is real at?
And how on earth do you figure what's 'normal'?

[KMInfinity]

Awesome post, Becca. I like how you develop Buffy's choices irrespective of what's *real*.

This isn't popular episode but it has always been a favorite because it doesn't cop out and make one *reality* more clearly superior or the obvious *right* choice. I really like the way Buffy's decision is framed, too. Kinda reminds me of Puddleglum's speech to the Green Witch in The Silver Chair.

[Spaced Out Looney]

So I wikied Ken Russell on a whim to find out who he is, and it turns out that he's known for making films with controversial sexual and religious content. So it turns out that Warren's comment was more accurate than he knew. Huh.