Regular Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy), Nicholas Brendon (Xander), Alyson Hannigan (Willow), Marc Blucas (Riley), Seth Green (Oz), James Marsters (Spike), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles).

 

Recurring Guest Stars: George Hertzberg (Adam); Lindsay Crouse (Maggie Walsh), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Amber Benson (Tara), Leonard Roberts (Forrest Gates), Mercedes McNab (Harmony)

4.1: The Freshman (Original Airdate 5th October 1999)

Writer: Joss Whedon

Director: Joss Whedon

 

Moving on - trying to adjust to rigours of college life proves to be harder than Buffy imagined. She moves into a dorm, must contend with a less-than-stable roommate and the complexities of dating college men.

Writer: Marti Noxon

Director: David Grossman

 

Attack of the killer roommate - dorm life proves to be quite an adjustment for Buffy when her roommate drives her crazy with her idiosyncrasies.

Writer: Jane Espenson

Director: James A Contner

 

Spike returns to Sunnydale in search of the vampire version of the Holy Grail, and it's up to Buffy to stop him.

Writer: David Fury

Director: Tucker Gates

 

House of horrors - Buffy reluctantly agrees to join Willow, Oz and Xander at a Halloween party where they stumble into a real-life house of horrors masquerading as an innocuous fraternity.

Writer: Tracey Forbes

Director: David Solomon

 

When Buffy is befriended by a group of upperclassmen who convince her to drown her sorrows with them, bartender Xander becomes suspicious when Buffy and her new friends return to their primordial roots.

Writer: Marti Noxon

Director: David Grossman

 

Buffy does her best to console Willow when Oz is undeniably drawn to another woman, Veruca. Even after it is discovered that his attraction stems from the fact that she is also a werewolf, his powerful primal instincts may be too innate to ignore.

Writer: Douglas Petrie

Director: James A Contner

 

The truth is down there - unbeknownst to Buffy and the gang, Spike is captured by a commando squad for the Initiative, a mysterious underground laboratory beneath the streets of UC Sunnydale.

Writer: Jane Espenson

Director: Michael Lange

 

Angel lurks in the shadows of Sunnydale trying to protect Buffy and keep hersafe, while her perfect Thanksgiving feast is disturbed by an army of Chumash Indians, the original inhabitants of Sunnydale, whose spirits have come alive to recreate the wrongs that were done to their people.

Writer: Tracey Forbes

Director: Nick Marck

 

Something old, something new...Buffy has fallen in love with Spike and plans to marry him. Giles is going blind, and Xander has become even more of a demon magnet.

Writer: Joss Whedon

Director: Joss Whedon

 

Silent night - a silence falls over Sunnydale when the otherwordly beings come to town and steal the power of speech from all the residents.

Writers: David Fury, Jane Espenson & Marti Noxon

Director: James A Contner

 

Walk down memory lane - the reopening of the Sunnydale Hellmouth sends Buffy and the gang back to High School to prevent impending apocalypse.

Writer: Jane Espenson

Director: Michael Gershman

 

Buffy and Riley explore the extent of each other's powers as they become more romantically entwined. Giles is transformed into a demon and gets mistakenly hunted down by an unknowing Buffy.

Writer: David Fury

Director: James A Contner

 

Friend or foe - Buffy's friends become hurt and concerned when her involvement with Riley and the Initiative becomes more intense.

Writer: Marti Noxon

Director: David Soloman

 

Buffy and Riley's relationship is put to the test when she investigates Professor Walsh's death and comes up against the Initiative's secret weapon.

Writer: Douglas Petrie

Director:  Michael Gershman

 

Buffy is preoccupied with catching the creature that attacked Riley, but her problems are just beginning when she learns that Faith has awakened from her coma and has gone seeking revenge to the only home in which Faith remembers Buffy living.

Writer: Joss Whedon

Director: Joss Whedon

 

Buffy battles to escape the clutches of the Watcher's Council special operations team who plan to send her to England, while Faith continues to wreak havoc in the lives of Buffy's family and friends.

Writer: Jane Espenson

Director: David Grossman

 

Buffy uncovers why the whole town thinks that former high school nerd Jonathan is Sunnydale's newest version of a superhero.

Writer: Tracey Forbes

Director: David Soloman

 

Buffy and Riley unleash a powerful supernatural force that awakens during a fraternity party and causes everyone's hormones to kick into overdrive.

Writer: Marti Noxon

Director: James A Contner

 

Oz returns to Sunnydale claiming he still loves Willow and has his full moon frolics under control. Willow tells Buffy about her new relationship with Tara.

Writer: Douglas Petrie

Director: David Grossman

 

Showdown for Buffy's heart - Buffy is even more certain of her love for Riley when Angel's surprise visit to Sunnydale brings Riley and Angel to blows.

Writer: David Fury

Director: James A Contner

 

Buffy's estrangement from her friends and Giles threatens to keep the group from stopping Adam's plan to design a master race of human/demon hybrids.

Writer: Joss Whedon

Director: Joss Whedon

 

A primal animal stalks Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles in their nightmares as they each come face to face with their worst fears.