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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4 Episodes
Season 4 Episode Guide
22 Episodes 1999 - 2000
Episode 1
The Freshman
Tue, Oct 5, 199944 mins
When the Sunnydale High gang arrives on college campus, Willow and Oz, who even knows the site and people from his band, which has a cool house, take to academic life like a duck to water. Buffy is like a fish on land, miserable with a plain roommate she can't confide in, lost, making a fool of herself with one of the rough, demanding professors. Buffy literally bumps into charming teaching assistant Riley Finn, but he is clearly more interested in fellow psychology buff Willow. Another literally lost student, Eddie, seems nice, but disappears the next morning. Buffy smells vampires, indeed a group has formed a nest in one of the abandoned frat houses. Visiting Giles, she finds him with a scantily dressed visitor, Olivia, and is told to mind herself except in emergencies, not the case yet apparently, however he will reconsider later. The vampire leader is arrogant, hopefully enough to underestimate Buffy, who is greatly relieved to find Xander is back from his summer touring.
Episode 2
Living Conditions
Tue, Oct 12, 199942 mins
From the start, Buffy didn't get along with her fussy, girlish roommate Kathy Newman, who seems to have a different taste in all matters. But Kathy seems determined to follow her around. One evening, Buffy shoves her out of the way to fight off a demon which Giles, to whom she turns in search of anything familiar, later determines as trans-dimensional. Even Parker Abrams, the nice, helpful older student Buffy met, who came for her to their dorm room while she patrolled, seems more interested in Kathy. The antagonism between the rivaling roomies grows, while Buffy believes that Kathy's toenails growing back daily must be a monster-characteristic. At last, the gang decides to intervene, but an unexpected other interested party is also looking to intervene.
Episode 3
The Harsh Light of Day
Tue, Oct 19, 199960 mins
Willow is bitten by bimbo friend Harmony Kendall, who turned vampire at the end of season 3. Oz chases her and she threatens him with her boy-friend, who will beat them up- that's actually Spike, who has a secret new underground lair and troop to dig for a crypt. Now that Kathie is out of the way, Parker Abrams, who switched major from medicine to history, is ready to kiss Buffy, but the vampire alert (a 'bad puppy' is all they tell him) gets priority for a while. Harmony makes Spike bump into Buffy, he says it's too early and she blurts out they're after the Gem of Amara. According to Giles the gem is a legendary vampire grail-equivalent rendering the holder invulnerable. Anya is eager to have sex with Xander and strips for him - his objections last a mere minute. Buffy gets into Parker's bed, but no commitment either. The whole gang is summoned by Giles, who has discovered that the gem may indeed be in a crypt in the 'Valley of the Sun' i.e. Sunnydale; Spike already found it and has dumped the childish Harmony.
Episode 4
Fear Itself
Tue, Oct 26, 199960 mins
In the Halloween night, Buffy is very depressed due to her non-corresponded feelings for Parker, and Willow, Oz and Xander convince her to go to a famous Halloween party in a fraternity with them to have some fun. Anya is also invited by Xander to join the group. However, while decorating the place previously, one of the hosts paints a magic symbol, the Mark of Gachnar, on the floor, and an accidentally spilled drop of Oz's blood awakens the Fear Demon Gachnar who is fed by fear, bringing panic and horror to life on the house.
Episode 5
Beer Bad
Tue, Nov 2, 199960 mins
Gloomily gazing at Parker, who has moved to another one-night-conquest, still enamored Buffy misses out on another chance to approach charming teaching assistant Riley Finn in the college bar and accepts an invitation from some arrogant students. Those grossly embarrass the new barman, Xander, who finds the work and his boss harder then expected, while feeding Buffy gallons of pedantic crap and their adored 'panacea' beer Black Frost, which contains an inhibitions-blocking, addictive concoction, taken in such large quantities even turning them into ape-men, losing speech, wielding cudgels, setting fire to the college bar. Grumpy because her Oz has eyes for another band's female singer, Willow spits at 'never evolved, sex-obsessed' men to Parker, the cavemen knock them down. Giles loses her track after realizing Buffy's regression, but brave Xander kept up and saves the students from the fire; only her ex Parker is left to Buffy, who already felt like hitting him vindictively...
