Thought this was a really good episode.
LOL at Willow rehearsing what to say to Tara on campus.
Didn't expect Buffy to attack the scoobies like that.
The alternate reality was IMO very plausible and very well done.

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by Little_Miss_Muffet

It was odd how there was no real explanation of why the three dorks decided on that tactic, since we don’t really know what would have happened to the Sunnydale Buffy had she chose to be the mental hospital Buffy – I guess she would have simply become mental in this dimension.

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I think the idea was to make us wonder whether that was the tactic at all. If the geeks had said that they intended to make buffy think that she was mad then the episode wouldn't have had as much impact as it did.

The same is true of returning to the hospital at the end with the doctor claiming that she was gone for good.

Maybe Buffy has gone gaga, the Doctor's arguments were certainly convincing. It would have made a great finish to the whole Buffy saga if she had decided to stay with Joyce and Hank. (Of course there would have been a slight problem as to how Angel could continue if that were the case!)

I thought this was an amazing episode - bettered only by Once More With Feeling for this season - Can't wait for the finale - if my calculations are correct (which given my head at the moment its poss that they aren't but..) there's only 5 eps to go. Yey!

I really enjoyed this one (this season has been soooo patchy!). It's not a classic episode, but I thought the idea was excellent.

The ending, in the hospital, suggests to me that that this reality exists somewhere and wasn't just a hallucination in Buffy's mind. The demon's poison just enabled Buffy to travel between them. So the question remains, is it just another alternate reality in some other plane of existance, or is it ACTUAL REALITY with Buffy really in a mental home somewhere making all this up in her head???

I agree with what Sydney said, I think the ending with Buffy in the hospital was supposed to leave more than a little doubt in our minds as to the reality of Sunnydale, and for me it definately worked. I really enjoyed this ep, I think it worked really well, but I have to say I don't think dimensions come into it at all. Rather, as has been said before, I think the real question the writers left us with is does the Buffyverse exist at all? Within the context of the show of course!

There's definately something to come back to there, especially seeing as how Buffy dying is getting old fast and gods just don't seem to have the impact they once did. The mind can be a scary place, and I think this has been portrayed really well throught the season. Another thing I like about this ep is seeing the original scoobies back together again in a time of crisis, I mean, sure Buffy did try to kill the others but before that it was nice to see the old gang there for each other.

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by killer
Another thing I like about this ep is seeing the original scoobies back together again in a time of crisis

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I love the bit when Willow and Buffy hug Xander as he comes through the door. Reminiscent of the scene after they've abseiled down the lift-shaft in 'Primevil'. Also, was anyone reminded a little of 'Earshot'?

So anyway, first the secondary stuff:
Xander, great scene from him on his return. Interesting that he wants to get back together with Anya. One suspects that she won't be so keen.
Willow still believes that she's ok as long as she's not using magic, and hasn't really accepted responsibility for what she did at all. If she and Tara are gonna get back together (and I hope they do), this really needs to be sorted out.
The Xander/Spike stuff was also good. Part of me was wishing he'd just stake him already as I really don't see a future for Spike on the show at all. Also reminded me of the Xander/Angel friction way back in S2 & S3.
The troika. Hmm, darkness lies ahead there. Warren has accepted no responsibility for killing Katrina, while Jonathan is clearly very upset about it. And we all know what happens to people who kill without remorse in this show, don't we?

And to the main course. A shocking and powerful deconstruction of the very foundations of the show, which also made fantastically compelling TV. Superb performance from SMG, possibly her best ever. What made it so convincing for me was the level of familiarity with the shows history, right back to the revelation that Buffy did spend time in a mental institution.
It also tied in very well thematically with the season. At the start of the season, Buffy was dragged back into this world unwillingly. This time, she has the choice, and she takes it. There's also the running commentary on exactly what this season is about, and specifically the role of the nerds, which some people thought was unnecessary but for me clarified and illuminated exactly what is going on.
What was unnecessary was the final scene. Because there was enough doubt sown during the rest of the episode that I didn't need to have that possibility spelt out to me. The rest of the episode was very clever, but that part really wasn't. Also minor complaints about the speed of the resolution. It could easily have made a two-parter, but instead we have Tara turning up out of the blue, figuring out where they all were and basically saving the day. I will never complain about seeing Tara on-screen, but still.

Minor complaints, though, and that for me was the best episode of the season and up there with the best the show has produced.

Oh, incidentally, the writer of the episode was apparently Joss Whedons personal assistant for several years. I find it hard to believe that Joss didn't have a strong hand in the writing of this..

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by FiveByFive
I thought the idea was excellent

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The trouble with this is its been done so many times on other TV shows - DS9, Charmed examples I've seen.

However, this was an excellent episode. And I'm glad to say it does it as well as DS9 and better than charmed.

It was very interesting and worked exceedingly well, but I don't think the intention of the writer(Joss Whedon's assistant for as long as I can remember Deigo Gutierrez) to say that none of Buffy was real. I think the idea was that Buffy was closing down the delusion in her mind of the Institution.

And I don't think saying it was all imagination is a good way to finish it at all! It's extremely lazy writing. It also makes what happened before worthless. Mind you, I think Enterprise is being set up for this somehow with them having met klingons and a temporal cold war in place.

i think this is the first episode where i've seen SMg cry and believed it.
the violence she used against dawn was a little scary, showed just what the slayer oculd be. Liked the plot.
Could spike have chosen a worse time to tell buffy that he would tell her friends if he didn't?
it'll be interesting to see how the season develops from here. Johnathan seems pretty close to breaking point in the trio...
i agree with what TinnionA97 said about the last bit ebing about buffy closing down the delusion. I thought this when the episode ended cos u saw buffy just standing as if she was doing it.

(Edited by Rae 26/04/2002 18:48)

I thought Buffy would have found it a bit easier to overpower them, especially Dawn.

I thought that this was a good ep, though I was a bit confused to start with, I got used to it in the end !

Good to see that Xander is back so soon. Amnyone else get the feeling that Anya is not going to want to talk things over in a hurry !

This season is shaping up now, although I would have thought by now that we might have some inkling into how its going to end.

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by Rae

the violence she used against dawn was a little scary, showed just what the slayer oculd be.

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First time I saw this I almost thought we were going to get a repeat of when Buffy kills Dawn in 'The Weight of the World'.

Of course they weren't going to kill any main characters in this ep, but it sure would have been interesting if they had...

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by In a State of Dan

What was unnecessary was the final scene. Because there was enough doubt sown during the rest of the episode that I didn't need to have that possibility spelt out to me.

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Just saw this last night. The final scene is either important or not depending on how much doubt you want to create. As written, the final scene clearly suggests that Buffy *is* in an institution. There is no subjective narrator so we can only take the scene as being objective reality as presented by the show's storytelling camera.

Of course, the major wrinkle in that is the existence of Angel as an independent objective story telling presence within the same story world.

Still, an interesting idea well realised.