Season 4: Freshmen

[Clare]

Review and discuss season four here - also include your scores for each of the episodes.

Which episode was your favourite and which was your least favourite? And why?

[partcynic]

Finishing my S4 rewatch...

S4 Episode Ratings

5 4x01 The Freshman
3 4x02 Living Conditions
8 4x03 The Harsh Light of Day
7 4x04 Fear, Itself
4 4x05 Beer Bad
6 4x06 Wild At Heart
5 4x07 The Initiative
4 4x08 Pangs
6 4x09 Something Blue
10 4x10 Hush
5 4x11 Doomed
7 4x12 A New Man
3 4x13 The I In Team
3 4x14 Goodbye, Iowa
7 4x15 This Year's Girl
8 4x16 Who Are You?
5 4x17 Superstar
5 4x18 Where The Wild Things Are
7 4x19 New Moon Rising
6 4x20 The Yoko Factor
7 4x21 Primeval
9 4x22 Restless

Average - 5.91

The first post-high school year, S4 was dealt the trickiest opening hand of any "Buffy" season, having to deal with the absence of many of the series' hallmarks. Without the sense of security provided by Sunnydale High (and the loss of both Cordelia and Angel), the show was placed in the dangerous position of having to carve out a new identity without losing the quality and momentum it had built up during seasons two and three. Fortunately, the writers proved themselves capable of handling the shift, penning what would prove to be the last classic year.

Although the transition generally worked, S4 was also host to a number of significant problems, the most glaring of which was the Initiative. In stark contrast to prior seasonal arcs, the story frequently dragged and offered little of interest, being populated by one dimensional scientists and soldiers who had little role beyond spouting generic macho dialogue and setting the stage for a predictable magic vs science showdown. Nor did it help that the arc's emotional lynchpin was Riley - a character of two faces, one mildly pleasant and the other stupefyingly wooden. Compared to Angel and Faith, he possessed little to deeply engage with or care about, and his struggles and conflicts never really became interesting.

Despite the flaws in its execution, I will say that I'm very glad the Initiative plot happened. In previous seasons, we had witnessed a gradual escalation in terms of outsider awareness of the supernatural, and it had become steadily harder to believe that the government wasn't aware of demons and magic. The arc dealt with that, and did so in a believable way. In addition, it also featured interesting concepts we hadn't seen before (the idea of combining magic and technology), and introduced an unheard-of level of moral ambiguity to the series. While it would be easy to pin Adam down as the Big Bad, he really isn't, with the Initiative itself better filling that role. What makes this intriguing is that within the Initiative, there's no genuinely evil figure - some of its members would score low on a test of morals, but most of them are actually trying to do good. The fact that the end product of these intentions is still great evil is an interesting statement on reality, and its nuance is fitting to the more grown-up environment that a college setting provides.

When away from its arc, S4 got to truly shine, offering some of the most accomplished and entertaining standlone episodes of the series. Shows like "Hush" and "Restless" are among the "Buffy"'s all-time greats, and even less effective eps like "Superstar" demonstrated a respectable ability to take risks. When working within its established parameters, the season also came up with some strong materal - "The Harsh Light of Day", "Fear, Itself" and "A New Man" all combined comedy, drama and character development to great effect, providing further evidence that the show could often fare better during 42-minute snapshots than in its more time-consuming narratives.

Looking at in-depth character development, the season was a bit of a mixed bag. As the star of the show, Buffy progressed well, dealing with the loss of Angel, adjusting to her new lifestyle, and being willing to move on and see someone new. Riley was a nice enough 'boyfriend' character, and while he was too simplistic to deserve full-time status, his interactions with Buffy were a good way of showing where she would/could go romantically. Willow also fared well, increasing her interest in magic and having excellent material involving both Oz's departure and her new relationship with Tara (with special kudos earned by "New Moon Rising" for its tender treatment of the subject). On top of that, the excellent Faith two-parter provided the rebel Slayer with some of her best development yet, as well as setting her up for some great material on "Angel".

However, the male characters had a rockier time. Both Xander and Giles spent a large chunk of the season in limbo, and their individual arcs were too simple and repetitive for a 22 episode frame. While both had some great stuff (like Xander slowly building a loving relationship with Anya), it wasn't quite enough, and it became hard not to be annoyed at the preponderance of eps that featured what were essentially glorified sub-plots ("Living Conditions"; "Beer Bad"; "Pangs": "Something Blue"; "Where the Wild Things Are") instead of real substance. Slightly better was the treatment of Spike, who was an effective comedic figure after being chipped, but was also subject to gratuitous appearances that served only to fulfil contractual obligations.

Minor gripes aside, S4 was a success - the main characters all had palatable progressions despite screentime concerns, and Anya and Tara would both slot well into the show once they were allowed to interact with characters besides their partners. Riley was also fine, and while he was kept around for longer than required, it's good that the writers realised his problems and would promptly have him leave. In addition, the plotting was mostly tight, with a good split between lighthearted comedy, arc material and development pieces, and the episodes were watchable even at their patchiest. I can't say that I would rank S4 on the same level as its two predecessors, but it's still a great year, and would probably take my third place ranking overall.

S4 Awards

Best Episode - "Hush". A wonderfully original, creepy, funny and dramatic episode with excellent character development and a plot that would work even when divorced from the Buffyverse. It also has the single most memorable villains of the show''s entire run.

Worst Episode - "Living Conditions". Embarrassing slapstick 'comedy' with terrible characterisation for Buffy and nothing in the way of plot, wit, progression or theme.

Best Writer - Joss Whedon. "Hush", "Restless" and "Who Are You?" are my top three eps of the season (in order), and "The Freshman" is solid too.

Most Valuable Player - I have to say that no one person really stands out, so I'll give this to Alyson Hannigan for her excellent work in her more emotional episodes.

Best Scene - Willow choosing Tara at the close of "New Moon Rising". One of the show's last great heartwarming moments, and a rare instance of unbridled optimism and romance.