Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Complete 4th Season DVD Review
Posted by Joe Reid on 06.15.2003
Government Conspiracies! Silent Episodes! Faith! It's all here and more.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season
Release Date: June 10, 2003
By the time “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” reached its fourth season, it had blossomed from a cult hit into one of the most critically acclaimed and recognizable (if not highest-rated) shows on TV. Viewers had seen Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), best friends Willow (Alysson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and mentor Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) through high school, numerous apocalypses and even some controversy (post-Columbine sensitivities delayed a pair of season 3 episodes). In addition, original cast members David Boreanaz (Angel) and Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) had departed to the spinoff series “Angel.” It looked to be a whole new world for the “Buffy” crew.
New on DVD is “Buffy’s” complete fourth season, which saw the Slayer enter college and her entire Scooby gang take tentative steps into adulthood. As with every “Buffy” season, creator Joss Whedon crafts an overarching theme as well as a season-spanning villain, the so-called Big Bad. Season 4’s theme dealt with the tendency of close friends to drift apart after high school. Thus Buffy and her pals faced a season’s worth of struggles to stay the kind of family that they had forged in high school. The year’s Big Bad came in the form of The Initiative - a government/military operation whose attempts to control the demon underworld are constantly posing problems for Buffy - and Adam, a Frankenstien-like creation of an Initiative mad scientist. Admittedly, as Big Bads go, it ranks at the bottom of the “Buffy” list.
Other, more rewarding, plot threads that emerged this season were:
-- Ex-demon Anya (Emma Caulfield) returns and injects a healthy dose of humour via her relationship with Xander.
--Willow’s progression into a more powerful witch, and also her progression from boyfriend Oz (Seth Green) to girlfriend Tara (Amber Benson).
-- Buffy’s post-Angel romantic life, including a relationship with Initiative lunkhead Riley (Marc Blucas). Riley, by the way, was wildly unpopular with fans who were either still on the Buffy/Angel train, or who just found him alternately dull and aggravating.
-- Xander being injected into any number of odd jobs and vocations as an alternative to the college life.
-- The re-introduction of old nemesis Spike (James Marsters) in a comedic mercenary role.
-- Giles adjusting to life without any responsibilities at all (by season 3’s end he had lost his jobs as both Watcher and Librarian).
The Film
The DVD set includes all 22 episodes:
Disc 1:
The Freshman: “BtVS” has never been known for its killer season openers (it’s always been more of a “closer”), and “The Freshman” falls into that tradition with a nondescript effort that serves to set up many of the seasons overriding themes, most specifically the post-high school malaise. The Initiative is hinted at in the form of mysterious prowling commandos, as well as psych professor Maggie Walsh (Lindsay Crouse) and her T.A., the aforementioned Riley, who won’t be revealed as Initiatives until much later. The vampire-du-jour in this ep is an attitudey chick named Sunday who merely serves as a plot device so that the Scoobies can rally around Buffy and get back to slaying as a unit. Grade: B
Living Conditions: This is more of a throwback to the early-season type stories where an experience we all tend to go through (the roommate from hell - in this case, Buffy’s anal, Cher-loving roomie Kathy) is given a supernatural tweak. An added twist: while Buffy sees Kathy’s obsessive behavior (and remarkably resilient toenails - don’t ask) as patently evil, it’s Buffy herself who’s being driven to the dark side (her soul being slowly removed while she sleeps). It comes as little surprise to those familiar with the Buffyverse that Kathy really is a demon. Classic old-school “Buffy,” if a bit inconsequential, but its straying from the Season Arc is entirely forgivable as it’s still early on. Grade: B
The Harsh Light of Day: Originally aired as part one of a two-part Buffy/Angel crossover “event,” this ep sees the return of Spike (beau to recently-vamped high school snob Harmony, no less) as he seeks out the Gem of Amarra, a talisman which renders the vamp who wields it invincible - from the sun, the stake or just about anything. There’s a great fight scene in broad daylight between Buffy and Spike, but Buffy eventually takes the ring and Spike flees. [Buffy decides she wants Angel to have the ring and commissions an L.A.-bound Oz to deliver it. Spike makes another go for the gem in the “Angel” ep that followed - “Into the Dark.”] Spike and Harmony aren’t the only odd romantic pair in this ep, as Anya returns and wants to have sex as a way of obtaining closure for herself and prom date Xander (kicking off a season full of sexcapades and odd romance between them). And Buffy has a one-night stand with rebound-guy Parker. Grade: B+
