TV-Reviewed

Alcohol myths have been few and far between on MythBusters, but the team did a few not all that long ago. It just makes sense for them to find out what the best sobering-up technique is. I can’t say as though I’d go with any of them over the others, but I don’t drink alcohol.

The first alcohol myth was the phenomenon known as beer goggles. The idea is simple: as you drink more alcohol, people of the opposite sex become more attractive to you. The guys got to test out a slick new smart screen for this myth and it proved to be useful.

Kari proves just how drunk she is

Adam, Jamie, and Kari took part in this myth, each getting drunk and rating a series of photographs of people. Predictably, they prove that beer goggles is in fact real, though Jamie claimed he wasn’t as susceptible as Kari and Adam.

After that, Adam and Jamie tested ways to sober up. They included drinking coffee, vigorous exercise, dunking one’s head in ice water, and getting slapped. The exercise segment was one where the boys proved to have poor judgment thanks to the alcohol. Using the green screen was pointless and Adam running on a treadmill while being drunk proved to be dangerous. Poor Adam came crashing down to Earth after a few minutes of running.

I’m not going to go over the results of each method. I just want to mention that I loved that high-speed camera work. Jamie really let have Adam have it when he slapped him. Adam’s face looked like goo… very bizarre.

I rarely consider the myths done by Kari, Tory, and Grant to be the best of the show (they’re the B team in my opinion), but the myth about the Hwacha, an ancient Korean weapon of war, was much more entertaining to see. This weapon was allegedly capable of firing 200 blackpowder-propelled arrows which would explode on impact. The existence of the weapon was never in question, just its effectiveness.

Hwacha!

After several tests, the group got to try out their creation and it worked exceptionally well. I hate to wonder how many hours went into assembling everything, but it was worth watching it in action. It’s too bad the arrows overshot their target. I would love to see how several of those Hwacha’s in action, firing at a larger army of infantry. Kari’s comments on how terrifying it would have been seeing the Hwacha fire its arrows in your direction as spot on. If I were a soldier, I’d think twice about standing in the arrow’s way.

Rating: 9.0