The Freshman (Buffy episode)
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
|---|---|
| “The Freshman” | |
 |
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| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 1 |
| Guest star(s) | Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers) Marc Blucas (Riley) Dagney Kerr (Kathy) |
| Writer(s) | Joss Whedon |
| Director | Joss Whedon |
| Production no. | 4ABB01 |
| Original airdate | October 5th 1999 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Graduation Day, Part Two" | "Living Conditions" |
"The Freshman" is the first episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
While Willow blossoms in the college environment, Buffy has a difficult time adjusting and her Slaying suffers because of it.
[edit] Expanded overview
Episode one of season four marks the first year of college for Buffy and the Scoobies where they attend the fictional U.C. Sunnydale campus.
The episode opens with Buffy and Willow on patrol in the cemetery discussing which classes Buffy should take for her first semester at college. They are so engrossed with this that they don't notice when the vampire they are waiting to awaken quietly slips away when he sees they are carrying an arsenal of vampire killing gear.
The day before classes shows Buffy being handed flyers by the various campus groups, frats, and general student protesters. Buffy meets up with Willow and Oz and reveals that she feels overwhelmed by the new experience and disoriented. Willow on the other hand is very excited by the new surroundings and Oz is not fazed and even seems to know several people that walk by.
Buffy and Willow tour the library. During the trip they reveal that Giles is "unemployed" (since the Sunnydale High School library has been destroyed) and that Xander left Sunnydale for the summer to do a cross country trip.
Buffy and Willow go to the campus bookstore for supplies. When Buffy tries to get the "Intro to Psychology" texts she knocks them off the shelf onto the head of Riley Finn. (This is Riley's first appearance in the series.) Riley introduces himself as a TA for Professor Walsh's Psych 105 "Intro to Psychology" class.
Buffy arrives at her new dorm room in Stevenson Hall. She has already moved in and her new roommate Kathy is in the process of doing so. Kathy tells Buffy that she can tell that she is cool and thinks the upcoming year will be "super fun". As she says this to Buffy she hangs a poster of Céline Dion much to Buffy's chagrin. During the night Buffy has trouble sleeping because Kathy snores, laughs, and smacks her lips in her sleep.
The first day of classes, Buffy gets humiliated in front and ejected from a class by a mean professor when she tries to find out if there is still room to sign up for it. With Willow and Oz she attends Psych 105 taught by Professor Maggie Walsh and TA'ed by Riley Finn.
That night she meets another freshman student named Eddie. They are both lost. Buffy and Eddie discuss their need of a "security blanket" in their unfamiliar surroundings. Eddie tells Buffy that his security blanket is a book titled Of Human Bondage, which he has read ten times and keeps by his bed. Buffy and Eddie then go separate ways and Eddie runs into a group of vampires. The vampires kill Eddie and turn him in to a fellow creature of the night. They also go to his dorm room, steal all of his belongings and leave a fake note supposedly signed by Eddie saying that he couldn't handle school and he had to leave.
The next day Buffy looks for Eddie in psych class but does not see him. She goes to his dorm room to find the note and empty room. She notices that the novel Of Human Bondage is still in his nightstand though. She knows that he would not leave that behind and suspects something is wrong.
Buffy visits Giles to find a half naked female visitor at his flat. It is Olivia visiting Giles (she refers to Giles as "Ripper" at one point). Buffy tells Giles of the mysterious disappearance and Giles is reluctant to help due to his feelings of not being needed by Buffy anymore.
That night Buffy runs into Eddie in a deserted part of campus. Eddie tries to attack Buffy and she stakes him without trouble. The group of vampires that turned Eddie are watching though and the leader of the group, named Sunday, attacks Buffy. Buffy is soundly thrashed by Sunday while the others watch. Buffy gets scared and runs away from the fight.
Buffy is shaken by the fight and goes home the next day for some comfort from Mom and familiar surroundings. She finds her mother surprised to see her home so soon and has converted Buffy's room to storage space for her gallery.
