30 days of Buffy meme: least favorite season
Day 1: Favorite Season
Day 2: Favorite Episode
Day 3: Favorite Song Used In An Episode
Day 4: Favorite Female Character
Day 5: Least Favorite Female Character
Day 6: Favorite Male Character
Day 7: Least Favorite Male Character
Day 8: Favorite Friendship
Day 9: Favorite Romance
Day 10: Least Favorite Season
Even after all the jiggering around with plots and universe-laws in Season Five, Season Four remains far worse. That's not to say there aren't things in Season Four that I love to pieces--episodes, characters, events, etc.--but this season had me rolling my eyes and groaning in pain more than any of the others combined.
The beginning of Season Four was all right. It was even halfway decent. It was decidedly missing in Cordelia antagonism and Angel angst, but that was to be expected. The show as finding its legs again. It was in transition--just like Buffy who had gone off to college (admittedly very close to home) and was trying to adjust to a new lifestyle. She wasn't making a good go of it. She had roommate issues (amen, sister) and various other problems that kept cropping up. Things just weren't working out for her. Until she meets a nice boy named Riley. I seriously liked Riley in the beginning. I really honestly did.
And then it turns out that this nice boy is a member of an undercover government military operation that is inexplicably located beneath a major university campus. I can only presume it was put there in the 1940s like a secret nuclear research facility. For one, there is really no reason for the Initiative to be based out of a frat house basement on a university campus. There was no need for them to be near anything except the Hellmouth--they weren't utilizing academics or anything--and frankly a University is not good cover for a military operation. The Initiative is actually portrayed in a more negative light than SPIKE of all people. It's the Initiative who captures Spike, puts a chip in his head rendering him no longer a dangerous evil menace (and yet less than human--or as prophecies have it "more than human"), and then they spend the rest of the season chasing him around trying to kill and/or capture him when he is doing no harm beyond pestering the ever-living daylights out of Buffy's group. The entire Initiative storyline is really contrived, and feels very forced. They basically took your stock "bad evil military research guys" and put them in Buffy. Buffy is not the place for such business. Perhaps it was the stilted horrible acting by everyone who was a member of the Initiative, or perhaps the ham-handed "the military knows better than you" approach was just honestly THAT BAD. In theory, a demon/human/android sounds amazing (and I think it's hysterical that he has a floppy disc port in his chest), but Adam just never worked well as a villain. He was unbeatable for no reason beyond him needing to be unbeatable and--for looking like Frankenstein's monster--he utterly lacked the pathos necessary for a character like that to work. Which comes from the android part. But for androids to work they have to dream of electric sheep also have a sort of pathos and confusion when they come in contact with human ethics and bigotry.
There were so many things that they could have explored with this season: Buffy adjusting to college, the implications of The Initiative and their treatment of "sub-humans," the bitter loneliness and complete isolation of being a manufactured being, the ethics of scientific experimentation and what happens when science and the supernatural collide, Xander's feelings on inadequacy, Giles' feelings of aimlessness and uselessness, Willow exploring her sexuality--so much could have been done that was just sort of left unspoken or dropped completely halfway through the season. All in all, Season Four had less character development than even Season Seven--which was all about the Epic (and which I love, don't get me wrong)--but Season Four failed miserably at being Epic.
The fourth season of Buffy faltered, floundered, flopped, and then died with a shuddering gasp. Die, Season Four. Die!
(Caps, again, are by Emma-Jane.)
Day 11: Least Favorite Romance
Day 12: Least Favorite Episode
Day 13: Favorite Potential Slayer
Day 14: Favorite Female Villain
Day 15: Favorite Male Villain
Day 16: Episode You Like That Everyone Else Hates
Day 17: Character You Relate To The Most
Day 18: Character Who Didn’t Get Enough Screen Time
Day 19: Character You Like That Everyone Else Hates
Day 20: Best Spike-centric Episode
Day 21: Best Willow-centric Episode
Day 22: Best Xander-centric Episode
Day 23: Two Characters You Wanted To Get Together That Never Did
Day 24: Favorite Example of 90s Special Effects
Day 25: Favorite Buffyverse Saying
Day 26: Favorite Scooby Moment
Day 27: Cutest Moment
Day 28: Character You Love To Hate
Day 29: Episode You Hate That Everyone Else Loves
Day 30: What You Think Made Buffy So Great
Day 2: Favorite Episode
Day 3: Favorite Song Used In An Episode
Day 4: Favorite Female Character
Day 5: Least Favorite Female Character
Day 6: Favorite Male Character
Day 7: Least Favorite Male Character
Day 8: Favorite Friendship
Day 9: Favorite Romance
Day 10: Least Favorite Season
Even after all the jiggering around with plots and universe-laws in Season Five, Season Four remains far worse. That's not to say there aren't things in Season Four that I love to pieces--episodes, characters, events, etc.--but this season had me rolling my eyes and groaning in pain more than any of the others combined.
