erika, since two of my favourite episodes are Band Candy and Beer Bad (I think BB was a lot more subtlely written than most viewers give it credit for, because it's one of the alltime show-don't-tell eps), I have zero intellectual Buffycred.

But I adore Band Candy. Ripper rogering Joyce's brains out, lurching after Ethan....

Beer Bad is WONDERFUL. The denouement's so perfect.

I'm in the Deb corner here. And who doesn't love Band Candy?

I still think about that police car thing, too, of course. How much fun would some of those actors on H:LOTS had with getting to act like kids? I could tell that the BTVS people did, esp. KS with her eye-rolling and gum-popping.

Whee! I'm in superb BB company!

I stand proud and tall in the corner with Plei.

standing up to be counted with the BB loving folks

"Beer Bad" was one of the Buffy episodes I saw before I really started watching the show. I thought it was hysterical, and was surprised when I joined fandom and found out it was considered a lesser episode.

So glad to know I'm not alone.

Beer Bad grew on me incredibly over numerous viewings, to where I sometimes select it on purpose. I'd been watching BtVS for about a year. I think I enjoyed it, but I'd just found the Bronze. It got mauled, there, and I think that colored my view.

Then I watched it, and found myself enjoying it. I found myself quoting, "Boy. Smell nice." Each time I watched it, I liked it more and more.

I've always loved how she clubbed Parker at the end. I didn't care if that was gratuitous. It was great. I loved Willow completely suckering Parker. I loved Xander in it (always wondered how much he kept for his tip from the cave frat boys).

Cindy, I'm actually quoted in the FAQ for the codification of "foamy", and my reasons for loving the writing in BB are all in there.

deb--I read that so long ago, I'd forgotten who said what.

Whee!

Deborah Grabien - B.2.2931: "Maybe it's a girl thing, but watching her deck Parker not once but twice, watching her sniff Xander (boy smells...good), watching the lovely subtle way Joss brought it home to us that the slayer skills are atavistic, not learned, watching all their tilted heads as they stared down at decked-for-the-second-time Parker, the fact that most of this season's iconic quips in our household came from that episode (well, also from PANGS)...all in all, BEER BAD made this cave-slayer, well...FOAMY."

Second? Oo! We have a pattern. Someday the OED can blame Tracey Forbes and Deborah Grabien.

Deborah Grabien - B.2.3028: "Daniel D-L in buckskins in MOHICANS...foamy. No, wait, ME foamy..."

Heh. Yup.

Foooooooooaaaaamy.

It really was a beautifully written episode, but also a brilliantly acted one. Joss gave it the full atavism take (actually, did Joss write that one? The knife-edged comedy in there smells Whedonesque or maybe Jane-ish), and the cast ran with it; ATH and NB, in my mind, turned in two of their better days on that one. ATH, especially, did the frazzled exasperated thing with just the right undercurrent of "UH-oh" running with it.