I know it's not 'cool' to say this but I'm on season 4 again now and I'm fairly settled on it being my favourite. I like the uni setting, I like Riley and the Initiative, I love the tone they're going for, Oz is still there and Anya comes back which means it features a peak Scooby roster before Tara, Dawn and the rubbish ones from series 7 come along to dilute the brand.
I do feel like the Initiative was a great concept that was just far too rushed to have any lasting impact on the series. It could have done with being spread over two seasons to give it time enough to bed into the universe and carry more emotional weight. Wrapping the whole story up in the space of a season was just far too neat, didn't have any long term repercussions and left Riley entirely redundant by season 5 (and he's NOT THAT BAD).
I'll get on to my conflict regarding Joyce's death when I rewatch season 5.