Rating: 
Summary: Buffy kicks butt as always!
Review: "I'm saying that Spike had a little trip to the vet, and now he doesn't chase the other puppies anymore. " Season 4 was chock full of funny one liners and witty pop culture references, but that didn't seem to be enough for a lot of people. This was actually one of my favorite seasons. I love the funny half of Buffy that is sometimes hidden beneath all the killing and darkness of the show. I loved Riley too and I don't understand you people who didn't like him. He was a good person with a hot bod who simply wanted to do what was right. What more could you ask for?? I guess most people need drama in their love lives though. Buffy sure seemed to. Also some claim that this season doesn't have much of a story arch or whatever, but hello Willow becomes a lesbian, Tara enters the picture bringing lots of magic, Xander and Anya hook up, Spike becomes more involved with the gang whether he wants to or not, and many other things go on if you read between the lines, such as Buffy realizing even though she's the Slayer her powers can't help her with everything, like college. The Scoobies did drift apart throughout the season, but that happens in life and in the end the original four (Buffy, Willow, Giles, and Xander) come together and remember to love, appreciate, and help each other, as they did when they battled Adam.
Rating: 
Summary: A season four convert
Review: Originally - I was not a fan of the fourth season, like everyone else, I thought it was a bit different - I never liked Riley as much as angel or spike (not saying I didn't like him - just not as much) - and Adam seemed - well - less tham epic. But, after seeing it again last week - that is what makes this season really work. In retrospect I think it is good that the predominate story arc is not apocalyptic. After the true apocalypse that Angel wanted to bring in season 2, and the assension in season 3 - another season ending fight to save humanity would have been too much. And the time not spent developing a huge story - was put to good use in expanding the characters - which paid off enormously in season 5. When you step back and think of how much happens and how many changes occur in this season it is astonishing. Willow's Story arc - obviously one of the bigger changes - occurs so naturally - that by the time she reveals herself to Buffy - it almost seems amazing that she has not told anyone for so long. Any other series would have her character begin her relationship with Tara - and then in the very next episode - there would have been a big coming out sequence. Instead - Willow only tells her friends when forced to - and even then - the scenes occur in a larger context of Oz's return - and it take weeks before the entire scooby gang is let in. What makes it so real is there is no true "coming out" episode - in fact - you can barely say exactly which episode Tara and Willow become a couple. The relationship just evolves - like life.The point being that if their had been a more epic arc - we would not have had time for the detail of Willow's story. Nor would we have had time for the concentration on Spike, which again - set his character up emotionally in ways that were payed off in season five. As to Riley . . . he makes sense - and unlike others who didnt like season 4 - I never had a problem with the initiative. To me it fit perfectly in the Buffy world - it is a standard comic book crossover to have the military come in and attempt to try to undersand the world of magic - and I thought the fit was good - the only thing I felt was the soldiers were a bit too naive to be demon fighters - a little more Nick Fury - a little less GI JOE. In terms of stand alone episodes - obviously Hush is brilliant. I cant stop watching it. Superstar is hillarious - and provides very necessary comic relief when watched in order imediately following the Faith episodes. It kind of have a feeling that superstar was sort of a test case for season five - to see how the core audience would respond if the entire Buffy world was changed with out any initial explanation - would they be interested in exploring the world untill that explanation was revealed. The only episode i really do not care for is the second one about Buffy's new roomate. I know it is a great allegory for the pressures of living with someone new - but in the end - Kathy is just too annoying. I know that is the point - and the first time i saw the ep i laughed - but after a while - I just can not stand to hear her speak. But in the end - i highly doubt I'm gonna sway you either way - If you have read this far - you are probably a Buffy fan already and own the darn thing. But if not - If you are one of thoose peole who don't get many shows in syndication - and so actually haven't seen the episodes but you liked the first three seasons I would definately recomend the season. Just give it a chance. I am glad I did. And anyway 1) Hush alone is worth the price 2) You will be seriously confused if you start up season 5 after skipping season 4 (well - you'll be a bit confused no mattter what with the begining of season 5 - but without 4 you will be even more confused)
Rating:
Summary: Season 5 is my Fav
Review: I just got this Set and was really surprised that i missed 6 Epsiods that i have not seen! I really think this was the best of the 7 Sesons!
Rating:
Summary: Buffy Continues Its Journey....
