Thoughts on Season 4

Stakesteak said:
I think my biggest complaint about season 4 is that the writers didn't interweave the supernatural world Buffy lived in with college like they were able to do with high school in the previous three seasons.
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Ok, so maybe I don't know anything, maybe the writing was just poorer in S4 (not imo) but maybe the idea was to disconnect the two worlds. As you say in seasons 1,2 & 3 the trials & tribulations of adolesence are allegorised & juxtoposed with the enemies & challenges Buffy faced as the Slayer. However the move away from this in s4 I see as development in Buffy's character. She begins to realise that however much she wants a normal life, that just can't happen. It's also a play on the idea that not everyone is meant to go into further education, that some peoples paths lead elsewhere.
 
Zalos said:
I agree with this. Would you be up to name a few and explain why they were allegories to you?
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With pleasure 🙂 . I just finished re-watching season 1 so I'll focus on those episodes as they're still muey fresh.

In "Witch," I felt that the episode did an excellent job in depicting both the stress associated with trying out for a varsity team and the tremendous pressure that parents can load on their children in an attempt to live vicariously through them (in these episode's case, more than vicariously).

"Teacher's Pet" gave a very humorous example of students having a crush on their teacher and how young guys at this age have their hormones in overdrive. Looking back, both I and a lot of my old friends could certainly relate to Xander and his case was an excellent cautionary tale on why young men everywhere should think twice before accepting an offer to work on a late night project at the teacher's house 🙂

"The Pack" is another really good allegory; this time on how adolescence can cause some dramatic changes in people. Overnight, Xander started dressing differently, acting differently, and hanging out with an all new crowd of friends. Though in this case it was hyena possession, in any high school not situated on top of a hellmouth, it'd be a good old fashioned case of being a teenager (minus eating principal...most of the time).

Lastly, "Out of mind, out of sight" is a pretty good condemnation of the cruelty that popular cliques distribute to those desperate for their attention and approval and a very literal take on a girl who felt invisible to the world. The episode also goes even more in depth and shows, for the first time, a genuinely kind side to Cordelia. She's not as shallow and mean as the surface would show but rather is a regular girl who succumbed to the belief that it's better to be popular and alone than to just be plain alone.

Those are some of the best examples I can think of from Season 1, though there are certainly more intertwined throughout the season. I'm just starting in on another run-through of season 2 so I'd be happy to give what I consider to be some more good examples if you'd like. Right now the biggest allegory that stands out to me is Buffy and Angel's relationship throughout this season and how touching and tragic a depiction it is of how people can change after you give yourself to them.
 
Tome
Tome
Good ones.
I've always liked Season 4. It's not my favorite season, but I've always liked it. And I found the theme of nature vs. technology very interesting. Also, it is apparent to me that Season 4 served as a crossroad for the series. Or a transition for Buffy from her adolescence to adulthood. Oddly enough, I think her relationship with Riley served as a pretty good metaphor for that transition.
 
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BillyidolwannaB
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Beaumonde
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Personally I like the 4th season and was kinda curious to see where the writers were going to go with the concept. This is a frequent problem with "coming of age' programs as they always "jump the shark " a little after high school ends. If think this is a problem imagine what's going to happen on NBC's Community by it's third season...

Anyway.. i liked the addition of Spike to the cast, but agree with the earlier comment that him falling in love with Buffy in season 5 kinda seemed not only out of character..."He had tried to kill her just months before" and also ended up kinda gutting the character.
Still There are some real gems in S4, I just re-watched a few epis and really like FEAR IT'SELF alot better than i had the first time i watched it, same goes for Doomed, and A New Man.. The same went for Riley and the Initiative story arc. I also notice just how much foreshadowing there really was to Williow's coming out....
I also am in the minority in that i liked the concept of Adam.."the execution had flaws"...and I liked his kinda detached and almost alien perspective.


BTW..Does anyone notice how much X-Men Origins-Wolverine kinda rips the Initiative storyline a bit.
 
yea i was never a huge S4 fan. I mean some individual eps are great but S4 overall I wasn't too thrilled with.

Although I never have seen all of S6 and S7 when they were on TV (got out of the series few eps into S6 and haven't bough s6/s7 on dvd YET lol this summer i will 😛). So who knows? maybe i wont like the last couple seasons. I did watch the series finale and hated it sooo hopefully i'll like the REST of S7 at least lol
 
The only thing I really hated in S4 was Faith quasi-raping Buffy and Riley. I saw it as an unoforgivable sexual violation. I couldn't understand how so many fans were mad at Buffy for being upset with Faith in Sanctuary. They actually said things like "Why isn't she showing more sympathy towards Faith?" Faith had just a few weeks prior wormed her way into Buffy's body and then let someone have sex with Buffy's body without Buffy's consent. Of course she isn't going to want to be all hugs and Empathy Face with her. It still bothers me that even the writers ignore how serious a betrayal of Buffy that actually was. They tried to make you feel sorry for Faith while she was sexually assaulting Buffy and then later to focus more on the fact that Riley didn't realize it wasn't Buffy instead of keeping the blame on Faith. There were some people who never forgave Spike for trying to rape Buffy in S6 even though he was a soulless demon and yet most people are calling Faith a "wonderful person" post-Sanctuary.
 
