Buffy the Vampire Slayer Timeline - Season 4
The dates listed below are more or less the dates of the events in Sunnydale, NOT in what most of us think of as "the real world."
Click on the episode title to go to Otts' wonderful episode summery.
Color key - Audience first sees a
character, Buffy (et al.) first meet a character, Character death, Character
leaves show, Romance, Breakup, Character
returns, 
= important event
Episode 1 (57th in the series)
(College starts and Buffy isn't handling it well.)
Late September, 1999
· Buffy, Willow, and Oz all attend University of California, Sunnydale (UCS)
· We discover that Xander spent the summer in Oxnard (maybe 40 miles from Sunnydale) doing dishes (mostly) at a male strip club.
· Buffy and Willow meet Riley Finn, psychology grad student and TA
· Buffy meets her roommate, Kathy Newman
· Buffy meets psychology teacher Professor Maggie Walsh
· Buffy meets Giles' "girlfriend" Olivia
· Joyce turns Buffy's old bedroom into a storage space
· Xander is living in Sunnydale and doing odd jobs while living in his parents' basement
· We see a vampire taken down by guys in fatigues with guns
Episode 2 (58th in the series)
(Buffy has a very scary roommate.)
Late September, 1999
· Buffy meets Parker Abrams
· Buffy discovers that Kathy is a demon, who has been trying to steal her soul
· The demon Taparrich arrives and takes Kathy back to her own people.
· Willow moves in as Buffy's roommate
Episode 3 (59th in the series)
(Spike comes to town to find The Gem of Amara.)
Mid-October, 1999
· The gang discovers that Harmony is back, and a vampire
· Anya comes back to Sunnydale to continue her relationship with Xander
· Spike is back, and is now Harmony's "boyfriend"
· Harmony tells Buffy that Drusilla left Spike for a fungus demon
· Anya and Xander have sex, but they are supposedly "over each other"
· Buffy and Parker have sex, but for Parker it's only a one night stand.
· The gang discovers the existence of "The Gem of Amara," which renders vampires indestructible
· Oz takes "The Gem of Amara" to Angel in Los Angeles; Spike follows. (See "Angel" season 1, episode 3 "In the Dark.")
Episode 4 (60th in the series)
(The Scoobies get trapped in a "haunted house" and have to face their fears, in costume.)
October 30 & 31, 1999
· Willow decides to try to move to the next level of witchcraft
· Xander and Anya decided to tentatively get back together.
· A student a the frat house Halloween party causes the house to be haunted and traps the everyone inside
· The Scoobies catch sight of the guys in fatigues, but figure them for very strange costumes
· We discover that Anya is terrified of bunnies (a pink bunny is her "scary costume")
· The gang figures out that the haunting is being caused by a fear demon called Gachnar (Buffy squashes him under her shoe)
Episode 5 (61st in the series)
(Too much beer = Cave Buffy.)
November, 1999
· Xander takes a bartending job at the campus bar
· Oz and Willow first meet Veruca (and Willow is jealous)
· Parker tries to seduce Willow (she shoots him down)
· "Cave Buffy" (Buffy drunk on tainted beer) clubs Parker
Episode 6 (62nd in the series)
(Oz plus a female werewolf equals trouble.)
November, 1999
· The guys in fatigues capture Spike.
· Willow starts attending Wicca meetings at UCS.
· Wolf-Oz attacks Professor Walsh.
· Oz discovers that Veruca is a werewolf.
· Willow catches Oz and Veruca naked in a cage together.
· Buffy tangles with a fatigue guy
· Wolf-Oz kills Wolf-Veruca (mauling)
· Oz (who says he still loves Willow) leaves to deal with his wolf self.
Episode 7 (63rd in the series)
(Spike tangles with the military.)
November, 1999
· We meet Riley's friends Forrest Gates and Graham Miller
· Spike wakes up to find himself in a "cell block" with a bunch of other demons; he escapes and later tries to bite Willow, but gets a HUGE headache for his efforts. (some sort of implant, according to Riley in a discussion with Prof. Walsh
· Riley realizes that he is REALLY interested in Buffy (he punches out Parker for making a rude comment about her)
· We discover that Riley, Forrest, Graham, and Prof. Walsh are all part of some secret military operation called "The Initiative"
· Spike is referred to as "Hostile 17" by The Initiative
· Buffy and Riley unknowingly fight each other (vision obscured by smoke from a flare gun.)
Episode 8 (64th in the series)
("A Buffy Thanksgiving")
The days leading up to Thanksgiving (November 25), 1999
· We see that Angel is back in Sunnydale, secretly watching Buffy. (He goes back to LA after this episode.)
· Xander is now working as a construction worker.
· Xander first refers to Anya as his girlfriend.
