Here we are, the homestretch. The closer we get to “Restless” the more I look forward to it still, even after all these years. Before wrapping S4/S1 up, if you need a refresher for any reason that’s always what the following link is for so take your time.

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Retrospecticus…

Otherwise, let’s get right to it…

Where the Wild Things Are

• Written by Tracey Forbes / Directed by David Solomon
• Buffy and Riley’s demon hunting/sex acts leading right into shirtless Riley wandering around the fraternity succinctly sums up this whole episode’s haunted house of big, bursting poltergasms. Whenever there was the option to have Riley be shirtless they sure didn’t hesitate.
• The sexual theme continues with Xander (an ice cream man now) arguing with Anya because they didn’t have sex the night before and she considers that a sign they have relationship issues. Anya very much so wants some Xander D.

• Giles comes to the college for a Scooby meeting (with Tara, as she’s been to several) and it’s still odd seeing him at their university.
• I wonder what inspired this all sex all the time episode. At least they have that condom shot, so no baby for Buffy (thank goodness).
• Buffy and Riley get orgasm flames all over one of the frat guys. Bad form.
• Spike & Anya spend their first real time together at the Bronze as they share frustrations and this seems like such a natural pairing that I can’t believe it took so long.

• Ugh, this college guy rambling about how language tastes is lame. I have no idea why this would be a turn on to anyone with a brain.
• Forrest continues to take everything about Riley’s relationship with Buffy personally. Jealous-much?
• In regards to this orgasm spot on the wall, I assume everyone isn’t cumming in their pants–I hope, anyway–so they just feel it in their gut, or something? How’s that work?

• Anya casually bringing Spike to the Initiative’s frat house for the party and not telling him, then him just going along with it, is an amusing touch (Xander–”Can I get you a drink, Hostile 17?”).  The “Me too!! Woo Hoo!!” exclamations from upset Anya make me laugh.
• Xander gets sexually accosted by the overcharged redhead (not exactly her fault, though) and his streak of what could certainly be described as sexual assault continues. I just never really noticed before this latest re-watch how much of Xander’s sexual history is loaded with rather aggressive advances.
• Willow drinking frat house bathroom tap water and then using some random frat house towel to dab her mouth is pretty, pretty, pretty gross to me.

• The exploding bottle in the spin the bottle game could have blinded someone. I probably sound like someone’s mom, but still.
• Forrest accesses the entrance to their super-secret government facility in plain view of *lots* of people. Good thing nobody noticed.
• Spike’s monologue about why you’d think he wouldn’t help them leading to him just walking away still makes me laugh.
• Giles singing is *also* a whole bunch of fun and such a welcome addition whenever it happens. Willow’s shocked face works well.

•  “In the midst of all that do you really think they were keeping it up?”
• Old Lady Lowell’s clearly touched, what with the “early morning prayer” & “educated them in the way of the lord” stuff, even before we find out the specifics of what she did that caused the poltergasm.
• I like that Anya’s the one who ends up powering through her vine through the hand to get Xander out of the baptism drowning and stop Buffy/Riley from sexing anymore. Good work.

• The cafeteria wrap up where they discuss sexy singing Giles and how “Yeah, it was bad”/”Horrible” in regards to the sex marathon finishes this whole silly, funny episode with more silly fun. This one is a bunch of fun, I don’t care what kind of reputation it has.

Five by Five

• Written by Jim Kouf / Directed by James A. Contner
• After Angel and Wes get an action packed opening sequence, I like that we get to Faith right away–no time wasted, just how I prefer it.
• More Darla flashbacks, likely to freshen her presence in everyone’s mind ahead of the impending resurrection. The Romani girl that causes Angel’s huge life change was a gift from Darla–whoops!
• Faith inciting a big bar/club fight as she dances to “Living Dead Girl” is one of my favorite Faith scenes. She’s clearly flaming out on a downward spiral and you can feel it. I don’t care how on the nose the song choice might be, it works beautifully.