Review: Season Four of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" was definitely a transitional stage for the show. That may be the reason why so many people dislike this season. Gone are the high school days, gone is the privilege of the Scooby Gang always being around each other, gone are two crucial characters Angel and Cordelia, and gone is the hot-spot of discussion -- the library. In is a new campus, in are two new characters Riley and Tara, in is Scooby Gang separation, and in is a new villain. All of these differences can bring down the feel of the show; change is hard. However, one thing I noticed was the arrival of the new big-bad -- Adam. Maybe it's because he's man-made and has no mystical threat, or maybe it's because he's only in the season towards the end. But one thing is for certain, and that is that Adam is not very convincing. One thing about Season Four is that it never gives you that Oh-My-God-It's-The-End-Of-The-World-What-Do-We-Do feeling like seasons one through three. The tone of the season is light and more playful, rather than dark and disastrous. Adam isn't brought in until the end of the season; there is no build up to the climax finale and there are too many filler episodes. All of these things make people turn their noses up to the season. However, Season Four isn't horrible. There are still great episodes, the gang's chemistry is still there, and the humor is ever-so present. Plus, it's still Buffy, and if you're a true fan, you'll accept it like it is and go on. As for the DVD set, it is great. The color scheme is black (Season One was blue, Two was red, Three was green) and centers on the Emmy-nominated "Hush." It folds out six times to reveal six discs. Each has a character photo printed on the front, as well as on the DVD episode menus. There are a bit more special features than the other sets and it is easier to navigate; it gets right to the point. Overall, I think the Season Four DVD set is worth your time and your money. You can take a stroll down Memory Lane with this fabulous season! SPECIAL FEAURES INCLUDE:
- Directors' Commentary
- Cast/Season Picture Gallery
- Featurettes
- AND MUCH MORE! Please be sure to read my reviews of Seasons One, Two, & Three also! DON'T MISS THE BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON FIVE DVD SET... COMING IN DECEMBER!
Rating:
Summary: A grown up Buffy in college
Review: College life can be intimidating. If you're a superhero fighting the forces of evil and preventing the end of the world, you would think it wouldn't be. But it is! That's what so great about Buffy. Buffy is a human being with human emotions, so she goes through the many decisions and consequences that we all go through.
Rating:
Summary: Very risky season -- some glaringly bad episodes.
Review: As I was watching the final quarter of this season on DVD, I really started to feel the wear and tear in the show's concept and execution. I nearly fell asleep during three of the episodes -- a first in watching this show. By this time the Buffy character really doesn't hold much fascination for me anymore. Almost all of her issues have been better explored in previous episodes. Her relationship with Riley (Marc Blucas) retreads many of the old themes from Buffy Seasons 1-3: Love stemming from conflict and then comradeship, sex, jealousy, growing pains. Between Angel (in Season 2) and Scott Hope (Season 3), there really wasn't much life left in Buffy's romantic interests. I had almost wished Buffy would really have fallen for an out-there character like Spike; unfortunately, that's not to be. Even more problematic is that in this season, the writers seem overly concerned with bashing us over the head with Buffy's sex life. Fully a quarter to a third of the episodes here deal with sex, and at a certain point during the third quarter of the season, Buffy acquires a rabbit-like promiscuity dead-ending with the episode "Where the Wild Things Are" where Buffy and Riley are in bed, literally, for 30 minutes straight. Very tiring to watch, with not enough character advancement. Happily, all of the other characters continue to metamorphose. Willow's character takes a turn in this season; Alyson Hannigan portrays Willow's devastating heartbreak and gradual healing deftly, and her blossoming relationship with Tara (a sweet, lovable Amber Benson) is beautiful. Too bad that, possibly due to network squeamishness, Willow and Tara don't even kiss onscreen, despite the great chemistry between them. Nicholas Brendon's Xander and Anthony Stewart Head's Giles both undergo character changes; Brendon has great quirky interactions with gorgeous Emma Caulfield (as Anya, a 1100-year-old former demon), who takes on the role of the blunt, not overly bright, but vibrant sidekick that Charisma Carpenter's Cordelia used to fill. James Marsters finally gets top billing as Spike becomes a recurring role, more as a comic relief than villain. It's about time, though, as Marsters provides that cynical edge and aggressive charisma left void by the departure of David Boreanaz and Eliza Dushku. Season 4 of Buffy will also be remembered as an experimental period in which the writers and producers admirably took on some very risky narrative experiments which sometimes resulted in sheer magic. The two-part "This Year's Girl"/"Who Are You" is a terrific winner where Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku switch characters. Though Gellar isn't completely comfortable with the character of Faith (think Nicolas Cage playing John Travolta's persona in Face/Off), it's still a masterstroke in imaginative plotting, and Dushku's approximations of Gellar's usual mannerisms are simply uncanny. This season's flagship is the famous episode "Hush", where all the characters lose their voices to demonic forces, thus depriving the show of its primary weapon, dialogue. The concept is so daring and the sight gags so effective (especially the "overhead projector" scene, possibly my favourite scene in the season) that the experiment was a complete success. This is not the case in other episodes. In fact, as brave and laudable as the narrative experimentation was, most of it resulted in failure. "Where the Wild Things Are" is basically a 50-minute snorefest, set mostly in the context of a dull, slow-moving house party; even worse is "Superstar", which starts out incomprehensibly and never pays off the insufferable first half of the episode, where an inconsequential supporting character (Jonathan, a limp one-note character badly played by Danny Strong) dominates the proceedings. It was a gutsy idea to start "in medias res" and eliminate the build-up to the central plot, but the episode doesn't contain enough interest to sustain the strange structure. But the crowning infamy of this season is the final episode, "Restless". After "Primevil", an action-packed, slam-bang episode resolving most of the main plots of the season, Joss Whedon deals the ultimate anticlimax with 50 minutes of incoherent, uninteresting, overlong dream sequences that contain no danger, intrigue, or even psychological motivation. I nearly fell asleep three or four times during the episode and I always find that I hadn't missed much. And the ending is a cheap cop-out. This is hands down the worst episode I've ever seen in this show, and the limpest ending possible to a season that, despite certain flaws, is an ambitious, scaled-up reworking of the Buffy concept. The general quality of the show has gone down by this time. There's still enough good material here to keep me on board; I just hope that the fifth season will achieve a better balance between substance and stylistic experimentation.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best seasons yet...
