Buffy 4x05 (Early Access) - Beer Bad
Added 2021-06-26 17:00:03 +0000 UTC"Beer bad" - Xander, 1999
"Beer bad" - Domi + Domi's friend who had to cope with hungover Domi, 2021
Glad we're in agreement, Xander.
Comments
The cavemen theme is not random, it's the show doing what it does so often: making metaphors literal. Smart college students morphing into primitive “Neanderthals” when they drink beer becomes a literal morphing rather than just metaphorical. The episode is very thematically cohesive – it's about Freud's theory of the id – the pleasure principle, the desire for immediate gratification – discussed by Walsh at the start. The id is something that one must overcome in order to grow up – and the main theme of BtVS is growing up. The id comes out more when we're drunk – e.g. see the discussion by the college students of 'drunk morals' - and the id is also a more primitive state, like the cavemen. The id applies to not only the beer storyline but also to the Parker storyline, and also the Oz storyline as well. And the beer theme works in different ways – the common college pastime of binge drinking is an appropriate topic for early season 4, plus Buffy using it to drown her sorrows is a common thing, plus the 'college versus non-college people' theme (which is linked to Xander by him becoming the bartender which is smart because the season had already showed he has insecurities about this). And this is what causes the bartender to do what he did - beer makes everyone the same – i.e. the college students may act smart, but deep down they have an id, they have an inner caveman/woman, just like everyone else. Plus other fun things about the episode: the funny second version of Buffy's fantasy, which is then called back at the end of the episode, the foreshadowing of Willow being gay, the Willow/Parker discussion of the different meanings of sexual encounters, and Xander's lighter being set up earlier in the episode and then used to frighten the cavemen. Plus cavewoman Buffy is awesome!
James
2021-10-19 13:32:26 +0000 UTCGood point Chas!
Domi
2021-06-28 15:24:57 +0000 UTCBeer isn't bad but the binge drinking of it by college students can be. This episode is the classic Buffy twist of inserting the fantastical into cautionary life tales.
Chas Summers
2021-06-28 10:35:59 +0000 UTC
