Season Four
(Synopsis Taken from TVTome.com)
The Freshman
Buffy moves into her dorm and attempts to adjust to college life. Everything around her seems to have changed without the constant interaction with the gang she had in High School. With Giles becoming a 'gentleman of leisure', Willow getting more and more excited about college and Xander still away on his road trip, she again believes that she must fight and survive on her own when she discovers a gang of tough vampires operating on campus.
Living Conditions
Dorm life proves to be a challenge as Buffy has to deal with a roommate who is more than a little bit difficult. Kathy continually imposes her idiosyncrasies onto Buffy and even begins to invade her dreams which has Buffy acting just a little too strange about the situation. Buffy sets her sights on Parker Abrams, the first college guy to pay her any attention, but when Kathy becomes more friendly with him than her, Buffy declares that she must kill Kathy.
The Harsh Light of Day
Spike returns to Sunnydale with his new girlfriend Harmony who is now also a vampire. Spike is searching for the Gem of Amara - a stone which makes vampires invulnerable, which he believes is buried somewhere under Sunnydale. Buffy is preoccupied with her budding relationship with Parker and sleeps with him but he proceeds to ignore her. Meanwhile Anya returns and throws herself at a flabbergasted Xander.
Fear, Itself
To help Buffy get over the pain of having been used by Parker, the gang head to a fraternity Halloween party expecting a few cheap scares and a bit of harmless fun. Unfortunately, some accidental magic turns the party into a house of horrors where everyone's fears come to life.
Beer Bad
Still trying to come to terms with Parker's womanising, Buffy starts to hang out at the college bar where she and a group of upperclass students really regress when they start drinking a 'special' beer.
Wild at Heart
Oz escapes from his cage during a full moon and runs across another werewolf, the sultry, sexy singer Veruca; and wakes up next to her naked in the wilderness the next morning. Veruca scoffs at his cage-living habits, and tells him that the wolf is part of him; he should just run free and kill people. Oz blows her off, but doesn't want her running free the night of the full moon, so he fixes up his cage, invites her over, and locks her in with him. The two start getting hot and heavy before the wolfiness even takes over, and Willow comes to the cage the next morning to find them naked together. She cries, they argue, Veruca tries to kill Willow, Oz-wolf kills Veruca, and Buffy stops him from attacking Willow. Oz realizes that Veruca had some good points - he doesn't have control over the wolf, and the wolf is part of him. He decides he needs to leave town and be a hermit while he figures things out. He and Willow share a heartbreaking goodbye, and Oz drives away. Meanwhile, Spike gets zapped and captured by the mysterious Commando guys.
The Initiative
Spike, after being captured by the commandos, is being held hostage by them in a hi-tech facility underneath the University. Riley, who has a crush on Buffy, is a member of this military-like demon-hunting crusade (called The Initiative). It also turns out that Professor Maggie Walsh is in charge of the unit, which performs experiments on the demons the commandos capture. Spike manages to escape and heads to find Buffy, whom he assumes is behind this. Instead, he finds Willow, but is unable to bite her - the Initiative has put a chip in his head that renders him unable to hurt humans; if he tries, he experiences severe neurological pain. Riley and his commandos, undercover, find Spike at Willow's dorm and attack, but Buffy shows up, and they all fight. However, circumstances have led to everyone being unable to see, so Buffy and Riley don't recognize each other, and Spike gets away.
Pangs
Angel covertly comes to Sunnydale fearing Buffy is in danger after Doyle's vision of her in Angel. While digging for a new Cultural Centre at the college, Xander falls into a sacred Indian burial area and releases Hus, a vengeance spirit of the Chumash Indians, the original residents of the Sunnydale area. Buffy is busily planning a traditional home cooked Thanksgiving while people around Sunnydale are being killed and Xander gets sicker and sicker. Hus summons a group of warriors and they attack Buffy and the gang at Giles' house. With Angel's help they repel the attackers until Buffy finds a way to kill Hus. As they sit down to dinner Xander lets it slip that Angel was in town.
Something Blue
Willow, in her attempt to get over Oz, casts a spell that ends up causing all sorts of chaos for the gang. Giles goes blind, Xander becomes a demon magnet, and Buffy and Spike fall in love and get engaged. As the two make out and plan their wedding, the demon D'Hoffryn notices Willow's spell casting and its negative effects, and offers to make her a demon like Anya was. Meanwhile, Riley runs into a starry-eyed Buffy, who tells him that she is engaged to a much older man (although not as old as her last boyfriend). Willow sticks with humanity and reverses the spell, causing Buffy and Spike to find themselves kissing. The next day, Buffy must tell a baffled Riley that she made the whole thing up as a joke.
