The absolute worst season of Buffy

I

ImagineReason

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I could hardly bear to watch season 4. The show took a dive and became cringe-worthy for me after the height that was season 3. The quality of the writing was atrocious, even if there were some good plots. It became so bad that I began wondering if I was watching the wrong show, but there they were, the Scooby Gang...

You may hate me for saying this, but I thought whoever brought the show to an end deserved credit.
 
Despite a few good stand alone eps, Season 4 is by far the worst season of the series for me as well. I agree with you about it feeling like a different show. The setting of the dorm/college life is part of what killed it for me. Not everyone can relate to the dorm/university life and the show started feeling like one of those late nineties college movies that kept coming out at the time or one of the WB's other college series like Felicity or something.

I also didn't like the Initiative. That made the show feel like the X-Files or some government supernatural conspiracy movie. I liked Riley for about four episodes but quickly quit liking him when I saw how I watched him in The I in Team and Goodbye Iowa. His behavior in those episodes pretty much killed his character for me (there were small things before but after that I was definitely not a fan. I didn't care for the Scooby gang being so distant from each other (I know that happens in real life but there just didn't seem to be enough reason for it).

I didn't like Joyce being so absent seeing as how she is not long for this world after season 4 and I was still going through Library/Faith/Oz/Angel/Cordelia/Giles with a Purpose withdrawal. Although I eventually grew to consider Tara one of my favorite characters of the series, I had a hard time with the way Willow/Oz goodbye was handled and feel like they needed more closure after everything they were in Season 2 and 3.

The best parts of the season are the introductions of Spike and Tara as Scoobies. But since neither of them reached their potential of being huge emotional anchors to the show, I don't consider their presence as "saving" the season. As I said, there are some awesome episodes in that season, but the stand alone eps are not enough to save a season when the overall arc isn't good.
 
I respectfully disagree. I love season four. There's loads of amazing standalone episodes and the overall Initiative arc, whilst not the best, is definitely not the worst.

I put season four ahead of seasons 1-3 in my list of favourites.
 
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zobothehobo
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Sullivan
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Goby
Goby
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I think season 4 is a very funny lighthearted season, but I do think it's the weakest of the series. I don't hate it as much as you do, but I do think the show took a nose dive with them choosing to use soldiers over demons and Vampires as the main Big Bad (Yes, I know Adam was a demon/human/robot thingy, but he had an army background and I think it ruins the Gothic stuff the past 3 seasons had going on).
 
caritas08 said:
Not everyone can relate to the dorm/university life and the show started feeling like one of those late nineties college movies that kept coming out at the time or one of the WB's other college series like Felicity or something.
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That is true about the college thing but I don't think this season was nearly as good as Felicity like not even close really. I think the difference was Felicity gave us materiel to relate to but Buffy kind of failed. I wish it would have taken some kind of cues from it to be honest.
I think it was just to much change at one time. It isn't horrible but it isn't my favorite season either. The end got better.
 
I totally disagree. Season 4 wasn't the best season but it certainly wasn't the worst. The Initiative, Maggie, and Adam weren't executed as well as they could have been, but the season still had several really good stand alone episodes.
 
Gum Gnome33
Gum Gnome33
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Season 4 is nowhere near being the worst season. That joint honour goes to seasons 6 and 7, which apart from some shinning moments in each, are appalling.
 
I'd say season 4 was second worst, because really, nothing can compete with the cringe-worthiness that was the Master. What I hated most about season 4 was that the Scoobies drifted apart. But you should watch the rest of BtVS, if you haven't already. Season 5 is one of the best seasons, though season 6 and 7 have a love 'em or hate 'em feeling.
 
I disagree whole-heartedly. Season 4 is in my top 3 - 4 seasons. Season 7 and Season 1 are much worse and I may even prefer Season 4 to Season 5. I absolutely love it. Sure, Adam was a crappy villain and the Initiative was kind of lame. But there were so many great episodes.
 
As others have said... NO WAY BROTHA! This season was hilarious! It's the funniest of the show, and it had a bunch of kick ass eps. Also some memorable scenes(for example the Scooby fight in The Yoko Factor). And some nifty fight scenes. 🙂

You wanna talk worst season? Go with S7. Bunch of new annoying characters. Giles is not the shadow of himself. Too much focus on Spike/Buffy. The villain was lame, until Caleb arrived. Barely any great episodes. The list goes on.
 
I quite liked season 4, it got some great episodes, it was changing season with a lot of cast changes which I thought they did pretty well with.
 
I loathed it on first viewing (this BBer no be fond of too much changes... and Freshman, especially, brought back unhappy memories of my own lost-at-uni days :sigh: ) but I've come to appreciate it. S4 firmly is "middle ground" for me - not as good as S2 or 3, definitely nowhere near as good as S6... but noticably better than 1, 5, or 7.
 
I disagree as well because I think it's right the other way around. The plot itself wasn't the good part. But the scenes were ace. It was a very fun season, even though the storyline of it wasn't that great. It was an adjustment, moving from high school to college, and I think that's what it was meant to be like, like in real life. They let us feel what Buffy felt, what any freshman in college feels. That's why the season felt a little disconnected. Because we were used to something, and it was taken away, we were forced to change with Buffy and with the series. You should look at it from this direction. A change, moving forward. From being a kid in high school, to an adult. And therefore, the show becomes more adult.
 
Aww I liked S4; it was different, but I think Joss did brilliantly capturing the changes you go through when you leave high school. S6 was way too depressing for me, but let's be clear........NO SERIES of Buffy was bad, they're all amazing 🙂
 
Goby
Goby
Agree!!!!
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