Buffy The Vampire Slayeris a TV show with no bad seasons, but season 4 has one of the worst episodes of the entire series. As one of themost controversial episodes ofBuffy The Vampire Slayer, this installment of the show came at a difficult transitional stage for the show, as Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her friends had graduated from high school, and the show had to navigate the new setting and emotional developments of the characters. While plenty ofBuffyepisodes aren’t perfect, this one is consistently rated poorly, especially by the typical standards of the show.
Some of the best episodes of the series, like “Hush,” “Once More, With Feeling,” and “The Body,” have nearly perfect IMDB scores, ranking at around 9.7/10. While ratings aren’t everything, they do provide an indication of how audiences and critics are generally responding to the episode. “Beer Bad,” theBuffyepisode that didn’t fit with the rest of the series, doesn’t take the characters' emotions as seriously as in the rest of the show, andit’s generally better to forget that it’s part of the story as a whole.
ForBuffy, a ranking of 6.3/10 is the lowest the show goesand is a clear indication that “Beer Bad” was not fun for audiences to watch. It follows Buffy as she experiments with drinking for the first time in the wake of being dumped by her one-night stand, Parker (Adam Kaufman). It soon turns out that the beer she’s been drinking is spiked with a potion that makes people revert to their Neanderthal state of evolution, and the gang must help Buffy defeat the warlock and get back to normal by the end of the episode.
Even from this short description, it’s clear that “Beer Bad” didn’t have the innovative spark that drives so many great installments of the show. Of all theepisodes ofBuffythat haven’t aged well, “Beer Bad” is more unfortunate and uninteresting than it is problematic, though the series does moralize about the dangers of drinking with a heavy hand. The fact that it seemed like Buffy was being aggressively punished for drinking and having sex is one of the worst parts of the storyline.
“Beer Bad”
6.3/10
There are a variety of reasons why “Beer Bad” rubbed fans and critics the wrong way. However, one of the most glaring issues was the fact thatBuffyusually handled the pangs of adolescence and coming-of-age topics deftly but completely missed the mark with “Beer Bad.“The episode tackled the conversation around drinking in college without any nuanceand put Buffy in many uncomfortable and tough situations to watch. Seeing her in this out-of-control state wasn’t fun for anyone and set a negative tone for the remainder of season 4.
In every way, the transition into the college years wasn’t handled well.
In every way, the transition into the college years wasn’t handled well. It saw the characters regress in terms of development that had been explored in the first three seasons. It makes sense that Buffy would struggle to find her place in college and make some missteps, but almost every installment that took on the typical university experience didn’t align with the tone of the series. Had the subject been touched upon with more empathy and understanding, audiences might not have had such a strong reaction against “Beer Bad.”
Season 4 has some of the weakest episodes of the entire show,with “Where The Wild Things Are” earning another 6.3/10 on IMDB. Since the problems with “Beer Bad” were overarching issues that plagued the show throughout season 4, it’s unsurprising that many of the installments missed the mark, especially after the brilliantly crafted third season. However, that doesn’t mean the first three seasons are perfect, either. Like every other show,Buffyhas its ups and downs, and it took a little while for the series to find its footing fully.
There are also a few episodes in season 1 that fans usually skip, like “I, Robot… You Jane” and “The Puppet Show,” which are some of the worst examples of the monster-of-the-week formula. Additionally, there are episodes that aren’t poorly ranked but are difficult to watch because they put the characters through so much hardship or seem dated by today’s standards, like “I Was Made To Love You” or “Into The Woods.” The good news is that these episodes ofBuffy The Vampire Slayerare outliers, as most installments of the series live up to our expectations.
