Do you think Maggie Walsh was a mother figure for Buffy (and/or Riley)?

[Buffy Summers]

I just was watching "The I in Team" and I started thinking about Buffy seeing Maggie as a mother who knows she's the slayer and fully supports and encourages it.

Do you think Buffy saw Maggie as a surrogate mother until her betrayal?

 

[kittenpoker]

Great question!!!

I think buffy was beginning to and yes, I think riley definitely did. Although, he was probably too military minded to have identified it that way.

maybe that explains a bit, the tension between her and giles...they were both, in a way vying for a parental role in buffy's life, but not as partners.

 

[Ripper666]

I don't think that wether Buffy nor Riley saw Magie as a mother. Buffy didn't know anything about her so how could she be a mother replcement? And I just can't get this picture in my mind inwhich Buffy tries to tell Maggie about her problems in school or love or friends. That doesn't fit at all. I also think that if Maggie had a higher position in Buffy's life her reaction when she realized that she cheated on her would have been more painfull, more sad-emotions, instead there was just hate!
Riley may saw in Maggie a person who had a higher position in his life but not the one of a mother. Maybe the position of a good friend.

 

[Skytteflickan88]

I agree with [MENTION=11629]Ripper666[/MENTION]

There was no motherly feelings. I think Buffy thought that Maggie saw her as a asset(then a threat). Riley was shown to feel grief after she passed, but I think it was just a soldier respecting a superior. There didn't seem to be that much friendly feelings in general.

I think they both liked that Maggie seemed to value and respect them, and they respected her, but I doubt that it went any further.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Great question, and no I don't.

I do believe that Maggie was definitely a mother figure to Riley, though. That was clear. He respected and looked up to her, and felt totally betrayed when she tried to get Buffy killed.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I think Riley is a definite yes.

I think for Buffy it's a maybe, I could see it happening, she saw Giles as Father figure, and she started going with Maggie more, which seemed to play like a divorced parents kinda thing, favoritism etc.

So I think it could have developed into that, but I'm not sure if it did yet.

Also if it did, that would make Buffy and Riley, step-Brother/Sister-figures to eachother!

 

[BuffyElevated]

I don't think Buffy ever thought of Maggie as a mother figure, but I definitely think Riley did, which made her betrayal so much more hurtful for him.

 

[kittenpoker]

On the flip side, maggie definitely saw herself as a mother figure to riley.

 

[BuffyElevated]

On the flip side, maggie definitely saw herself as a mother figure to riley.

Oh yeah, that much was obvious. She was definitely under the impression that she was Riley's mother in a sense, and she thought of him and Adam as her sons, or she never would have programmed Adam to think Riley was his brother.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Well where I saw it, during that episode at least, was how Buffy seemed very much to want Maggie's approval, and kept talking about how Maggie praised her and such.

🙂

 

[frenchy]

(I'm really sorry you don't understand what I try to tell you^^)

For Riley I'm gonna say yes yes yes! His life was dedicated to his mission so I think that he considered Maggie Walsh like a mother ans his partners like his family because it was all he had!
But for Buffy, for me, it's a NO! because she didn't need to consider Maggie in this way because she already had Joyce and Giles. And anyway she didn't know Maggie enough!
I think that she considered her more like a chance to have a life outside her mission when she appreciated Maggie as a good teacher. She appreciated her A LOT like that! And when she discovered Maggie's mission , she understood that she could be estimated for who she really was by this professor whom she admired so much.
And maybe Buffy saw in Maggie what she could became: a person who combine her mission with a normal life/job.

 

[Valjavertjinn]

I think that Riley did, and that Buffy was maybe starting to feel that way a little bit. She certainly admired her, because she was practically gushing about her to Giels in "A New Man".

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

How you do you figure? What made Maggie a mother figure, and not just someone Riley respected? I mean, it doesn't seem like they had a connection, the way family or friends do. Just in the "I look up to you"-way.

I'll tell you.

I sensed a closeness there beyond simple respect. Riley was SO upset when he found out Maggie had tried to kill Buffy. It was like he was personally offended. Like a family member had betrayed him, not simply someone he respected.

