Bad Beer

Bad Beer
Written by
Directed by

Original Airdate: November 2, 1999

Plot: Xander takes a job at a campus bar where Buffy and several other fraternity guys get hold of some beer that slowly devolves them in cro-magnons.

Review

Warning: If reading SPOILERS for the latest episode of Buffy, "Bad Beer" will make you concoct a mixture to change me into a crogmagon, please turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead...

In short: It's no coincidence the world bad is in the title...

On paper, Bad Beer had a lot of things that, if done well, could have added up to an interesting episode. And there certainly were a lot of interesting ideas floating around in the episode.

However, when all the separate pieces added up, it didn't make a complete whole...

Not for lack of trying.

For one thing, it was nice to see the Parker plotline continue forward and not just be swept under the carpet. This was, in fact, the only of the several plotlines from Bad Beer that really held my interest at points in the episode. To see Buffy mooning over Parker this way and to be hurting so much was nicely done if not a bit frustrating at times. I've got to admit that seeing her day-dream sequence in which Parker is saved by her and then begs her forgiveness (at one point while offering flowers and ice cream, which was easily the funniest moment of the night) was nicely done. To see it paralleled so well at the end and then see cro-mag Buffy beat him with a stick was also a nice touch. Indeed, I'd have been upset if she had just given in and forgiven him.

Also, the entire plotline of Willow going to confront Parker on his infidelties worked as well. Of course, a lot that was probably coming out things she'd like to have said to Oz. (More on that later). I will admit that I was concered that the writers might allow Willow to be seduced by Parker's words and go over to his side. So, I was nicely surprised when she asked him "Just how guillable do you think I am?" The look on her face of triumph as well as the look of utter horror on Parker's was a great touch.

That plotline worked and it worked well. We got a bit more of an introduction to Verunca, who from what I hear will play a major role in next week's episode. We got the groundwork set in place for the end of the Willow/Oz relationship (which is coming, I think, based on all the signs from the early eps...there was such an awkwardness and distance between them in the sequence outside of Willow's dorm room. I was that moment when both parties realize the relationship is on the rocks but don't know what to do about it either way)

So, for that, we have to wait for next week to see how it continues.

I can only hope that it pays off well.

As for the whole beer is bad plotline, well, it was just plain bad.

It tried to be humerous a bit, but never quite caught on. At times, the plotline reminded me of season one's The Pack. However, where the Pack was an early classic, Bad Beer didn't work. Part of it was that the Pack was transformed before the opening credits and we got to see the affects during the entire episode. Also, the Pack was a bit more eery and foreboding in the episode (eating Principal Flutie was one of the more unnerving moments in any episode). So, for me to be reminded of the Pack wasn't a good thing.

Part of it was there was a lot more potential to the plotline than we got to see here.

Buffy drowning her sorrows in beer seemed OK at first. And while the episode sought to send the message the beer isn't always the answer, it didn't work all that well for me. I also think that drinking is an integral part of college life for some people and it was nice to see that side shown, but it was so cliched that it never struck any real chords for me.

Another part of this plotline that bugged me was how it didn't affect anyone else.

You can't tell me that in a college town that only one group of guys is going to drink that type of beer. Let's face it--most college students are on limited funds. That the frat guys drank the beer given worked because it might have been what they could afford. So why didn't any of the other students at the bar drink it? If so, why were they not transformed? If the epidimic had reached a larger portion of the student body, I might be willing to give extra points to the episode. As it stands, it seemed to be more of a plot contrivance to get the group to be cro-magnons.

Even if we'd just seen a bit of a dumbing down of Riley it would have worked that much better for me.

The other part was how old the plot got and how quickly. Seeing Buffy go, "Beer...foamy" was nice the first time or two, but it got old quickly. Surely there was more they could have done with it. For a good example of how humor can work effectively and not have the joke grow old quickly, see season two's Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. That took a relatively one-joke premise and made it work really well by following through on the punchline. Also, you've got to have the characters interact a bit more based on our expectations of them. And we only got one-dimensional views of the characters last night.

Well, that about wraps it up for now, except a few small things...

--One part of the beer plotline I did enjoy was Willow's horror at the thought that Buffy had engaged in group sex...:-)

--Xander's attempt to be a bartender was interesting. Espeically of interest was the scene with the cute girl who was a definite set-up for his "Had a bad day?" routine...but it brings to mind a question...what the heck happened to Anya? I got the impression that the relationship was moving foward. If so, why is Xander still hitting on other women? If Bad Beer aired before Fear Itself, I could see how it could be explained a bit more rationally...

--Will Xander still tend bar in future eps or was it just a plot device to keep things in motion?

Well, that's about it for now. All in all, Bad Beer was the first big miss of season four for me.

Hopefully next week will be better....

My rating: 4.0 (out of 10.0) (Redeemed only by the Parker plotline, otherwise it'd have been much lower)

Next up: Oz strays....