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Season 4, Ep 1 (Patreon)

Published:
2022-03-29 15:56:57
Edited:
2023-07-01 15:33:14
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

hello hello hi hello good morning! season 4 lets goooo!

Files

Buffy Season 4, Ep 1 - The Freshman

Vidyard video

Comments

Claire Eyles

Welcome back to the Buffyverse, Darcie. :D

Claire Eyles

I'm not sure if it was ever confirmed, but apparently Sunday was supposed to have been a former slayer who was turned into a vampire, hence her being able to beat Buffy easier than another vampire might. Edited to add: My brain is on fog mode at the moment, someone else explain this better for me, please and ta.

Claire Eyles

I flunked University in my first year and dropped out. My ADHD was really not well controlled back then, and I kept turning up to Uni, and then getting distracted and forgetting why I was there, and then wandering around campus for several hours until I remembered, 'OMG, you idiot, you're a student here now'. And then all my classes would be over anyway, so I'd go home again. Repeat enough times and it does not lead to a passing mark, like at all.

Jessica Roth

After the IMO somewhat overrated S3 (which still had many things of beauty in it, don't get me wrong), it's an interesting transition to S4, where I feel there's less divergence between the general opinion and the actual quality. Can Whedon do a better job kicking off the season than he did with "Anne"? Well, as a blank page would IMO have been an improvement on that, I have hopes. And two weeks with no Darcie reactions is two weeks too long, so here we go.

ghostofdurruti

Yeah this episode really does a good job of capturing the feeling of starting university. Buffy's *very* funny in this one, too--in addition to the lines you cracked up at, I'd highlight her response to Riley saying "It's nice to meet you both": "I'm nice to meet" (cue look of absolute mortification). Couple of fun facts: we've seen Splendid (the band playing in the Bronze) and their lead singer Angie Hart before, in 2x19, though I liked the song they played in that episode, "Charge", more than the one they played in this episode, "You and Me." Also, Eddie is played by one Pedro Pascal--you might know him from his more recent appearances as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones and the Mandalorian in The Mandalorian.

Land Howard Johnston

I'm a new subscriber and just wanted to say hey! I saw your School Hard reaction on YT a couple of weeks ago and loved it. So, I binged all your reactions and finally got caught up to today's current reaction. You're my 6th Patreon subscription but well worth it because you have such great, hilarious insights on what's one of the greatest shows ever.

cruzinbosco

One of my favorite episodes of the series as it just captures things so perfectly. Sunday was awesome. I was her for Halloween that year; I was 10 and it's still one of my fave costumes. I know I say it all the time but this is another moment where I have to again: Xander is the best!! The world would truly suck without him.

Andrew Pulrang

This is a good premise, and a decent transition into a new phase of Buffy. My main beef with the episode is the way it portrays college professors as hard-ass jerks. Some certainly are, but it’s such a tired cliche, and I don’t think it presents a very accurate picture. Also, Sunday was such a wasted character. She’d have made a good “big bad,” or maybe a secondary villain. Killing her worked for this particular story, but maybe by accident she turned out to look like a great potential ongoing adversary.

Jessica Roth

Okay, trying the live-blog thing again, since Darcie said she didn’t mind them. (Be careful what you wish for, lol. Maybe I’ll even go back and finish up 3.22, now. [/evil laugh]) The teaser is hilarious, and one of the classic Buffy/Willow scenes. (No smooching, alas, but it wouldn’t have been too out of place [/shipper goggles].). I love how Willow is so used to Buffy’s deflection attempts that she can put her away with “painful nowning process” without even looking up or losing her train of thought. I’m not saying I’m really *buying* Willow letting Buffy slack all summer, any more than I bought Willow never noticing Oz skipping summer school the year before. Teacher Willow keeps better track of her “students”, IMO. I mean, her first “pupil” was Xander…and if you give HIM any slack in the slacking department, he’ll take miles and miles. And I do have to wonder about the “Buffy is so distracted she lets the vampire get away” joke. I mean, that guy is going to kill people, which rather harshes the buzz. I guess the good thing is that it puts the lie to the “Buffy’s vamp-dar never worked on Angel because she looooooved him so much” theory. (Which never accounted for her not noticing Spike in “School Hard”, anyhow.) She just never learned to “hone” that skill, for purposes of plot convenience. Although, inside the story, this rather means Giles was slacking on the training. No wonder the Council fired his ass.

