That Time Buffy Made Government Propaganda

On the strange backstory behind one of the most universally hated pieces of TV of the '90s... and exactly who's responsible. Go to curiositystream.com/sarahz/ and use my code sarahz for access to Curiositystream and Nebula!
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Music:
Sven Lindvall, Daniel Fridell - Standing on our Heads
Zoë Blade - Walking in the Rain

[@LadyEmilyPresents]

Sarah and I watched this episode together while drinking wine and before you ask, yes, we were appropriately punished for such awful and immoral behavior

[@TheCourtJack]

Dang you have time traveling powers? It says you posted that 21 hours ago 😂

[@zainmudassir2964]

Hi Emily love your vids

[@merrittanimation7721]

You have the protection of Dionysus.

[@SsjkidsSaveCosmo08]

how dare you

[@ktownshutdown21]

Hayes Code in effect.

[@SomeGuy-tr2hi]

As someone who’s never seen this show, the fact that there’s an anti-alcohol episode literally called “Beer Bad” is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard

[@rjsweda]

i found the episode very funny. i think it's worth viewing if you like buffy, especially the quirky humor.

[@pieofchart]

@@rjsweda The quirky "ermm, so THAT just happened" Joss Whedon humor

[@Spicy_Spores]

@@pieofchart yes. This is before it was called "Joss Whedon" humor, you're not cool my dude, lmao.

[@shelbybunny]

its like they hired a caveman to come up with the episode title edit: well. i guess they did huh

[@stormofconquest]

I’ve seen the show over 12 times and I’m a hardcore fan. Anytime I meet someone that hasn’t seen it I try to convince them to see it… So how do I convince you to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

[@Zorae42]

Finally watched this and I have to argue against the Angel arc being about punishing women for being sexual. It has one of my favorite scenes where Buffy talks to Giles (her male role model) and expects him to scold her for having sex and he's like, "Nah, I'm not going to judge you for having sex with the man you loved" and it's really sweet and emotional. The show goes out of it's way to say none of what happens is Buffy's fault.

[@theangelproductions]

Exactly. It's a metaphor for a partner "changing" after you sleep with them.

[@lolaandjoe123]

The 'trigger' for Angelus wasn't anything sexual anyway, what activated the curse was the perfect happiness that came afterwards, when he was just holding Buffy as they fell asleep together

[@NameWithoutNumber]

@@lolaandjoe123 I wish the show had put more emphasis on that/made that clearer in dialogue about it!

[@drosarius5929]

Yeah, it's really strange how nobody understands what that arc clearly represented. Back in the 90's when it aired we were all very aware that it was about a guy chasing a girl only to change once he'd gotten what he wanted. It was a commentary on men taking advantage of women, not about punshing women for having sex. The idea was show that it happens and generate some empathy for the women that experience it. You have to be fairly jaded to see almost anything in Buffy as an attack on women. It's a pretty solid bastion of feminism.

[@bottomofastairwell]

i think in the larger context of joss being himself and the patriarchy, it kind of reads as punishing Buffy for her sexuality. But i always thought, in essence, the whole angel arc was a commentary on the dangers of losing yourself in another person. in letting them define you and your existence so much that you forget who you are and how when you do, things often turn out badly. On buffy's end, it can easily be seen as a metaphor for abusive relationships and how even though this person has changed, it can be hard to move on when you still love them. and i think on angel's side, people often simplify it (even in world, ahem Xander) and see his "trigger" as just sleeping with Buffy, but that wasn't it. it was that moment of perfect, contented bliss, where he was just lying with the woman her loved in his arms, after sharing a beautiful, intimate moment with her. but again, that can be seen as a commentary about giving too much of yourself away and losing yourself in another person

[@1166ultraviolet]

I always assumed they were drinking when they hung out at that bar in high school, so it never occurred to me that the episode was actually trying to be anti alcohol

[@alanpennie8013]

The whole episode seemed to be a set up for Buffy hitting Parker with a stick. So I thought it was fine.

[@timothymclean]

@@alanpennie8013 "This is a good episode because Buffy hit Parker with a stick" is a weirdly common attitude for how specific it is.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@timothymclean Not in the least weird.

[@wesleywyndam-pryce5305]

more than once its explicitly shown the minors can't actually get served alcohol at the bronze

[@jonathannoble7845]

The Bronze belonged to a nearly extinct class of music venues: the all ages venue. Anyone can go in but they card aggressively, so adults with beer and teens with coffee are hanging out side by side.

[@greatlordllama]

Anti drug programs just really made it seem like I was gonna be offered WAYYY more free drugs as a teenager than actually happened (literally zero)

[@Alex_Barbosa]

I got offered both cigarettes and beer so different communities I guess

[@chacharealclanky3580]

@@Alex_Barbosa ah yes beer is my favourite drug

[@Alex_Barbosa]

@@chacharealclanky3580 alcohol is a drug lol

[@ItsCoolerByTheLake]

I was offered free alcohol now and then as a teenager, but once in a blue moon someone would offer me a hit off a joint, but that's about it. I never took either of them and today I am 26 years old and have still yet to take my first drink or my first puff of weed, and yet it has absolutely nothing to do with antidrug messaging.

[@FIRING_BLIND]

I know I'm disappointed

[@GiubileiFernando]

Guiles, a very British man, chastizes Xander for giving beer to his adult friend. Yep, that checks out.

[@tomrayner6597]

Yeah, but it was American beer. I'm sure he'd have been fine if it was British beer.

[@danopticon]

You all know the Monty Python joke, right? Q: “How is sex in a canoe like American beer ?” A: “They’re both fucking close to water!”

[@abdulmasaiev9024]

@@tomrayner6597 "What are you even doing Xander, giving people PISS to drink. Be better, serve bitter"

[@just-mees]

Hi zero from inti creates hit video game megaman zero

[@Lawnie]

My theoretical handwave: Giles is concerned about Buffy drinking not because she's underage to Americans, but because she's a Slayer. He's concerned that if she is too deep under the influence, she might accidentally use her Slayer super strength and hurt somebody because it relaxed her inhibitions. That would make more sense to me.

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

I worked on one of those anti-marijuana PSAs as an intern in college in 2000. The teenagers were totally genuine and enthusiastic about fighting drug use. EVERYONE who worked on the other side of the camera was a huge pot head and pot at an office party would not have been surprising. Though there was a lot more pot smoked at the film company I interned for the following year, where they had a resident musician living in a loft in the office in a converted warehouse in Brooklyn. It was literally the 7 and 1/2th floor with "low overhead" just like the then recent film Being John Malkovich. We got a big kick out of it when we made the connection. I can tell you that tagging B-Roll is MUCH easier when stoned. That's the only way it is possible to find anything interesting about the clips to put into the notes.

[@rc59191]

Those anti weed PSA commercials are some of my favorite random videos to watch when I'm high lol. 😅

[@ZoeAlleyne]

There are a few times I have regretted naming my dog Buffy...none so much as this video. She KEPT looking up at the screen like Sarah was about to give her treats.

[@ladylazarus35]

Lol my cat is Spike

[@nathanyou1899]

Ok Beer Bad isn't good but in all honesty the fact that the only explanation we get for the cursed beer being the bartender casually saying "my brother in law's a warlock" is one of my favourite little gags in the whole show.

