Another great season. For me it is a bit weaker than the previous two but I can not easily point out why. We got again good new characters, story arcs and humour. Characters: We got Riley as new potential love interest for Buffy with interesting background and personality. Then we got Tara and I can not spoil her role but lets say she becomes a very close friend to Willow and I like their relationship that develops further in the next seasons. I want to praise Joss Whedon for this portrait and bravery. Very very late we got Dawn and have to puzzle out what this means. Angel appears again for some episodes. Faiths story arc continues, it is well done and leads to a crossover with Angel in season 1 and further implications for both series. For the bad guys: Spike returns in a bigger role and got into an interesting condition that makes his character even more enjoyable and funny. The big bad guy is for me a more modern interpretation of Frankenstein (No spoilers) and again a good and fitting villain. His plot has the potential for a good alternate reality episode were he won. Story: The next step of life begins as our characters go to College. We have good relationships with Buffy / Riley and especially Anja / Xander. Again the character interactions, developments and humour are the reason this show is so enjoyable. Paired with good lore and stories you can see why this got a hit. Lets go to my favourite episodes: Hush is a unique episode and something no one has done since. Also a lot of arcs start from here. A New Man deals with Giles being cursed in a hilarious entertaining way. This years Girl and Who are You deal with Faith and lead to a crossover with Angel. Superstar deal with a Gary Stu story (male equivalent of Mary Sue) and at last the final Primeval gives again a good showdown. Overall again a real good season. For me the only question is 9 or 10 out of 10. I chose 9/10 because the former and especially the latter season are better.

The Freshman B-. Living Conditions B-. The Harsh Light Of Day B. Fear Itself B+. Beer Bad F. Wild At Heart B. The Initiative B. Pangs B+. Something Blue A-. Hush A. Doomed B-. A New Man B+. The I In Team C. Goodbye Iowa C-. This Year's Girl B+. Who Are You A. Superstar D+. Where The Wild Things Are D+. New Moon Rising B+. The Yoko Factor B+. Primeval B+. Restless A-.

The fourth season of Buffy the Vampire slayer is a pretty tough one to score overall. The season long plot involving the initiative is a little weak compared to what we saw in seasons two and three and Riley was arguably the dullest of all Buffy's love interests. Episodes such as "Beer Bad" and "Where the Wild Things Are", whilst not totally unwatchable, are also examples of the show worst. On the other hand we are also treated to one of the best episodes of any television series you'll ever see in "Hush" as well as other superb episodes including "Restless" and "Fear Itself". In the end you'd have to say that, despite its flaws, the good more than still outweighs the bad here and ensured another very good season for Josh Whedon's show.

This season certainly isn't as strong as the two that came before but it is still high quality. It follows the cast as they move away from high school and onto college. The main arc of the season involves the Initiative, a secret government group that capture demons and one of their is Buffy's new love interest, Riley Finn, played by Mark Blucas. This arc, as well as the villain, Adam aren't bad but they're not on the same level as what came before and a couple of episodes, namely ''Beer Bad'' and ''Where The Wild Things Are'' are amongst the shows worst but there are some truly outstanding standalone episodes. ''Hush'', where everyone's voice is taken away resulting in the episode being without dialogue is a brilliant piece of television, ''Fear Itself'' is another terrific Halloween based episode and the two parter ''This Year's Girl'' and ''Who Are You'', where Buffy and Faith swap bodies, is also very memorable.

Season 4 is really a bit of a mixed bag. Season 3 had ended with such a great finish that this is now the next step and one could almost argue a new beginning for the series Buffy 2.0 is you will. Season 4 gets off to a rocky start as now the characters have matured and are no longer teens but young adults. This slows down the tempo a little at first and is a little unsettling seeing the characters in a new environment. Luckily for us the characters do more or less react the same way so we can relate a bit. But once settled the show really kicks off and has some really good writing. In particular the episode called "Hush" which is really well done and was rather unique. A shame about the ending, as I felt the villain really didn't come across as threatening, but more as a plot device. Overall: Season 4 is a small step backwards for the series, but a needed step as it leads to greater thing down the line.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]