Buffy the Vampire Slayer:S4

 

 

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With Sunnydale High in ruins and the Scoobies freshly graduated, the gang embarks on the new adventure of college (well...except Xander...but he ends up populating the campus as opposed to the non-campus). After her initial misgivings about college, Buffy adjusts to her new life and fits in her Slayer duties...and notices a covert, underground military demon-hunting operation based beneath the university.

The Initiative, of which Buffy's new boyfriend, Riley, turns out to be part of, is a government-sanctioned demon-hunting organization that captures and experiments on the demon population. As she allies herself with the Initiative, Buffy discovers the threat of the mysterious 314 and a villain who unites all the demons of Sunnydale and divides the Scoobies against themselves.

Season 4 marks the return of beloved characters from seasons past, most notably Spike, the snide, leatherclad, chain smoking vampire, who is promptly neutered by the Initiative and forced to depend on the Scoobies for help. Ethan Rayne also returns to turn Giles into a Fyarl demon. And the rogue slayer Faith returns in a brilliantly executed two-part body-switching episode.

While often maligned (including on this website), Adam is, in my opinion, the show's best villain. A charismatic demonoid cyborg, he unites all races of demons and vampires in a quest to create others like him and overrun the earth. A modern update of Frankenstein's monster, he is chilling in his assertion that he is "aware". He uses Spike as a pawn to divide and conquer the Scoobies, who he sees as the only true threat to his plan. He knows that without each other, they cannot stop him.

The result is a very interesting spell and an very well-done climactic battle, as well as the prophetic and surreal season finale Restless. It is a fitting end to an awesome season.

Season 4 was an interesting change of pace, and marked the transition out of the familiar setting of Sunnydale High. A very well-done season, definetly among the upper eschelon of the show's achievement.

In my opinion, Season 4 is a superb season. Yes, it's different to all the rest but that's what gives the show depth and substance; it'd be a bit boring if Buffy slayed a few vampires in every single episode. Joss Whedon took a bold decision in making Season 4 different. Most viewers hated the fact that Angel and Cordelia were gone, there was the wood-like Riley and Buffy, Willow, Xander and Oz were out of high school. At least Whedon had the courage and faith in the show to take the transition it needed. Overall I think the first 11 episodes of Season 4 (all in this Box Set) are the best "first-half" episodes of any of the seasons - they're all good and unique in their own way.

Season 4 opens with the explosive "The Freshman." The fourth consecutive season opener to be written and directed by Joss Whedon, we see Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) not coping too well as a freshman at UC Sunnydale. In a wrenching role of reversal from probably the first-ever Buffy episode, Willow is the confident girl while Buffy feels insecure and lonely; she is kicked out of Pop Culture class for talking (a subject she really wanted to take), is annoyed by her new roommate Kathy (Dagney Kerr) (who's a fan of Celine Dion and Cher) and gets her [butt] kicked by a super-strong female vamp called Sunday. Along with a few more vamps, Sunday wreaks havoc among freshmen at UC Sunnydale by stealing all their possessions and killing the owner. After a lot of sulking and moaning, Buffy is reunited with Xander in the Bronze - he's been travelling America for months, yet only got far as Oxnard and ended up working as a male stripper and cleaning dishes! Buffy gets her act on and eventually slays Sunday and her crew after they steal all of her gear. In "Living Conditions," we learn a lot more about Buffy's roommate Kathy. Buffy thinks she's so annoying - she snores, she writes her name all over her food with labels, she wears Buffy's clothes without permission and she listens to awful diva-like music! Buffy is tipped over the edge by all this and starts acting crazing, making the assumption that Kathy is an evil demon after they both have simultaneous nightmares involving force-feeding blood, scorpions and chanting. In the end, Buffy proves to be correct and battles Kathy - in demon form and sends her all the way back to the Hell she came from. In "The Harsh Light Of Day," Spike (James Marsters) and Harmony (Mercedes McNab) return to the show. The latter is now a vampire and Spike's girlfriend after she was turned a vampire in the Season 3 finale "Graduation Day Part 2." This is an emotionally tough episode for Buffy. She gets chatting with Parker (Adam Kaufman) before consequently making love. The next morning, he wants nothing to do with her. Buffy feels betrayed and hurt. She also has to deal with Spike who can walk around in broad daylight with the help of a gem. "Fear Itself" is the next episode and a superb one at that! It's the Halloween episode that occurs every two seasons - this is without a doubt the best. The Scoobies get locked in a house on Halloween, which is possessed by a demon Gachnar thanks to Oz - accidentally. The final demon is hilarious. To quote Willow, "He...he's so cute!"