[@scout8145]

I haven’t seen the full episode myself, but based on the clips in this video, the bartender guy’s acting is legit really funny. I could absolutely see him nailing that line

[@The7thDraconian]

Always loved it when the Buffyverse showed that even the urban fantasy world had it's own kind of mundane. People had relatives that could do magic, demons had poker nights, or vampires had designated "Delivery Nights" at the blood bank.

[@benjaminmaier7257]

I recall the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "One Beer". Basically they were pressured into doing an episode about binge drinking but did it in the most sarcastic way possible. Buster Bunny pressures his friends into drinking, openly breaking the fourth wall to acknowledge he's acting out of character, before devil horns appear on his head. The effect of just one beer is to transform Buster and co. into unshaven alcoholic vagrants who skeeve out the girls in their class. Eventually they drive a car off a cliff and die horribly, before breaking the fourth wall again to acknowledge it was all a skit intended to teach their viewers a lesson. The episode was promptly banned by the network and did not air in rerun for another 22 years

[@bookcat123]

Malicious compliance 😂

[@JetstreamGW]

I loved that episode. It was so snide. Didn't they flat out say it was a "preachy PSA episode" in the dialogue?

[@chavesa5]

Things you could only get away with doing when you were Stephen Spielberg's pet project at the height of his powers. Thanks though I had forgotten about that ep.

[@rhaeven]

Ironically, this is probably a PSA that kids actually would've liked and listened to

[@MrEd8846]

I can recall most tv shows doing these types of episodes about drugs and alcohol or smoking or in college they always had those truth commercials about the dangers of tobacco. Fact is I ended up smoking regardless of some cartoon singing about the magical amount and I'm an alcoholic so I can't drink anymore. You can deliver the message of "never do it" and show what effects or statistics. But if my dad said "you don't even get a special effect from smoking. All it does is make you sick at first then if you keep doing it you'll have trouble quitting" I'd probably stay away. Or if they didn't glamorize people doing stupid stuff while wasted and promoted a more moderation approach I probably wouldn't of been ao obsessed with anyone who had some booze

[@greenmario3011]

The best Buffy episode is where a computer witch shows up and helps them do coding magic to defeat a demon robot and then none of it is ever mentioned again. Truly iconic.

[@placeholderdoe]

Huh?

[@placeholderdoe]

@Hannah Smith thanks!

[@TheStudioNI]

The Computer Witch becomes a major recurring character in Season 2. Willow later tells Buffy "If you hadn't come to Sunnydale, I'd have ended up as Robbie The Robot's love slave".

[@greenmario3011]

@@TheStudioNI yeah but like when else in the show does Hacker Magic and the green-text-on-black-background Secret Wizard Internet come up?

[@methuselah8885]

That's honestly a pattern in the show. So many cool concepts were either half assed or wasted for a single episode because the director doesn't know what he's doing.

[@washada]

Having given very little thought to the episode beyond ‘’It’s funny how heavy handed this is’’, I actually thought it was kind of sweet how Buffy, even reduced to a very low level of cognition, would immediately go and help people. She sees a fire, goes ‘’Fire bad’’ and rushes in in case there’s someone who needs help.

[@AnEnormousNerd]

What I always took from this is that even when you take away all the higher, more complex thoughts, buffy at her very core is a good person. When everything else gets stripped away, she would still save the life of someone she hates.

[@lolaandjoe123]

@@AnEnormousNerd "Take that all away, what are you?" "Me."

[@andrewherrmann5243]

hearing sarah z do the "i'm just a little guy, it's also my birthday" bit was everything

[@JamesLawner]

What was that referring to?

[@andrewherrmann5243]

@@JamesLawner iirc, there's a post somewhere online (could be tumblr, twitter, reddit, it's been passed around a few times i think) where a person speaks about how their boyfriend, a shorter and physically smaller individual, would try to provoke fights or arguments at bars, and then attempt to defuse the situation with "hey wait i'm just a little guy, also it's my birthday, i'm just a little birthday boy, you wouldn't hit a little guy on his birthday" or something to that effect. dubious veracity notwithstanding, many find the image humorous. hope this helps! :3

[@Awe391]

@@JamesLawner she’s just a lil guy

[@ElPayasoMalo]

It made me think of Vanessa Bayer's "child actor" voice she used for the Laura Parsons character on SNL.

[@sweatyskeleton7390]

"I dated a 5'8 guy who'd taunt every jacked, 6'3 bro he met until they'd pull their fist back to beat him up, whereupon my ex would go 'heyheyhey c'maahn I'm a little guy, I'm just a little guy noo, it's also my birthday, I'm a little birthday boyy' & it somehow always worked"

[@xlsye23xox55]

The type of savagery that goes on in 8am classes is unmatched. A guy in my calc class used to bring a bowl with cereal and milk all the time.

[@Blueeyesthewarrior]

I’m just imagining seeing somebody walk across campus with a bowl full of cereal. That’s hilarious.

[@pixiel1xie]

Thinking about how soggy that shit would have been, my god

[@xlsye23xox55]

@@Blueeyesthewarrior I need to make a correction here, the guy would bring a milk carton, bowl, and box of cereal and then prepare it in class. Totally balls to the wall.

[@xlsye23xox55]

@@pixiel1xie I didn’t explain it well enough, the guy would bring a milk carton, bowl, and box of cereal and then make it at his seat.

[@ashboren6845]

there was a guy on my campus who rode a razor scooter to his 8am while wearing a snuggie

[@GrandLineReview]

I spent more time than I'd like to admit rewatching Buffy over and over in highschool. Always skipped this episode. Blown away to find out why it was made @_@

[@TheoRae8289]

I tend to skip the episode where Buffy can hear her classmates' thoughts. I'd personally rather eat glass than hear that internal dialogue again. Also as someone my school expected to columbine everyone because he was The Weird Kid ...

[@diegogazolla7188]

Of all the people in the world, for some reason i kinda expected you to be a Buffy person. The way you describe OP as "goofy pirate" and all.

[@ComicDrake]

I stopped watching Buffy after this episode because I got really bored and it wasn't until I dated a girl who was obsessed with the series that I gave it another shot. When I said this was the last episode that I saw, she was like "Oh, that makes sense."

[@bottomofastairwell]

yeah, not a good one to end on. gotta hit a high like Band Candy. but then i suspect you wouldn't have quit, you know

[@Blueeyesthewarrior]

I’m not going to lie I thought the episode was going to take a much darker turn than neanderthal beer. A young woman is pressured into drinking by 4 older men and the next day is only speaking in short, odd sentences. Yeah, I thought the episode was about Buffy being a SA survivor.

[@camipco]

Yeah, the way they treat her is almost sweet in it's lack of creepiness. I mean, I feel like the 4 drunk dudes who turn into neanderthals treat the young vulnerable woman better than the average 4 frat dudes would. There's room for a comment there which the show obviously did not make.

[@mollywantshugs5944]

I thought it was going that way too.

[@JimmieHammel]

That's the theme of one of the earlier episodes... I think from season 1. She's drugged at a frat party and then she and Cordelia are nearly sacrificed to a snake demon in an SA allegory.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Meanwhile, the writers of Buffy would later go on to write the fantastic Veronica Mars where that is the exact literal backstory of the main character. (And seriously, if you like Buffy but haven't seen Veronica Mars, see it!)

[@Cthulhu4President]

"I thought the episode was about Buffy being a SA survivor" ...You thought the episode was about SA, when the woman involved is literally the one woman who can fight her way out of SA with almost any human male. Even highly intoxicated being stronger and faster than the average scrawny cheerleader is part of what makes buffy a slayer.

