Normal Again
| "Normal Again" | |
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
Buffy in the mental institution
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| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 17 |
| Directed by | Rick Rosenthal |
| Written by | Diego Gutierrez |
| Production code | 6ABB17 |
| Original air date | March 12, 2002 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Normal Again" is the 17th episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The Trio summon a demon whose hallucinogenic venom makes Buffy believe that her implausible and nightmarish life as vampire slayer has actually been her own elaborate hallucination as a mental patient, catatonic in a hospital for the past six years.
Buffy searches newly rented houses for the Trio's hideout and the three discover her on their surveillance equipment, when she gets a bit too close. While they hide in the basement, Andrew Wells calls on a demon that attacks Buffy and starts a fight. The demon grabs Buffy and stabs her with a needle-like skewer from his forearm (similar to the Polgara in season 4). Buffy flashes to a scene in a mental hospital where as a patient she cries out as she's held by two orderlies and stabbed with a needle. Buffy wakes up alone outside the Trio's house with no demon to be seen, hurt and confused she walks home.
Willow prepares herself for talking to Tara, but spots Tara greeting another woman with a quick kiss (on the cheek) and Willow walks away, wounded. Tara notices her retreating, but it is too late to chase after her. At the Doublemeat Palace, Buffy works like a zombie, and flashes back to the mental hospital where a doctor announces it is time for her drugs. Willow and Buffy talk about Xander's disappearing act after his aborted wedding and Willow's attempt to talk to Tara. Xander surprises the girls by showing up at the house, and wonders about Anya and how to repair his relationship with her. The girls tell him Anya left a few days ago and try to reassure him that everything will work out in time.
Buffy runs into Spike at the cemetery and they talk about the events of the wedding that didn't happen. A confrontation begins between Xander and Spike and as Willow tries to break it up, Buffy gets weak and collapses. Xander manages one punch to Spike before his attention is drawn by Buffy. Back in the reality of the mental hospital, a doctor informs Buffy that she's been hallucinating in the hospital for the past six years and everything she knew to exist in Sunnydale isn't real. She's shaken and confused, especially when both of her parents appear together, Hank having abandoned his family years earlier and Joyce having subsequently died in the Sunnydale world. Buffy falls back into the Sunnydale world, finding herself surrounded by her concerned friends.
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