Hush
The entire town of Sunnydale goes silent when a group of fairy tale demons called The Gentlemen appear and steal everyone's voices. Without being vulnerable to the one thing that can kill them (a human scream) they are free to steal the hearts of seven people. Buffy and gang must solve the mystery and overcome the bad guys without being able to discuss anything.
Doomed
Buffy and Riley have to work out their relationship given their new understanding of what they do. An earthquake rocks Sunnydale and Buffy worries that it could signify the end of the world. They find out about a group of demons who are in town collecting sacred items which together have the power to end the world. When the plans of the demons are uncovered, the gang must return to their former sanctum inside the dilapidated Sunnydale High School (the library) to stop the Hellmouth from opening.
A New Man
At Buffy's 19th birthday party, Giles finally realises that he is a middle-aged man hanging around with a bunch of teenagers and starts to get depressed about his life. He feels even more like the third wheel when he finds out about Riley and the Initiative, which Buffy neglected to tell him about. When Ethan Rayne returns to town, instead of kicking his butt back to England, Giles goes for a drink with him. The next morning Giles wakes up and notices that he has turned into a demon. Buffy and the gang find out about the demon and think that it killed Giles but he can only speak in the demon's language and runs away. He ends up at Spike's crypt who can understand the language and Spike helps Giles (at a price) to find Buffy and to explain what happened and also find Ethan to change him back. Buffy arrives at Ethan's motel room and fights Giles, but she looks into his eyes and realises that it is really Giles beneath the demon form. Buffy then kicks Ethan's butt and reverses the spell.
The I in Team
Buffy becomes familiar with the Initiative and begins to work with them although they are still unaware of her true power as a Slayer. After Buffy abandons her friends at the Bronze for a mission with the Initiative, Buffy and Riley consummate their relationship unaware that they are being watched on a hidden camera by Walsh. Meanwhile, Giles and the rest of the gang remove a tracking device the commandos shot into Spike's back. Buffy's presence is sowing strife among the Initiative and Professor Walsh fears that Buffy will endanger her ultimate project and sends her on a mission which would certainly kill one of the Commandos, but not our Buffy. Walsh tries to make Riley believe that Buffy has gotten herself killed but Buffy appears on the com-cam monitors and announces that Walsh will soon know what a Slayer really is. Riley storms out of the Initiative and Walsh retreats to her secret lab, room 314 only to be killed by her pet project Adam.
Goodbye Iowa
Buffy and Riley get mutually suspicious of each other when Buffy reveals that Professor Walsh tried to have her killed. When Professor Walsh is found dead things get even more out of hand, with the commandos quick to blame Buffy. Riley is even more agitated when he sees Buffy with Spike (hostile 17) and then again at Willy's Place. Riley progressively gets sicker and we learn that the commandos have been taking medication to increase their strength. Meanwhile the man-demon-machine Adam that Professor Walsh created is roaming Sunnydale and even Buffy can't seem to stop him.
This Year’s Girl
Faith, still in a coma in the hospital, is dreaming of being pursued by Buffy. Riley, partially recovered from his encounter with Adam leaves the Initiative infirmary and joins up with Buffy. While Buffy and gang plot how to go after Adam, Buffy finds out that Faith has awoken. Faith wants revenge and confronts Buffy. A message from the Mayor and a mysterious device come to Faith through a friend of the Mayor's (a demon who Faith kills). Later Faith goes after Joyce in her own home and of course Buffy arrives to save the day. Faith uses the device with unknown powers before Buffy strikes her down.
Who Are You?
After Faith switches bodies with Buffy via the device that was left for her by the Mayor, she begins to slip into Buffy's life. When the police try to take away Faith (Buffy in Faith's body) she is kidnapped by a special group from the Watcher's Council. As Buffy tries in vain to convince them that she is not Faith, Faith in Buffy's body is out having a good time. Willow attempts to introduce Tara to Buffy but when Tara senses that something is amiss they perform a spell which uncovers the switch. The man/demon/machine Adam has determined that his purpose is to kill and recruits some vampires to help. The vampires take over a church and both Faith and Buffy arrive to stop them. Using a Katra that Willow and Tara conjured, Buffy gets her own body back and Faith runs and disappears without a trace.