When Buffy returns to her dorm room, she finds all of her belongings missing and a note similar to that found in Eddie's room. Buffy goes to the Bronze and meets up with Xander. Xander reveals that his car broke down in Oxnard and his tour of America didn't happen. He spent a month and a half washing dishes at the fabulous "Ladies' Night" club earning money for repairs. Xander also says that he now lives in his parents' basement and pays them rent. Buffy tells Xander that she is overwhelmed by the new college experience and wonders if she can hack it. Xander pumps her up by telling her of course she can and that she is his hero.
Buffy, Willow, Oz, and Xander find the vampire lair, which is a condemned frat house, and fight the vampires. Buffy takes out Sunday with a very cool backhand throw of a tennis racket handle which stakes her.
The episode ends with one of the vampires escaping Sunday's lair and being hit with a taser. Three masked men dressed in camouflage fatigues approach the vampire with guns of some sort. This is the first hint of the existence of the Initiative which plays an important role in this seasons' episodes.
[edit] Writing and acting
[edit] Cast and crew
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
- Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
- Seth Green as Oz
- Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
- Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
- Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh
- Katharine Towne as Sunday
[edit] Production details
[edit] Music
- David Bowie - "Memory of free festival"
- Moby - "Everloving" (Promo)
- Sound Stage Music Library - "Freaky soul"
- Splendid - "You And Me"
- Stretch Princess - "Universe"
- The Muffs - "I Wish I Could Be You"
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Arc significance
- Crossover with Angel: Buffy answers the telephone, but hears nothing, not even breathing. The reason is explained in "City of", which was broadcast immediately afterward.
- This episode marks the first appearance of Riley Finn, Professor Walsh and the Initiative, the group of military commandos that fight demons and vampires and gives rise to this season's Big Bad.
- Buffy's roommate Kathy plays a bigger role in "Living Conditions" revealing powers Buffy did not yet know she had.
- The show will explore the transition from high school to the more complicated college life, which offers significantly more freedom and thus opportunities for mistakes. This episode showed Buffy's loneliness and self-doubt as a small fish in a big pond.
- Giles is feeling inadequate following the destruction of the Sunnydale High library and Buffy's new life away from him.
[edit] Quotes and trivia
- The yearbook seen in this episode was released as a tie-in product, Sunnydale High Yearbook
- A new stunt double played Sarah Michelle Gellar in this episode. The original stunt woman and her manager-husband wrote a tell-all article about their "horrible" time on the show. Gellar would later call the experience "unfortunate."
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse chronology: Fall 1999 - December 1999 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| L.A. 1999 | Angel comic: Doyle: Spotlight |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.01 City of |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.01 The Freshman |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.02 Living Conditions |
| L.A. 1999 | |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.02 Lonely Hearts |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.00 Unaired Angel pilot |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Not Forgotten |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.03 The Harsh Light of Day |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.03 In the Dark |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.04 Fear, Itself |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Blood of Carthage |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel graphic novel: Surrogates |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel comic: Strange Bedfellows story, Angel #4 |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy video game: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Game Boy Color) |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Tales of the Slayer: All That You Do Comes Back.. |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.04 I Fall to Pieces |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.05 Beer Bad |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.05 Rm w/a Vu |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy books: Lost Slayer series |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.06 Wild at Heart |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Oz |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy book: Oz: Into the Wild |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.06 Sense & Sensitivity |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.07 The Initiative |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.07 Bachelor Party |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Close to the Ground |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Soul Trade |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel graphic novel: Earthly Possessions |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Redemption |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Shakedown |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Hollywood Noir |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Avatar |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Bruja |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: The Summoned |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.08 Pangs |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.08 I Will Remember You |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.09 Something Blue |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.09 Hero |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.10 Hush |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.10 Parting Gifts |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.11 Doomed |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.11 Somnambulist |