Fear Itself: An underrated episode which upon subsequent viewing is both scarier and funnier than I had remembered. The plot of this Halloween episode is the standard “pretend haunted house becomes real haunted house,” as an unseen demon projects everyone’s worst fears upon them. Writer David Fury uses the “fear” motif to get to some emotions that will manifest themselves later in season 4 and beyond: Xander becomes invisible to his friends, Oz can’t seem to suppress his inner werewolf, Willow can’t control her magic spell, and Buffy finds herself deserted. The ending is satisfyingly comedic, but the groundwork for future drama has been laid. Grade: B+
Disc 2
Beer Bad: The first in a distressingly substantial number of sub-par episodes this season, “Beer Bad” is nauseatingly moralistic - using Xander’s new job as barkeep to show the evils of alcohol abuse. In this case, the enchanted Black Frost brew regresses its drinkers to a neandrethal state (how original), and Buffy, looking to drown her sorrows over no-goodnik Parker, falls victim to its lure. Only the smartly written Willow-Parker exchange (Willow’s resistance to the lothario foreshadows her later lesbian leanings, perhaps?) makes this even remotely worthwhile. Grade: C-
Wild at Heart: Excruciatingly sad but dramatically sound, this ep marks Oz’s departure as a regular as he discovers he cannot control the wolf inside him. As the full moon becomes nigh, Wolf Oz busts out of his cage to go rampaging, but wakes up naked after a night of wolfie-love with fellow moonie Veruca, who tells Oz that his true nature is the beast within. When Willow finds out, she’s less than pleased - she even tries to conjure some witchy revenge. But in the end it’s Oz who chooses to leave town in hopes he can find out where the animal ends and he begins. The viewer winds up as crushed as Willow by episode’s end. Grade: B+
The Initiative: The Worst Big Bad Ever mega-arc kicks into gear as Riley and friends are revealed to be the commandoes that have been prowling campus all year. The Initiative has captured Spike and inserted a chip into his head that prohibits him from harming humans in any way. This leads to the classic “performance anxiety” scene as an escaped Spike tries to bite Willow but can’t get the job done (“You know, this doesn’t make you any less terrifying,” she says). This was very plot-by-numbers (as many Initiative-centric eps were), but the Willow-Spike shtick, as well as a hilarious Xander-Harmony “catfight,” are golden enough to save it. Grade: B+
Pangs: AKA, the Thanksgiving episode. Classic Jane Espenson-penned stuff here as her comedic flair is once again featured. While Buffy tries to pull off the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, the ghost of a Chumash Indian tribesman is looking for reparations, old-school style. Xander gets infected with the funny syphilis, Spike is seeking refuge (it’s a cruel world now that he can’t bite anymore), and Willow and Giles keep arguing over the mistreatment of the American Indian. All the while, Angel is back in town, trying to keep Buffy safe while staying out of sight. Grade: B+
Disc 3
Something Blue: It’s fun with altered behavior as Willow, distraught over how not over Oz she is, performs a “my will be done” spell that basically makes everything she says come true (although ironically can’t make the breakup any easier). Thus, a frustrated remark like “Giles, you can’t see anything,” causes Giles to go increasingly blind. She scoffs that an Anya-shagging Xander is a “demon magnet” (the obvious soon results), and when Buffy has to blow her off to chase down an escaped Spike, Willow’s retort is the sarcastic “why don’t they just get married?” And soon, Spike’s down on one knee and the nauseatingly happy couple are picking out china patterns. The humour comes consistently in this episode, particularly from blind Giles reacting to Buffy and Spike. There’s also significant foreshadowing, not only involving a romantic Buffy-Spike pairing, but also of a potentially evil Willow (Anya’s old Vengeance Demon boss D’Hoffryn is so impressed with the havoc she’s caused that he offers her a job). Oh and there’s also some Buffy-Riley romatic content (the latter gets freaked out by the former’s “engagement”), but it doesn’t bog things down. Grade: A-
Hush: One of the most lauded and talked about “Buffy” episodes of all time, “Hush” (written and directed by Whedon) is the so-called Silent Episode, and it proves once again how groundbreaking and ahead of the curve this series can be. Fairy-tale type villains straight out of the Brothers Grimm called The Gentlemen come to Sunnydale looking to score some human hearts - seven to be exact. And they begin by stealing the voices of everyone in town so no one can hear them scream. Both the Scoobies and the Initiative are commissioned to figure out what the hell is going on. Absent from dialogue for a good ¾ of the ep, Whedon gets to play a lot with background music and some CREEPY visuals courtesy of The Gentlemen. And lest this become a throwaway “gimmick” episode, we get some fairly major plot developments in that Buffy and Riley’s secret identities are revealed to each other, and Tara is introduced to Willow as a member of UC-Sunnydale’s otherwise lame Wicca group. One of the best episodes of all time. Grade: A+