• A few of the lawyers we met over the season (all with L.M. initials, for some reason) come together to bust Angel’s chops via Faith, who proves rather easy to find. Lee being an ass to Faith is an extremely idiotic move and doesn’t work out well for him–based on what we saw Faith do to him, though, he probably should have died.
• This stuff with Angel and this random gang guy could have been lifted right out. Really–who cares?
• Faith showing up in the courthouse with a crossbow is a great declaration of her presence. This is easily Angel’s best episode yet–though nobody seems too bothered by an attempted murder take place in front of them. City folk.

• A Giles shoutout adds to the list of reasons this is really a long time BtVS fan’s episode.
• Faith promptly shows up at their office, too, in her campaign to make herself  known. The thing with the one empty round in the gun is a nice trick.
• Angel and Lindsay have their first face-off after the brief pilot meeting.
• Cordy and Dennis should have had some kind of code in case of danger, or at the very least she should have realized what Dennis was trying to tell her by slamming the door repeatedly. Also, why’d Dennis give up so easily? 

• Faith’s really trying to push Angel to kill her once she starts torturing Wes. He gets in a good verbal blow with his thing about how he knows her, and “You, are a piece of sh–.”
• How does Angel get into this guy’s apartment (which he and Faith promptly destroy)? The guy isn’t dead, so the loose invite rule of this spinoff continues. At least Wes is a big enough person to drop the knife when he sees Faith crying in Angel’s arms.

New Moon Rising

• Written by Marti Noxon / Directed by James A. Contner
• Willow and Tara discuss Ms. Kitty Fantastico for the first time ahead of her debut.
• Giles vs Anya exchanges are always fun and I’m glad we get more of it. Oh, and why was Willow making such a fuss about Tara going to a Scooby meeting before? Tara’s been to several of them, as I’ve mentioned often lately.

• Boom, suddenly here’s Oz with a simple ”Hey.” Very in character. I’ll take this moment to mention how Seth Green is actually like a geekier Xander in real life, so the fact that you’d never know that from his portrayal of Oz over several seasons speaks to him being a better actor than given credit for.
• Buffy and Riley just leave this demon laying around so a team can pick it up later? I know Adam’s plan for the demons is to get captured, but Buffy & Riley don’t. Anyway, I like how pissed off Buffy gets with Riley about the Oz werewolf chat and how he didn’t think Willow was that kind of girl.

• “I can be what you need now.” Eh, not so much, Oz. You needed to do a couple other sex change kinda things, so Willow will “have the less confusing waffles right now.” And she didn’t take very long to brush her teeth at all–just long enough for Tara to pop by and get the wrong picture.
• Buffy’s taken aback, at first, when Willow finally tells her about Tara, but she seems to adjust quickly. Buffy does say Willow’s name a bunch during the Tara chat, but it’s only a few minutes and that’s the extent of her weirdness about it. As a gay, that’s really no big deal.

• Oz almost immediately loses his cool and screams when he realizes what’s up with Willow/Tara, to the point he wolfs out right then and there. Of course Forrest waves away everything Tara says as a lady in “shock.” He’s really quite a prize.
• The Spike/Adam pairing was never my favorite, but I guess they had to give Spike (and Adam) something to do.
• So…Willow can just give Giles a list of directions on how to hack into the Initiative and power it down? That seems like it’d be a little involved. Eh, as long as we spend less time on army stuff. And Spike’s bleached hair would kind of be a giveaway he doesn’t belong in the Initiative to anyone with eyes.

• The Initiative’s testing amounts to zapping him with a pointy object to make him wolf out while they take notes. Science!
• Buffy’s crossbow isn’t at all threatening. It looks like a toy (Faith’s at the courthouse was better).
• Buffy finally tells Riley about Angel, except only bits and pieces, while he hangs out in the burned out husk of Sunnydale High (because he’s an anarchist).