Superstar
Buffy, Willow, Xander and Anya are out hunting vampires and kill one of a pair. They track the other to a nest and decide to call in the big guns and visit Jonathan. Along with Giles they plot the attack on the nest and go to carry it out. Buffy manages to kill 2 of the 5 vampires and Jonathan takes care of the rest. Jonathan advises Buffy and Riley about their relationship and the Initiative has Jonathan consult on how to track and kill Adam. A beast attacks a girl outside Jonathan's mansion but he seems to be afraid of hunting it. Buffy becomes suspicious that Jonathan is too perfect and afraid of the beast. The beast attacks Tara and Buffy recognizes it's symbol as one that also appears on Jonathan's back. The gang tracks the symbol to an augmentation spell that improves Jonathan's image in everyone's mind but creates an evil counterpart. With Jonathan's help Buffy is able to defeat the beast and return the world to normal.
Where The Wild Things Are
Buffy and Riley are spending all their time in bed (and they're not sleeping). Their round-the-clock exploration of each other awakens the spirits of children who were sexually repressed by their foster mother back when Lowell House was a home for orphaned and runaway kids. Willow, Giles and Tara divert the angry children while Xander and Anya go to try and stop Buffy and Riley.
New Moon Rising
Tara and Willow's relationship seems to be progressing when Oz returns to town. Through his travels Oz has found a combination of charms, potions and meditation that allows him to avoid turning into a werewolf. When Oz discovers that Willow and Tara are more than friends he loses control and as a werewolf chases Tara. Tara is saved by Riley and the Initiative who take Oz into custody. When Oz turns back into a human, Riley tries to set him free but is caught and jailed himself. Buffy arrives and rescues both but Riley ends up being labeled a traitor for his actions. Oz leaves again when it becomes clear he can't control his emotions around Willow. Tara tells Willow to be with the one she loves and Willow proclaims that she is.
The Yoko Factor
Adam enlists Spike to turn the gang against each other, leaving Buffy alone and helpless. Spike plays on their fears of how the others perceive them, telling Xander that Willow and Buffy no longer think that they need him and that he would be better off joining the Army; telling Willow that Xander and Buffy believe her experimenting with magick is just a phase; and elaborating on Giles' own beliefs that he no longer needs to be in Sunnydale. Giles ends up drunk while Buffy, Willow and Xander fight. Angel comes from L.A. to apologize to Buffy after their fight over Faith in 'Angel' but he ends up fighting with Riley. Buffy sees Adam kill Forrest and tells Riley. The distraught Riley goes to confront Adam while Buffy determines she has to face him alone.
Primeval
Adam tells Riley that he has a behavior modification chip wired to his central nervous system behind his heart. Through the chip Adam has control over Riley. Xander continues to worry about being directionless and ponders joining the army. Professor Walsh, Dr Angleman and Forrest have all been brought back to life by Adam in a secret lab in the Initiative compound. Forrest is a human/demon/machine hybrid like Adam. When Buffy finds Spike in Adam's cave she figures out that he intentionally tried to split up the gang. Buffy tells the rest of them and they realise that Adam is going to attack the Initiative from the inside using the surplus demons that have been captured to fight all the scientists and commandos. When the carnage ends, Adam will have plenty of body parts to create an army of soldiers like him. Giles finds a spell to destroy Adam's power center but the spell can only be recited in Sumerian and although Giles speaks the language, only Willow has the power and talent to perform it. Xander suggests that they need the power of all the gang members combined to defeat Adam and Giles agrees, citing a spell which can combine all their own special abilities together. The gang all break into the Initiative. The Initiative soldiers are waiting and capture Buffy and friends. As Buffy tries to explain the situation to the Colonel, Adam cuts the power at the Initiative locking everyone in and freeing the demons from their cells. As the Initiative soldiers try to fight the demons the gang breaks free and make their way to 314 which is the entrance to Adam's secret lab. Buffy goes after Adam and sees Riley strapped into a chair but is attacked by Adam and Forrest. The modified Forrest is beating Buffy when Riley pulls the chip from his chest and comes to her aid. Riley fights Forrest while Buffy goes after Adam. Adam has "upgraded" and now has a machine gun arm which he uses to fire at Buffy. At just the right moment the gang's spell takes place and Buffy creates a barrier protecting herself from the bullets. Buffy rips out Adams power source and magically causes it to disappear. A demon breaks in on the rest of the gang and Spike comes to their rescue. In a scene which takes place sometime after these events we see a government committee deciding to close down the Initiative which was an experiment to try to use demons to build super soldiers.
Restless
Buffy, Xander, Giles and Willow sit down to watch videos after defeating Adam. They enter a bizarre dream world where they are pursued by a primitive force that they released via their enjoining spell. The force turns out to be the spirit of the first Slayer who speaks through Tara in their dream world and is confronting each of them with their deepest secrets and fears before killing them. Buffy eventually dispatches the primitive girl by ignoring her and they all wake up.
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