Beavis and Butt-Head Are Dead
| "Beavis and Butt-head Are Dead" | |
|---|---|
| Beavis and Butt-head episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 41 |
| Directed by | Mike Judge Yvette Kaplan |
| Written by | Mike Judge Andy Rheingold Scott Sonneborn |
| Production code | 801 |
| Original air date | November 28, 1997 |
| Running time | 20 minutes |
"Beavis and Butt-head Are Dead" is the forty-first episode of the seventh season of the animated television series Beavis and Butt-head, and aired for the first time in the United States on November 28, 1997 on MTV. The episode was the 198th and last of the original series and, in a rare move for the series, was a full-length episode.
Plot
As school starts at Highland High, Mr. Van Driessen announces roll call. For the third week in a row, Beavis and Butt-head are absent from school, and Van Driessen goes to Principal McVicker's office to let him know of his concerns. McVicker does not care, telling Van Driessen to deal with it himself, but is eventually convinced to have his secretary, Ms. Tress, call their home to speak with their parents.
At home, we find out the reason why Beavis and Butt-head have not been going to school: they cannot find anything good to watch on TV. As they keep flipping through the channels and eating junk food, Beavis hears the phone ringing and Butt-head tells him to make it stop. Beavis answers, and when Ms. Tress asks where the boys have been, Beavis says to her, "yeah, they're dead" and hangs up, then goes back into the living room. Meanwhile, Ms. Tress relays what Beavis told her to McVicker and Van Driessen. The two men have completely opposite reactions. Van Driessen, in disbelief that a student of his could have died, grieves while McVicker is overjoyed at the fact that, at least as far as he knows, he will never have to deal with Beavis or Butt-head again.
Van Driessen, in tears, decides to go back to class and break the news to them in private, but McVicker goes on the school loudspeaker and yells triumphantly to the student body and the faculty that Beavis and Butt-head have met their demise. The students, meanwhile, could not care less and Van Driessen tries to get them to share their feelings or memories as he does, although most of them did not end well him. The only student willing to speak up is Daria Morgendorffer, only after being asked to, and even though she is sad to hear that Beavis and Butt-head are gone, she reinforces the point that the duo were not exactly destined for bright futures. Van Driessen thanks Daria for sharing her thoughts and being honest about them, and only hopes that the two found what they were looking for in their harsh and hard lives.
Back at home, Beavis and Butt-head have not found what they are looking for still. More and more channels have been flipped through and they still cannot find something to watch. Butt-head finally says that if he does not see some boobs or butts soon, he is going to become "pretty pissed off".
Meanwhile, the mood among the teachers is still joyous as everyone (with one exception) is drinking champagne and toasting to the downfall of Beavis and Butt-head. When Van Driessen suggests that they stop celebrating and instead show some respect to the dead, a furious Coach Buzzcut talks down to him, saying that it took everything he had not to kill both of them and that he hoped their deaths were slow and painful. Undeterred, Van Driessen suggests that the school start a fund in Beavis and Butt-head's memory for scholarships. McVicker agrees to the fund, but instead wants to use it to raise money for other things around the school such as a new teachers' lounge, claiming that the boys owe the school money for all the damage they caused over the years.
Shortly thereafter, Beavis and Butt-head finally find something worth watching as the local TV station has a report on dead bodies at the school. Since the two do not realize that they are the dead people everyone is talking about, they simply watch as a girl Butt-head tried to score with (which he lies and says he did, although she tells a different story) and Stewart reminisce. Beavis wants to know where the dead bodies are, and finally he and Butt-Head decide to go down to the school to check them out. Meanwhile, Van Driessen has taken up a collection for the fund and, to McVicker's annoyance, has collected mostly pennies in a glass jar. However, McVicker is happy about all the attention that the deaths of Beavis and Butt-heas has brought to the school and says that things have not been this good since President Clinton visited.
As he continues to bask in his glorious moment, a reporter asks McVicker about the fund. He immediately changes his tone and begins speaking and acting like Van Driessen regarding the fund as well as faking grief over the loss of Beavis and Butt-head. He ends the interview by saying he would give all the money away so he could see Beavis and Butt-head alive again. Almost on cue, Butt-head emerges from the crowd and demands McVicker give him the jar. A clueless Beavis looks around for the dead body, still completely unaware that he was one of the assumed dead, while Butt-head tries to pry the jar away from McVicker as the cameras catch everything.
As he tries to keep Butt-head from taking the change, McVicker begins having a series of flashbacks that get faster and more intense the longer he keeps fighting Butt-head. The stress from the flashbacks eventually breaks McVicker and he collapses to the ground, suffering a massive heart attack. Beavis is now finally excited to see a dead body, while a furious Buzzcut knocks out the camera as he tries to save McVicker's life with CPR.
As the chaos at the school continues, Beavis and Butt-head start walking back home making fun of McVicker's attack and Buzzcut for "making out with him". When Beavis suggests they go back to school in case someone else dies, Butt-head tells him that with the money in the jar he stole from McVicker, they are now rich and do not have to go to school ever again. As they walk off into the midday sun, Beavis responds to Butt-head's remark by saying "that's pretty damn cool."
Production
This, as noted above, was intended to serve as the series finale for Beavis and Butt-head.
Instead of featuring the usual show closing theme, Liberace's version of "I'll Be Seeing You" was played over the end credits.
Reception
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