Now, everyone knows Maggie had a close relationship with Riley, and that he was her favorite, and many fans believe she saw him as a son. I think Maggie was in love with Riley, personally. I believe Riley was oblivious to this. Why do I think Maggie was in love with Riley? Mostly because of what Lindsey said about her role;

"Her teaching assistant Riley is really the child she never had, and there's probably confusion there that he's a potential something for her that's slightly out of her reach, but she's willing to prevent anyone else from being interested in him. I think she feels she's in direct competition with Buffy. The most complicated situation for her is having Riley fall in love with Buffy. Finding out that Buffy is the Slayer is a kind of a gas, and its nervous-making and exciting to have good people on her team; she's like a president - she wants a great cabinet underneath her. I think she'd like to fashion the world in her image, but Buffy puts a wrench in the works".

The "potential something" "that's slightly out of her reach" is Riley. Maggie's referring to a wishful romance with Riley - which of course she can't have because it would be entirely inappropriate because of her role as his teacher, supervisor, and mentor. Not to mention he was in love with Buffy. Of course Maggie was jealous. This theory makes why she tried to get Buffy killed a lot more understandable.

 

[frenchy]

To compete what I said before:
I think that Buffy appreciated the fact that maggie Walsh seemed to appreciate her as a slayer AND as a person (student). For Joyce and Giles it was different:

Joyce didn't like the mission of Buffy. For exemple, when she met Faith, she said to Buffy (in the kitchen, remember =) ) that Faith could be the slayer and Buffy could stop!
Giles often try to tell Buffy to concentrate on her mission more than on her girl-life!

So Joyce didn't like a lot the slayer part of her daughter, and for Giles it was the opposite! Only Maggie seemed to combined both.
(Sometimes my words can be too "strong" for what I'm trying to tell, it's because it's hard to find the good words for me, sorry^^)

 

[kittenpoker]

To compete what I said before:
I think that Buffy appreciated the fact that maggie Walsh seemed to appreciate her as a slayer AND as a person (student). For Joyce and Giles it was different:

Joyce didn't like the mission of Buffy. For exemple, when she met Faith, she said to Buffy (in the kitchen, remember =) ) that Faith could be the slayer and Buffy could stop!
Giles often try to tell Buffy to concentrate on her mission more than on her girl-life!

So Joyce didn't like a lot the slayer part of her daughter, and for Giles it was the opposite! Only Maggie seemed to combined both.
(Sometimes my words can be too "strong" for what I'm trying to tell, it's because it's hard to find the good words for me, sorry^^)

I totally get what you're saying and I think it's a really good point. That with Maggie, there was potential for Buffy to learn to merge her worlds....

And you're communicating your thoughts perfectly. Don't worry. 🙂

 

[Skytteflickan88]

I'll tell you.

I sensed a closeness there beyond simple respect. Riley was SO upset when he found out Maggie had tried to kill Buffy. It was like he was personally offended. Like a family member had betrayed him, not simply someone he respected.

Now, everyone knows Maggie had a close relationship with Riley, and that he was her favorite, and many fans believe she saw him as a son. I think Maggie was in love with Riley, personally. I believe Riley was oblivious to this. Why do I think Maggie was in love with Riley? Mostly because of what Lindsey said about her role;



The "potential something" "that's slightly out of her reach" is Riley. Maggie's referring to a wishful romance with Riley - which of course she can't have because it would be entirely inappropriate because of her role as his teacher, supervisor, and mentor. Not to mention he was in love with Buffy. Of course Maggie was jealous. This theory makes why she tried to get Buffy killed a lot more understandable.

I still don't see the Riley part, but I haven't though about this as a possibility while watching scene between Riley and Maggie. I guess I might see things differently if I do. it's just that I got the mentor vibe between Buffy and Maggie and Riley and Maggie. They saw her as a mentor. It was different for Riley. As said above, the Intitiative seemed to be a surrogate family. It's just that I imagine that what played out in the Initiative is how it works in war(this is stuff I've just gotten from fictional TV shows, it's a unstable theory); Magge was Riley's superior so he had to trust her with his life. And be ready to die for the cause, whoch might mean her. She teached him, gave him weapons, reprimanded him. It seems to be what's between a soldier and superior in TV shows about war, but in those shows, I never saw that it seemed like they were family in the father/mother figure sense. It's something different than between a friend, or a mother.

I guess this could be hairssplitting, but to me, the ideal mother figure(I'm aware that it could be stricter/colder) is who you can cry in front off. That's not really what they seemed to have.

However, I do agree that Maggie felt something for Riley. Something creepy and disturbing and possessive. Your theory makes a lot of sense to me. He was like a son to her. And a potential love interest. Atleast what she considered one...