The beginning of Season Four was all right. It was even halfway decent. It was decidedly missing in Cordelia antagonism and Angel angst, but that was to be expected. The show as finding its legs again. It was in transition--just like Buffy who had gone off to college (admittedly very close to home) and was trying to adjust to a new lifestyle. She wasn't making a good go of it. She had roommate issues (amen, sister) and various other problems that kept cropping up. Things just weren't working out for her. Until she meets a nice boy named Riley. I seriously liked Riley in the beginning. I really honestly did.
And then it turns out that this nice boy is a member of an undercover government military operation that is inexplicably located beneath a major university campus. I can only presume it was put there in the 1940s like a secret nuclear research facility. For one, there is really no reason for the Initiative to be based out of a frat house basement on a university campus. There was no need for them to be near anything except the Hellmouth--they weren't utilizing academics or anything--and frankly a University is not good cover for a military operation. The Initiative is actually portrayed in a more negative light than SPIKE of all people. It's the Initiative who captures Spike, puts a chip in his head rendering him no longer a dangerous evil menace (and yet less than human--or as prophecies have it "more than human"), and then they spend the rest of the season chasing him around trying to kill and/or capture him when he is doing no harm beyond pestering the ever-living daylights out of Buffy's group. The entire Initiative storyline is really contrived, and feels very forced. They basically took your stock "bad evil military research guys" and put them in Buffy. Buffy is not the place for such business. Perhaps it was the stilted horrible acting by everyone who was a member of the Initiative, or perhaps the ham-handed "the military knows better than you" approach was just honestly THAT BAD. In theory, a demon/human/android sounds amazing (and I think it's hysterical that he has a floppy disc port in his chest), but Adam just never worked well as a villain. He was unbeatable for no reason beyond him needing to be unbeatable and--for looking like Frankenstein's monster--he utterly lacked the pathos necessary for a character like that to work. Which comes from the android part. But for androids to work they have to dream of electric sheep also have a sort of pathos and confusion when they come in contact with human ethics and bigotry.
There were so many things that they could have explored with this season: Buffy adjusting to college, the implications of The Initiative and their treatment of "sub-humans," the bitter loneliness and complete isolation of being a manufactured being, the ethics of scientific experimentation and what happens when science and the supernatural collide, Xander's feelings on inadequacy, Giles' feelings of aimlessness and uselessness, Willow exploring her sexuality--so much could have been done that was just sort of left unspoken or dropped completely halfway through the season. All in all, Season Four had less character development than even Season Seven--which was all about the Epic (and which I love, don't get me wrong)--but Season Four failed miserably at being Epic.
The fourth season of Buffy faltered, floundered, flopped, and then died with a shuddering gasp. Die, Season Four. Die!
(Caps, again, are by Emma-Jane.)
Day 11: Least Favorite Romance
Day 12: Least Favorite Episode
Day 13: Favorite Potential Slayer
Day 14: Favorite Female Villain
Day 15: Favorite Male Villain
Day 16: Episode You Like That Everyone Else Hates
Day 17: Character You Relate To The Most
Day 18: Character Who Didn’t Get Enough Screen Time
Day 19: Character You Like That Everyone Else Hates
Day 20: Best Spike-centric Episode
Day 21: Best Willow-centric Episode
Day 22: Best Xander-centric Episode
Day 23: Two Characters You Wanted To Get Together That Never Did
Day 24: Favorite Example of 90s Special Effects
Day 25: Favorite Buffyverse Saying
Day 26: Favorite Scooby Moment
Day 27: Cutest Moment
Day 28: Character You Love To Hate
Day 29: Episode You Hate That Everyone Else Loves
Day 30: What You Think Made Buffy So Great