• Willow and Oz have a parting chat in his van before he gets going (“pretty much now”), which always reminds me of when they were stealing weapons from the army back in S2 and Willow really started falling for Oz. What began in a van also ended in a van. She’ll see him again one day. It’ll be a while, and it won’t be live action, but their paths will cross again.
• Willow blows a candle out and now she & Tara are officially an item.

Sanctuary

• Written by Tim Minear & Joss Whedon / Directed by Michael Lange
• Black-eyed Cordy and post-torture Wes aren’t too keen on Faith getting Angel’s bed and pastries (”Not too long ago I had full feeling in my right arm”), but Cordy makes the most of it by taking off with some checks for some away time. Well executed.
• Angel’s Psychology 101 bits of wisdom seems rote and obvious, but I guess Faith hasn’t probably experienced much of that before.
• Kate’s already got a reputation for the weird cases with her colleagues, but shouldn’t they all have come across quite a few bizarre & unexplainable things as LA police by now?

• Hey look, Incompetant Wetwork Watchers show up in LA after doing such an awesome job in Sunnydale. And actually, Wesley, Buffy was technically the one who cleaned their clocks.
• Faith can’t work a microwave? Is that a side effect of the coma?
• Angel’s quite a sad puppy when he hears from Faith that Buffy has a boyfriend.
• This is hardly an Earth-shattering observation, but Faith spills stuff on the table right before that demon makes an even bigger mess.
• I always assumed the Evil Watchers’ syringe was a killshot, which means Wes unintentionally kills him later, but maybe that’s just me.

• Slayer Sense Fail: Faith doesn’t notice this demon crawling around until quite late in the game.
• Of course Buffy shows up at the moment Angel/Faith hug, for maximum drama. Buffy’s “If you apologize to me I will beat you to death” & “I’m sorry I can’t be in your club, I’ve never murdered anyone” comments are well earned and amusing–I like vicious Buffy. And, in all fairness, Angel did put his hands on Buffy first–even if just to grab and hold her back.
• The Council guys are suck shots, what a surprise, and that’s quite a superhero leap out the window from Angel.

• In this Buffy/Angel argument at the police station Angel behaves as if it wasn’t his decision to break up with her and leave town. Also, she’s still a teenager and he’s so old–fun fact.
• And that’s an Angel series wrap for SMG. We certainly hear more of Buffy over the seasons, but a return appearance was not to be.

The Yoko Factor

• Written by Douglas Petrie / Directed by David Grossman
• I’m glad all this Initiative stuff is getting wrapped up soon. It’s nobody’s favorite and the sooner it’s done the sooner we get to “Restless.” 
• More singing Giles is always welcome, so I accept (I actually bought an Anthony Stewart Head CD long ago). And Giles is cool with Spike casually using his mug for blood? That seems gross to me, but so does drinking water from a frat house tap.
• And here she is, Miss Kitty Fantastico! It’s not like she’s a regular now, or anything, but she makes an impression.

• Riley’s walkie talkie setup isn’t too impressive and doesn’t cast the Initiative in very good light if that’s all it takes to get a leg up on them.
• By the looks of Anya’s take out packaging, I’d say Anya went to In & Out (a SoCal staple). 
• Spike sowing seeds of discontent all over isn’t my favorite angle and I’m glad it’s fairly brief. It just feels so forced and makes everyone seem kind of dumb.
• I know Riley wants to help, but him showing up to the may day call isn’t exactly a wise choice. What was his plan if he helped them with whatever they called in? Everything’s forgiven? Anyway, Angel shows up and he/Riley get to fight over Buffy within seconds of meeting. Very mature.

• Why can’t Angel enter Buffy’s dorm room? Previously dorm rooms weren’t safe spaces, but where Angel can/can’t enter is already up-in-the-air on his show, too, so who knows. Anyway, I think Buffy’s too easy on Angel. He was kind of a needless jerk in LA and then showed up in Sunnydale to continue being a horse’s ass, but I understand why she just moves on. And it’s not Xander’s fault she only gave Riley half the story, he was just talking about (what he thought) was common knowledge.
• Forrest died. Oh no, I am heartbroken.