Doomed: This one’s sharply divided between the good and the bad. The bad is that we have to trudge through Buffy-Riley land, as they wrestle with each other’s true selves and try to figure out how they can have a relationship. Snore. On the other hand, we get Spike, who no longer wants to go on if he has to live in Xander’s basement and can’t hurt people anymore (hey, if you had to live with Xander, you’d consider falling on your stake too). All characters are eventually drawn back to the ruins of Sunnydale High, where the Hellmouth is once again ready to open. The interactions between Spike, Xander and Willow (especially after Spike realizes the chip allows him to harm other demons) makes this worth watching. Grade: B-
Disc 4
A New Man: A game attempt at focusing on Giles here, as ol’ Rupert starts to feel neglected while Buffy integrates herself into the Initiative. Enter one-time pal and infrequent B-team villain Ethan Rayne, who takes Giles out for drinks. The next morning, Giles discovers that Ethan slipped him a mickey, and he now looks and speaks like a demon. Like a monster-movie version of “Three’s Company,” Buffy and the Scoobies can’t recognize the demon Giles and take him for a demon who has hurt Giles. Thankfully, all is resolved by episode’s end. There’s some touching Buffy-Giles moments here, and some cryptic hints about the Initiative and Prof. Walsh (“what is she hiding in that secret room?), but it all seems to fall just short. Grade: B
The “I” in Team: Back into the muck of the Initiative we go, as Buffy continues to work with the military group, at the expense of spending time with her friends. But she’s also far too much a lone wolf for the Initiative’s protocol-and-orders way of operating. Walsh shows her true colors here, as she tries to have Buffy killed, concluding that the Slayer is more of a threat than an asset. We also get to see what Walsh has been hiding in Room 314 - the organic-machine-demon monster Adam. Again, this is deep into the Initiative story arc which, if you’re a fan of the show, means it was bad. Grade: C+
Goodbye Iowa: As if Initiative-heavy eps weren’t enough, “Iowa” forays into “poor soldier-boy Riley” territory (a place that would sadly keep getting revisited until the character was finally cut loose like dead weight in season 5). Riley’s having a tough time coping with the fact that the Initiative, and Professor Walsh, weren’t all they were cracked up to be (what with trying to kill his girlfriend and creating a Frankenstien monster and all). Add to that, he’s going through withdrawal of the secret government drug thingie that he had been secretly fed by Walsh so he could be a super-soldier. Needless to say, the boy’s in chipper shape. Meanwhile, Adam is loose and wreaking havoc, and Willow and Tara continue to inch along the road to girl-on-girl (including one scene that would be the basis for much “Tara is not all she seems” speculation, which would last well into the next season). Willow/Tara aside, this was not one of the finer moments for “Buffy.” Grade: C+
This Year’s Girl: Now we’re talking. Eliza Dushku returns as Faith here for a two-part “payback’s a bitch” type arc. Last we had seen the raven-haired rogue slayer, she was in a coma courtesy of Buffy. When she wakes up, to the knowledge that the Mayor is dead, his Ascension has failed, and months have now passed, she’s all about getting back at the "good" Slayer - with a little help from a body-switching gift left by The Mayor. It’s easy to see why Faith caught on with so many “Buffy” fans. She was a character who was constantly evolving - her place in the good <--> evil spectrum ever shifting. Plus, as evident here, she immediately amps up the energy quotient for even the dullest storylines. Good, great stuff here. Grade: A-
Disc 5
Who Are You?: Joss Whedon wrote and directed this part two of the Faith return, which sees Buffy in Faith’s body (via the use of the Mayor’s little device), captured by the Watcher’s Council and attempting escape, and Faith in Buffy’s body, having a perverse good time. Between bouts of outing Willow, teasing Spike and shagging Riley, Faith also makes plans to skip town. But Buffy manages to right her ship and it’s Scoobies to the rescue (!) as the bodies get switched back. Faith manages to escape, however, and Buffy gets a rude awakening when she finds out Riley and Faith did the deed. Dushku would subsequently bring Faith over to the “Angel” series for another two-episode arc that managed to be even better than the “Buffy” arc. The word “godsend” doesn’t nearly cover it. Grade: A
