Season 4...not a terrible season but not one of Whedon's strongest. Entering college in the fall, I'm focusing more on this particular season for obvious reasons. However, I can barely go an episode without insulting that inferior Riley Finn. His pansy ass never fails to annoy me. Besides, the relationship fostered between Riley and Buffy was not believable nor likable in my opinion. Love should have passion and fire, not routine and pragmatism. Other than that, the season features strong episodes such as Pangs, Something Blue, and Hush to name a few. The soundtrack to Hush is incredible in itself. That's getting a bit off topic though. Tara is introduced in this season bringing up another strong point as well as Willow's growing Wiccan power. Spike becomes a more prevalent character in addition to bringing more comedic stances to serious matters (enter Pangs). Unfortunately, he gets tied up with Adam in the end there but he comes back. Being an avid Spike fan, I am an extreme advocate to his actions. All in all, Season 4, not bad, not great, but not bad. 😎
PS (serious evidence of my sleep depravation) Faith also returns in Season 4 as her bad ass self, fighting against Buffy and the Scoobies, causing mayhem and a new, more extreme conflict.