Buffy the Vampire Slayer 4x05 'Beer Bad' Reaction!!

[@ernesthakey3396]

"Is she gonna save his life, or hit him with a stick?" Yes.

[@rfresa]

"My brother-in-law's a warlock, he showed me how to do it." My favorite theory about this episode is that the bar owner's brother-in-law is Ethan Rayne!

[@732ReviewCrew]

That tracks wow

[@Itsjandz105]

People hate on the episode but I freakin love it. I bet the actors loved doing it.

[@themonkeytrainer]

I can't tell you how many times the phrase "Id Boy" has run through my head in conversation with college students.

[@LeeCarlson]

Remember after the events of graduation day when Buffy said that all she had the faculties to process were "tree pretty" and "fire bad?" So now we have "tree on fire, pretty bad."

[@ernesthakey3396]

I think my favorite bit in this one was Willow: "Just how gullible do you think I am?!?"

[@raymondgilbert1341]

"Men haven't changed since the dawn of time...see?"

[@BaBamf11]

A bad episode, but unlike most bad episodes, it’s full of some absolutely *hilarious* moments! Buffy the Cave Slayer in the swivel chair is peak comedy 🤪

[@maruskaehrensdorfer]

You both have such a dorky laugh and I LOVE IT! I agree that the funniest part is where Xander's goal of getting a girl to confide in him and having him light her cigarette finally happens and then he shows her the no smoking sign! 😂😂😂 I see this episode as sort of a filler, but also with the message of how bad underage drinking can be and the plot serves to basically resolve the Parker problem. Now who can those guys in camo outfits be who are skulking around campus and town? Hmmm......🤔

[@becca1189]

Even if Parker meant what he said, he's still wrong. One can not consent to something if they don't know what it is. That includes intentions. Parker had plenty of time & opportunities to tell Buffy that he wasn't interested in a committed relationship. Right after telling her that his dad's death motivated him to "live in the moment" was the perfect time to add "that's why I'm not interested in committing to one person". No fire dousing. Just honesty & respect. ❤🧡💛💚💙💜

[@1986bab]

I love this episode. It makes me laugh every time.

[@ninipookie]

Idc what anyone says, I like it

[@Buffy8Fan]

Not a whole lot of fan's favorite episode, but watching Willow put Parker in his place and Parker get hit on the head by Cave Buffy are both gold moments. A third moment is Willow's commentary on spotting a moment justifying how men haven't changed since the Dawn of time. In the USA, where the in-universe show takes place, the drinking age is 21, and around the time of the episode airing, in real lfe, underage drnking in college was a huge problem, causing many deaths. The laws of the small college towns had to be rewritten so beer wasn't sold around college campuses, and many campuses also got rid of sororities altogether. I don't know the story behind this, but I remember The WB wanting to save money and it somehow led to the government paying the bill for this episode as long as the episode was about/advertised the badness of underage drinking, due to the problems of it in real life.

[@AshLee92490]

I think they already did the drugged drink thing in 2x5 Reptile Boy...

[@732ReviewCrew]

You're right.

[@Kay2be2mr]

You know what I loved about these Parker centric episodes? It shows the reality that even a girl as beautiful as Buffy can get played by a guy. That just because she's the protagonist of the show doesn't mean that every guy she meets is going to fall in love with her. Which was the case for a while with teen shows at the time and in the early 2000s. If you were the main character, everyone was in love with you.

[@Jacana2k6]

Another fun one. Nice set up with the Willow and Oz relationship so you almost think that Willow will be seduced by the d-bad. They she lets him have it (verbally). Also great planning by the show so Xander gets a job at the bar. The calm before the storm!

[@Itsjandz105]

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. Funding was rejected for the episode because "drugs were an issue, but... [it] was otherworldly nonsense, very abstract and not like real-life kids taking drugs.

[@732ReviewCrew]

Funding rejected 🤣

[@Heldemon]

I always heard it was an anti-drug program that came to them to make an anti-drug message, and joss didn't really care, but made this instead and was rejected cause of it.

[@corgiluver9718]

IMO, episode funny. This may be the lowest rated episode on IMDB but I really enjoy it much more than Bad Eggs, Go Fish, or a couple other early season one episodes. While it is undeniably silly, I find it very funny because of SMG's acting as the caveslayer, Willow verbally taking down Parker, the Xander bartender jokes, and that it was a failed attempt to get government money. And of course seeing Parker get head bonked a couple times is immensely satisfying.

[@migmit]

My theory is that you like the episode if you agree with the title (I do). Originally they tried to get a government grant for anti-alcohol messaging; they failed, because in the episode it's not the beer that's bad, it's magic.