· Angel reveals his presence to Giles & Willow, telling them he's in town to protect Buffy.
· Buffy meets Hus, a vengeance spirit for the Chumash Indians who were killed at the Sunnydale Mission.
· Spike arrives on Giles' doorstep, telling the gang that The Initiative "fixed" him so he can no longer bite humans and asking for help.
· Buffy "kills" Hus by stabbing him with his own knife.
· Xander accidentally reveals to Buffy that Angel was in town. (See "Angel" season 1, episode 8 "I Will Remember You.")
Episode 9 (65th in the series)
(Willow casts a spell to heal her broken heart.)
December, 1999
· Riley asks Buffy out on their first date (a picnic).
· Spike is now (more or less) living with Giles.
· Willow's spell to have her will be done causes Giles to go blind, Xander to attract demons, and Buffy and Spike to think they are getting married.
· Willow unknowingly turns Amy human and back into a rat. (see Season 3, Episode 11 "Gingerbread")
· D'Hoffryn (Anya's former boss) offers to make Willow a vengeance demon; she declines.
· D'Hoffryn gives Willow a talisman to summon him (in case she ever changes her mind)
Episode 10 (66th in the series)
(The episode where everyone loses their voices.)
January, 2000
· Willow meets Tara (Maclay)
· Olivia comes back to town to "visit" Giles. (She apparently leaves after this episode, as we don't see her again outside of Giles' dream in Season 4, Episode 22 "Restless".)
· We meet The Gentlemen, demons who steal voices and cut out people's hearts.
· Buffy and Riley kiss for the first time.
· Buffy and Riley end up fighting The Gentlemen together (and realizing that there's more to each of them than meets the eyes.)
· Buffy and Riley kill The Gentlemen (Riley smashes a box containing everyone's voices and Buffy screams, which is deadly to them.)
· Willow finds out that Tara is also a real witch.
Episode 11 (67th in the series)
(Riley and Buffy share their secrets while the gang returns to Sunnydale High.)
January, 2000 (directly after "Hush")
· Buffy and Riley share details about their secret identities.
· Xander is now working as a pizza delivery guy.
· Buffy tells Riley that any relationship they'd have would be doomed; they later passionately kiss and make up.
· Spike realizes that he can hurt demons.
· The gang is all aware by now that Riley is "one of the commandos"
Episode 12 (68th in the series)
(Giles is feeling a bit worthless and turns into a demon)
Late January, 2000
· The gang throws a surprise birthday party for Buffy.
· Prof. Walsh, who now knows that Buffy is the Slayer, offers her a place with The Initiative.
· Giles learns that Riley is with the Initiative.
· Ethan Rayne is back in Sunnydale, again.
· Giles drinks beer spiked by Ethan and turns into a Fjarl, a huge, ram-like demon.
· Ethan is taken into custody by the military police.
· We discover that there is a door marked "314" in The Initiative compound, and that it's not a good thing.
Episode 13 (69th in the series)
(Prof. Walsh doesn't want Buffy in her group anymore.)
February, 2000
· Xander is now selling Boost Bars.
· Spike has now moved into a crypt.
· Buffy tours the Initiative complex and joins the team.
· We are introduced to Adam - a man-demon-cyborg created by Prof. Walsh and hidden in room 314
· Tara and Willow make their first overtures towards each other.
· Buffy and Riley have sex.
· Prof. Walsh sends Buffy out on a solo mission which turns out to be a trap. Buffy lives, and Riley finds out about the whole thing. Buffy (obviously) "quits" the Initiative.
· Prof. Walsh dies. (Skewered by Adam.)
Episode 14 (70th in the series)
(Riley flips out)
February, 2000 (right after "The I in Team")
· Adam escapes from the Initiative.
· The Scoobies bunk/hide in Xander's basement.
· The Initiative guys discover that Prof. Walsh is dead.
· Tara sabotages a spell to locate demons. (See Season 5, Episode 6 "Family" for relevance.)
· Buffy meets Adam.
· Spike is more or less expelled from the demon community for teaming up with the Slayer
Episode 15 (71st in the series)
(Faith comes out of her coma and comes after Buffy.)
February 25, 2000 and the days after.
· Still in a coma, Faith is having dreams about Buffy stabbing her. (There's some "nonsense" about preparing for the arrival of "lil sis.")
· Faith wakes up and leaves the hospital.
· The gang finds out Faith is awake and out.
· Some guys from the Watchers Council show up in Sunnydale, presumably to deal with Faith.
· Faith switches bodies with Buffy. (Thanks to a gift left behind by the Mayor.)
Episode 16 (72nd in the series)
(Faith lives Buffy's life.)
Late February, 2000 (directly after "This Year's Girl")
· "Faith" (Buffy) is taken to the hospital and sedated and later hustled off by the Watchers' Council.