• This whole Scooby fight certainly has been simmering for a while now, but Buffy demanding to know how everyone who’s not her is helpful doesn’t add up to me–they’ve all been plenty helpful on a number of occasions. I don’t think I even need to bother listing, as there are so many to choose from. I get that Buffy’s angry, but Willow or Xander could easily have come back with a half dozen times each that their assistance was crucial to success. Giles being wasted is amusing, at least.

• The Riley cliffhanger always seemed obvious, but at least only one more episode. Oh, and “Mr. Billowy Coat King of Pain” is quite the accurate assessment of Angel. Good work, Riley.

War Zone

• Written by Garry Campbell / Directed by David Straiton
• Look, it’s Gunn and his gang of dipshits. I only call them dipshits because *so much* of their behavior in this episode (and other times we see them) doesn’t suggest they have much going on upstairs. Also, Gunn’s truck with a whole bunch of stakes mounted on the front–that seems like the kind of thing that’d attract the attention of law enforcement.

• One of these vampires in the gang melee looks like he dies of a broken back, but I’m not really sure how that makes any sense for a vampire. Much of this fight, by the way, makes it seem like many of these kids should already be dead. They don’t seem very well organized or good at this, so how have a bunch of vampires not killed them already?
• The Fang Gang attends one of Michael Bolton’s fancy parties and this character always felt odd to me. He was almost a recurring ally, until he just disappeared and that was that–maybe having a rich friend who could throw money at things would have made their lives too easy?

• The demon brothel head honcho lady is wearing a L&O-ish pant suit–not what I’d expect from a demon brothel. One of those “She” demons is here, and now that’s officially the end of them.
• This bad vamp leader killing his own guys is a moron, as having less guys on your side won’t exactly help you beat your enemies back.
• Gunn’s gang comes across as very cocky and full of themselves. I’m surprised Gunn’s poor decision making hasn’t led to more mass deaths of his crew already. Him deciding to wander around looking for Alana by himself is another one of those idiotic moves, and if she weren’t such an awful vampire she could have just turned him against his will instead of stand there and let herself get staked in such an obvious manner.

• On Hulu you can see the antagonist vampires standing around waiting for their part in the scene to begin before the non-fight at the end.
• Angel says more ”LA’s my territory” and “my town” stuff. Uh, you haven’t even been here for a year. Most don’t even know who you are–being a little pigheaded, but that’s Angel for you. Gunn has some of that mentality, too.

Primeval

• Written by David Fury / Directed by James A. Contner
• It’s a bunch of Adam stuff right off the top, woo, but at least now it’s all business to the end. Maggie’s goal being a race of human/demon/robot monsters is very cartoonish and probably the silliest of all the master plans we’ve heard. At least Spike brings some energy to this stuff.

• Drunk Giles from last episode leads to hungover Giles now. Even hungover I’d think he’d care a bit about the impending doom, but I suppose it’s all old-hat by now.
• I’m with Anya–”Pfft” it was hours ago, just get over it. And Xander’s covers change place from covering his nipples to not covering his nipples, but maybe they’re magic bed linens.
• So, what does giving Forrest yellow demon top head half & neck do, exactly? He’s super strong now because…yellow demon skin?

• Willow & company just accepting that the file was meant to “self decrypt” at a certain point is moronic–this is obviously part of someone’s plans. Thankfully Buffy’s cave bump-in with Spike leads to her Scooby Summit and things can get rolling again. And remember, they only even know about Adam’s power source thanks to Jonathan.
• I don’t get the impression the gang had heart-to-hearts with their loved ones before entering the Initiative for this whole enjoining spell showdown, so I doubt they were worried about the odds.