Superstar: Alternate reality time again, as recurring high school dork Jonathan has rigged the universe so that he is now a suave, James Bond-ish demon hunter, superior to even Buffy. Unlike the previous alterna-reality ep (season 3’s “The Wish”), the audience doesn’t get any framing at the beginning. We’re just presented with this new world (complete with a Jonathan-peppered opening credits) and left to figure it out for ourselves. It’s a nice touch. This was a very polarizing episode for fans, with many finding it frustrating (although the disturbingly significant cult of Jonathan LOVED it). I was never a Jonathan fan, per se, but this ep has grown on me upon repeated viewings. It’s no doubt an artistic leap of faith, and it’s damn funny to boot (“Buffy” comedy guru Jane Espenson penned the script). Grade: B
Where the Wild Things Are: If you like the Buffy/Riley coupling, and if you also like pornography, you’ll love “Where the Wild Things Are.” This episode is universally reviled by Riley haters for the sheer amount of Buffy-Riley sex they had to endure (the remarkably sexual episode was Joss Whedon’s reverse-psychology strike at groups who derided “Buffy” for its violent content). The plot centers upon a house haunted by a sexually repressed poltergeist (read that again, it’s funnier the second time), which makes people want to repeatedly screw until they die. As always when the central plot fails, we turn to the periphery. There, we get a funny Anya/Spike scene where they lament their inability to be bad anymore, and Giles getting all soulful on us, singing "Behind Blue Eyes" and playing guitar in a coffee shop. Still, not enough to redeem the episode which is largely a waste. Grade: C+
New Moon Rising: Writer Marti Noxon picks up Willow’s love life where she left off, although this time not thoroughly shattering Willow and depressing the viewer like she did in “Wild at Heart.” Oz returns to Sunnydale, now apparently able to control his werewolf-ish tendencies. Of course, his newfound control is incumbent upon him keeping an even emotional keel, which turns out to be a tall order as Willow and Tara’s relationship finally moves from the subtext level to actual text. In addition, the Initiative steps in to muck up the works. This is a crucial episode in the evolution of the Willow character, and a pretty historical one as Willow/Tara stepped into the light of media scrutiny. Oz also got an appropriately tender send-off (aside from a cameo in the season finale, this would be Seth Green’s last appearance in earnest on the show). Grade: B+
Disc 6
The Yoko Factor: Adam employs Spike in his ever-escalating plans for World Domination . . . or whatever the hell he was trying to do. To that end, Spike does the “divide and conquer” bit as he plants seeds of conflict among the Scoobies’ minds, so that by episode’s end, none are on speaking terms. Plus, Angel follows Buffy back from L.A. (after the Faith 2-parter on that show) and shows Riley who’s still the best man. As a culmination for the season-long arc about the slow splintering of the core four characters, “Yoko” pays in full. Willow feels no one understands her relationship with Tara OR her burgeoning power in witchcraft. Xander feels no one respects him after a year of searching for a post-high school path. Giles feels quite useless in his non-Watcher capacity. And Buffy doesn’t see how any of them can help her defeat Adam. It’s a largely functional episode, getting from point A to point B efficiently and effectively. And an Angel cameo always manages to perk things up. Grade: B
Primeval: All the Initiative/Adam shenanigans come to a head one episode earlier than expected. Adam orchestrates a jailbreak in the Initiative containment facilities, and it’s all “orgy of violence” in that particular hiz-house. Wising up to Spike’s divisive tactics, Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles make up and band together - literally - to take care of the Big Bad once and for all. The penultimate ep of the season plays like a finale, with heightened drama and a killer climax (complete with Matrix-ey tendencies). There’s some uncharacteristically clunky dialogue throughout, which stunts the execution a bit, but that’s okay because No More Initiative! Although Riley does survive. Grade: B+
Restless: You know it’s good because Joss Whedon wrote and directed it. With Adam and the Initiative taken care of, the core four settle down for popcorn and videos . . . and are asleep within minutes. What follows are four individual dream sequences, all playing at the stream-of-consciousness level, and all containing numerous hints and clues that would manifest themselves in the final three years of the show (most specifically the arrival of Buffy’s suddenly sister Dawn in season 5).Woven through the dreams is the spirit of the First Slayer, who is intent on destroying Willow, Xander, Giles, and finally Buffy. “Restless” is pretty much a reward for those who followed the show closely for four seasons - no doubt any new viewers to the show would be completely lost. Whedon gets to show off a bit as an artist with some truly mesmerizing visualizations, and all four sequences prove quirky and compelling. One of the most memorable hours in the show’s history. Grade: A
The Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 surround is the best you’re gonna get for a TV series like this. It is what it is. There are also French and Spanish audio tracks available, which makes for good drunk and/or stoned viewing.
