Riley, Spike and Buffy

[nightshade]

How do you think Buffy and Rileys relationship would have been different had Spike not returned in season 4.

As Spike became closer to Buffy, Riley seemed to get further away, with Spike being the one to tell Buffy that Riley was getting bitten my vampires, would any of that happened, if Spike wasn't there?

 

[EVIL UU]

It wouldn't have been different at all. I think that Buffy broke up with Riley mostly because of the monks' spell. The woman who started dating Riley seized to exist the moment monks created Dawn. Buffy in season 5 is a different person, basically a new character with different desires and wants, the spark is gone.

Of course, Riley will forever be a creepy freak for what he did with those vampires but it's not like Buffy ever minded dating creepy freaks and ultimately she decides to ignore it in "Into The Woods".

 

[white avenger]

I really don't think that Spike was responsible for Buffy and Riley not being able to stay together. The problem was that Riley wanted to be more than Buffy's snuggle puppy, and she either wouldn't, or couldn't (take your pick) let him. If Spike hadn't been the one to tell her about his vampire addiction, either someone else would have, or something bad would have come of it. (Just imagine some vampire finding out about Riley's relationship with Buffy. They wait until he shows up for his next feeding, drain him, and, just before he dies, force some of their blood in his mouth. Buffy has to deal, for the second time, with a lover turned evil vampire. That would have been much worse than what actually happened.)

Riley had an addiction, the same way that Willow would have later, and, left unattended, nothing good could possibly come of it.

So, in answer to the question, if Spike had never returned to Sunnydale in Season 4, one way or another, Buffy and Riley would still have gone their separate ways eventually.

 

[DNelly]

(Just imagine some vampire finding out about Riley's relationship with Buffy. They wait until he shows up for his next feeding, drain him, and, just before he dies, force some of their blood in his mouth. Buffy has to deal, for the second time, with a lover turned evil vampire. That would have been much worse than what actually happened.)

Riley had an addiction, the same way that Willow would have later, and, left unattended, nothing good could possibly come of it.

I like the potential this has. It would have been nice to see the "all American" boy go full on evil. Would have been a nice twist IMHO.

 

[Kean]

I think they still would have fallen apart, albeit later. I'd imagine around the time her mother died. Buffy shut down when Joyce died and I think Riley would have been too much of a strain on her energy for her to maintain the relationship. In a way I think that would have been a much crueler end for them. Spike was an conniving weasel, but Buffy and Riley were already on shakey ground and steadily moving in different directions.