• I’m sure it’s because of a limited set budget, but everyone’s repelling down this elevator shaft at such a snail’s pace. I can never not notice. Buffy and Willow make amends in a scene together, while Xander and Giles get an assumed “they’re over it, too” feeling. Works for me.
• “It’s a gourd.” “A magic gourd.”
• This random scientist lady appears to have a mullet. I just can’t let that pass by unremarked on.
• I like Buffy immediately knocking out the two army guys left to guard them like they’re nothing. And the melee is another example of Xander being just fine in fight situations, so let’s put that away.

• Willow’s “barricade” against the door isn’t anything close to that. Good thing nobody disturbs their peaceful, quiet spell (until Spike can help out, anyway).
• Riley manages to not kill himself while cutting into his chest and ripping out a piece, sure, but he really shouldn’t be able to hold his own in this fight against Forrest considering he was already a handful for Buffy.
• Adam’s gun arm is completely ridiculous in every way, but who cares–the enjoining spell is a good one. Buffy gets some Neo-like powers and proves far too much for Adam to handle. Good riddance, idiot!

• Buffy’s labelled an insurrectionist–it won’t be the last time for such behavior on her part. She’s forever got to push back against whatever it is she deems worthy of a fight. And these government guys are liars, The Initiative won’t be filled in with concrete. They just seal the doors and leave everything as is, pretty much.

Blind Date

• Written by Jeannine Renshaw / Directed by Thomas J. Wright
• Seeing this super-blind lady vision only makes her abilities more confusing, I think, as if that’s actually what she’s seeing then she’d be better off blind.
• Angel’s throwing the sunglasses in the courtroom stunt accomplishes nothing, as it should.
• Lee, the non-Lindsay lawyer, talks way too close to faces and Holland Manners is a great addition to the evil-lawyer team. Great portrayal.

• Angel says he saw her “murder a man right in front of me,” except that’s not what happened. And he’s really having a hissy fit about the law & order part of life since he can’t always just kill the bad guy.
• If Angel wasn’t such a dickhead to Lindsay for this whole process I think there’s a chance things could have gone differently–I wonder if Angel would still act this way towards Lindsay and his sob story if Lindsay was a pretty blonde girl with a quivering lip.

• Gunn ranting about the “evil white mecca” that is W&H is especially amusing considering he’ll be rather high up on that corporate ladder in a few years.
• Shouldn’t the vampire detector still be shrieking? They dusted that one, but Angel’s still wandering around.
• Good thing nothing in this vault room is locked, also. Not the files, not the Shanshu, nothing.

• The whole mind reader scene is enjoyable tense and a little sudden. They don’t even do the last guy in the row, I believe. Holland gets no blood on himself, though, and considering his placement that seems unlikely. I’ve always preferred Lilah to Lindsay. Also, they need a better body removal system than just having someone drag the bloody dead person across the floor.
• Willow also de-encrypting things today is a fun little non-crossover.

• Blind lady kind of looks like Faith, and how come she only has one line? Aside from that one thing she said to Lindsay earlier, she’s quite a strong silent type.
• I forever roll my eyes at all the “design” nonsense, whatever the movie/show. Writers love going that route for some faux-philosophical depth or ramblings about fate.
• The Lindsay/Holland final scene works for me. Holland is a large part of that, but no matter the reason I’m happy with the outcome.

Restless

• Written & Directed by Joss Whedon
• Fun fact: this is the first and only time in the show’s run where it just starts with opening credits.
• I don’t mind the old times feeling to start off with everyone hanging out at Buffy’s–Joyce is around, too.
• Willow painting on Tara’s back with slow-mo Kitty Fantastico stalking towards the camera is effectively dreamlike, tender, mysterious, and other complimentary words (those all apply to the whole episode, really).

• One more Oz appearance on the show before that’s a series wrap on Seth Green, but we’ll see him again briefly in the comics. It’s a shame they couldn’t work out another guest spot on the show, but it probably works out best for Oz since he gets to go off and make a family.
• Since he loved it so much back in S1, dream Giles gets to be in charge of another stage production–he’s much more into now. His whole stage director persona is a win for me. Have I mentioned how great this whole episode is?