Episode 6
Wild at Heart
Tue, Nov 9, 199942 mins
Willow jealously disliked at first sight Veruca, the singer of another band, for instantly appealing to her lover Oz, but now it gets much worse, the two are embarrassingly alike in every way tested, even the last and crucial one: when his cage can't hold his werewolf-form one full moon-night, Oz escapes and fights a female werewolf, to wake up naked next to her- Veruca, and she feels werewolf is their essential, primary nature, human a 'disguise'. Buffy learns professor Maggie Walsh was followed and nearly attacked by two 'wild dogs' who fought each-other instead on campus and alerts Giles. Oz can only get Veruca safely into his cage for one thing: the hormonal lust of mating, and prefers that to killing her. Alas Willow, whose love for Oz had just got over the feeling of being left out, sees them together and is devastated. Finally another night, Oz's strongest instincts fight 'to the finish'...
Episode 7
The Initiative
Tue, Nov 16, 199943 mins
Spike is captured by the paramilitary commando in the campus, but escapes from a hi-tech facility unable to bite or fight against humans. Meanwhile, Riley Finn (Marc Blucas) finds that he likes Buffy, but is incapable of establishing a dialog with her.
Episode 8
Pangs
Tue, Nov 23, 199943 mins
It's Thanksgiving and Buffy pushes Giles to host the gang 'as a real American'. Anya finds her lover Xander particularly sexy in his new construction laborer's job, digging a hole during the ceremony for the new Cultural Center at UC Sunnydale, but he falls into an Indian grave inside an old mission, and thus releases the revengeful spirit of the Chumash warrior Hus, who can transform himself into green smoke or various animals. Hus starts his revenge by killing the curator with an 19 century ceremonial Chumash stone knife. The fact that Xander gets the very diseases (sick he seems as erotic to Anya as when sweating bare-chested) the Chumash contracted while virtually enslaved in the Colonial Era. The choice of Hus' victims make Willow, who feels very guilty for the plight of the natives, and Giles, who insists Hus' victims are innocent, realize he must be after historical vengeance. Meanwhile, Riley Finn's military Initiative commando team continues implants rendering vampires unable to bite victims, notably Spike, who is now chased from the Hellmouth by petty Harmony, and seeks refuge at Giles', where he is tied up. Angel is also around again, but insists to Giles and Willow not to tell Buffy. Hus returns to the grave site to awake more Indian spirits, which jointly mount an attack on Giles' home during the dinner, wielding traditional weapons.
Episode 9
Something Blue
Tue, Nov 30, 199943 mins
Willow has another try at active magic, trying to cure her lovesick longing for Oz by means of a spell which makes her will come true. But she thinks it failed while it's only delayed. So, without realizing it she blinds Giles, switches Amy from rat to girl and back, has Buffy and Spike engaged to be married and makes Xander attract demons. When Anya, Xander and Giles figure out what has happened, they to go find Willow. But D'Hoffryn has summoned Willow, intending to make her a Vengeance Demon. Anya tries to contact D'Hoffryn while everyone else tries to defend against the demons that are attracted to Xander.
Episode 10
Hush
Tue, Dec 14, 199943 mins
The creepy "Gentlemen" capture the voice of the population of Sunnydale, to steal human hearts without anyone screaming. Giles finds that in accordance with a fairy tale, the creatures will be destroyed if a lady screams. Buffy's gang plus Riley must fight the monsters voiceless.