Jessica Roth

ACT ONE The good thing for Buffy is, even if you are really busy, Jesus always has time for you. Because He has the patience of a saint…in fact, He has the patience of several. (This blasphemous joke brought to you by my being Jewish-turned-Atheist. Bonus pts if you caught the line from a previous episode that I’m referencing.) “Isn’t this cool? There’s so much going on!” Including that they’re no longer making Alyson wear flats to hide that she’s 5’4” to SMG’s 5’2”. (I like flats, though.) Again, why does Willow not know the campus better? She hasn’t even been to the library. (No, not “Library”. There was only ONE Library…and Giles blew it up. I’m still a bit irrationally ticked at him for that, I’m not gonna lie.) You’d think, if Oz was always playing concerts there, she might have been at least once? Hmm, maybe she really isn’t a good enough girlfriend for Perfect Oz, Hallowed be His Name. But still. “It’s too bad Giles couldn’t be the librarian here.” I think if he hadn’t gotten himself sacked, the Council could probably arranged for him to run the Rare Book Room or something. I mean, he was a curator at some British museum…or possibly The British Museum. (Willow never did clear that up.) “Is there a ferry to Hawai’i?” No, but you can get your car shipped there (or back). Pretty much impossible to synch up that schedule with a vacation, though, even before the supply chain issues and port problems. It really only makes sense if you’re moving there. Which, I suppose could work for Xander if he left Hawai’i for last and was going to move there and become a beach bum or something. (When I had bought my house and was leaving California for South Carolina, I realized at the last minute that I had never been to Hawai’i and it was probably way more expensive to do it from the East Coast. So I bought a package and zipped out there; left Saturday, came back Wednesday, even though the movers were coming on Friday and I was nowhere near ready. Figure it cost me $700 in extra packing costs…but it saved me $2300 in plane fare [I fly First Class if I can, it’s one of my few vices], so I count that as a win. “Or maybe I too hail from the Land of Denial”, to quote Willow, but let me have this, okay?) I took “End of the World Literature”, too. Except it wasn’t called that, and it included Utopian as well as Dystopian Fiction. (It was the 1980s; we still had hope.) “I need some sort of fight scene or something soon.” Yeah, as much as I like the individual beats, Joss is really working the “Buffy feels out of place” joke into the ground, isn’t he? Let’s count the iterations, shall we? 1. She hasn’t chosen her courses yet. 2. The campus is really big 3. Willow has a boyfriend and she doesn’t. (First time for that, except for when Angel was in [a] Hell, and Buffy stayed out of town for most of that.) 4. Oz already knows everybody 5. College is more Willow’s thing, honestly. I mean, “Buffy has to deal with the changes in her life” is pretty much the standard season-premiere trope, I grant you. Whether it was dealing with a new town and new school in the pilot, dealing with her PTSD in “When She Was Bad”, or having run away last season, we start with Buffy being out of sorts, I get it. But Whedon is doing that in every scene so far. It’s a bit repetitive. (In contrast, the pilot had the Willow/Xander/Jesse scenes to give us a break from Buffy’s angst, and WSWB had Giles and Snyder and then Giles and *sniff* Jenny, and “Anne” had scenes in Sunnyvale to contrast with Buffy in LA. This is light and fun…but it’s pretty much all one flavor.) “I bet she’s going to run into a boy”. And books on Riley’s head in 3-2-1…. (When I did my “Fire Escape” quiz for that game, I used this to connect with Buffy “accidentally” dropping her folder to catch Scott’s attention.) Nice call. Of course, Riley seems to like Willow better. Good taste, bro. But that’s another one for the list above. Yes, the dorm room is ridiculously huge. The only time I had anything nearly that big was when I lived in a converted common room, and we had a giant fluorescent light overhead and three of us in there. But they need it to be big to get the camera in there. Like the giant apartment on “Friends”. Just go with it. Not only is Professor Riegert (name from the script) an obvious asshole, but what is he doing kicking Buffy out? You’re not allowed to AUDIT his class? Bull. He might be correct that Buffy is wasting her time if there are no more slots available, but it’s HER time to waste, and there’s clearly enough seats for her. People say IRL he’d be reported for that, but of course it never happens in real life. Just one more for Joss’s list. 6. Riley likes Willow better 7. Kathy is too perky 8. Kathy is a loud sleeper 9. Professor Riegert is an asshole Sheesh. And we’re not even done with Act One yet. Again, the individual scenes are fine, but there’s a surfeit of them. And it’s every scene so far. Could we get a Willow/Oz scene, maybe? Just for a change? Or meet our villains? No? (Points to whomever’s picking the score, though. Both “Universe” by Stretch Princess (first scene) and Paul Riordan’s “Freaky Soul” [as Buffy walks through the dorm] both do a great job of fitting the mood. And as neither artist is widely known, a certain amount of effort was probably required.) And now Riley can’t even remember her name. Yoicks. Well, if he does turn out to be a boyfriend candidate, as you seem to think, I hope he doesn’t get upset if Buffy calls Angel’s name in bed, lol. “It’s fine.” Yeah, your “fine” here is about as convincing as Buffy’s in 2.01. To quote Xander*, “It’s good that you’re fine.” But things are getting a bit boring, I’d agree. *-Xander is a character who used to appear on the show. No, really. For a moment I thought you might actually be recognizing the actor who plays Eddie, Pedro Balmaceda. He’s become somewhat famous, although he’s using “Pedro Pascal” nowadays. He was on “Game of Thrones”, for example. “I’m not really into porn. I mean, I’m trying to cut way back.” Okay, sometimes the jokes do land. Even if this is just another iteration on the “I got real busy” about accepting Jesus joke. (Buffy doesn’t want to refuse anyone outright, she just makes a gentle excuse. Nicely done, but don’t overdo it, Joss.) “Who’s that?” And that is Katherine Towne, daughter of famed writer/director Robert Towne. (“Chinatown”, “Personal Best”). She’s kept working, but never become a star, so it’s understandable that you didn’t recognize her.