• Riley being “cowboy guy” in Death of a Salesman seems to be a nod to how he doesn’t fit, but there are a few other things that don’t fit in if we’re being sticklers. 
• With “including all of us” &  “especially in the musical numbers,” Giles continues to amuse and inform about future developments.
• Willow-less part of her own dreams are odd, I think, but that might make sense for Willow at this point in her life.
• “I’ve made a little space for the cheese slices.”

• Xander dreams of watching movies with the gang, as they were about to. He’s pretty easy. Well, with the added feature of having sexual dreams about pretty much every woman in his life. The Joyce seduction part, with her mouth occasionally not moving during dialogue, is quite effective.
• Xander keeps waking up in the basement–I wonder what that means…
• A lot of this both works as just being a strange & interesting wander through dreams, while also featuring so many nods to future events that it feels surprisingly connected to everything that follows. Tweed Spike being like a son to Giles, for instance.

• Of course part of Xander’s dream is Willow/Tara being sexy lesbians together–but we don’t actually see their first kiss like this, which I appreciate.
• “These will not protect you” re: cheese slices.
• College zone is ugly, unwelcoming, and they literally speak a foreign language from what Xander knows. I wonder how he *really* feels.

• Of course Anya’s very present through all of Xander’s dream state, but she’s actually in everyone’s dreams so they’re all accustomed to her being part of their life now. Whereas Tara only appears in Willow, Xander, and Buffy’s dreams, since she hasn’t quite meshed herself in yet. Plus, while she’s in Buffy’s dream, it’s mostly as a mysterious figure and not herself (and in Xander’s she’s just a hot lesbian).
• Snyder reappears in the Apocalypse Now-esque segment and Xander finally gets to tell him how glad he was Snyder was eaten by a big snake. Dream closure.
• Now Xander gets to tour the set, but it’s a dream so the lack of spatial sense makes perfect sense.

• Giles’ dreams are very Buffy-centered, which should come as no surprise. She was/is his whole purpose for being there in the first place. From training with the swinging watch to taking kid Buffy to a cemetery carnival (“I am a vampire”) with Olivia, there’s also an element that he missed his window to have a family. He also can’t help but dream of Spike and his wasted potential. Also, “I wear the cheese, it does not wear me.”
• Anya’s standup comedy routine (“Quiet, you’ll miss the humorous conclusion”) isn’t the worst one I’ve ever seen, actually, so congrats to dream Anya.

• We also get another Giles song (The Exposition Song) this time with a band at the Bronze. This is our last taste of Giles singing until the musical episode, so enjoy it while it lasts.
• Giles’ dream has the creepiest first slayer visuals, such as when she’s about to scalp him. Giles doesn’t dream about Tara, but they have had little contact to this point.
• “That clock’s completely wrong.” Dream Tara is foreboding and almost every word out of her mouth is loaded with alternative meaning, “You think you know, what you are–what’s to come? You haven’t even begun” & “Be back before dawn.”

• Joyce is stuck behind a wall that Buffy could break down, but she’s busy with her own thing. I don’t know how much Buffy gets to breaking down that wall before Joyce dies, but I think she makes good efforts.
• Riley and Adam have to do “a lot of filing, giving things names” as part of their government work.
• Buffy’s wordless cheese cameo is nice and brief.

• “There could be dire consequences.” Good warning, Giles.
• This whole episode was a wonderful finish to the season, which–I’ll say again–is given a bad rap.

To Shanshu in LA

• Written & Directed by David Greenwalt
• Their rich buddy (Michael Bolton) pops by for no real reason, as the writers haven’t realized they don’t want to use him for anything just yet. Why the characters themselves don’t want to utilize this extremely rich guy who wants to help is a little lost on me. Especially Cordelia.
• Why did a newspaper write a whole article about Lindsay’s recent promotion? Maybe W&H did it just to piss Angel off–that makes as much sense as anything else.
• This demon from the fire ring seems like an evil theatre actor, or something, and then we get lots of prophecy talk amongst evil lawyers.