Episode 11
Doomed
Tue, Jan 18, 200060 mins
Buffy tells soldier Riley, who insists to be a nice, otherwise normal Iowa boy, she knows all about his secret military commando unit and that she is the slayer, and they agree on discretion and a time-out. However mismatched the involuntary house-mates are, frustratingly 'implant-innocent' Spike fails a suicide attempt by falling on a stake. Willow is sad to find Percy drove to Sunnydale all the way from USC to visit Laurie but considers her a negligible nerd. Giles presumes Buffy's panic after an seismic tremor unjustified, till he checks the triangular mark carved into a corpse Willow found a bed, left by a demon associated with the sacrifice of three. Buffy and Riley find one in the cemetery, each team is alerted, and the Word of Valios, it robbed by the demons, who may now be able to open the apocalyptic Hellmouth in the high school ruins left from the mayor's ascension.
Episode 12
A New Man
Tue, Jan 25, 200060 mins
At Buffy's 19th birthday party, Giles has a realization. He is an unemployed, middle-aged man hanging around with a bunch of teenagers. He feels even worse when he finds out that he is the only one who doesn't know about Riley and the Initiative. Feeling useless and insecure, he runs into Ethan Rayne, but the confrontation ends in drinks at the local pub rather than the usual fisticuffs. The next morning, Giles looks in the mirror and discovers he's woken up as a demon.
Episode 13
The I in Team
Tue, Feb 8, 200060 mins
Buffy is working within the Initiative, excited by the military equipment and collaboration with her lover Riley, with whom she finally shares love to the full, but who proves trained as a selected soldier to follow orders without too many questions. Meanwhile, Professor Walsh hides from them a secret project, assembling 'Adam' from parts of various monster races. Xander hopes to become Anya's big spender by starting a business in 'Booster' bars, but nobody seems to like any of the flavors, at all. Spike just moved out to his crypt and told Giles he wanted nothing more to do with the gang, but has to rush back begging for their help after being shot by the commandos -now equipped with command cameras- with a dart, which Xander identifies as a tracer. Willow performs an ionization spell as camouflage during surgical removal. Professor Walsh feels inquisitive Buffy has become a liability with too much influence on Riley, and sets her up to be cornered in the sewers with two slasher demons and a faulty weapon.
Episode 14
Goodbye Iowa
Tue, Feb 15, 200060 mins
Professor Maggie Walsh's only fellow researcher on project 314, Dr. Angelman, finds her killed by it, the 'demonoid' she assembled from various monster, man and machine parts as an ultimate warrior. Adam is now loose and kills without any conscience. Giles can't maintain the Initiative won't come to his home when Riley turns up, so the gang hides at Xander's while Spike barely escapes them by hiding under a corpse in a tomb in his crypt, later to become attacked by demons who realize he turned good. Willow and Tara fail to locate the demon by summoning the dark goddess Tespia. Riley gets sick and aggressive, withdrawal from the drugs Maggie secretly mixed in the commandos' food, but goes after Buffy and Xander, who interrogated Willy the Snitch with him earlier and now break into the Initiative's military facility, where Adam also got in and explains he sees Riley as Maggie's other favorite (brain)child; Riley's rejection causes a fight.
Episode 15
This Year's Girl
Tue, Feb 22, 200060 mins
Buffy and the gang are looking for the loose demon-human-machine composite killer Adam which professor Maggie Walsh created as the ultimate soldier, but find only the corpse of a demon he dissected just like a human boy before. They were about to brave the Initiative's military base to get Riley back, but he already walked out, recovering reasonably from a stab wound he got when Adam broke in, however in even more painful doubt about his future and purpose now the military logic of just following orders is discredited. In the hospital, the Slayer Faith wakes up after months in a coma and a series of nightmares, mostly with Buffy as her enemy. She escapes and sees the Mayor's posthumous tape, which comes with an object to encourage Faith to 'go out with a bang' fighting Buffy, to which end she breaks in at Joyce Summers' home.
Episode 16
Who Are You?
