The Freshman (Buffy episode)
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"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.
Plot synopsis
Summary
Buffy is not enjoying her introduction to college — getting lost, getting kicked out of a class for talking, meeting her Celine Dion-loving roommate Kathy — while Willow can't contain her excitement about their new surroundings. On her first night of patrolling, Buffy gets roughed up badly by a female vampire named Sunday. Upset by how her new life is going, she heads to the Bronze and meets Xander, back from his summer road trip, who gives Buffy a much needed pep talk. Hunting down Sunday and eventually staking her, Buffy's spirits are lifted and she begins to believe in herself again.
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.
Writing and acting
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
Production details
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"
Continuity
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 will play the role of a minor villain in "Living Conditions".
- 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.
Quotes and trivia
- The original plan for Season 4 was to have the character of Sunday recur throughout the season as the Season's "big bad". They planned for the character to be what happens when a slayer is turned into a vampire, creating a diverse opposition for Buffy. Instead, Joss decided to go with Adam and the Initiative.
- 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."
Continuity
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: |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.01 City of (Angel episode)>City of |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.01 The Freshman (Buffy episode)>The Freshman |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.02 Living Conditions (Buffy episode)>Living Conditions |
| L.A. 1999 | |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.02 Lonely Hearts (Angel episode)>Lonely Hearts |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.00 Unaired Angel pilot |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Not Forgotten (Angel novel)>Not Forgotten |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.03 The Harsh Light of Day (Buffy episode)>The Harsh Light of Day |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.03 In the Dark (Angel episode)>In the Dark |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.04 Fear Itself (Buffy episode)>Fear Itself |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Blood of Carthage (Buffy comic)>Blood of Carthage |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel graphic novel: Surrogates (Angel comic)>Surrogates |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel comic: Strange Bedfellows (Angel comic)>Strange Bedfellows story, Angel #4 |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy video game: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Game Boy Color) |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.04 I Fall to Pieces (Angel episode)>I Fall to Pieces |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.05 Beer Bad (Buffy episode)>Beer Bad |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.05 Rm w/a Vu (Angel episode)>Rm w/a Vu |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy books: Lost Slayer (Buffy novel)>Lost Slayer series |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.06 Wild at Heart (Buffy episode)>Wild at Heart |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Oz (Buffy comic)>Oz |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy book: |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.06 Sense & Sensitivity (Angel episode)>Sense & Sensitivity |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.07 The Initiative (Buffy episode)>The Initiative |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.07 Bachelor Party (Angel episode)>Bachelor Party |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Close to the Ground (Angel novel)>Close to the Ground |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Soul Trade (Angel novel)>Soul Trade |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel graphic novel: Earthly Possessions (Angel comic)>Earthly Possessions |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Redemption (Angel novel)>Redemption |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Shakedown (Angel novel)>Shakedown |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Hollywood Noir (Angel novel)>Hollywood Noir |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Avatar (Angel novel)>Avatar |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Bruja (Angel novel)>Bruja |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: The Summoned (Angel novel)>The Summoned |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.08 Pangs (Buffy episode)>Pangs |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.08 I Will Remember You (Angel episode)>I Will Remember You |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.09 Something Blue (Buffy episode)>Something Blue |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.09 Hero (Angel episode)>Hero |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.10 Hush (Buffy episode)>Hush |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.10 Parting Gifts (Angel episode)>Parting Gifts |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.11 Doomed (Buffy episode)>Doomed |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.11 Somnambulist (Angel episode)>Somnambulist |
External links
Reviews
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