• TPTB sent Angel to kill a random demon to save a random homeless lady? That’s nice, I guess, but seems a little odd–like sending a SWAT team to deal with a shoplifter.
• Kate’s still going on about “ridding this city of your kind” to Angel. Jeez, lady, find a new hobby.
• Good riddance to you, Oracle siblings. You were a lame development from square one and I’m glad they never really replaced you–the vagueness of The Powers That Be is enough.

• Nobody notices this hooded/masked man wandering the boardwalk marketplace? I don’t think he’s magically concealing his presence, as he doesn’t do that anywhere else. Cordy buys a whole bunch of crap in a split second and lots of jerk people ignore Cordy screeching on the floor before her saleslady friend runs over.
• We don’t see enough demons using bombs. Seems like it could be fairly effective.
• “I’m her employer”? I think you can just say “friend” now, Angel.
• I’m glad Wesley survives and all, but that seemed like quite a large explosion he makes it out of with a few scrapes and bruises.

• “Hides behind man’s law.” So, does Oracle lady consider the magical to-the-death duel things that are commonplace to settle their differences better than human courts? 
• I know it’s more dramatic to call Darla “The Beast,” but in reality what they did was raise a human dying of disease that has less than a year to live. All this “beast” talk seems overblown.
• Maggot Face Theater Actor wasn’t terribly difficult to dispatch–this was the big gun they needed from another plane?
• Lindsay’s down one hand, courtesy Angel.

• While I don’t care for prophecy nonsense, the trio has a nice finale wrap up together before the reveal of Darla in the box.

And there we have it, the end of BtVS & Angel’s first year together. I know S4 isn’t exactly universally beloved, but I don’t think it’s looked upon as poorly as it once was. The Initiative and Adam are lame, yes, but so much of everything else is actually quite worthwhile. Every season can’t be the best one, after all, so if this is what an off year is like then I accept those terms.

It’s also probably the funniest season overall, I think. Between the addition of Spike and Anya there was always something amusing around the corner and there are several episodes that are funnier than many comedies–this is where I would list episodes, but there are too many for that. We both know there’s lots of humor this year, so I don’t think I need to convince you.

Season 4 is a growing pains kind of year, for both the characters and showmakers. By Season 3 of BtVS there was a framework of locations, characters, storylines, etc that worked well and then Season 4 comes along being all shiny and new. Fun fact: we only stop by Buffy’s house in five episodes all year, which is easily the least amount of time the series spends there. At least the Bronze is still around, if only for a sense of consistency.

Even the Scooby Gang itself starts the year off in a state of rebuilding. Where there was once a gang of eight or more, the core group (Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles) find themselves the only ones in the club for a little while early in the season. The ranks quickly swell, though, with the addition of Anya, Riley, and Tara–plus Spike’s always around, despite his protests and machinations.

As for Angel, well, they were starting from scratch and finding their footing. The first half of the season is easily the weakest of Angel’s run and then the next handful of episodes wind up being a secondary start–Wesley gets integrated & Cordy has visions–but then, finally, things settle into being pretty okay for the last batch of episodes. 

Angel doesn’t get genuinely good on a consistent basis until Season 2, per me, but we’re pretty much there. This first year is just too slow and spotty while also not having any great episodes. There are some pretty good installments, but that’s the ceiling for Season 1.

Next season is probably one of the best TV seasons I got to experience as a youngster. Between BtVS Season 5 being pretty great and Angel Season 2 greatly improving on the first year, plus the occasional crossover fun, there was simply a lot to enjoy. We’ll get there, though, so for now here’s some Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Retrospecticus trivia for you.

1. What was Giles’ gate number when he left town after Buffy’s second death?
2. Name the swim team members who turned into fish demons.

*Last week’s answers: 1) Josh & Sara, 2) Uranium 235