The next two episodes that follow are "Beer Bad" and "Wild At Heart." Both are pretty rubbish. In the former, Buffy gets drunk with a gang of unknown guys - but the beer she's consuming is drugged with a substance that turns her into a caveman...in a way. She can't speak properly and doesn't know who the Scoobies are - overall, a funny but lame episode. In the latter, Oz (Seth Green) is drawn to Veruca (Paige Moss) who turns out to be another werewolf just like him. They end up waking up together naked - yet Willow (Alyson Hannigan) gets the wrong idea and thinks they slept together when Oz actually did it to make sure she wouldn't harm anyone by locking her in the same cage as him on a full moon night. In the end, Oz leaves Sunnydale in a flurry not telling Willow where he's going. Willow is heart-broken. In "The Initiative," we learn a lot more about Buffy's would-be boyfriend Riley (Marc Blucas). Buffy's happy thinking Riley's a typical kinda guy, but she doesn't know he works as a soldier in The Initiative - a secret government military operation that captures demons/vampires and performs tests on them. Riley in turn doesn't know Buffy is the Slayer - but they come very close to finding out each other's identities. "Pangs," the next episode, is a Buffy/Angel crossover episode in which Angel (David Boreanaz) visits Buffy - yet she doesn't know. He lurks in the background watching her. It's thanksgiving and Buffy wants a perfect traditional meal - but first she has to deal with a Chumash tribe!

"Something Blue" is probably the funniest Buffy episode that I have ever seen. Willow isn't coping too well with Oz's departure from Sunnydale so decides to perform a spell to make the grieving fly by. The spell goes wrong and everything she says comes true - next thing you know, Buffy and Spike are getting married, Giles is going blind and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) is being chased around by demons! The next episode is the classic "Hush." Hush is considered a ground-breaking piece of television in that it's almost completely silent. The episode was nominated for an Emmy and has earned classic status amongst Buffy fans. I won't spoil it for you because it's just so excellent, but I will say that it's very revealing towards the end! "Doomed" is the next episode. In this average episode, three demons plan on re-opening the Hellmouth in the library of Sunnydale High School. Buffy and Riley both know who they are; Slayer, commando etc. so go vampire slaying from now on. In other storylines, Willow meets Tara (Amber Benson) in a Wicca-group. They become good friends in Hush - a friendship that leads to love and Anya (Emma Caulfield) returns and starts going out with Xander. Overall a superb first-half to Season 4...

When a local TV station in my area first started airing the WB, the only show I wanted to check out was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I had read good reviews of the show from places like Entertainment Weekly and Cinescape Magazine, and I was searching for something new to watch. I first started watching Buffy around the beginning of the third season, and as you have probably already guessed, it didn't take long for me to get hooked.

During the time the fourth season was airing, I had a routine. I specifically chose a schedule at work where I was off Tuesday through Thursday. I would finish my guitar lessons at the music store where I taught part-time about six thirty or so. Throw my Strat in the trunk, cruise through Tim Horton's for an Iced Cappuchino, and home at eight. Every Tuesday, like clockwork. After half a year of this, I realized something: I was addicted to Buffy in a way no television show had ever managed before.

The fourth season is widely regarded as the worst season of Buffy on the Internet. Because of this, I believe everybody is crazy.

Why? Why do I revere the fourth season above all others, when the majority of my fellow Buffyphiles see it as an embarrassment to be forgotten?

The answer, I think, lies in the very theme of the season - change. The loss of Angel and Cordelia, and later Oz, shook the show's formula to its roots, not to mention the shift from high school to college, from the library to Giles' place, from awkward Xander-piney Willow to blossoming funky-bohemian sexual awakening Willow. We were comfortable with the way things were! After two stellar seasons, Joss was changing everything! If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

But as I think back on it now, The Joss knew what he was doing. These actors were beginning to visibly age, and he knew he couldn't keep them in high school forever. A shake-up was just what the series needed to keep it fresh. And a shake-up we got.

First of all, every one of the Scoobies was removed from a comfortable existence and thrown into uncharted territory. Buffy without Angel. Xander out of adolescence and into early manhood. Willow - holy smokes, Willow! - first losing Oz, and then discovering something extraordinary about herself. And Giles, the fired Watcher and librarian who becomes Mr. Mid-Life Crisis Guy. All the Scoobies suddenly had to deal with transitions, never an easy time.

Next, the tone, the very feel of the show changed as well. Joss has said before the fourth season was the beginning of the show's "Baroque" era, and how right he is. Starting with "Hush," the show's first true event, and continuing through altered reality episodes like "Who Are You" and "Superstar," the show takes on an almost palpable air of foreboding and unreality, as the audience begins to notice hints that something is coming. ("You think you know...what you are...what's to come. You haven't even begun.") This tone, which lingered on through the first seven episodes of season five, may just be my single most enjoyable entertainment experience ever. I remember watching the last four episodes ("New Moon Rising," "The Yoko Factor," "Primeval," "Restless") over and over again, and I still do.