Jessica Roth

ACT TWO (partial): Geez, Eddie had a single room? That’s even more ridiculous than the mansion Buffy and Kathy are in. Lucky for the vampires, though. They couldn’t come in if Eddie had a living roommate, right? The dorms are a primary residence, not a public building like the school or the hospital. Yeah, your laughter at Buffy finding Eddie’s copy of “Of Human Bondage” tracks. What was that you were saying about convenient scripting? David Hines thought this was lazy writing and it would have been better if Joss had written it so that Buffy looks for the book, does *not* find it, and only later deduces that Eddie didn’t “leave”. But that’s a meta-critique. More on point is what Shan from After Show Reacts did: she paused her video and went “Wait, so the vampires took all his stuff and left ONE book? [long pause] Convenient.” I mean, they just could have had “Eddie” take his clothes and leave the other stuff behind. But apparently vamps don’t know how to open drawers. (If there was a crucifix in the drawer, maybe.) Sigh. Well, now the music’s getting more mainstream. Sunday was listening to “I Wish That I Could be You”, by the Muffs and of course that’s David Bowie (“Memory of a Free Festival”) playing at Giles’s flat. Remember in S1 when Joss ran out of $$ for the music budget and we had no songs at all from 1.08-1.11? Those days are gone! But I do worry that having Giles listen to David Bowie is another attempt (like his appreciating Cream in “Band Candy”) to give him “cool” tastes and wash away the memory of his loving Bay City Rollers (“Now THAT’s music!) in “The Dark Age”. Not sure I like that. Although, along that line…meet Olivia. Olivia! She’s sexy, she’s cool, she walks around without pants, and she’s…black. As *specified* in the script. Sigh. Isn’t that, y’know, kind of racist? “Giles is so cool…he has a black girlfriend now!” Gee, I’m sure African-Americans are so thrilled that 250 or years of slavery have given Giles street cred. It was all worth it, huh? (The next several black characters we meet are NOT specifically written to be black. It’s just that casting was being diverse. But those episodes weren’t written by Joss…) And hey! Olivia calls Giles “Ripper!” And she’s “an old friend”! Goodie! I guess all that stuff about how “Ripper” was a terrible secret that Giles was ashamed about and it traumatized him so much that he withdrew into his work, that didn’t actually happen? Okay? “I’ve hidden myself away in these old books for so long, I’ve forgotten what the real world is like. It’s time I found out.” But I guess “Prophecy Girl” didn’t actually happen, any more than “Hallowe’en or “The Dark Age” did, huh? Ethan who? Jenny who? (Pause to imagine the extended rage-out I have when I think the show is disrespecting Jenny’s memory. I’ll wait.) “She’s so beautiful!” And so young. Okay, Phina Oruche (the actress playing Olivia) is only two years younger than Robia was, but they always “aged up” Jenny by putting her in maxi-skirts and clunky heels and such. (My dad refused to believe Robia was SIXTEEN years younger than Anthony Head. Which makes Phina EIGHTEEN years younger; 26 to his 45 at time of filming. [His birthday’s in February, hers in August, so she’s a year further behind at the moment.]) (Indeed, Robia was only seventeen DAYS older than Charisma Carpenter. Which means that Giles is now dating someone *younger* than Cordelia. Gee, no wonder he was all “She’s legal, bro! Go for it!’ to Wesley in “The Prom”.) “But, oh my God…Cal. It’s weird, because I just always think…’Cal’.” I hear you. And yes, Jenny is long gone. (She died in episode #29; this is #55. It’s been almost half the show. Sigh.) But I don’t just want Giles to have a magically-appearing cool girlfriend…I want to SEE him fall in love again. I want his new girlfriend to EARN our love, not just be presented as a fait accompli. The same way I’m glad we’re going to get to see Buffy fall for Riley or Eddie (probably not) or Professor Riegert (less likely than Eddie, IMO) or whomever, rather than Buffy just having a new dude and Willow and Oz being all “wow, Buffy and Jedidiah have been dating for three months now! Time really flies, huh?” Grumble, grumble. Just saying. “For Rupe, I do have high standards.” Well, in Olivia’s defense…Giles has boned *Joyce*. How high can his standards be, honestly? (That was a cheap and unwarranted shot at Joyce, I agree. But, c’mon…it was just sitting there! I had to!) Gee, if Olivia is “an old friend”, does that mean he actually had her as a back-up if things didn’t work out with Cal? That when they were broken up, he didn’t need to mope about, he could have just given his little chippy a call? Pardon me while I vomit. And of course Giles completely blows Buffy off, never mind the part where she CORRECTLY thinks she’s spotted a case of SERIAL-KILLING vampires. He could at least help Willow with the research. In fact, since I may never get back to my 3.22 live-blog, let me take a moment to wonder if this nonsense (Buffy hasn’t asked for your help all summer, then when she finally HAS a crisis, you decide it’s not enough of one? Who are you and what have you done with Giles?) isn’t a subtle extension of Willow’s “ever since [Giles] got fired, he hasn’t been doing his best work” in 3.18? Because, let’s face it, Giles has been bloody useless since “Helpless”? A run of poor writing…or truly subtle character work? More on this later. This just seems a good place to break for a moment. Thanks for reading. (BTW, the Buffy/Giles ‘shippers [yes, they exist, and they’re mostly nice people who were willing to wait until Buffy graduated high school] decided that Giles is acting out passive-aggressively because Buffy distanced herself from him. Might be a hint of truth in that [even if Giles isn’t “in love” with Buffy as the ‘shippers would think], but it doesn’t seem as if Whedon’s writing it that way.)

