Geoff's Comments about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 4

Last updated: 5 February 2004

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4.1 The Freshman (6)

The sense of disorientation is all over this episode. It's far from great; some potentially lucrative plot-lines, such as Sunday and her vampire gang, are dropped rather too abruptly; but it is at least better than the first episodes of the preceding two series.

4.2 Living Conditions (7)

An amusing look at a literal "room-mate from hell" and quite good fun, despite terrible pacing which leaves some early scenes flat and the ending rushed. The best scenes are the ones where Buffy and Celine-loving Kathy try to wind each other up.

4.3 The Harsh Light of Day (7)

Much bonking ensues as two of Buffy's best characters, Spike and Anya, return. Another quite fun episode, but nothing much of substance has happened yet, and an attentive viewer might start to wonder where the season is going.

4.4 Fear, Itself (8)

A combination of 2.6 Halloween and 1.10 Nightmares, working to good effect; it's scarier and funnier than the three preceding episodes. The ending ("actual size") is wonderfully anticlimactic, and Anya's very scary pink bunny costume starts an occasional running joke.

4.5 Beer Bad (4)

By general consensus, this is Buffy's worst episode, although it does seem to have its fans. It relies on lame humour and uncharacteristically heavy-handed moralising - see also 2.5 Reptile Boy - to make its point, and not even Willow's superb put-down of Parker can rescue it.

4.6 Wild at Heart (8)

The end of the unusually long prelude, and a harrowing departure for Oz. This is a slow-burning but ultimately heartbreaking exercise in sexual attraction which commendably refuses to take the easy way out, and finishes with some of the most moving final scenes since 2.21 2.22 Becoming.

4.7 The Initiative (8)

At last we're getting somewhere! Listen to the sound of jaws dropping as Riley and Forrest casually shift from frat-house to secret underground Government project, and check out those sets! Spike joins the regulars as a worthy replacement for Oz and supplies plenty of caustic humour to an episode dense in incident, and the fight between Harmony and Xander is delightfully silly.

4.8 Pangs (7)

Some great dialogue and funny scenes - the bicycle rescue for one - but the delay before the resumption of the Initiative story-arc is jarring. Taken on its own, this is an irreverent look at political correctness, but in context Angel's return is contrived and it all feels uncomfortably like filler.

4.9 Something Blue (7)

Another amusing episode with great dialogue and good writing; the scene where Buffy feeds Spike (chained and in bath) blood through a straw from the "Kiss the Librarian" mug is a classic. But, like its predecessor, it doesn't actually advance the storyline; there's a suspicion that the writers might be scared of the Initiative storyline. (Or maybe it's lack of budget?) And it'd be nice to have seen more of Amy, too.

4.10 Hush (9)

And in a show which has been roundly praised and renowned for its dialogue, we have an episode which has no dialogue for 29 minutes... but you can always trust Joss to come up with the goods. Delicious special effects and some of the show's best combinations of humour and horror combine to make up one of Buffy's crowning glories; the Gentlemen are ever so polite yet damned frightening, and Giles's presentation on the overhead projector is perfect. A brave experiment which comes off brilliantly, dredged from somewhere deep in Joss's imagination, and truly sublime; it reminds us of what Buffy can be when it tries.

4.11 Doomed (6)

Anything after 4.10 Hush would seem like a let-down, but this is especially so because it looks a lot like other episodes mixed together and reheated without too much effort - a clear case of three writers spoiling the broth. It features Buffy's lamest apocalypse ever, but is saved from total mundanity by Spike's humourous sniping and inept suicide attempt.

4.12 A New Man (8)

The first admission that the central group dynamic has been disrupted - a theme which should have been made more explicit rather than appearing in fits and starts and being sprung eight episodes later on. Never mind; the only other Giles-centric episode aside from 2.8 The Dark Age is very funny in ways ranging from the obvious (Demon-Giles scaring Maggie Walsh for the hell of it) to the subtle (Spike measuring up his new crypt!) via the plain strange (Giles bribing Spike to let him out of the car).