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Ms.Trick
Damned, I always got the Riley-rape part, but not the Buffy's :/ Now I feel even more sad for Buffy when she said to Angel "Do you know what she did to me" and he just said "Yes." :/
I have mixed emotions when it comes to season four. I didn't particularly care for the Buffy/Riley relationship or the Initiative, but the Willow/Oz drama and Willow/Tara's eventual relationship were some watch-worthy factors. I thought "Living Conditions" was totally hilarious. Anytime I hear that Cher song playing anywhere, I laugh to myself. "New Moon Rising," "Hush," and "Restless" were all great.
 
I liked it. Not as good as the first 3, but didn't suck.

I think the biggest fault was Adam - what a bad Frankenstein rip off. How unoriginal and uninteresting. The Initiative should have been the main enemy, methinks.

Speaking of ... I think the Initiative was a logical development - demons and vampires live in the semi-open in Sunnydale. The US government would obviously take an interest sooner or later, especially for its military applications. The main problem I have is that
1) It would be kind of hard to conceal a military research base right under a freaking university
2) the soldier guys' disguise as college students/frat boys was rather unconvincing
3) Why didn't we see these guys before in the first 3 seasons? Do they only police the grounds near the university campus?

Another question -Giles has a university degree from Oxford, but can't find any employment near a University?

Still ... it was a fun ride for the most part.
 
Season 4 has several entertaining episodes like Something Blue,Superstar (which I don't really like to be honest) or Pangs..some fairly genius like Hush or Restless and This Year's Girl/Who Are You? and some completely heartbreaking and deep as Wild at Heart and New Moon Rising but it's the general construct that sorely lacks. The all-season plot is silly and it's not discovered deeply and Adam is a one-dimensional villain. What can I say? At least Willow and Xander gets deep character development (especially Willow with Tara and magic) and it's quote interesting to see Giles in the non-employed/useless Watcher dynamic.
 
I always had a bad feeling about season 4, it was always the one I loved the less. But the last I did a rewatch, I realised that there were a lot of episodes I loved!
I could be more into it since I just went through my first year of university. I could relate more to the general feeling than in High School.

I loved The Freshman, Living Conditions, The Harsh light of day, Fear itself, Beer bad (it has a bad reputation but Cave Buffy was amazing!), Wild at heart of course, Something Blue, Hush, A new man, This year's girl, Who are you, Superstar, New Moon Rising, The Yoko Factor, Primeval and Restless.
I'd say it's not that bad!
I didn't like the whole Initiative plot, even tough I liked to see Buffy in the I in team, so tiny and colourish and yet more powerful than those big buddies.
Adam wasn't exactly a good Big Bad, but Spike was his wingman, and that is awesome!

In didn't love Doomed or Pangs more than that, but they had some funny (Spike)moments. I mean, seeing Spike in Xander's clothes was so funny it always makes me laugh just when I think about it.

Season 4 didn't have a lot of drama in it, but it was good to have a lighter season, because I cry so much in season 5 and 6 that it is a good thing that there is first a season which makes me laugh a lot!

And I think the season is intersting for the characters: Buffy experiments happy love without brooding-and-bad-consequences(almost) with Riley, Willow becomes gay and more powerful, Xander has a girlfriend and a job, Anya becomes more than just an ex-demon, Giles is going through his mid-life crisis, Spike must learn to live with his new non-dangerousness against human.
In my opinion, season 4 is a good transition between season 3 and season 5, it's the Scoobies'introduction in the grown up life. Season 4 starts shaping them into their more mature selves- or human selves for Spike and Anya.

So yeah, I like this season! 😀
 
Chocoslayer said:
I always had a bad feeling about season 4, it was always the one I loved the less. But the last I did a rewatch, I realised that there were a lot of episodes I loved!
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I agree, I used to always have a bad feeling about this season and just kind feel generally unenthused about it. But then after a re-watch a while back I realized that hey - this is actually really enjoyable. I don't love all the episode but then one never does. 🙂
 
I wasn't a big season 4 fan... but then I did a re-watch. Pangs, Something Blue, and Hush almost make up for Adam (who I hated). Also A New Man is kind of epicly good too.
 
I always saw this as the transition season, which is very true to life I think. It's a little awkward, a bit strained, people leave plus there's new faces and hair styles that you aren't really sure about. It seperates the high school years from the adult years which once this season was over the show went back up in awesome, not many shows can do that. There's some great episodes, some meh and I don't know the direction the year was trying to take. Maybe just life? Oh, also: Harmony and Xander fight. Fin.
 
Season 4 is the last of my favorite seasons. (I wouldn't say I dislike season 5-7, they just weren't my favorites.) I thought the Adam story was kind of silly, but most of the individual episodes were just awesome. And I do like Riley! He was a nice interlude between "I'm a needy vampire with a soul" guys, though I love them, too. I think some of the best one-liners and punny conversations came from this season as well.
 
I love this season, and I quite love Adam as the Big Bad, although, it would've been nice to have had him and Maggie Walsh team up. Basically, I'm the minority who think this season was awesome.
 
Continuing on my re-watch, random thoughts:

I HATE that Faith got Riley's first "I love you" to Buffy. Just ticked me off!

I think New Moon Rising kills me more than Wild At Heart. Happy ending, but what an emotional roller coaster! Boy, do I REALLY hate the Initiative - totally forgot how Riley severed ties with them. Newfound respect for that!
 
I hated how faith was IMO what broke Buffy & Riley. Ever since he slept with her, it was never the same between them :-(

RIP Briley.
 
PassionBecoming
PassionBecoming
*Puts hand over hear* Indeed.
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