[@zoestraw6444]

"Like the television equivalent of someone who hates themselves having to recite three interesting facts about themselves" that was bloodthirsty

[@brittvaughn9447]

I felt attacked

[@annietube1]

Also, when Willow finally put Parker in his place, my niece who just started grade 9, got all excited, jumped up on the couch and yelled, "Slay!" When I watched it the first time, when I was a little older than her age now, I also remember this moment as being meaningful--for the 'mousy girl' to see through the tactics of the 'hot, popular boy' whose attention was all important to our existence according to pretty much every other piece of media that was out at that time--it was empowering. I remember re-thinking my own 'depressed Buffy at the bar' moments so that the guys became Parkers and as such, maybe I could be more like Willow. So I say this ep rocks, screw the Parkers of the world, don't forget beer's 'foamy' and Willow forever slays!

[@starcrysis23]

At least not everyone in this comment section is dense. I don’t even like the episode, but Buffy is very well written and important, network pressure not withstanding

[@bottomofastairwell]

that was the one piece i ALWAYS remembered from this episode too. willow's "how gullible do you think i am?" line. And the way she lets parker think he's working his magic and then just trashes him and shows him how pathetically transparent he is. I LOVED that part, and i think the whole episode is worth watching just for willow's quiet strength, wisdom and badassery

[@Itcouldbebunnies]

Buffy: "Buffy strong."😡 Giles: "Yes, Buffy strong."😬 I genuinely like this episode, it's harmless fun. I'll take it over 'Empty Places' and 'Seeing Red' every day and twice on sundays.

[@daltongibson1033]

I want the Sarah Z + Buffy version of the Jenny Nicholson Vampire Diaries video. Desperately.

[@pyrosianheir]

I'd watch the heck out of that.

[@aliceswayer9979]

Same

[@dramarent]

only if it includes China Beach

[@ruleofthree99]

China beach??? You mean the series that brought women to the front lines??

[@dramarent]

@@ruleofthree99 🎶Through the mirror of my mind 🎶

[@audreyb1269]

As a huge OG Buffy fan, I had always assumed this episode must have been an exec requirement but I had no clue that it was related to a widespread propangada machine. I do remember all the shows having addiction centered episodes at the time, but I just thought the USA must have had a real problem with teenage drugs at the time. So thank you for sharing this knowledge with us! Also, I completely agree with your argumentation, it's a dumb episode but certainly not the worst in the show.

[@bookcat123]

Yeah - as a kid I absolutely recognized “oh this is the anti-drug episode” in a lot of shows but never really questioned why they all did it. Just figured this was a thing that all adults were really obsessed with telling us, I guess. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@kkontak14]

Go fish. You guys remember Go fish?

[@brees3]

Same! I watched it growing up and just thought it was the college version of The Pack (high school boys = hyenas; college boys = cavement)

[@stellablake6200]

Thank you! I always thought Beer Bad was a weak episode but The Pack and Go Fish are both *so* much worse 😬

[@arikaraha]

personally thought we all agreed the weird bug teacher seducing teenage boys was the worst episode of the show

[@bridgettealexander6932]

My first watch through of Buffy, I was a 13 year old Mormon kid, so Beer Bad made perfect sense to me and I accepted it 100%. Loved it. Made my friends watch it. I've rewatched the show 6 times since then and always flinch at the memory of that poor weird traumatized child.

[@placeholderdoe]

Just the fact that you notice it means that you’ve grown, I’m sorry that you experienced that. Have a great day!

[@starcrysis23]

Buffy traumatized you? I….?

[@bridgettealexander6932]

@@starcrysis23 buffy comforted me in times of trauma

[@bottomofastairwell]

it's okay. whenever i feel this way, i like to remind myself that looking back and cringing is actually a good thing. It means you've grown and changed for the better. if you DONT look back at your younger self and cringe at least a little, that's when you have a problem

[@airlock7367]

sarah really capped this one off with "damn, this was a ridiculous attempt at demonizing beer. anyway, our partner streaming service has a documentar about people who really love beer", like a legend

[@oosakasan]

As a European my sharpest memory of Beer Bad is how they shot my suspension of disbelief in the head with Giles' line. Absolute crystallization of "oh wow the Americans who wrote this character having this line have absolutely no idea how an actual person with that cultural background would feel about alcohol do they". It's not even him being moralistic around alcohol, it's him being that way over BEER.

[@lilithstorm42]

He’s also a teacher in an American school so he should have the same mindset as other teachers when it comes to this issue for his own sake.

[@allyssaswain2394]

I don't get it? Do Europeans feel differently about beer than other alcoholic drinks?

[@oosakasan]

​@@allyssaswain2394 Don't you ? "Europeans" is a risky term (and I know I'm the one who brought it up, I couldn't think of a better one), but I'd guess any culture that's open to alcohol & social drinking feels differently about different alcoholic drinks depending on their alcohol content & social context. Like, there are drinks out there that I could absolutely see a stiff middle-aged British dude (which Giles is, although Ripper is not, so even that...) thinking is evil and to be kept away from teens. You have drinks that are popular with kids that have a deceptively high alcohol content for example, and that people blame for teen binge drinking or alcoholism. Beer isn't that, it's both low-alcohol (as alcoholic beverages go, there is some variation - but no indication in the show that *these* beers were particularly or deceptively strong) and very common/socially acceptable in most cultures I can think of that have it.

[@DaveGrean]

@Rozenn Keribin I'm European and I have no clue what you're implying; can you explain?

[@oosakasan]

@@DaveGrean Are you referring to my original comment or my reply to Alyssa Swain?

[@jamesrule1338]

Me, a former retail worker: I can't imagine a person would take perfectly justified revenge on their more annoying customers.

[@ddjsoyenby]

every retail worker inside: "you're lucky i don't have a bat and cameras are watching"

[@rachael5300]

I read this comment as Sarah talked about the government wanting to target Black and anti-war people with the War On Drugs, and my mind made a very disturbing connection. Then I realized you were just talking about the bartender and the uni students lol

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

As a current retail worker, I don’t think 20 years of people asking which button is for credit, and getting pissy about the veteran’s discount would drive me to poisoning.

[@pbfloyd13]

Malicious Compliance

[@michaelholtke4445]

@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick spend time working at a retail job where you have to tell people no if they don't meet certain criteria, generally if they have their ID or not really changes how people will treat the person that tells them no.

[@alinasidorova2196]

What upsets me about Xander is that I feel the character could have been so much better. He gets some really good moments but often it feels like the writers don't know or don't care how to handle it. If we had seen more of the emotional support and less of the nice guy, it would have worked, especially with the potential to explore how one overcomes an abusive family or copes with financial stress or not being able to go to college.

[@lindseystein9676]

I agree, so much more could have been done with his character. It’s odd to me that the writers didn’t do any of that because Xander is supposed to be joss whedon’s self insert type character of the show

[@bottomofastairwell]

right? like he could have been such a bastion of what a GOOD man actually looks like. what true decency and non toxic masculinity is, a study in overcoming difficult life circumstances and persevering anyway. The guy who always stands up for his female friends, but is never threatened by the fact that they're stronger than him in a literal or magical sense. If he had been written properly, Xander could've been the blueprint for healthy, non toxic masculinity and EXACTLY how a guy can be best friends with a girl without it being creepy or weird. but you know, given that he's basically Joss as a character in the show, what we got is what we got. Not surprising, but definitely a let down

[@CarlyBarley333]

When I was 15 my grandma took me to Chicago for a supernatural convention and the guy who played Xander was there. I never watched buffy (it was to scary for me as a kid lol) but no one was on his line for autographs so my grandma had us buy his picture and get him to sign it 😆😆😆

[@raininscotland]

The whole episode was worth it for Buffy thumping Parker with a big stick. Perfect end to the Parker story

[@NerdySwede]

Honestly

[@Carabas72]

Not to mention Willow just verbally humiliating Parker.