The key to enjoying the fourth season is understanding what it means: It's the turning point for the whole series.

The fourth season still has many of my favorite moments from the series:

Xander mangles Yoda's speech from The Phantom Menace.

Parker puts the moves on an apparently unsuspecting Willow, and gets a big surprise.

CaveBuffy responds to Parker's heartfelt apology.

"Actual Size."

"The Big Bad is back, and this time..." ZAP!

"Maybe you're trying too hard."

Xander and Harmony, locked in mortal combat.

Giles uses transparencies.

Willow meets a fellow Wicca.

"Because it's wrong."

"You can't just say Librum Incendere and..." Fwoosh! Thunk!

Spike attempts to inspire Xander and Willow into mayhem.

Tara blows out a candle.

"You want some Fightin' Pants, Buff? I can get you some Fightin' Pants!"

The Battle of the Initiative, and the Charge of the Scoobies - my favorite Buffy action set piece.

Season 4 saw Joss' favorite running gag begin, and it goes like this: If you're a villain in Sunnydale, don't EVER make a Villain Speech.

And finally, last but not least, Xander's foreboding, sinister, sexy, terrifing dream, which still haunts me, and makes me think Xander might be in for a hard time of it before the series ends. ("You can't protect yourself from...some stuff.")

These are just a few, I know. But I just wanted to get the point across. Those of you who haven't seen it - buy it, watch it, remember it. There are events in the fourth season which are still resonating in the series to this day, and a close study of this season over time will only enrich your enjoyment of subsequent seasons.

Those of you who have seen season 4 and don't appreciate it for what it is, buy this set and give it another chance.

Buffy is set to end after episode 144, which makes the episodes from "Hush" through "Restless" the halfway point of the series. Once the final episode, "Chosen," is finally aired, this story of Buffy, Xander and Willow transitioning from adolescence to adulthood will go down in TV history as one of the medium's most remarkable accomplishments - a show that frankly, honestly and always with hope examined what growing up really is; and it did it all with the conceit of a teen-age girl beating the snot out of vampires.

And the fourth season, especially "Restless," is the turning point where the Scoobies begin to realize their journey is just beginning. Don't miss it.

"You think you know...what you are...what's to come. You haven't even begun."

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2.0 out of 5 stars The beginning of the end
Season Four marks the point where Buffy makes its dramatic turn from a hip, funny and written shown, to a campy, melodramatic and often dumb series. Read more

Published on Oct 22 2004 by Alan K. S. Tong

4.0 out of 5 stars not my favourite, but still good.
first off, I liked "Hush", "Pangs", and "Something Blue" the best. "Hush" because The Gentlemen were wonderfully creepy and the gang were... Read more

Published on Oct 19 2004 by giles_is_hip

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Episodes, Bad Villan
Now, when I first bought this DVD set I got it only to further the completion of my Buffy collection. I thought that the 4th season wasn't any good...but was I wrong! Read more

Published on July 17 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars The Scooby-Gang's Surreal Season
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" had certainly hit its stride, long before seasn 4, so this season was more about experimentation. Read more

Published on Jun 29 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars making with the grown-up talk
It is a year that contains some of the show's best-ever episodes ("Hush," the two-part return of Faith, "Superstar" and the astonishing "Restless"), and its very worst (two... Read more

Published on Jun 24 2004 by Cinephile

4.0 out of 5 stars Buffy's weakest season..
With the first three seasons of the show, the trend seemed to be that Buffy the Vampire Slayer got better after each season. Read more

Published on Jun 24 2004 by Mitch Weaver

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT season.. with one big problem...
Let's get the problem out of the way first... ADAM. Terrible. The worst "big bad" of all. The few episodes devoted to Adam and defeating him (only about 3) are terrible. Read more

Published on Jun 12 2004 by Kerry A. Walsh

5.0 out of 5 stars The gang matures with a great season.
The first three seasons of Buffy all felt the same in where the characters were, in high school. From the outside it all looks the same, sophmore, freashman, junior, they are... Read more

Published on Jun 8 2004 by A. M Robertson

4.0 out of 5 stars a better season that you would think
Season 4, lacked angel and Oz, which was both some of the best characters ever on the show.
Season 4 actually has some of the best episodes of the shows and Sarah Michelle... Read more

Published on Jun 4 2004 by ClassicMaiden

4.0 out of 5 stars Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Fourth Season
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Four is an extremely strong season.Each individual episode is written and directed beautifully. Read more

Published on Jun 3 2004 by mac301

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