The Video:
The source material wasn't really in need of refurbishing, but regardless, the DVD format makes Whedon's oft-underrated visual presentation really 'pop'. It’s a fullscreen presentation. Whedon includes a note to fans among the packaging stating why he didn’t switch to widescreen for the DVD release. His answer is pretty much “because we didn’t film it in widescreen” (unlike the “Angel” series which began to go widescreen around the second season). Hey, that’s good enough for me.
The Special Features:
These DVDs have thankfully upped the quality of the Special Features from previous seasons. There's a good number of audio commentaries, starting with Joss Whedon on both "Hush" and "Restless." He's very much into the process of creating these shows and that's reflected in the commentaries. On "Restless," he doesn't deal as much with the instances of foreshadowing as he does with the more immediate symbolism. This can get frustrating, as I sat there impatiently waiting for him to explain things like "counting down from 7-3-0" and Xander's death metaphors that never came to pass. Still, it's always fun to peek into Joss' brain a bit. Whedon returns for a commentary on "Wild at Heart" with writer Marti Noxon and a returning Seth Green. For a while it's too many cooks in the kitchen and the track gets aimless and muddy, but by the end, they're firing on all cylinders.
Jane Espenson's commentary on "Superstar" is, sad to say, rather dry and doesn't offer too much outside of scene-to-scene construction. Much better at the commentary game is Doug Petrie, and thankfully we get him twice, on "The Initiative" and on "This Year's Girl," where the writer proves he has a better understanding of the Faith character than most. Having a commentary on "This Year's Girl" and not the follow-up "Who Are You?" is a bit of a tease, but Petrie does well for what he's given. He's humorous AND insightful, and as an added bonus, he praises the opening credits because they include the Buffy/Faith dancing scenes from "Bad Girls."
Disc 6 provides a season summary that, at 35 minutes, offers a much more comprehensive and rewarding overview than has been offered in past DVD sets. Disc 3 offers six featurettes. The "Hush" feature is a mere five minutes and is not much more than a glorified commercial, and the Set Decoration feature is longer (9 1/2 minutes) but not all that illuminating. The Music of Sunnydale is more substantial as it goes into Christophe Beck and his remarkable scoring, Anthony Stewart Head's forays into singing on the show, and shows a clip of Nerf Herder playing the show's theme song at a live gig. There's also an eleven minute featurette on the Oz character, which goes deeper than I'd expected, and also one on Spike. It's funny how, in the Spike clip, they mention that he was brought back as a regular in season 5 as a way to replace Cordelia, and now in the upcoming season of "Angel," he's replacing her yet again.
**All special features and commentaries were produced around the mid-to-end of the filming of Season 6, so if you’re sensitive about spoilers for seasons five and six, fairly warned be ye, says I.
The Film: 8.0
The Audio: 6.5
The Video: 8.0
The Extras: 7.5
The 411: While not among the best seasons in the “Buffy” canon (those would be - in order - seasons 3, 2, and 5), it’s certainly not the worst. “Hush” is reason enough for any serious “Buffy” fan to pick up the set, but the Faith crossover and the trippy finale, plus a handful of episodes that actually improve with age all put this one solidly in the “buy it” column.
