Beer Bad (Buffy episode)

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Episode 5 of season 4, "Beer Bad" is an episode of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer that packs a double moral. It was written by Tracey Forbes and directed by David Solomon. (See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.)

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details about "Beer Bad" as well as minor spoilers for other episodes of Buffy follow.

Contents

1 Plot synopsis

1.1 Summary
1.2 Expanded overview

2 Writing and acting

2.1 Cast

3 Controversy
4 International response
5 Quotes and trivia
6 Production details

6.1 Music

7 Continuity

7.1 Arc significance
7.2 Timing

8 External links

8.1 Episode guides
8.2 Reviews
8.3 Other

Plot synopsis

Summary

Xander gets a job bartending at the college pub; Buffy drowns her sorrows over Parker by drinking with some upperclassmen at said pub. Turns out that the bar manager is spiking the beer with some supernatural mojo, causing the targets (Buffy's new buds) to revert to caveman mentality. Of course, Buffy is affected, too, although not quite as drastically, since Xander finally cut her off. When the cavemen start a fire, Cave Buffy's Slayer instincts kick in and she saves the day — and knocks Parker over the head to boot.

Expanded overview

Buffy is still hurting because Parker dumped her after a night together. In a daydream during one of Professor Walsh's classes (pointedly, about the role of the id in Freudian psychology) she saves Parker's life and he swears to do anything to get her back. A dialog with Willow later shows how much Buffy is not over him yet.

In the real world, Xander gets a job as a bartender with fake ID, and has to endure the insults and taunts of the students. He gets to test his empathy skills with none other than Buffy who then proceeds to get drunk on "Black Frost" beer with four college boys. Oz and Willow are in The Bronze together, but he feels a strange attraction to the singer Veruca when she gets on the stage with her band Shy.

The next morning, Willow doesn't only have to cope with Veruca having called her a "groupie" when Oz introduced them and the feeling that Oz is mentally absent, but also with Buffy who seems to be suffering from "Black Frost" in more than the usual way: She seems to be dumbing down more and more. That evening when Buffy drinks herself further and further into idiocy we get a glimpse why: somebody has a chemical lab set up and is putting more into the beer than just malt. Xander finally sends Buffy home, and when her four drinking buddies turn into violent Neanderthals, he finds out that the owner of the pub has been brewing something as revenge for 20 years of college kids taunting him. While the boys escape to the streets of Sunnydale, Xander gets Giles to help. They find Buffy drawing cave paintings on her dorm wall saying "Parker bad!". Giles and Xander are unable to keep Buffy in her room when she gets a craving for more beer.

Meanwhile, Willow confronts Parker with what she says he has done to Buffy. When he turns his charm on her, there is a moment when we think he has turned her, too, but then she reveals she has been playing along with a rant about how primitive men are — just when the four Neanderthal students burst into the room. They knock Willow and Parker unconscious and start a fire that rapidly burns out of control. Xander catches up with Buffy and when they see smoke from the Neanderthals' fire, they rush to help. Though afraid of the flames and unable to figure out how to use an extinguisher anymore, Buffy saves Willow and — after hitting him — Parker. In the end, Parker thanks Buffy for saving his life, and apologizes just the way she had dreamt — just to get knocked unconscious again, much to the approval of the rest of the gang.

Writing and acting

Willow proves again that she can't be sweet-talked, something we first learned in "The Pack".

"Beer Bad" is written with a classic frame structure — Buffy's dream — that emphasizes her development; hitting Parker with a stick qualifies as poetic justice. The college students are crude sketches at best.

However, the most striking feature of "Beer Bad" is the twin moral that has made it one of the least liked episodes of the series: Beer and casual sex are bad for you. Though there are attempts to put a humorous note on it — in the end, Xander asks Buffy what she has learned about beer, and all she says is "foamy!" — but there is no escaping the fact that the writers are laying it on with a trowel. In an [interview] with the BBC, producer Doug Petrie admits this freely: "Well, very young people get unlimited access to alcohol and become horrible! We all do it — or most of us do it — and live to regret it, and we wanted to explore that."

Cast

Controversy

This plot was written with the plan to take advantage of funds from the Office of National Drug Control Policy available to shows that promoted an anti-drug message. [link] Funding was rejected for the episode because "[d]rugs were an issue, but ... [it] was otherworldly nonsense, very abstract and not like real-life kids taking drugs. Viewers wouldn't make the link to [the ONDCP's] message." [link]

According to several online surveys, this is the least popular episode of Buffy and some even disavow it from the continuity of the series. [link] However, it is stated by some norwegian fans that this episode was one of the funniest in the series. This is due to an interpretation of the episode`s potential satirical wiew, rather than the moralizing aspects. [link] [link]

International response

"Beer Bad" only gets worse when translated, mainly because American attitudes towards alcohol are not shared in most other countries (for example, Germany - which has one of the highest number of Buffy fans in the world - has the age limit of 16 for beer and wine, and 18 for all other alcoholic beverages; and both the UK and Ireland have the age limit of 18 for all alcoholic beverages). In cultures where binge drinking is not the endemic problem it is in the US and where you don't have to be 21 to drink like in California (the reason Xander has to fake his ID card), the episode is widely seen as a heavy-handed morality play and an example of how American Puritanism is transported even in shows that otherwise dare to "defy the norm".

