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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4 (New Edition)

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Lacking a little of the Buffy spark
Review date: 2008-04-19 Rating: 8 out of 10

I approached season 4 a bit cautiously as I wasnt really sure how the transition from High School to college would work. On a whole the season wasnt actually so bad but I do think it was let down by several factors and one of those is pretty much the major story arc for the whole season- the initiative. I just couldnt get my head around it at all, and just didnt feel like it really worked or fitted in with the Buffyverse. Also Riley just never really worked for me in the show, I felt like he didnt really fit in and the chemistry between him and Buffy was zero compared to her and Angel.

Still if we take the good things about the season- the introduction of Tara who I think is a fantastic character and her and Willows relationship developing. Also one of the best episodes ever- Hush which is genius and shows just how well written the show is.

The big bad of the season- Adam- didnt really cut it for me. I didnt feel much about him at all before the final battle so found I didnt get quite as involved as say in season 3 with the Mayor.

Definatly not my least favourite season but my fears about Buffy leaving high school were confirmed a little here. Still, Buffy had to move on from that and I felt that although season 4 took a little dive downwards, season 5 picked up again and bought a lot back.

Reviews

An Alright Season...
Review date: 2008-03-21 Rating: 6 out of 10

Could've been better, but what TV show has a flawless run?

This seasons saving graces (for me) are Hush, Fear Itself, and Where the Wild Things Are. Unfortunatly, not enough there to make up for what is mainly a 'transitional' season, which focuses more on the characters dealing with the next part of their life (for most, college, for others, jobs and not being at high school anymore) than fighting the most powerful big bad ever.

Buffy Jumps the Shark
Review date: 2007-11-28 Rating: 4 out of 10

This is the season that Buffy lost her mojo. It might not be quite as disappointing as Season 7, but it is right down there. I think the loss of Cordelia and Angel have a major effect on the dynamics of the gang. Spike and Anya can't quite replace them. The move away from the high school to the university and Giles' reduced role also don't help, but for the me the main reason is that the scriptwriters start to run out of ideas.

Sure there are some good episodes, but overall the theme of the blonde cheerleader beating up vampires is getting tired.

The best way I can demonstrate this is by telling you that the major villain from this series comes from a rogue government agency. I mean, C'MON!!! That hasn't been done before, has it?

As soon as you meet "The Initiative" you just KNOW that something bad is going to come out of there and only an 18 year old girl and her freshmen college friends are going to be able to stop it.

Hell even the climactic battle of the series is based on "a crazy idea that might just work".

They try everything to keep the magic. They bring Faith back for a couple of episodes, they bring Angel back. These episodes are some of the best of the series but they're not enough.

Put simply, this is the first season Buffy thinks of itself as drama instead of a comedy/horror and, as a result, takes itself too seriously, loses its originality, and becomes corny.

There. I said it. I know it's heresy but it's true.

Some of the best stand alone eps but I hate The Initiative!
Review date: 2007-07-07 Rating: 6 out of 10

When season 4 first aired, I was really disappointed. It was at this point that Angel had started his own show and I though Buffy suffered from not having Joss Whedon's full attention on it.

That said, there are some corking episodes here! Hush, one of the most critically acclaimed episodes of Buffy ever, is a pure joy to watch. The Faith/Buffy body swap episode is fantastic and it is fantastic to see Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku try and outdo each other (Eliza wins by a heartbeat in my mind!)Also, Joss tried something really different with the season finale Restless and even if you didn't like it, you've got to applaud the effort.

However, the fatal flaw of this season is Riley Finn and the stupid Initiative arc. I like Marc Blucas but he never really seemed to fit into the show properly and there wasn't much spark between him and Sarah Michelle Gellar. And as for the Initiatve storyline - it is by FAR the worst season long arc the show ever had. Unfortunately, so many episodes are devoted to it which is why this season only gets 4 stars.

Character wise, we have no Angel or Cordelia, they are now replaced by Riley (doesn't quite work) and Emma Caulfield as Anya ( a pure joy to watch!). Oz leaves half way through the season to be replaced by Amber Benson as Willows new girlfriend Tara. And, a big peeve of mine, why weren't Giles and Xander given anything to do this season.

Best episodes: Something Blue, Hush, Who Are You?

Worst episodes: Beer Bad, Doomed, The Initiative.

Best bit of the series: The gangs reaction to Giles singing in Where the Wild Things Are. Or Spikes American accent in Doomed

"Look it up. Slayer, comma, The."
Review date: 2007-03-05 Rating: 8 out of 10

Season four of Buffy The Vampire Slayer begins what can only be described as `Buffy Version 2'. This is the year Buffy begins to grow up, with her high school years behind her and a whole new life ahead as she enrolls at Sunnydale University, where a campus full of new challenges (both demon-related and otherwise) await her. Also, she gets a really, really boring boyfriend.

With Angel and Cordelia no longer with us, open slots on the roster are filled by new and returning characters, which results in a good news/good news/bad news situation. Good news one is the return of James Marsters as Spike, who may be de-fanged but is as funny and charismatic as ever. Good news two is a more prominent role for the hilarious Emma Caulfield as ex-vengeance demon Anya, who was obviously meant as a direct replacement for Cordelia but emerges as a more interesting and funny character than she was. The bad news comes in the form of Buffy's new beau, Riley, who was a good idea on paper (What if Buffy got a normal boyfriend who couldn't compete with her strength?) but the result is one of the show's dullest characters, and he never has anywhere interesting to go.

Our seasonal arc for year four comes courtesy of The Initiative, a shady military organisation who've set up camp in Sunnydale and are muscling in on Buffy's slayer business. Conceptually, this is a fascinating idea - contrasting modern technology with Buffy and the gang's more archaic methods - but (much like Riley) it ends up falling a little flat. To compensate for this, the creative team introduce a more tactile threat in the form of Adam, a kind of high-tech Frankenstein's monster with a floppy disc drive. The problem is, Adam plays a significant part in only five or six of this season's twenty-two episodes, making him the least developed and, consequently, least compelling of Buffy's villains.

Still, there are some very strong individual episodes in this new batch, including Fear Itself, The Harsh Light Of Day, A New Man, Superstar, This Year's Girl, Who Are You?, and, best of all, the genuinely creepy Hush. Mind you, we also get Beer Bad, which is reminiscent of the weaker season one and two episodes, and Where The Wild Things Are, which introduces a whole new kind of awful to the show.

All in all, this isn't a terrible year for Buffy (I don't think such a thing exists), but the fractured group dynamic, flimsy 'Big Bad', and a slightly cartoon-ish feel that is at odds with the attempt to explore more mature story ideas (also, the excessive amount of time focused on Buffy's insipid fling with Riley) means that this is possibly the show's weakest season to date. Season four is still an enjoyable, worthwhile watch for fans, but it's a disappointing step backwards after the excellence of seasons two and three.

Product Details/Specifications

Actor(s):
Nicholas Brendon
Seth Green
Sarah Michelle Gellar
James Marsters
Alyson Hannigan

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036018609
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2006-03-06
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 999 minutes
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4 (New Edition)

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