I'm 'In' With the 'In' Crowd is the third episode of Season 6.
Denise and Olivia are entertaining Cliff and Clair with Olivia's growing ability to read when Vanessa and Kara come downstairs to let them know they are headed to Susan Hennings' house for a "survived the chemistry exam" party.
Once at the party, the girls in attendance become bored after consuming pizza amd watching video movies, so Susan comes up with the idea to play the "Alphabet Game" with a bottle of bourbon. The players snap and clap to a rhythmic beat while taking turns reciting U.S. cities in order of the alphabet. If at any time a player cannot think of a name of a city that starts with the letter at their turn, they have to drink a shot glass of bourbon. Kara is the first to mess up, followed by Vanessa. The scene quickly shifts to later in the game, and all the girls (except Susan) are all in various stages of inebriation, most trying to find the nearest place to throw up. Susan is desperate to get all the girls home and the house cleaned up as her parents will be home in an hour. Vanessa stumbles over to a phone to call home, and Denise answers. Denise agrees to come get her while covertly keeping her drunk state a secret from Cliff and Clair.
When Denise and Vanessa arrive at home, they sneak in the back door and are almost caught by Cliff, but make it upstairs. Meanwhile, Clair is on the phone with Susan's mother who informs Clair about the party and what has happened. Cliff and Clair go upstairs and find Vanessa sprawled on her bed with the sheets stripped, still throwing up from the bourbon. They scold Vanessa, but do not punish her at that moment as they believe she is suffering enough.
The next morning, Cliff and Clair come downstairs to find Theo eating cereal, even though he is supposedly moved out and on his own, They tell him about Vanessa, and he responds that she cracked under pressure of growing up as a Huxtable child. Cliff and Clair refute his argument, saying Vanessa succumbed to the pressure from her peers, not from any perceived pressure to achieve.
Later, Vanessa arrives home from school, still feeling the effects of the alcohol. Her parents surprise her with their version of the "Alphabet Game" with Rudy even playing! Vanessa is shocked, but reluctantly joins in. Clair, then Cliff, then Rudy lose and each have to drink a shot. Vanessa then loses, and Cliff tells her since she was the fourth to lose, she now has to drink FOUR shots! She pleads not to drink, but eventually drinks her first shot and finds out the "bourbon" is actually tea, thereby getting a "GOTCHA" from everybody.
Cast[]
- Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable
- Phylicia Rashad as Clair Huxtable
- Tempestt Bledsoe as Vanessa Huxtable
- Keshia Knight Pulliam as Rudy Huxtable
- Lisa Bonet as Denise Kendall
- Raven-Symone as Olivia Kendall
- Elizabeth Narvaez as Kara
- Pam Potillo as Janet Meisner
- Lisa Rieffel as Susan Hennings
- Royana Black as Patsy
- Ensa Cosby as Party Guest
- Essence Atkins as Paula
Trivia[]
- Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Sabrina Le Beauf do not appear in this episode.
- Ensa Cosby is the youngest daughter of Bill Cosby. She was the "Party Guest" who said to Vanessa, "come on, Vanessa, you too" when Vanessa first refused to participate in the "Alphabet Game". Ensa passed away from kidney disease on February 23, 2018.
- When Susan first comes up with the idea of playing the "Alphabet Game", she calls it "big fun". Ironically, this is alluded to again in Off to See the Wretched.
- Morals