[@elenachristian9860]

Buffy like hit Parker with stick.

[@TheDumdei]

I remember watching this as it first aired, and as that final moment with Parker was happening, I was yelling at my TV, "Hit him with the stick!" I cheered when she did. I will always have a soft spot for this episode because of that moment.

[@EvilMastermindOfDoom]

Give us the 22 hour Buffy Grievance video we deserve, I am begging you

[@TwoWholeWorms]

Three of the lectures for my music degree were "Watch this episode of Buffy", specifically: The Body, Hush, and Once More With Feeling. All three are masterpieces for the way they use (or don't!) music. Was really interesting looking at them again from a different perspective.

[@EveryDayALittleDeath]

To be fair, I was one of the few kids who was actually convinced that drugs were by programs like D.A.R.E (so much so that I would go on to assume that not only were illegal drugs bad, but so were ALL drugs up to and including over the counter medications. The same school district that subjected me to DARE later recommend my mother send me to a psychiatrist in middle school when they finally noticed I was suffering from pretty terrible anxiety and mild depression, only to be all shocked pikachu face when I refused to go on medication. I'm not saying I caused my school district to pull out of the DARE program, but it is interesting that the next year was the first time there were 0 DARE events there) and I'm pretty sure even I wouldn't have been convinced beer was bad by this episode. I am impressed that the US government realized that, though.

[@tonybell2801]

I watched this episode when it first came out and remember it being quite forgettable. What’s weird is remember being deeply affected by Willow chewing out Parker for trying to seduce her with his “shy smile and ability to talk openly”. Kind of a “curated intimacy” where he can share things that seem super personal, deep, and revealing but are in fact things he’s so comfortable with that it’s not intimate at all. He may as well have been talking about the weather. In retrospect I wonder if this was Joss telling everyone his own game. It taught me that I had used that curated intimacy myself in my relationships - that I was so comfortable talking about my past hurts and trauma that I could create a sense of intimacy with a person without actually sharing anything intimate about myself at all. Twenty years later and I’m STILL working on that. Anyway I guess I like this episode for that. I like it much less knowing it’s a propaganda piece from a department that ruined millions of lives.

[@Loreboar0]

I love how you put this, I never considered curated intimacy but it makes sense

[@Yixdy]

Very interesting perspective. Many people do this, both on purpose and on accident, both thoughtlessly and maliciously. Say if your mom died when you were an infant, and you hardly paid it any mine, you could share this with someone both jokingly and with grave intensity in order to work some 'dark comedy' or to manipulate an atmosphere of intimacy, I've seen (and done, unfortunately) both throughout my life. Again, very interesting insight

[@brees3]

I think you're right about Joss using Parker to "tell everyone his own game." Joss has always been super self-aware and I've always felt Xander/Parker/Owen/etc were self-inserts, especially given his active, public disdain for Spike's character and his initial "I don't get it but whatever" response to David Boreanaz's casting as Angel.

[@Blueeyesthewarrior]

I see too much of myself in this.

[@movelea]

I must be missing something, is being comfortable talking about personal stuff bad? Does intimacy need to be uncomfortable or else it's Evil?

[@HelixSnake]

I have seen every episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and from my lack of memory of any actual serious tackling of drug or alcohol use, I have to assume that the affected episode must have been the episode where Sabrina gets addicted to pancakes, and that episode is one of the most hilarious and memorable ones from my childhood. If they actually managed to get a government agency to pay them to make that, that makes it even more hilarious

[@HelixSnake]

Seriously I highly recommend going and watching the episode because it is one of the most hilariously fucking over the top portrayals of addiction that almost seems like they were making fun of the perception of "you try weed once and you're hooked" and the fact that they got paid by the very type of organization they seemed to be taking the piss out of makes it so much fucking funnier

[@HelixSnake]

WAIT A SECOND I GOT TO THE PART WHERE YOU SAID THAT THEY DIDN'T PAY FOR THE BUFFY EPISODE BECAUSE IT WAS TOO FANTASTIC, BUT SOMEHOW SABRINA MADE THE CUT FOR THE FUCKING PANCAKES EPISODE?

[@HelixSnake]

OK so apparently the affected episode could have been the Cloud Ten episode but that one is sort of a stretch and even less of an obvious analog for drug use, although Melissa Joan Hart specifically said it was designed to be one in an interview so it could have been the one.

[@travelingnome87]

Let us just pretend that Sabrina's crippling addiction to pancakes was the drug episode. Everyone was pushing those sweet cakes on her. The peer pressure!!

[@charlieclark9552]

I NEED PANCAKES BAKE ME SOME OR I'LL COONNNSUUUMMMEE YYYYOOOOUUURRR SSSSOOOUUULLL

[@MorriganAtwood]

"The show writers were never told about the program" Translation: Company execs pocketed a huge bonus while these people were required to pen the dumbest scripts of their lives for no additional pay.

[@tgowan4937]

I have rewatched Buddy countless times over the last 15 years, and I can say without a doubt that the “bad” episodes (Beer Bad, Go Fish, I Robot You Jane, Bad Eggs, and so on) consistently bring me the most joy and make me laugh the most. They not amazing television, but they do have a certain over the top camp charm I simply adore

[@bottomofastairwell]

i was just gonna say. even the "bad" episodes have camp entertainment value. it's the good ones that are genuinely heartbreaking and gut wrenching that are hard to watch for me (like the body)

[@spencerd6126]

My favorite pet is that this government agency is completely incompetent and accidentally encouraged children to try drugs but even they said “no, this isn’t an effective way to fight against kids using drugs”

[@batteredthem]

They basically told us what every drug you could get would do if we took them, how much an overdose was, what to do if you saw someone overdose, and the kinds of people you needed to look for to get the drugs.

[@chavesa5]

Feature, not a bug. They get loads of funding and get troublesome "edge cases" who "aren't the right sort" in their weird determinist minds to fuck off and spiral down in a system that punishes them. I'm sure to most of them they view it like setting up a bug zapper.

[@PeterParker-ff7ub]

no

[@henrygvidonas9573]

@@chavesa5 Hey, the school-to-prison pipeline needs to stay busy at all times. Gotta keep those prison-industrial complex investors happy to get their bri... I mean _"donations"._

[@wesleywyndam-pryce5305]

their goal was never to actually reduce drug use though. it was just a fear mongering campaign.

[@clashcitywannabe]

I can't hate this episode because it really feels like Joss Whedon deliberately set out to write the worst very special episode of all time, and succeeded.

[@starcrysis23]

I think it’s funny but it’s not good. It would be if the show was mediocre, but it they set the bar too high to put out something this low ranking and not have it feel bad. I know Joss isn’t anti drinking from anything I’ve seen so it was probably intentional. I can dig the silliness of it though

[@Katie-rq7bv]

"My mom always said beer is evil" now lives in my head rent free thank you sarah and emily

[@JaylukKhan]

Wild that networks were peer-pressured into making anti-drug PSAs.

