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148 of 152 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Season Four of "BtVS" provides the initiative for changes, April 16, 2003
In Season Three of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Joss Whedon and the show's writers proved that the series could survive Buffy killing Angel. For Season Four the task was to prove that "BtVS" could survive losing Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley, who were spun off into their own film noir vampire detective series. The surprising success of their effort is displayed in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season," a season that is more impressive with each viewing.
When last we left our heroes most of them had just survived graduating from high school. Now Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Willow (Alyson Hannigan), and Oz (Seth Green) are off to UC-Sunnydale while Xander (Nicholas Brendon) tries to survive in the real world and Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) twiddles his thumbs in his apartment. Instead of the "high school is hell" idea, the underlying symbolism of the season is now the brave new world of college. Buffy has moved out of the house to live in the college dorm (surprising), but with somebody other than Willow (more surprising), and is trying to move beyond Angel (sad, but not surprising). After a dalliance with Parker Abrams (Adam Kaufman), the personification of that horrible "transition" person your friends always warned you about after your first big breakup, Buffy hooks up with clean-cut Iowa farm boy Riley Finn (Marc Blucas), charming psychology graduate assistant by day, Initiative super-soldier by night.
By now we are familiar with the double-story arc structure of a "BtVS" season. For Season Four the first half story arc has to do with the mystery of the Initiative, while the second half is the confrontation with Adam. More importantly, there are several monumental character changes inspired by the desire to keep a couple of actors and the decision of another cast member to leave. Wanting to keep James Marsters around, the idea of putting that bloody chip in Spike's head, neutering the vampire when it comes to putting the bite on human beings, was a masterstroke (and, dare I say, surprising). Suddenly, Spike is a de facto Scooby. Meanwhile, with Emma Caulfield sticking around as Anya, she becomes the show's comic relief in place of her boyfriend Xander. Then, when Seth Green left the show to concentrate on films, what we thought was an offhanded comment in "Doppelgangland" suddenly comes to fruition for Willow when she meets Wicca wannabee Tara (Amber Benson). All of these changes end up having much more significant impacts on the show than the addition of Riley Finn as Buffy's new love interest.
Season Four begins with a lot of interpersonal issues, from trouble with dorm mates ("Living Conditions") to getting dumped ("The Harsh Light of Day," "Wild at Heart"), before getting caught up in the mystery of all those soldier types running around the campus in the dark ("The Initiative"). Buffy and Riley finally discover the truth about each other in the landmark episode "Hush," the only episode ever to earn Joss Whedon a well deserved Emmy nomination for Best Writing of a Drama (insert outrage over snubs of "The Body" and "Once More With Feeling" here, please). The second half of the season finds Riley learning to work with Buffy ("Doomed") and Buffy enjoying working with the Initiative ("A New Man") before Professor Maggie Walsh (Lindsay Crouse) tries to kill her ("The I in Team") and her stitched together uber-demon Adam (George Hetzberg) breaks free and sets up the final confrontation ("Primeval").
Ultimately, the strength of a season is judged by the episodes that are essentially off the main story arcs. For Season Four this means a Halloween episode with one of the best punch lines ever ("Fear, Itself"), the great Buffy and Faith mind-switch ("This Year's Girl" and "Who Are You?"), the discovery that the coolest and most important in the world is Jonathan Levenson ("Superstar"), and the hilarious insanity of Willow's wish list ("Something Blue"). Of course on that last episode once again the joke is on us as the alternative reality give us a preview of what is to come down the road. One of the most unique aspects of this season was that the climatic battle with the year's big bad happens in the penultimate episode and the season finale, "Restless," serves as an actual epilogue as Buffy and friends encounter the First Slayer (Sharon Ferguson), and sets the stage for significant develops to come.
The fact that Season Two ended with the greatest episode ever of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in "Becoming, Part II," when Buffy has to kill Angel to save the world, obscures the fact that on balance Season Three and Season Four were both stronger seasons overall. The operatic finales might not reach the same heights, but the lows are higher and the on average score is higher. The worst episode of Season Four is probably the season premier, "The Freshman," which suffers because like all first episodes in a season of "BtVS" the goal is to have Buffy rededicate herself to being the Slayer so that new viewers can feel like they understand the gig. If anything, Season Four reaffirms that the strength of this show is character development and not just vampire slaying.
Final Comment: It is nice to see that the extras for Season Four contain twice as many commentary tracks as we have been privy to for each of the previous three collections. In a perfect world it would be great if all of the episodes had commentary, provided by shifting tag-team combinations of writers and actors, in the tradition of the very early episodes of "Farscape" on DVD, but I have long had the feeling that the cast of "BtVS" is rather intimidated by the encyclopedic knowledge of the show enjoyed by its fan base.
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143 of 155 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Jossverse goes baroque: how I got hooked on Buffy, March 29, 2003
When a local TV station in my area first started airing the WB, the only show I wanted to check out was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I had read good reviews of the show from places like Entertainment Weekly and Cinescape Magazine, and I was searching for something new to watch. I first started watching Buffy around the beginning of the third season, and as you have probably already guessed, it didn't take long for me to get hooked.
During the time the fourth season was airing, I had a routine. I specifically chose a schedule at work where I was off Tuesday through Thursday. I would finish my guitar lessons at the music store where I taught part-time about six thirty or so. Throw my Strat in the trunk, cruise through Tim Horton's for an Iced Cappuchino, and home at eight. Every Tuesday, like clockwork. After half a year of this, I realized something: I was addicted to Buffy in a way no television show had ever managed before.