[@732ReviewCrew]

Ahhh that's hilarious

[@williambowman2326]

This episode has achieved the summit of rumors, changing stories from writers, producers, and executives, as well as entertainment media with government sources. Take little of what the alleged participants saw; they have changed their stories over the years. To understand the background and reasons that this very odd episode was produced and aired you have to return to the late 1990’s. The moral safety, protection, and evil intentions going after Americas youth had been a hot topic for several years.( music videos, the real demise of the family viewing hour, etc. ) Television shows for the teen audience were in the cross hairs. BTVS was an easy target, the network was smallish and weak in conflict, and Joss Whedon knew controversy helped with the coolness factor. About this time, 1998&1999, some idiotic government officials thought that having television shows have entertainment that were just disguised Public Service Announcements would be an excellent way to help all involved.This way the government bureaucracy and weak spined executives could tell the pressure groups and grandstanding politicians the problem was being discussed and addressed. A big issue at this time was underage drinking and especially binge drinking on college campuses. It seemed some terrible things happened and almost always beer kegs were involved. Some college towns even banned selling kegs to the public. Whedon and the gang came up with the idea to show the evils of binge drinking and so you have Beer Bad. The goal was to get money and tax breaks so the episode would have no cost, the WB would get some credit, and Whedon would do this again( Who would not like to produce an hour of a hit show with no out of pocket and the government paying the bills) The legend is that some FCC or Commerce Department lackey said okay and this went into production. Then supposedly, after the front page stories were going away, the government asked to see the episode and then determined it did not meet the qualifications for a PSA. So the attempt at getting a pure profit hour for airing government propaganda was quashed. There are many stories floating out there but something went on because this episode makes no sense without but falls in line for the desire of the “artist “ trying to make a quick buck.

[@ThomasBeauchamp-m8m]

The idea of a campus bar is a little odd considering that around 75% of the student body is underage. They also didn't seem to be carding or trying to prevent underage drinking. The ABC would have a field day with them.

[@johnnym7575]

I'm Canadian. Legal age is 19 so it seems weird there's only one campus pub and a small one at that. 😂 Nothing better than a pint and wings between classes.

[@Buffy8Fan]

@@johnnym7575 In the USA, where the in-universe show takes place, the drinking age is 21 (age of consent is 18), and around the time of the episode airing, in real lfe, underage drnking in college was a huge problem, causing many deaths. The laws of the small college towns had to be rewritten so beer wasn't sold around college campuses and many campuses got rid of sororities altogether.

[@victoriaodegaard1]

My campus had a little bar as well and only the seniors could drink there. It’s strange

[@MatthewSnell-zh3cd]

This episode is the lowest rated Buffy episode, but I think it's pretty funny. There are a few that I think are much worse.

[@ms_scribbles]

I think it was *meant* to be dumb.

[@johncampbell756]

"Nothing can defeat the penis!" Was the horrendous ADR job because he didn't say the line how they wanted or because he didn't want to shout that on an actual college campus? Buffy has bad hair. It must be an odd episode. A then unknown Kal Penn in the bar. I only recently realized that was him. I can't stand Veruca. I actually know the bassist. I probably met her a year later. The band is fake, but she's a real bassist. I had no idea she was in Veruca's band until a week or do ago through another reaction. Xander was drinking at the bar. I have a feeling the fire and drugged beer may result in Xander being unemployed again.

[@pixy-onewing]

❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍

[@rhinovandam]

People hate on this episode but in a world where the episode hells bells exists I give this one a pass nowadays

[@killianlpc]

There are 144 episodes of BTVS, they can't all be brilliant. This is possibly the worse episode of BTVS ever, up there with Go Fish, Bad Eggs and couple more from this Season, (and a few episodes from S6 and S7 don't want to mention names cos of spoilers). Though very last bit when Parker gets hit over the head again with the club was very funny. There were so many fantastic episodes of this show over the seven series, but this really isn't one of them, some fans say on re-watch it's better, I don't agree, it was a real filler of an episode thankfully lost in one the the greatest TV shows of all time. This is actually the lowest ranked episode on IMDB of all 144 episodes.

[@tjosweel]

This is my favorite episode of season 4. I get why people dislike it, parts are cheesy, but I love it. It fits with the theme of the season so well.

[@EpimethiusPSN]

There are about 20 episodes that are worse in S6 & S7, most residing in S6. This is not a, "bad", episode, but it is FAR from great. I would call this episode, forgettable. There are about 3 great moments in the show but that isn't enough to ignore the other 43.5 minutes of the show.

[@AshLee92490]

​@@tjosweelI never understood why people hate this episode. Shit's funny lol. And to compare it to "Go Fish" and "Bad Eggs" of all.things is wild asf to me lol...

[@hendrikscheepers4144]

Nah. This one was fine. Season 1 and 2 had some bad ones.

[@MB.543]

​@EpimethiusPSN That's quite the hot take. This episode is rated much lower than all the episodes from the later seasons.

[@ruth2141]

22:55 -- I'm not sure that calling your viewers old is a way to get a lot of likes and subscribes (even though we are old). 👵

[@732ReviewCrew]

More joking the show is legally able to drink