Review: Having graduating from High school (and blowing it up in the process) the Scoobies now start college. Being a 'fresh new start' in a way, the season resembled the first season in more than one aspect: 1) The season has no specific story arc, and a very small part for a central villain (Adam, the 'evil' behind the Initiative) - much like the Master and his gang of the first season. This led to many unrelated small stories (like 'Super Star' or Emmy nominated 'Hush') that looked into smaller lessons to be learned and followed up some characters from previous seasons (Jonathan, Faith). 2) As Joss mentioned in the Season 4 Overview, this season was mainly about the Scooby gang forming under new conditions - Buffy and Willow move on to college without Xander, Giles is no longer their librerian (or A librerian, for that matter) and has lost a lot of his 'authority figure' aura. A few members are lost (Cordelia, Angel, Oz leaving mid - season), and it's up to core Scoobies to rebuild the team. 3) The season itself has a new 'feel' somehow, with the different setting and the cast changes (Tara introduced, Spike going through an interesting change). But the show continued to 'grow up' - the big 'blow off' between the Scoobies and Adam & Gang happened in the episode before last, and the last episode was a deeper look at each of the gang members, their fears and streangths, and a question (setting off season 5) about the origins of the Slayers...
Rating:
Summary: Not Buffy
Review: This was just too far from the Buffy fans had come to love. Though a true fan, such as myself still loves this, we still have our reservations. This Season was the weakest of the show, reason being the lack of a true "big bad." Though, if you watch this season faithfully, and truly pay attention, you will come to agree with Whedon's commentary of this set. Season 4 had an overall evil. Not Adam. But the characters. This season was about emotional growth. Each character had to face himself. That was the true battle. Buffy had to battle herself, had to finally move on, to finally realize that she and Angel were meant to be, but could not be. Willow had to find her true self, had to find that true love trandscends gender. Giles had to finally realize that simply because he was no longer watcher, did not mean that his presence was uneeeded. And Xander had to overcome is fear of being apart of the group, that he was still important. So if you truly watch this season, truly look at it, you may even come to love it more than any of the other season.
Rating:
Summary: Where's the Drama?
Review: This season was the funniest to date with a handful of spectacular episodes. It just didn't climax as well as season 2 and 3. Why? Because no one cared whether or not Buffy killed Adam, plus, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that she would. Angel in season 2 and Faith in season 3 were really able to get under Buffy's skin, attacking her in a personal way. Plus, the fans found themselves hoping Angel and Faith survived and sad when Buffy had to hurt them. This season is great for showcasing what the cast can do and leaves you rolling on the floor laughing. If you think you're going to get a heart tug with a dramatic climax equivalent to season 2 and 3 your tough out of luck.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Buffy DVD Sets
Review:
No doubt you are re-reading that headline and pondering, "How could THIS be the best Buffy DVD set yet?!?"
Admittedly, I was not a big fan of Season Four. We lost many of our favorite characters (Angel, Cordelia, and Oz) and we were uncertain of newer ones (Riley, Tara, Anya, and the newly emasculated Spike).
Upon second viewing, this series holds up remarkably well. Each episode is a near classic (with the exception of the vomit-inducing morality tale, "Beer Bad" - it's just bad, bad, bad).
In particular, watch "The Freshman," "Hush," "Who Are You?" and "Restless." These four stories represeting key cornerstones in the season (and the series). Do NOT watch "Hush" alone in the dark, but do watch the insightful commentary creator Joss Whedon provides.
The commentaries and featurettes are precisely what sets this collection apart from the others. The Spike featurette proves to everyone just what direction James Marsters was planning to take with Spike, while the "Wild at Heart" commentary is enough to cause a true giggle fit. Better yet, watch the commentary Joss Whedon offers on the mysterious "Restless," which enriches the experience of that cryptic classic.
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