· Adam begins recruiting vamps.
· "Buffy" (Faith) guesses that Willow "isn't driving stick anymore."
· "Buffy" (Faith) has sex with Riley. Riley tells her that he loves her. Buffy (the real one) later finds out.
· "Faith" (Buffy) escapes, and switches back to her correct body with the help of a spell from Willow and Tara.
· Faith (the real one) has had a crisis of conscience, and leaves Sunnydale.
Episode 17 (73rd in the series)
(Jonathan creates his own reality.)
March, 2000
· Jonathan is suddenly the "end all and be all" of everything from demons to love advice. (It's all a spell.)
· We discover that Adam's unlimited power source is a uranium core and that he will need to be completely destroyed.
· We learn from Anya that alternate realities can exist.
· Buffy breaks the spell by killing the demon that was the spell's counterbalance.
Episode 18 (74th in the series)
(Buffy and Riley pretty much have sex the entire episode.)
March, 2000
· Xander is now an "ice cream man"
· We discover that Giles is singing and playing guitar at the Espresso Pump (coffee shop) and that he's GOOD.
Episode 19 (75th in the series)
(Oz returns and Willow chooses Tara.)
April, 2000
· Oz comes back to Sunnydale, and he doesn't "wolf out" under the full moon.
· Buffy realizes (and Willow confirms) that Willow and Tara are now a couple.
· Adam approaches Spike and offers to help him with the chip if Spike spies and sabotages for him.
· Oz wolfs out (when he realizes that Willow and Tara are together) and is captured by the Initiative.
· We meet Prof. Walsh's replacement Col. McNamara
· Riley defects from the Initiative and hides out in the remains of Sunnydale High.
· Buffy tells Riley about her past. (e.g. Angel)
· Oz leaves Sunnydale.
Episode 20 (76th in the series)
(Angel meets Riley and the gang has a HUGE fight.)
April, 2000
· Buffy returns from visiting Angel in LA. (See Angel season 1, Episode 19 "Sanctuary.")
· We meet Tara and Willow's cat Miss Kitty Fantastico.
· Forrest dies. (Impaled by one of Adam's skewers.)
· Riley runs into Angel, who has come to Sunnydale to apologize for his actions in LA.
· Buffy tells Angel to leave, that their lives are really separate.
· Xander discovers that Willow and Tara are together. (read as: Willow is a lesbian)
· Riley shows up at Adam's proverbial door.
Episode 21 (77th in the series)
(Showdown with Adam.)
May, 2000
· We discover that Adam summoned Riley (via a chip the Initiative planted in him) to become a creature like Adam.
· Adam turned Professor Walsh and Forrest into zombie/cyborgs.
· The Scoobies realize that Spike was playing them against each other and make up.
· Giles, Xander, and Willow perform a ritual to join their essences together with Buffy's (making an "UberBuffy")
· Forrest "dies" again. (Riley sets off an explosion which burns him to a crisp.)
· Col. McNamara and Prof. Walsh die. (In her case, "again.)
· Adam dies. (UberBuffy yanks his uranium core out of this body and destroys it.)
· The government recommends that the Initiative's records and complex be destroyed.
Episode 22 (78th in the series)
(Willow, Xander, Giles, and Buffy have some strange and deadly dreams.)
May, 2000 (directly after "Primeval")
· Oz, Harmony, Principal Snyder, Xander's Dad, Olivia, Adam as a human all make cameo appearances in the various dreams.
· We see "The Cheese Guy" in all of the dreams.
· We meet the spirit of the First Slayer, who tries to kill the gang in their dreams. (They disturbed her with their spell.)
· Weird dream things that may or may not be prophetic, depending on how far you want to stretch things. (Corresponding episodes in parenthesizes):
§ Giles says that Spike is like a son to him ("Tabula Rasa," S6)
§ Anya talks about going back into vengeance (post "Hell's Bells," S6)
§ Giles sings what would usually be spoken lines ("Once More with Feeling," S6)
§ Buffy sees the bed she and Faith were making in Faith's dream (see Season 4, Episode 15 "This Year's Girl") and wonders who it is for. (post "Buffy v. Dracula," S5)
§ Tara warns Buffy to be back before D/dawn. (post "Buffy v. Dracula," S5)
§ Riley makes the comment "OK, killer, if that's the way you want it, I guess you're on your own." (leading up to "The Gift," S5)
§ Tara's voice: "You think you knowŠ what's to comeŠ what you are. You haven't even begun." (all of S5)
I've left out characters that made minor, one time only appearances. If you think I've missed something that is important to the canon of the show, drop me a private message on the posting boards and let me know. Or email me: fiatlux@hellmouthcentral.com
- fiatlux