In its fourth season, Buffy the Vampire Slayer had to change its formula radically. Two major characters--the vampire-with-a-soul Angel and Cordelia, the queen bitch of Sunnydale High--had gone off to be in their own show, Angel, and soon after the start of the season Willow's werewolf boyfriend Oz left when Seth Green needed to concentrate on his film career. Buffy and Willow started college, where they met new characters like Riley, the All-American Boy with a double life, and Tara, the sweet stuttering witch; but Xander and Giles found themselves at something of a loose end. Several characters were subjected to the radical re-envisioning possible in a show that deals with the supernatural: the blond vampire Spike came back and soon found himself with an inhibitor chip in his head, forced into reluctant alliance with Buffy; the former vengeance demon Anya became passionately smitten with Xander.

Not all fans were happy with the central story arc about the sinister Dr Walsh (Lindsay Crouse) and her Frankensteinian creation Adam, though Crouse's performance was memorable. The strength of Season Four was perhaps most in impressive stand-alone episodes like the silent "Hush", the multiple dream sequence "Restless" and the passionate, moving "New Moon Rising", in which Oz returns, apparently cured, only to find that Willow is no longer waiting for him. This was one of the high points of the show as a vehicle for intense acting, perhaps only equalled by "Who Are You?", in which the evil slayer Faith takes over Buffy's body and Sarah Michelle Gellar gets to play bad girl for once. --Roz Kaveney

On the DVD: Buffy Season 4 was a hit and so is this sublime box set. The commentaries for "The Initiative", "This Year'sGirl", "Superstar" and "Primaveral" are all well above average, but are nothing compared to "Hush" and "Restless" where Joss Whedon gives out all the information and insights any fan would dream of. The four featurettes included are a pleasure to watch, especially the evolution of the sets for the show. The scripts, trailers and cast biographies complete the set and make for a decent addition to your Buffy archive. The soundtrack is in 2.0 Dolby surround, but the image is as grainy and dark as the previous seasons on DVD. --Celine Martig

I was majorly disappointed with this series. Yes, there were some gems e.g. 'Hush' but I really miss the old Scooby gang. Plus, Giles doesn't wear tweed anymore! And Buffy's lost some of that old spunky attitude and one of my favourite characters (Oz) leaves, leaving Willow to turn gay.

Season four is the second best season in the series, after the incredible season 2.

This season is not 100% perfect, but compared to season three, a lot has been changed to make Buffy a good TV show again. Regarding the main character herself, gone is the sulky, depressing Buffy. She is back to her season one self, happy and joking. It was one of the worst points of season three, and happily rectified here, along with her actually doing some slaying.

Sure, she splits up with Angel, and then seemingly flies back into another relationship with Riley, but there's no depressing moody scenes. Riley seems to be right for Buffy.

The best thing about this season is the welcome return of Spike, now a season regular, he easily steals the show in every scene he appears in.

However, Xander has become a bit player. Funny and vital in seasons 1-3, in season four he's a shadow of his former self - grating rather than funny. He doesn't have much to do, and the jokes he comes out with are lame.

Giles is also a victim of the change from Sunnydale High to college - becoming a bit-part player who occasionally offers advice, which is usually pretty obvious. But his scenes with Spike are always a highlight.

This season also holds the worst Buffy episode ever, Beer Bad, which is just childish and unforgiveable.

Yet the pros outweight the cons. The whole idea of the military intiative is superb - an efficient military outfit which is the total anithesis of Buffy's supernatural slaying. The whole modern look of the intiative is also nice, and the creation of Adam quite genius - it's just a shame that he is underused, taking too long to enter the series, and being defeated far too quickly and easily.

This season is best viewed simultaneously with Angel season 1. There are some unique crossover episodes, and the cameo appearances of guests such as Angel himself, Oz and Faith are always welcome.

In the season opener, 'The Freshman' buffy has started college, along with Willow. This season was not as good as the past 3 but still kept the charm. It was sad to see that Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) was now gone from the show, she was my favourite character and it wasn't the same without her! There were some good episodes and some bad.
Good Episodes
.The Freshman
.Wild At Heart
.Hush
.This Years Girl (1)
.Who Are You? (2)

Bad Episodes
.The Initiative
.Beer Bad

All in all, this season was the worst in my opinion , but it was still great fun!! Well worth the money!!!!! get it now!!

This is my favourite out of all the buffy seasons. The Language on Joss Whedon's TV shows are so brilliant it could be compared to Shakespeare! also look out for Angel and firefly.

I really don't understand why people come down on this season so hard. It in my opinion is one of the best written series of the show, just behind s3 and s5.
For me, I loved buffy because of the humour that was interjected into the writing. The characters would make hilarious remarks, Anya's inappropriate ones stand out ("You only want to date me cos you love lots of orgams") - so much better performed by Caulfield - and this season was full of it... the season in my opinion NEVER lost it's pace or became boring, everything was just new, different, good old fun. Season 3 was dark and it was nice to revisit fun bright sunny scenes in Sunnydale... I also think we saw the graveyard in daylight for the first time!

DVD - 16:9 - YAY! Finally we get Buffy in Widescreen.. and it does work. Don't think anything for what Joss Whedon says about Widescreen. The show belongs in Widescreen and this is the perfect time for it to start (although S3 would be good because the quality of that was just bad)

Audio - I've also noticed a much nicer audio track.. maybe they took more care over it or something. But it just feels so dynamic when i put on the surround sound compared to previous and later seasons.

Extra Features - Pretty much on par with the other boxsets... all great.

Just buy this! Become a buffy addict.. it's so fun on this side! who cares about how sad it is - also try and get out of the house as well.