Melissa

This triggered my college memories lol. Except for that dorm room. Nowhere in reality on a college campus. Mine was like a tenth of the size. And oh god, I hated my roommate. I think I at least liked this season premiere a little better than 3. I liked Sunday a lot. And Stoner Vamp brought the funny.

AlyAdmirer

22+ years on, and I'm STILL bitter that Sunday wasn't the Big Bad of Season 4. :-)

Michael S. Mammano

I don't think Sunday had the mileage for a Big Bad, but I could've seen her having a small arc and getting killed mid-season once overshadowed by a more formidable threat.

charlie ray

did i imagine it... or is it a madala effect on mypat...but didnt i read that sunday was going to infact be the big bad at one point... and it would have been revealed she was a slayer that got turned?.... and thats why shes so strong....... if i made this up in a dream.... still cool

Jessica Roth

Hmm, the first posting didn't show up, so I'm trying again. Apologies if this becomes a double-post. It's what I get for waiting so long, I suppose. Okay, so let’s talk about Giles in the back half of the season. 3.12—lies to and drugs Buffy, probably getting Hobson and Blair killed. Not to mention any civilians that might have been killed when Buffy didn’t know what was happening and couldn’t patrol. Then (when it’s too late to make any difference), he confesses, getting himself fired, which is unfortunate since there’s an apocalypse happening next ep… 3.13—ultimately pulls everything together and did “the bravest thing I ever saw” to stop the Jhe, so good for Giles. Small demerits for keeping “fray-adjacent” Xander completely out of things, when they could at least have used another pair of hands in the preparation. (And Xander would be younger and more agile and probably more resilient, during the melee.) But Xander ends up stopping Jack’s bomb plot, so it works out. 3.14-Enjoys scoring points off of Wesley, but it’s Wes identifies the Eliminati (from a very sketchy description). Since it’s Giles who has been the active Watcher, you’d think he would be up on these things. He does stand up to Balthazar and fight well, though. 3.15—As previously noted, Giles mishandles Faith, and then lets Xander walk into her den, unprotected. If Angel hadn’t been peeping in Faith’s window (perv!) Xander would be dead. 3.16—Completely flummoxed when Willow turns out to not be a vampire, after all. (No better than Angel, honestly.). How difficult is it to theorize about other dimensions? Given that the gateway to one is literally under where Giles is standing at the moment? And Giles’s very first lecture to the Scoobs was about how the demons went to another dimension, and the big threat last year was Angel threatening to have the Earth sucked into another dimension, and Buffy’s actually been to yet a third non-Earthly dimension. At this point, if there’s “no Earthly reason” for something, “alternate dimension” should really be your go-to, I’m thinking. 3.17—Lies to four people who risk their lives regularly to help him and Buffy, as well as Wesley, whom he’s supposed to be working with. (And who just admitted he’s violating Council protocol to keep Giles in the loop. Way to show your gratitude, G-Man.) Doesn’t even bother to keep an eye on what’s happening, increasing the chance of somebody mistakenly dusting “Angelus”, as Oz nearly does. I grant you, Giles has all the reason in the world to kill Angel, but if he wanted to, he should have just shot Angel with the crossbow in “Amends” and have done with it. Don’t count on Oz to do your dirty work for you, dude; the kid’s got enough problems. (Maybe if you’d done something about his werewolf issues besides locking him in a freaking cage every month, Oz might owe you a favor. But