[@iusethisnameformygoogleacc1013]

TBH, it's far from weird given the time period. What's really weird about it is that we've managed to finally move past that in the last few decades and now the only US Government Propaganda that ends up regularly inserted into movies and TV shows comes from the DoD.

[@freedom_mayor]

lol when i was 13 my mom bought me this old school Anti-drug book called “Go Ask Alice” about how weed and lsd turn the narrator into a drug fiend, and i read the first half when she trries drugs for the first time and has a trip and i was like “Drugs do that ?! THATS why people take drugs ?!” lol and it piqued my interest so much that me and my friend went and bought weed. lol so thanking my mom for jump starting my drug career at an early age

[@Drawsbirds]

There's actually a Buffy tie-in novel about Faith called "Go Ask Malice"

[@breawycker]

The Wikipedia article for "Go Ask Alice" is a trip like every single aspect of the book is controversial from the content to the author to whether it's true to like how you said about the anti-drug message completely failing with teens. Like the actual author, Beatrice Sparks, is a Mormon youth counselor and "serial hoaxer" who's whole career is writing books pretending like their actual diaries

[@Sandreline]

The podcast "You're Wrong About" has a whole series on Go Ask Alice.

[@fruitygarlic3601]

@@breawycker Wikipedia also claims that she has had access to troubled teenagers' diaries. She used a few genuine chapters of a deceased victim in Jay's Journal, an almost entirely fictional book about how the occult is gonna getcha!

[@breawycker]

@@fruitygarlic3601 yeah I saw that. The parents were pissed. She only actually used a couple pages from his real journal. She also allegedly faked having a PhD and in Go Ask Alice, she says some homophobic shit

[@WhaleManMan]

I like how Buffy fans are always so apologetic about how they like Buffy

[@Envy_May]

LOL

[@talbotbluechel2102]

We know what we're doing is wrong on some level.

[@omega1397]

i ain't. I own that shit. being ashamed of what you like is for losers :(

[@Ramblonius]

It's just so good, I'm sorry

[@samrobotsin]

@@ronnoc5278 what was with that "whedon speak" insult that was going around a while ago? The dialog on Buffy is great. Also people criticizing it never seem to mention Marti Noxon & Whedon were equal executives on the show (after season 1 at least)

[@spacecat7864]

The whole episode was saved by Willow calling Parker out honestly.

[@JadeReloaded]

Love how becoming a caveman curled Buffy's hair.

[@AlyInk]

I thought most people's worst episode was the one where Buffy and Riley are just boning all episode. I thought that one was way worse.

[@Etsuk0]

I really don't mind "beer bad" it might be cheesy and an attempt to gather up governement funding, but it has it's funny moments. While it's not the best, it's also not the worst. A solid meh. HOWEVER, I forgot "where the wild things are" existed and that is because I skip it when I do a rewatch. It is absolutely the worst.

[@KrystalloMantis]

True but it had Giles playing guitar, using a chainsaw, and screaming at an old religious crone. Id say season 2 had two of the worst MotW episodes ever

[@TangentialTif]

I was coming to the comments just to mention that episode, it was definitely way worse. This one just felt like a very special episode like so many others that I saw growing up. At least it didn’t have the tinkling piano to accompany the Very Important message at the end.

[@TangentialTif]

@@jackmars931 oh no! I must have blocked that one from my mind. 😳

[@martinw2235]

Where the Wild Things Are is definitely a bottom 10 episode. I still think Go Fish is truly the worst.

[@MyPumpkinSpicedChaos]

This episode has one of my favorite quotes from Buffy ever "fire bad, tree pretty" I use that one frequently on bad pain days to communicate with my family that I cannot brain today. Very easy way to say "I can't do the things today and I need to rest".

[@NerdySwede]

Pretty sure that is the last episode of season 3?

[@MyPumpkinSpicedChaos]

@@NerdySwede OMG you're right 🤣 it's been awhile since I've watched it all. My brain associated it with caveman fire. My bad...

[@ElPayasoMalo]

I do that with Worf from Star Trek. "Nice house." "Comfortable chair."

[@munafruit]

funny i did the same thing of misremembering this quote into this ep. fire bad, tree pretty, beer FOAMY

[@willowscottling]

I use that line too when I'm having a bad day.

[@seraphinasullivan4849]

I remember the boy meets world episode for this campaign, still on the nose but at least logical as the character Shawn already had a history of depression and self destructive behavior. Like if you're gonna have a character suddenly pick up a drinking habit, it might as well be the one canonically terrified of being abandoned and vulnerable. With the stint of teenage homelessness, joining a cult, blowing up a mailbox, nightmares of killing his friends, being the star of an anti-drinking psa just felt in character and also like a "sure why the fuck not" decision

[@allegraalberoni]

There is something so... american about beer, of all alcohol, being bad. Here in italy, and I assume most of europe, we regularly drink beer and wine during meals when we're teens, and if we want to get drunk we gravitate towards stronger stuff like gin, vodka or pretty much anything stronger than 40%. beer isn't something you get drunk with, it's a regular drink

[@TrentonWasHere]

I can't tell you how many times I've turned into a literal caveman because of drinking beer

[@sex_man_3788]

Funny Berry water make Unga beat Munga over the noggin with big rock.

[@riccardoleone4265]

I'd rank way higher the moment when Willow declares to the revived Buffy: "Hey, we squatted in your house for months and never paid the bills. Now you're drowning in debt. Have fun."

[@Grandpharaoh91]

Season six was a fucking nightmare

[@SemicolonExpected]

Buffy's friends kinda suck

[@alanpennie8013]

@@Grandpharaoh91 Seven was worse though. At least six had some solid episodes.

[@misslenorelee6322]

@@Grandpharaoh91 season 6 and 4 are the worst overall; but they have some of the best episodes (once more with feeling and hush)

[@starcrysis23]

@@Grandpharaoh91eason 6 was the best season imo. We got depression, self hatred, addiction, soul searching (literally). It’s been my favorite season since I first watched it 13 years ago. It was the most real and made me feel the most. And that’s important, having characters struggle and change. But a lot of people think unless everyone is shiny and happy and moral all the time, something is bad. To each their own ig

[@zoyzauce]

My god, please please PLEASE make a complete breakdown/analysis of Buffy and make it as long as you want!! I have been WAITING for someone like you or Jenny Nicholson to make a huge long analysis video on it and had all but given up hope that it would ever happen on account of it being a joss whedon baby and a 90's/00's TV show that wasn't Friends. I have no idea what proportion of your viewer base are Buffy fans, but rest assured that if you made such a video, all of us would be screaming throwing up crying with joy

[@starcrysis23]

Passion of the Nerd has an in depth series about the show. I’ve not seen anyone who understands the writing as well as he

[@idatethefatkid]

While I agree with its criticisms, I think Angel's curse is a really effective metaphor for an abusive relationship. It does a great job of portraying how a seemingly perfect partner can change on a dime once they get what they want.

[@edgyspaceunicorn7215]

Please make an entire dedicated video just talking about Buffy. It is my favourite show of all time and god I love seeing people talk about it. The good, the bad, the stupid. Everything.

[@annaisntcool]

do you watch TPN’s buffy guide? i love his takes on the show :’)

[@starcrysis23]

You mean the good, the great, and the silly?