Quotes and trivia

"My mother always said that beer was evil." — Buffy giving us the moral

Giles: I can't believe you served Buffy that beer. (repeating it)

Xander: I didn't know it was evil.

''Giles: But you knew it was beer.

Xander:Well, excuse me, Mr. I-spent-the-sixties-in-an-electric-Kool-Aid-funky-Satan-Groove.

Giles]]: It was the early seventies. And you should know better.

"Freshman girl not able to hold the beer. Shouldn't have it. Get into trouble." — Xander making sure we got it

"Nothing can defeat The Penis!!" - Xander showing his typical subtlety when the question of Mind over Matter crops up.

Production details

Music

Collapsis - "Wonderland"
Gale Music - "Some people say"
Kim Ferron - "Nothing But You" - This played on the jukebox, one of the songs on .
Luscious Jackson - "Ladyfingers" (Remix)
Luscious Jackson - "Ladyfingers"
Paul Trudeau - "I Can't Wait"
Paul Trudeau - "It Feels Like I'm Dyin' Inside"
Smile - "The Best Years"
THC - "Overfire"

Continuity

Arc significance

"Beer Bad" is the episode where Buffy gets over Parker: At the beginning, she is pining for him, at the end, she is hitting him over the head with a branch, thus clearing the way for Riley. In a fashion similar to "Tabula Rasa", Buffy's descent to a more primitive state lets us see aspects of her core personality: courage and willingness to face danger to defend her friends. Oz' attraction to Veruca is built up further, setting the stage for the following episode "Wild at Heart". Willow gets a few things about men off of her chest in a way that gives us more clues that she will be giving them up for good sometime soon.

Timing

Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

Location, time (if known)	Buffyverse chronology: Fall 1999 - December 1999 (non-canon = italic)
L.A. 1999	Angel comic:
L.A. 1999	A1.01 City of (Angel episode)>City of
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.01 The Freshman (Buffy episode)>The Freshman
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.02 Living Conditions (Buffy episode)>Living Conditions
L.A. 1999	~~A1.02~~ Corrupt (unaired Angel episode)>Corrupt (unaired)
L.A. 1999	A1.02 Lonely Hearts (Angel episode)>Lonely Hearts
L.A. 1999	A1.00 Unaired Angel pilot
L.A. 1999	Angel book: Not Forgotten (Angel novel)>Not Forgotten
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.03 The Harsh Light of Day (Buffy episode)>The Harsh Light of Day
L.A. 1999	A1.03 In the Dark (Angel episode)>In the Dark
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.04 Fear Itself (Buffy episode)>Fear Itself
Sunnydale, 1999	Buffy graphic novel: Blood of Carthage (Buffy comic)>Blood of Carthage
L.A. 1999	Angel graphic novel: Surrogates (Angel comic)>Surrogates
L.A. 1999	Angel comic: Strange Bedfellows (Angel comic)>Strange Bedfellows story, Angel #4
Sunnydale, 1999	Buffy video game: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Game Boy Color)
Sunnydale, 1999
L.A. 1999	A1.04 I Fall to Pieces (Angel episode)>I Fall to Pieces
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.05 Beer Bad (Buffy episode)>Beer Bad
L.A. 1999	A1.05 Rm w/a Vu (Angel episode)>Rm w/a Vu
Sunnydale, 1999	Buffy books: Lost Slayer (Buffy novel)>Lost Slayer series
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.06 Wild at Heart (Buffy episode)>Wild at Heart
Sunnydale, 1999	Buffy graphic novel: Oz (Buffy comic)>Oz
Sunnydale, 1999	Buffy book:
L.A. 1999	A1.06 Sense & Sensitivity (Angel episode)>Sense & Sensitivity
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.07 The Initiative (Buffy episode)>The Initiative
L.A. 1999	A1.07 Bachelor Party (Angel episode)>Bachelor Party
L.A. 1999	Angel book: Close to the Ground (Angel novel)>Close to the Ground
L.A. 1999	Angel book: Soul Trade (Angel novel)>Soul Trade
L.A. 1999	Angel graphic novel: Earthly Possessions (Angel comic)>Earthly Possessions
L.A. 1999	Angel book: Redemption (Angel novel)>Redemption
L.A. 1999	Angel book: Shakedown (Angel novel)>Shakedown
L.A. 1999	Angel book: Hollywood Noir (Angel novel)>Hollywood Noir
L.A. 1999	Angel book: Avatar (Angel novel)>Avatar
L.A. 1999	Angel book: Bruja (Angel novel)>Bruja
L.A. 1999	Angel book: The Summoned (Angel novel)>The Summoned
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.08 Pangs (Buffy episode)>Pangs
L.A. 1999	A1.08 I Will Remember You (Angel episode)>I Will Remember You
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.09 Something Blue (Buffy episode)>Something Blue
L.A. 1999	A1.09 Hero (Angel episode)>Hero
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.10 Hush (Buffy episode)>Hush
L.A. 1999	A1.10 Parting Gifts (Angel episode)>Parting Gifts
Sunnydale, 1999	B4.11 Doomed (Buffy episode)>Doomed
L.A. 1999	A1.11 Somnambulist (Angel episode)>Somnambulist

External links

Episode guides

Reviews

Other

[Buffy Body Count synopsis of "Beer Bad"]

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