The fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the subject of some debate amongst fans. Some people believe that it ranks as one of the best seasons of the show, while others claim that it is the worst. I know people who make both claims, but personally, I see it more in the middle. The people who love it point to knock-out episodes like "Hush" (one of my all-time favorites), "Primeval", and "Restless". The detractors say that the season-long arc took too long to get going and claim Big Bad Adam is an uninteresting villain. And both sides hate Riley.I'll get in to all of these issues throughout the post, but let's begin at the beginning. Buffy, Willow, and Oz are now students at the University of California at Sunnydale, while Xander chose to go directly into the job market (a running joke throughout the season shows Xander in a new crappy job almost weekly). Right away, we see that things at college are going to be similar to high school; grumpy professors, annoying students, and vampires and demons a-plenty. However, by the end of the season premiere (which ranks as one of the worst premieres, along with "When She Was Bad" from Season 2), we see that there is a big difference: someone else is hunting vampires on campus.
Early on in the season, Oz departs the show and is replaced by Spike. In the episode "Wild At Heart", Oz (who I believe that I forgot to mention is a werewolf) encounters a female werewolf who tries to seduce him away from Willow. Oz leaves not because she succeeds, but because he is afraid that he'll hurt Willow if he stays. Meanwhile, Spike returns to Sunnydale to get back at Buffy for making his life hell, but as he is delivering a soliloquy from a rooftop, he is apprehended by the other faction hunting demons.
This group is called The Initiative (short for The Demon Research Initiative, but that name isn't revealed until one of the final episodes of Angel), and they are a part of the United States government. The Sunnydale unit is headed by Maggie Walsh, who has the day job of psychology professor (Buffy and Willow are her students). Riley Finn, a TA for Walsh by day, is one of the top members of the Initiative. His strength and speed have been enhanced (without his knowledge) through drugs given to him by the Initiative scientists. The stated goal is to make the world safer for humans by eradicating dangerous demons. Although they have a much more sinister secret agenda.
The scientists run experiments on the demons they catch for two purposes: one is to test their limits and threat level, and the other is to harvest their parts to use for super-soldiers.
Their prototype is named Adam. Adam is a Frankenstein's monster-esque being, part man, part machine, and part demon. He was created to be the ultimate fighting machine for the United States military. Unfortunately, he killed his creator (sorry, Maggie) and went into business for himself. SHOCKER! Although instead of going on a killing spree and/or speaking in incoherent grunts, Adam is simultaneously one of the most childlike and most sophisticated character on the show. He tries to find his raison d'etre, and believes that since he was built to kill, there must be a reason for doing so. Eventually, he takes up the work of his creators, building an army of super-soldiers like himself to repopulate the planet. He has a child-like innocence that allows him to kill in the name of research (how many children haven't killed insects just to see it happen, only to eat them to experiment with taste?), but he is also incredibly smart. Since he is part machine, he can upload data files into himself and learn about anything he wants.Personally, I liked Adam as a villain, but I felt he was severely underused. He wasn't even introduced until after the halfway point of the season, and even then, he was given probably the least screen-time of any Big Bad (except for Season 6, but that's a more convoluted situation). However, there are tons of people who thought that Adam was one of the worst villains. Complaints against him include the belief that he had no personality and had no motivation since he could not function outside the parameters set by his programming (so then how did he betray his creators?).
Speaking of character development, there were a few huge changes this year with Spike and Willow. The last vampire in the regular cast, Angel, had a soul (for the most part). If Spike was to be a regular and not get old as a villain (think Sark from Alias; he was a cool character, but if I had to watch him inexplicably escape one more time, I was going to smack J.J. Abrams), what do you do? The Initiative provided the answer. When they captured him, they implanted him with a special behavior modification microchip that prevented him from harming any living creature. The reveal was hilariously depicted in a manner recalling sexual impotency. Granted, Whedon and co. still weren't quite sure what to do with Spike this year, making him a sort of "wacky neighbor" character for the middle part of the season, but let's just say that big things are in store for him next year.
Willow, on the other hand, made a sexual discovery about herself. She is gay. After Oz left her, she was in a rut for a few episodes, which is understandable, since the man she loved and lost her virginity to up and left in order to find himself, but when Tara came into her life, things picked up. The two met in a Wicca group made up of girls who were basically posers. I will get into the details in a few minutes, since it has to do with "Hush".
In addition to Tara, the other major character introduced this year is Riley. He is Buffy's first long-term boyfriend since Angel, and of the three main love interests she has throughout the show, he is the only human (and the only non-vampire). It is arguable that he was also the best match for Buffy, since he could have given her a normal life, but this is why many fans disliked him. Since he was reliable and not a bad boy, he was seen as boring. These factor into his departure, but that is a discussion for next season.
While she wasn't introduced this year, Anya becomes a major character this year. She left Sunnydale avoid the destruction that would come with the Mayor's ascension, but has returned to start a relationship with Xander. Once again, he is apprehensive at first, but eventually, the two begin a relationship that may be the longest one ever on the show.
As for Giles, since he no longer has any job (he was fired as a Watcher, and he is no longer the school librarian, since there is no more school), so he is a bit lost this year, which helps factor into the "Yoko Ono" situation at the end of the season, but fortunately, he has a purpose again in Season 5.
And so, "Hush". This was the first (of a small number) of episodes to earn an Emmy nomination in a major category, in this case writing.
The twist: there is very little spoken dialogue in the episode. The plot features a group of creatures called The Gentlemen, who come to towns to steal hearts. Their only weakness is the human voice, so they magically steal the voices of everyone in the town. Over two thirds of the episode is done without speaking, and the actors had to rely on facial expressions and gestures to communicate. The musical score also was a very important aspect of expression in the episode. The episode features some extremely hilarious jokes, but is also deemed one of the scariest (I know more than one person who says that the Gentlemen freak them out). The episode is also important because it introduces Tara. One of the first things that happens with her is that when she speaks up, another member of the Wicca group told her to quiet down (heh), and she was portrayed as mousy and quiet. But she when she lost her power of speech, she took the initiative to find Willow and try and find a way to stop the Gents. As the season progresses, Willow and Tara begin falling in love, using magic as a metaphor for sex. I have to admit that I absolutely HATED Tara this year, due to her mousy nature, but by Season 5, I'd fallen in love with her myself.Season 4 was neither the best nor the worst season of the show. There were plenty of things that could have been done better (let's not go into "Beer Bad"), but there were some incredible moments as well. However, it is a very important season, because it sort of sets the tone for the rest of the series. Only one more major character will be introduced, so the characters seen here are, for the most part, the ones who will go all the way to the end, and most of the relationships here will last until the end as well.
Up next: Heading to the City of Angels to help the helpless...
No comments:
Post a Comment