[@jimmyrobertson4264]

empty places might be bad narratively, but it DID bestow upon us the image of clem driving a car. which redeems the entire episode in my opinion, because clem will have my heart until the day i die.

[@arthurdurham]

Please make the Buffy retrospective please. There's a shocking lack of any of that on KZbin. It being such a beloved cult show you'd think there's be more content about it.

[@SirDanFilmsUnltd]

Outside of the episode-by-episode breakdowns by Passion Of The Nerd, yeah, I can’t really think of any in depth Buffy analysis on KZbin.

[@starcrysis23]

@@SirDanFilmsUnltdI don’t understand how POTN’s breakdowns aren’t considered in depth lol it’s so in depth he cites book written about the show

[@Nersius]

She supports Willow's bi-erasure, so pass from me.

[@Kitty-the-Bunny]

​@@starcrysis23 I think they were saying that *besides* those they couldn't think of any

[@pissqueendanniella4688]

I'm a victim of the drug war. I was sent to jail and put on 5 years supervised pronation because the officer "thought i was drunk" (i wasn't I hadn't even had a drink that week) then found a small amount of weed and I got charged with not only a DUI but also they lied about the amount of weed they found so they could get me for "intent to distribute". For 5 years I had the hardest time finding a job, I couldn't get approved for an apartment lease forcing me to take my chances with craigs list housing, I lost my car, I went into debt for about a total of 5000$, and so so much more I cannot even begin to go on about. All because I was young (I wasn't even 21 yet but if i HAD had a single beer to drink they could have also piled on "minor in possession" because there's a lovely law here I live that counts "the human body as a container and if that container contains alcohol then that person is in possession of alcohol") and I like to smoke a little weed sometimes. It's been a little over 10 years since I got off probation and I'm just now able to sign leases and get clean background checks for jobs. FUCK THE DRUG WAR

[@AV-we6wo]

Thank you for sharing your story. All these nice comments reminiscing about Buffy and corny government advertising seem to completely ignore that this so-called war on drugs in reality is a war against parts of the US population that has hurt millions of people since decades and still continues to do so. I'm glad you're finally doing better after all these years.

[@placeholderdoe]

Sorry that you experienced that, I have nothing to say. That’s just horrible

[@darthcass1210]

I think it's interesting that Beer Bad also tried to tie into Xander's season 4 arc of trying to figure out his place as the one in the group who's not going to college. The bartender's motivation wasn't done well but there is an attempt to frame him at him being a dark mirror to Xander, someone whose bitterness over "snobby-intellectual" college types led to him having this unhinged plan to caveman-ify them so he'd get some satisfaction over being intellectually superior. It's not done super well in this episode mind you but Xander trying to find fulfilment outside of college, and later succeeding in the career aspect working in construction is one of the better Xander story arcs overall especially in a world that pushes college as the best option and if you don't take it then sucks to be you. (my roommate, who dropped out of college and went straight to the workforce found a lot of comfort in that aspect of Xander anyway.) But yeah Beer Bad on the whole is not good, but I have fun with it and at least its poor attempt at handling of serious issues doesn't hurt anyone or is problematic in any way (the racism in the thanksgiving episode anyone?)

[@anastasiagreen666]

honestly this is such a good point, xander is easily my least favourite of the scoobies, but his arc of trying to find a place for himself without college over season 4 is probably where i like him the most,

[@ginge641]

Also Xander just gets a fantastic showing in this episode in general.

[@georgiarose2968]

I dislike Xander as much as the next guy, but him having a different random minimum wage job every episode of S4 was a highlight for me!

[@ginge641]

@@georgiarose2968 As the next guy, Xander gud.

[@wesleywyndam-pryce5305]

fucking where is all this Xander hate coming from? he's a FANTASTIC character

[@lildeadgirl1443]

I think it’s so fascinating how people’s views of this show change as they get older. I started watching is at 14 and my least favorite character was probably Buffy herself. Now as a gal in her early 30’s I just want to give her a hug because she’s doing her best!!

[@Heritage367]

At the time the show aired, Buffy was one of the least popular characters on the show, but I was always rooting for her!

[@kristinalfc5846]

As a newer fan of the show, the idea Buffy wasnt a popular character is hugely confounding to me..I could never understand why when imo, she's one of TV's greatest heroes

[@theblackkittie13]

Have watched it from the first time it aired waaaay back in the 90's, always loved Buffy. Xander on the other hand 🙄

[@jultejock7185]

Imho, btvs is one of very few serialised fictional stories I've consumed where the most interesting character is also the main character lol. (I mean, except bad media of course where the supporting cast is just incredibly weak).

[@tool2158]

My favorite character has always been Buffy. Even in the 90's.

[@jp3813]

Back when these episodes were first being shown, people didn't always start watching in the first season or the first episode of a season. Hence, this is one of the very first episodes of Buffy that I ever watched. Not having any expectations about the quality of the show, I didn't think this was that bad. Only later on after watching the entire series did I realize how low ranking it is.

[@starcrysis23]

It’s only bad because of how good the show is. When you set the bar that high some episodes that aren’t that bad just feel way worse

[@lizsatory]

I don’t have strong feelings about this episode, but I just love the way Buffy says “foamy!”

[@sillygooseygirl]

On the note of very special episodes: The only show I’ve seen that effectively conveyed an anti-drug subplot was Spectacular Spider-Man. It worked so well because it wasn’t just a one and done deal: it was a multi-episode subplot in which Harry was essentially battling an addiction. It was so realistic, and I wish more shows could be like that.

[@rababrahman9478]

There was an anti-drug PSA in the 70s Spider-Man comics, too.

[@araknieretro]

@@rababrahman9478 Yep, it was straight ripped from 5 comic issues, than made into a book. One of the most famous storylines, if i remember correctly it ends with Harry becoming the Hob-Goblin so it's pretty important.

[@karak962]

damn, genuinely these programs would work more often if they put money into shows that showed the actual horrors of addiction and less into episodes like this yeesh

[@Lady_Yunalesca]

I think the only good thing in this episode is Buffy hitting Parker over the head with a club. That was cathartic.

[@leandergloryheart7089]

^

[@joshualewis6323]

Man that bit at the end about the militarization of Hollywood makes me want an essay on what happened to the antiwar movie genre. It's really hard to imagine a movie like Platoon, Paths of Glory, or The Thin Red Line getting a wide theatrical release now, but there was a time (especially 80s-90s) where the antiwar drama was sort of a regular, prestige-y feature of Hollywood

[@naturalistmind]

I remember as a kid doing those DARE worksheets in grade school wondering why they thought doing drug themed school work would make me want to do drugs less.

[@emmas381]

“Most boring Cullen sibling Angel” 😂😭

[@mhawang8204]

“vampire shaped plank of wood”

[@jaycievictory8461]

I'm so offended on Angel's behalf. 😅 To suggest he is worse than Edward should be actionable

[@ethanf6136]

But he wasn’t tho, take that back

[@TheLastSane1]

@@jaycievictory8461 I mean Meyer did rip off Angel and Lestat in that regard. Edward hunting bad guys and saving people was a thing in his backstory (brought up multiple times in midnight sun). Edward's thing is really like Angel he has a lot of self-loathing in that he is a vampire and has a superiority about his inferiority complex. He feels like Bella couldn't possibly love him as much as he loves her because she is human and humans change their emotions so easily. It all kinda sounds like Angel to be fair.

