Did anyone think Riley was more interesting this season?.

[Faded90]

Not more interesting, just a different kind of awful.

I find his story mostly incredibly cringe this season. It’s like they reacted to the ‘he’s boring’ criticisms and tried to make him edgy before he left. The shot when he’s first bitten and then stakes Sandy and we see him look all intense is one of the most hilarious moments of the show, it’s so ‘Oo look how dark and edgy Riley is!’ but mostly I just feel embarrassed for him. Plus I feel the whole melodramatic ‘she doesn’t love me’ stuff just doesn’t land right when they’ve only been together for like half a season anyway. Is Buffy not being ready for an Uber serious codependant relationship when they’ve been together for barely 6 months really that much of a bombshell?

I don’t appreciate us having to watch Riley acting appallingly and then being told we should be on his side though. Like apparently it’s all Buffy’s fault for not communicating, except she’s actually communicated a LOT more than Riley who has spent multiple episodes in this season stropping around while never telling her how he’s feeling or giving her even the slightest chance to discuss the issues he has. Why does she have to be a mind reader while Riley doesn’t even attempt to speak to her about it. Riley shouldn’t be given a pass when he doesn’t even remotely communicate

I feel like the writers just never really accepted that they really needed to stop trying to make Riley happen, it’s not going to happen. We get As You Were which seems like it’s there to show us ‘see told you Riley was awesome!’ and the audience were still like ‘erm, no’. Most of the episode is just everyone treating him like Jonathan in Superstar and waxing lyrical about how awesome he and his Mary Sue wife are (not only is she a badass whose cringeworthingly humble to Buffy but she was also in the Peace Corps, groan) . Like the more ‘awesome!’ Riley is supposed to be the more nauseatingly smug he becomes. The shooting script for this episode is hilarious though, I think even Marc would have cringed reading it

 

[LeeJones41]

Behind the All-American Iowa boy persona, I have always found Riley interesting. To be honest, he sometimes seemed like a male version of Buffy herself. Perhaps that's why they couldn't make it as a couple. They were too similar in many ways.

 

[Ihamze94]

I think this season shows what a terrible boyfriend Riley actually is A lot of red flag behaviour from him this season. Whilst it could've been interesting if the show had actually "gone there" and shown that even a "strong" woman like Buffy can find herself in an unhealthy relationship with what initially seemed like the perfect guy, the fact is that the show tries to tell the audience that Riley is this wholesome guy that Buffy should want to be with and it conflicts with what is actually being shown on screen.

Buffy wasn't a good girlfriend. Treating someone you care about as a convenience is not OK. It's pathetic how far Riley bashers would go to justify their irrational hatred. Obviously you don't care about Buffy otherwise why else would you ship her with guys who are guaranteed to make her miserable?

 

[HushSarah]

Her relying on Spike too much was the beginning of her downfall, it started in S5 and she never cared about Riley or truly loved him. I didn't recognize Buffy much in S5, S4 at least took some chances, Buffy S5-7 was only CINO and I remembered a lot of the fandom turning on the show just by the awful decisions she was making, careless and stupid, most of them involved Spike. I don't blame James at all, it was appeasing a group obsessing about a toxic fantasy together that made the writing tank. It's no wonder most of the fan stories out there center around toxic relationships, while Bangel and Biley fics are just better written with a real plot, Buffy doesn't lose herself in the relationship. Probably even say Fangel was the zenith of ships if I had to pick.

 

[Ihamze94]

She loved Riley. Her problem was that she had intimacy issues and couldn't communicate with him. It should have been clear to the audience how she had felt. Xander had given her a option. If she didn't feel the same way about Riley then the kind thing to do would be to let him go but if she did and is ready to stop holding back then she should try and convince him to stay. She ran after him like her life depended on it. The break up was hard for her. She said to Giles that it had felt like the end of the world. She had overreacted to Anya and Xander's fight and sobbed uncontrollably throughout the episode. She talked to Dawn about it too, how it had hurt so much that it had felt like there was a knife in her heart. She took down Riley's pictures because it was too hard for her too look at them and had hoped that he'd come back so that they'd work things out. People don't have to ship Briley but dismissing her feelings isn't right either.

 

[burrunjor]

Her relying on Spike too much was the beginning of her downfall, it started in S5 and she never cared about Riley or truly loved him. I didn't recognize Buffy much in S5, S4 at least took some chances, Buffy S5-7 was only CINO and I remembered a lot of the fandom turning on the show just by the awful decisions she was making, careless and stupid, most of them involved Spike. I don't blame James at all, it was appeasing a group obsessing about a toxic fantasy together that made the writing tank. It's no wonder most of the fan stories out there center around toxic relationships, while Bangel and Biley fics are just better written with a real plot, Buffy doesn't lose herself in the relationship. Probably even say Fangel was the zenith of ships if I had to pick.

You might like my latest post about fanfic seasons. Basically for me seasons 5-7 are fanfic seasons of the show, and arguably the biggest cause for that is Spuffy.

Some people think I'm biased for Bangel but I'm not. I actually prefer Spike as a character. He was my fave growing up over the broody serious Angel. I've met James, shook his hand and got his autograph.

Still Bangel was better because it felt like an attempt to tell a story with two characters, rather than bringing two characters together because the fans liked them, regardless of whether it made sense within the story which Spuffy was.

 

[DeepBlueJoy]

All hat, no cattle and the hat blew off back in seaaon 4

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Oh, absolutely. Both tall. Both wide shoulders and big arms. Both square faces, though Riley more in the bottom half and Angel with his big forehead. Both can be described as tall, dark, and handsome. I've always seen the comparisons; clearly, Buffy had a type.

Yup. Definitely a type. Owen was tall, had broad shoulders and was handsome too.
However, she does deviate. Scott was short and cute, but definitely did not fit the mold.
And well then there's Spike...

 

[Ethan Reigns]

In answer to the thread title, he was never interesting in any season, but comes closest to interesting was in Season 7 when Buffy has to make a choice to repair or remove Spike's chip and Riley comes along to do what she wanted. She had to call a bogus number for a florist shop to get him.

 

[hoponlilmama]

They destroyed his character. Seeking out vamps to be bitten? Who wrote that?

I would've liked more of a focus in S5 with his identity struggles. He essentially became another Xander, a civilian with no special abilities, but he does have his military experience. He still could've been part of the Scoobies.

As I've said elsewhere on the forum, I like Riley and I think the Briley pairing was a good one.

 

[TamsinValencia]

Riley was basically a cardboard cutout.

 

[hoponlilmama]

Riley was basically a cardboard cutout.

That's Captain Cardboard!