The fourth season is widely regarded as the worst season of Buffy on the Internet. Because of this, I believe everybody is crazy.
Why? Why do I revere the fourth season above all others, when the majority of my fellow Buffyphiles see it as an embarrassment to be forgotten?
The answer, I think, lies in the very theme of the season - change. The loss of Angel and Cordelia, and later Oz, shook the show's formula to its roots, not to mention the shift from high school to college, from the library to Giles' place, from awkward Xander-piney Willow to blossoming funky-bohemian sexual awakening Willow. We were comfortable with the way things were! After two stellar seasons, Joss was changing everything! If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
But as I think back on it now, The Joss knew what he was doing. These actors were beginning to visibly age, and he knew he couldn't keep them in high school forever. A shake-up was just what the series needed to keep it fresh. And a shake-up we got.
First of all, every one of the Scoobies was removed from a comfortable existence and thrown into uncharted territory. Buffy without Angel. Xander out of adolescence and into early manhood. Willow - holy smokes, Willow! - first losing Oz, and then discovering something extraordinary about herself. And Giles, the fired Watcher and librarian who becomes Mr. Mid-Life Crisis Guy. All the Scoobies suddenly had to deal with transitions, never an easy time.
Next, the tone, the very feel of the show changed as well. Joss has said before the fourth season was the beginning of the show's "Baroque" era, and how right he is. Starting with "Hush," the show's first true event, and continuing through altered reality episodes like "Who Are You" and "Superstar," the show takes on an almost palpable air of foreboding and unreality, as the audience begins to notice hints that something is coming. ("You think you know...what you are...what's to come. You haven't even begun.") This tone, which lingered on through the first seven episodes of season five, may just be my single most enjoyable entertainment experience ever. I remember watching the last four episodes ("New Moon Rising," "The Yoko Factor," "Primeval," "Restless") over and over again, and I still do.
The key to enjoying the fourth season is understanding what it means: It's the turning point for the whole series.
The fourth season still has many of my favorite moments from the series:
Xander mangles Yoda's speech from The Phantom Menace.
Parker puts the moves on an apparently unsuspecting Willow, and gets a big surprise.
CaveBuffy responds to Parker's heartfelt apology.
"Actual Size."
"The Big Bad is back, and this time..." ZAP!
"Maybe you're trying too hard."
Xander and Harmony, locked in mortal combat.
Giles uses transparencies.
Willow meets a fellow Wicca.
"Because it's wrong.""You can't just say Librum Incendere and..." Fwoosh! Thunk!
Spike attempts to inspire Xander and Willow into mayhem.
Tara blows out a candle.
"You want some Fightin' Pants, Buff? I can get you some Fightin' Pants!"
The Battle of the Initiative, and the Charge of the Scoobies - my favorite Buffy action set piece.
Season 4 saw Joss' favorite running gag begin, and it goes like this: If you're a villain in Sunnydale, don't EVER make a Villain Speech.
And finally, last but not least, Xander's foreboding, sinister, sexy, terrifing dream, which still haunts me, and makes me think Xander might be in for a hard time of it before the series ends. ("You can't protect yourself from...some stuff.")
These are just a few, I know. But I just wanted to get the point across. Those of you who haven't seen it - buy it, watch it, remember it. There are events in the fourth season which are still resonating in the series to this day, and a close study of this season over time will only enrich your enjoyment of subsequent seasons. Those of you who have seen season 4 and don't appreciate it for what it is, buy this set and give it another chance.
Buffy is set to end after episode 144, which makes the episodes from "Hush" through "Restless" the halfway point of the series. Once the final episode, "Chosen," is finally aired, this story of Buffy, Xander and Willow transitioning from adolescence to adulthood will go down in TV history as one of the medium's most remarkable accomplishments - a show that frankly, honestly and always with hope examined what growing up really is; and it did it all with the conceit of a teen-age girl beating the snot out of vampires.
And the fourth season, especially "Restless," is the turning point where the Scoobies begin to realize their journey is just beginning. Don't miss it.
"You think you know...what you are...what's to come. You haven't even begun."
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97 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Many Extra's!, February 19, 2003
By A Customer
Season 4 of Buffy was more of a transitional season for the show, making the episodes different from previous season's. But episodes such as "Hush" "Restless" "Something Blue" "This Years Girl and Who are You" made the show still completely great and worth the watch. As far as I know the following at suppose to be on the S4 dvd's:Disc 1:
Script for "Fear Itself" Disc 2:
Commentary by Writer Doug Petrie for "The Initiative"
Commentary for "Wild at Heart" by Joss Whedon, Marti Noxon and Seth Green Disc 3:
Commentary for "Hush" by Joss Whedon
Featurettes:
Hush
"Spike Me"
"Oz revelations: A Full Moon"
"Buffy, Inside sets of Sunnydale"
Script for "Hush"
Cast Bios
Still Gallery Disc 4:
Commentary for "This Year's Girl" by Writer Doug Petrie Disc 5:
Commentary for "Superstar" by Jane Espenson
Script for "Who Are You" Disc 6:
Commentary for "Primeval" by Writers David Fury & James A. Cotner
Commentary for "Restless" by Joss Whedon
Featurette "Season 4 Overview"
Still Gallery As you see there are plenty of extra's in this set more than any of the other Buffy DVD sets and I can't wait for it to be released! This includes an all new Joss, Marti, and Seth commentary never before heard, not even by the uk watchers!
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