4.13 4.14 The I In Team (7) / Goodbye Iowa (6)

Two Important Episodes Which Set Up The Remainder Of The Season. Yet the Initiative idea never really settles here; both episodes try hard but seem laboured and never properly convince, and Adam lacks the attraction of all Buffy's previous villains. Buffy, like any totalitarian regime, is only as good as its enemies, and consequently the remainder of the Initiative story-arc fails to live up to its promise.

4.15 4.16 This Year's Girl (8) / Who Are You? (8)

Faith's back! YAY! A much more compelling adversary than Adam, she demolishes the Initiative storyline, wreaking so much havoc that 4.15 This Year's Girl has no less than fifteen "goofs and gaffes" in buffyguide.com's episode guide. The tension in this episode winds up to an almost unbearable cliffhanger, which is superbly paid off in another Special Sixteenth Episode; this in turn finishes in finely cathartic style with Faith's poignant goodbye - for the time being - to Buffy. Full marks to Eliza and (especially) SMG for their excellent readings of each other's characters; and note the very subtle example of magic-as-sex.

4.17 Superstar (7)

A funny and clever piece of self-mockery which gives the previously peripheral Johnathan Levinson centre-stage (even in the opening credits, although he should have done the "Grr! Arrgh" bit at the end too!). There's also a sad side, often overlooked, to this episode; it's common for neglected children and adolescents to invent fantasy worlds in which they're all-powerful and all-popular.

4.18 Where the Wild Things Are (6)

The momentum of the Faith two-parter has clearly been lost by this point. It's atmospheric and mildly scary, but take away the rather preachy child-abuse subplot and it can't hide the fact that it's not much more than filler.

4.19 New Moon Rising (7)

This meanders towards another wrenching goodbye for Oz, but at least something of importance (Riley leaving the Initiative) emerges. The presentation of the relationship between Willow and Tara deserves praise, too; there's no bullshit, or sign of any temptation to make a big thing out of it (compare Ally McBeal), and it comes across as completely natural and very sweet. It may have inspired a lot of regrettably bad fan-fiction, but that's hardly Joss's fault.

4.20 4.21 The Yoko Factor (7) / Primeval (9)

The finale is rather like the previous season's 3.21 3.22 Graduation Day in that it takes a long time to get going, but culminates in an orgy of destruction. Much of 4.20 The Yoko Factor is obviously setup, but the vicious argument at the end belatedly makes sense of much of what has preceded. Even so, the drifing apart of the four central members of the Scooby Gang should have been made more obvious throughout the season. There's also a sense that some perverse pleasure is being derived from destroying the Initiative, but 4.21 Primeval is a catarthic end to the whole business and much better than the concept ultimately deserves. Although slighly blemished by only token appearances by Tara and Anya, it manages to tie everything up surprisingly and satisfyingly well; it's the best episode of the season after 4.10 Hush, with one of the highest body counts of a Buffy episode ever.

4.22 Restless (8)

A bookend as a result of the climax being shifted forward an episode, and another chance for Joss to try something experimental. Lesser talents could well have ruined an episode about dreamscapes, but with Joss assuredly at the helm it all comes off almost as successfully as 4.10 Hush. How on earth, for example, could anyone dare to have Giles sing the plot, and get away with it so brilliantly? Here's an attempt at making sense of it. Here's another, in tabular form.

[Trivia time: apparently the episode was written while Joss Whedon was in bed after his appendectomy.]

The DVDs

The extras this time round are a bit better than those for season 3; despite their brevity, the featurettes about 4.10 Hush, the music and the sets are actually quite interesting. A highlight is seeing Nerf Herder onstage playing the title music.

We also get six commentaries, five of which are entirely satisfactory. The exception is the awful job done on 4.21 Primeval by David Fury and James Contner, which is surely the dullest DVD commentary I've ever heard. This aside, Doug Petrie chats amiably through 4.7 The Initiative and 4.15 This Year's Girl, and Jane Espenson similarly entertains us through 4.17 Superstar. Particularly good are Joss Whedon's commentaries on 4.10 Hush and - especially - 4.22 Restless.