[@jaycievictory8461]

@@TheLastSane1 Angel empowers Buffy. Edward controls Bella to a horrifying degree. And only in his evil form did Angel ever break into Buffy's house and watch her sleep. Edward also doesn't really have any character development cos Meyer wrote her vampires to be frozen in time. Edward's entire existence centres on Bella and he cares nothing for humans in general other than not eating them. Angel strives to save humanity again and again. So in my opinion Angel is a thousand times more interesting than Edward. I'll give you the broodiness but even that is different - Angel is continually poked fun at for his broodiness, fashion sense etc. Edward is glorified for his.

[@notmarrecs]

At the end of the day this will always be on my rewatch list because SMGs delivery of “Foamy!” Will never not make me laugh.

[@Carabas72]

Not to mention Parker's double evisceration.

[@nightinggalejesusimsogay]

6:42 I love how petty the bartender is. "I hate these a-holes so instead of banning them im going to make a magic potion, thats not even perminant to turn them into cavemen just for sh*ts and giggles"

[@killthelynchpin977]

Where'd you go? Miss your stuff!

[@numetalslug]

omg the sports night anti drug episode was kind of good cause the character delivering the moral of 'driving under the influence is bad' also says recreational weed should be legal in the same ep lol

[@alpacalypse4552]

and they outright literally stated drug use is a health care issue and not a legal one. in fact wasn’t it network/government pressure that forced danny to make the on air apology? they read that writers room in on this and ran with it

[@ddjsoyenby]

we found a good one :D

[@PsychologistPlays]

I struggle to think of any show that could ever dethrone Buffy as my favorite show. At the same time, no show has left me so frustrated as Buffy season 7. I relate 😆

[@thomassaracol9593]

Same. The first half was sooo good and full of potential. Then it came the potentials. If they were good characters, I would like the second half. But they were kinda of shallow, and stole the focus of the show, that was the Scooby gang for six entire seasons. I just wanted to be with the characters that I like, and see them dealing with emotions and monsters

[@starcrysis23]

@@thomassaracol9593I liked Amanda. I hated Rona though.

[@chavesa5]

My only complaint about more Buffy content is that you can't immediately just become a Buffy channel for a while. The show works so well in binging and density. Do more videos on it eventually though! It's both great content and it's actually pretty necessary to carry the best parts of the show forward for kids. Sarah Michelle Gellar's incredible acting work really needs to be preserved in spite of all the cultural drama.

[@starcrysis23]

A lot of people acted extremely well. Sure, she’s Buffy, but maybe we could praise the other actors and writers as well.

[@chavesa5]

@@starcrysis23 No.

[@lorrygoth]

Buffy and Angel are still probably my most re-watched series.

[@botanicalitus4194]

Things that aged poorly: Shows picture of Xander Things that never should have been in the show to begin with: Shows picture of Xander Things that are just dumb: Shows picture of Xander Tbh cant argue, fair

[@martophrenia]

eh, the hate for Xander is definitely overblown

[@MarcNeilson1]

Honestly I really like his arc from being a shitty teen boy to actually a decent adult especially compared to how buffy and willow can be at times in the back half of the show. The ditching anya on their wedding day thing I dislike though.

[@bbrbbr-on2gd]

@@MarcNeilson1 It's a shame the show never had him confront his fears about ending up like his father.

[@samrobotsin]

@@bbrbbr-on2gd On one hand, the based Sokka from ATLA on Xander. On the other hand, After Anya, Xander dated Dawn

[@ladyorapma]

I don't even hate Xander, but I found that so funny 🤣

[@jupitermelichios392]

as always, shout out to drugs for winning the war on drugs

[@fifinoir]

‘Vampire shaped plank of wood’ lol yup. I always preferred Angelous to Angel. At least Angelous was interesting.

[@wyndgrove9452]

I love how you keep picking subjects I'd never thought of, or thought I wanted to know about, but which turn out to be totally fascinating fragments of culture. Good work, as ever!

[@ffiordhn]

I have not even started watching this episode but I hope you tackle Willow's magical drug addiction eventually! Maybe even in this video lmao

[@samrobotsin]

sorry, that holds up actually: What doesn't hold up? Inca Mummy Girl

[@ffiordhn]

@@samrobotsin Ampata should have offed Xander then and there

[@Charlie-um6kn]

OH NO I FORGOT ABOUT THAT WHYYY

[@aparker91j]

Extra uncomfortable given the way that the show kept using magic as an allegory for lesbian sex in seasons 4 and 5.

[@ladyeowyn42]

@@aparker91j yeah and they did the dead lesbian trope (kill your gays) too. Hated that part for so many reasons.

[@FIRING_BLIND]

Trust me, as an American, I also find it weird to focus on underage drinking. Most ppl my age that I talk to think the drinking age should be lowered It seems teens in Europe are able to have their drinking mostly under control because they don't have to hide it

[@iloveyourunclebob]

Idk about the rest of Europe, but England has a terrible drinking problem.

[@marocat4749]

Not that thr arent some, but yeah its diernt i youlet people acess to beer first , mayb and to like have the chanc to learn moderation and not going all in. Liik drinking isnt really the problem, The problem is to know yourself and limits and not drink and drive. And like maybe have people that bring you hom if you get that drunk.

[@genericname8727]

@@marocat4749 with younger people there’s also concerns of how it could impact brain development, but I think that’s mostly for excessive drinking.

[@genericname8727]

Idk how it works in America, but in many places there’s different rules for drinking at public venues vs on private property. So you could have a drink at home with your family while a child/teen, but maybe you can’t drink at a restaurant until you’re 18. Or maybe you can drink at a restaurant with parental permission so long as it’s just something like a glass of wine or beer, rather than something stronger. Idk which rules work best for minimising binge drinking though

[@jimmyrobertson4264]

we have an awful drinking problem over here (at least in the UK), especially in our teens generally. however, at least in my experience, most of my friends have waned out of drinking by our mid 20s because the hangovers suck too much, and also the smells of like every third kind of alcohol remind us of times we almost got alcohol poisoning in a wet, cold field

[@Melissa-tw2gp]

The prospect of you making a video about the whole series, or even just some of it, is very exciting to me! Love this one and the Season 6 one.

[@AmorySlaysVamps]

I love that you covered another Buffy episode!!! I'd watch so many of these, it's my favorite show!

[@Kevtastical]

I need to know if the Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode that was part of this similar program was the episode Pancake Madness, where Sabrina become addicted to Pancakes and becomes increasingly unhinged.

[@SamanthaDiane]

The answer to the riddle is cakes on the griddle!

[@ddjsoyenby]

"that's riiiiiiiight, the answer to the riddle is cakes on the griddle!"

[@judeconnor-macintyre9874]

Cake on the griddle.

[@mattsaracen7]

That episode has haunted me my whole life

[@Kevtastical]

@@mattsaracen7 same. I wake up with this song in my brain all the time!!

[@ZeldaQueen64]

So from what I can gather, the episode is basically the one exchange in Futurama: "I heard beer makes you stupid." "No I -- it doesn't."

[@lilyseemann1250]

If you made like a 10 hour long Buffy video, I would watch it immediately

[@disabledanarchy]

As someone not from America, and not watching this show till quite later in my life, I always saw this as an attempt at satire on college party culture. But this was really interesting to learn. :)

[@mckenny.mccormick]

I think I'm like the only person that actually loves Willow's descent into drugs/magic. As a recovering addict I think that Willow's journey through addiction and recovery can seem heavy-handed if you're burnt out by the very special episodes common throughout the 90s and 2000s, but to me it's actually a brutally honest look at struggling with sobriety and relapse especially when dealing with grief, guilt, shame, and depression, though maybe I'm coming from a biased perspective as an addict and as a Willow stan. Anyway, great video as always Sarah, more Buffy vids in the future please!