Tue, Feb 29, 200060 mins
Faith and Buffy switch bodies. Trapped in Faith's body, Buffy is kept in police custody, but on the way to the precinct, the Watchers Council's retrieval team provokes an accident with an armored truck and captures her from the police car. Faith enjoys free life in Buffy's body, flirting with many guys in the Bronze, ultimately Ryan, and buys a ticket overseas. Willow introduces Buffy to Tara, who feels an evil aura in her soul. Willow and Tara risk a dangerous astral projection to the Nether Realm beyond the physical world to find the truth. Adam trains three vampires against fear, and they kidnap and threaten everyone in a church. Faith listens to the news in the airport and goes to the church, where Buffy, Riley and the gang are facing the monsters.
Episode 17
Superstar
Tue, Apr 4, 200060 mins
When the fantastic Jonathan visits Sunnydale U.C., everybody wants to be with him: the inventor of Internet; lead actor of "The Matrix"; awesome vampire hunter; stunning singer; great author of successful best-sellers; amazing lover. Meanwhile, a weird and powerful long-armed demon also comes to Sunnydale, marked with an unusual signal. When Buffy sees the same signal on Jonathan's shoulder, she feels that something is not right in the reality.
Episode 18
Where the Wild Things Are
Tue, Apr 25, 200060 mins
It's becoming clear Adam is bridging the natural 'racist' aversion between demons and vampires. Anya fears a second sex-less night means Xander, who now runs an ice cream cart, is either no longer in love or physically flawed, and Spike gleefully fans of the flames of her insecurities. Riley performs great in bed upstairs with Buffy and has planned a party downstairs in the frat house, mainly for the other commandos' moral. Then weird, even scary things start happening, driving everyone out. Willow and Giles discover that Lowell house formerly was a home for problem teenagers, where the prudish, still living director Genevive Holt, punished 'dirty deeds' so horribly that several victims have become poltergeists, who now draw energy from the love-making upstairs.
Episode 19
New Moon Rising
Tue, May 2, 200060 mins
Oz's return to Sunnydale leads to his incarceration by the Initiative and complicates the relationship between Willow and Tara.
Episode 20
The Yoko Factor
Tue, May 9, 200060 mins
While the Initiative brass and its political superior worry about its commandos' morale, unreliably controlled loose-gun Riley, and what to do with captured demons, Adam promises to put Spike back on the map as a 'terrifying beast' after removing his behavior chip implant and eliminating Slayer Buffy together. Spike cleverly makes a deal with Giles, who accepts his demands for blood supply, money, and immunity from slaying in return for discretion and information on the Initiative and Adam, on heavily encoded data media which even Willow finds quite a challenge. Meanwhile, Spike stirs potential strife and personal insecurities among the gang, such as Willow's lesbianism, only laborer Xander's lack of status and (self-)respect, Giles' midlife crisis after professional (library) retirement and feeble hold on his almost solo-slaying charge so Buffy feels isolated. After Xander accidentally told Riley about Angel's curse while bringing the demoralized ex-soldier clothes in his ruins hiding-place, both lovers' rivalry for Buffy comes near to a disaster when the soul-tormented vampire reappears in Sunnydale; one side isn't satisfied to be pacified by Buffy.
Episode 21
Primeval
Tue, May 16, 200060 mins
When Buffy sees Spike in Adam's cave, she realizes that Spike is causing the Scooby gang to destroy their friendship following Adam's instructions. She meets Willow, Xander and Giles and they apologize to each other. They also realize that the monsters were not captured by the Initiative, but actually they are the Trojan Horse of Adam to fight against the commandos from inside. Once Buffy alone is not able to defeat Adam, the Scooby gang decides to transfer the best of each one of them, i.e., the witch power of Willow, the strength of Xander and the expertise of Giles, to Buffy through witchcraft to make her powerful and capable of fighting against Adam. Meanwhile, Riley finds that he has a chip over his heart and connected to his central nervous system to modify his behavior and obey Adam.
Episode 22
Restless
Tue, May 23, 200060 mins
Buffy, Xander, Giles, and Willow decide to stay up late watching movies after their victory against Adam, only all four of them immediately fall asleep. One by one, each of their dreams take a dark and twisted turn as a sinister force stalks each of them through the dream world and inside their own heads.