you haven’t, so he doesn’t.) 3.18—As Willow noticed, completely off of his game. Apparently he’s got time to notice Buffy’s taste in shoes and engage in pointless research without sufficient intelligence— (How tough would it have been to get Faith to spill a little more? That “Assuming [the Mayor] has hands after the transformation” bit was at least a clue she knew something else. Buffy should have been all “oh, yeah? What’s he going to turn into? An even lamer loser?” or something like that. But no, she and Angel couldn’t wait to do the reveal.) —but he can’t put two and two together and come up with an answer to “Who is going to get the heart of the second demon?” Really, Rupe? With Buffy out of commission and Faith gone evil, how many demon-fighters do you have left, exactly? (I always think that Wesley’s reply of “negative thinking doesn’t solve any problems” is code for “you haven’t figured it out? Good Lord” or something similar.) 3.19-Rushes into action just to show Wes up. Doesn’t think about mystical safeguards, doesn’t instruct Buffy about avoiding a conventional alarm, doesn’t have her verify the vampire’s word, doesn’t make sure Angel practices with the fucking winch and, most importantly, doesn’t bother to find out how Willow’s going to get down from the roof (“we thought she stayed with you”?? You mean, you didn’t cover that in the planning? Well done, Giles. Top show!), and was nearly about to agree with Wesley about letting Willow die, AFAICT. Thanks for nothing, Tweed Boy. What exactly was in that thermos you were drinking from, I ask? (My theory is that Giles has been subtly drunk the entire back half of the season. Not as blatantly shnockered as in “The Dark Age”, with the disheveled shirt and the stubble, but just having a few and a little tipsy. I think he’s like that in “Phases”, too, which is why he’s overly-giddy about researching werewolves and laughs at Xander’s “moon pie” joke. I forgive him for that, since he’s dealing with his and Jenny’s breakup. But this is pretty much all of the spring.) 3.20-Gives Wesley that very responsible “Cordelia’s legal now. Go for it, Bro!” advice. Really, Giles? Alexis Denisof is 33 at the time of filming, you know. I grant you that Charisma was coming up on 29, but I doubt Wes is 23 to Cordy’s “18”. Even if he’s just 28 or so, that’s pushing it. At least wait until she graduates, I should think. 3.21—When the Mayor visits the Library in that excruciatingly-pointless “I’m so evil! Watch me twirl my mustache!” Scene, does Giles seize the initiative and bonk Wilkins over the head and seal him up in a cave or something? He KNOWS the Mayor’s on a deadline, and while Hizzoner may be impervious (as Giles himself saw in “Choices”), he’s not super-strong. Hell, take him to Angel’s for the duration. Let Fang practice those torture skills, see if he can get any fresh info out of Wilkins. Even if Dickie can transform without eating the spiders, it can’t hurt to separate him from his minions. Instead Giles just shoves the rapier into Dick’s chest, which he knows is useless. “Good show, Giles”, to quote the man himself. 3.22—Stays out of the way and blows up the Library. Well done, and while I’d like to say that he wasn’t needed, since Buffy landed near the detonator when she came out, there’s no guarantee she wouldn’t be eaten by then, so that was actually good planning. But still, overall, not Rupe’s best work. Which, to return to my original point, leads me to wonder if Giles’s bewildering shirking of his responsibilities here and blowing off Buffy’s (legitimate) concerns is subtle detail work…or just a continuation of a run of poor writing, violating G-Man’s established character for yet another “oh, poor Buffy!” moment. Which is #11 in the episode already. Sheesh.