[@VictoriaCardoso03]

I think the one of the bigger problems in Willow's plot isn't the drugs/magic addiction itself - I think that it could actually be a great plotline. The thing is that throughout two whole seasons before S6, magic was mainly an allegory to lesbian love/sexual intimacy. To then use it as a metaphor for drugs is not exactly the best way to handle it.

[@samtheflutegirl1373]

I generally thought that Willow as a drug addict and trying to break that addictions and facing the consequences of that was fairly well done I just feel like magic wasn't necessarily the best tool to use for that arc. Or rather, it could have been except that prior to that arc magic wasn't characterized as an allegory for drugs so it just made the internal continuity confusing. It just raised so many questions like. Why wasn't this a problem when Willow first started using magic two seasons ago? Why didn't Giles or someone warn Willow that this could happen? Why isn't Tara addicted to magic? Are all witches drug addicts? Does this make the witches club at their school some sort of drug cult? Why can demons use magic all the time and it's fine? Just a lot of things that would have been better if the creators had decided from the beginning what they wanted magic to be. But on the whole Willow's arc was good for what it was and I enjoyed it even if I was confused why it was happening the entire time.

[@babadoudidadouda]

​@@samtheflutegirl1373 " Why didn't Giles or someone warn Willow that this could happen?": he did, as early as season 2, he said something about the fact that her using such powerful magic (to restore Angel'soul) could change her (or could be something she might not be able to come back from, I don't remember the exact wording. But it was a clear warning). I agree that the depiction of the way magic is addictive is not always well-handle. I don't think all magic is addictive and that the mindset matters a lot. To me, Willow became addicted to magic when she started using it not by true necessity but to feel powerful and valued (and to serve herself in more superficial ways at one point) and to escape from her inner pain and self-depreciation. She wanted to prove something to herself and to the world (not that it's wrong in itself). She was powerful but didn't set limits for herself and stop respecting magical unspoken laws. I feel Tara's relationship to magic was more soft and healthy. As illustrated by her firm reaction when Dawn wanted to use magic to bring her mother back from the dead. She said in essence "just because we could doesn't mean we should" and Willow was more of a pusher of boundaries (which, imo, is due in part to her constant thirst for knowledge and her great intellect because she needs to learn and experiment a lot not to get bored). In the end, my theory is that Willow's addiction was mostly psychological at first and and that it became something akin to a "physical" addiction after she started using black magic for the first time and when she suffered the trauma of losing her best friend. In summary, "magic" isn't like a regular drug that makes someone physically addicted to it just by vertu of using it, but if you're not in the right headspace, something that could in essence give you almost everything you want without having to do that much work for it (not that it doesn't involve works, but it may involve a lot less work than if you tried to obtain it the non-magical way) and can give you a lot of power to prove and protect yourself and your loved ones can become "addictive". Rewatching Buffy, I actually think Willow's magical journey, including the "addiction" arc was fantastic and well foreshadowed.

[@starcrysis23]

The depiction was off because they used the wrong drug. To reply to this whole thread. Willow wanted control; basing her addiction on heroin was the wrong move. Heroin is an escape drug. It would make more sense if they based it on amphetamines or cocaine. And there’s a reason they used magic for this even though they used it as a metaphor for something else before. The network blocked intimacy between women until season 5 “The Body” when Joss fought for them to kiss. Also, magic becoming a problem for her was warned in season 2 and 3. Willow also was becoming extremely powerful. If she stayed that way, she’d be able to fix any problem. Part of it was to nerf her so that wasn’t the case. And they incidentally made a compelling character change with flaws and trials and tribulations that people like me and OP can relate to. Even if they didn’t choose the best real life counterpart. I’m pro Willow’s arc and flaws. I just think it would have been better if they didn’t base it off an escape drug. Season 6 is my favorite though and Willow is my favorite character and I really like and understand her arc in season 6

[@JRCT3E]

thank you sarah z for reminding me of that horrible horrible "magic is drugs" plotline

[@jaycievictory8461]

Even when it aired I was like 🤨🤨 towards it cos it felt oddly pat. Now it makes me roll my eyes hard enough to go airborne at its "metaphor" that is as subtle as an anvil. "Willow, you've been using too much magic." Please.

[@daniig62]

What exactly is so offensive about magic (and more specifically, dark magic) being a metaphor for drugs?

[@myfirstgirlfriendturnedint2524]

@@daniig62 it was used in earlier seasons as a metaphor for sapphic desire and love??

[@jonathanmenegalli]

here where i live in brazil, back in like 2008 to 2012 buffy aired in a small tv channel that used to air a bunch of older shows and i saw the first 2 or 3 seasons rerun like 10 times during that time, then in 2013 they got access to the last few seasons wich was insane for that tiny tv station but i can only remember well the first seasons cus i didnt had time anymore to watch tv as much as i did before. i should go and rewatch the whole thing at some point.

[@flowerpottheatrical]

The note at the end of the list is so lovely! Thanks to you both for the wonderful things you make.

[@wpk914_9]

“I too enjoy Melodrama by Lorde” SARAH GETS IT

[@legobrak]

Once again, i’d like to congratulate drugs for winning the war on drugs.

[@kaitlynnrose1836]

Missing you, hope you’re able to take care of yourself in this time. We all wish you and your team the absolute best ❤

[@OhNoBohNo]

I love how we go from 'government-pushed anti-drug messaging' to 'government-alternatively-pushed anti-drinking messaging' to 'beer bad, only beer, bad bad bad' I can't wait to sate myself on non-beer drinks like sweet wine and honey whiskey absolutely consequence-free without any moral hang-ups whatsoever, thanks Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

[@Frenzywonder]

I'm an empath and my empath senses tell me Sarah Z doesn't like Xander

[@katekursive1370]

Dude remember when they hit us with Tabula Rasa and Once More With Feeling in short succession that was so intense. That whole season was like an emotional waterboarding session

[@nash6472]

Praying for your return

[@paulmiller7838]

Beer Bad was never a bad episode. Hell, it wasn't even the worst episode of the season. Was it a great episode? No. But it certainly was never bad.

[@starcrysis23]

That’s what happens when the bar is set so high lol

[@jedisalsohere]

My dad liked it when I was watching through the show with him. Really, that's the highest compliment I can give any episode of anything.

[@Tiepobadaae]

The irony that the season the episode takes place in is the most critical of the government.

[@cori742]

WAIT I REMEMBER THE BOY MEETS WORLD EPISODE. truly came out of nowhere -- cory and shawn just like woke up and decided to be alcoholics one day??? so bizarre. it all makes sense now!

[@jackcatinabox]

I mean, I hear the words "bad Buffy episode" and I immediately think of the one about Thanksgiving where Willow is painted as a whiny moralist for talking about the origins of Thanksgiving and why she doesn't celebrate it, and the villain is the ghost of a Native American man who was murdered by settlers but is now back from the dead and killing innocent people for some reason, and Buffy has to...destroy his bones? If I remember correctly? To defeat him, which considering the desecration of Native American lands and bodies by white colonists in real life...yikes. Or just any episode with the first slayer, but especially the one where it goes into her backstory.