Riley's Chip

[The Ferg]

Wtf? I understand that for the story they really had to make the chip so that it would come out relatively easily, but wtf? If it was attahced directy to his nervous system, there is no way that he could take it out without injuring himself, and not being able to move what-so-ever. Your opinions please.

 

[NightBird]

I also thought this was daft, I have no idea how he managed to move.

Some how he was able to move despite the chip, the chip which I assume blocked nerve signals which as far as I understand them are electrical impulses, Riley's willpower should have had no effect what so ever.

 

[Relic]

I agree, if he would have pulled that chip and damaged that nerve (I'm thinking it's the vagus nerve that controls diaphragm movement and lets you breathe...but I can't recall if thats the nerve Adam says its perched on.) he'd be toast.

I would think Maggie would have devised the chips so they self destructed or something to keep them protected from reverse engineering by enemy agencies. At the very least I can see her making them irremovable by risk of certain doom to the chipped person in case they went rogue/defected and tried to sell the tech.

Who knows maybe she did take these precautions and made an exception for Riley, she did think of him fondly- like a son. If he was ever captured by some unknown big bad that wanted to see how that chip worked (maybe reverse engineer it and put it into a world leader), perhaps she made his so the removal wouldn't toast him. You know, to protect him from the hardware?

I dunno. Whatever the case may be, the fact that he could remove it/override it suggests to me that it was installed in a 'faulty' manner on purpose...maybe too anterior to the actual nerve... and because of this couldn't affect his central nervous system in the manner it was actually designed to (The woman knew what she was doing...look what she did to Spike.)

Since he could move but should not have been able to, I asked myself why and used some imagination, which in turn cooked up all this unconfiramable BS about 'precautions' Maggie may have done to protect Riley. (which ultimately did so....if that was indeed the case.)

I'm not saying what I'm supposing is cannon or even remotely correct, it's just how I wrap my mind around it. 🙂

Can you tell weapon x was one of my favorite marvel comic story arcs?

 

[white avenger]

I just figured that Riley's chip was some sort of super adrenaline generator that jazzed him up when he was in a fight, and probably any other time that his body required an extra boost. That would pretty much explain his better than average fighting skills and also why it was beginning to burn him out. The human body can't maintain that level of power for very long and stay healthy.

If that's what it was, then it would most likely be connected to his blood stream, not his nervous system.

 

[Relic]

No, it makes him follow orders. Like when he could not defy Adam....adam even says where it is.

The vitamins were the adrenal boost, I think.

 

[itsxpaperdoll]

Relic's right. Even if his chip had something to do with adrenaline it would be connected to his nervous system, like, that's where they make adrenaline (well, that's where they make the stuff that tells the glands on the kidneys to make adrenaline, right?) So ripping it out would still cause some serious damage. I somehow think the writers didn't really think this one through. Or they had exactly the same idea as Relic here, which seems kinda unlikely to be honest. It's a bit far fetched. Why would she install that thing in a faulty manner, when she can do it right? That almost renders the chip useless, and since it worked, I don't think anything was wrong with it. Anyway, I don't know, but I have been wondering about this for sometime too 😉

 

[Relic]

Well, maybe she installed it to the best of her abilities in a manner non fatal if removed for Riley?

Maybe she thought it would still work, which it did mostly, without the risk of injuring her favorite son if it was placed in a location close to the nerve rather than placed in a location that would guarantee 100 percent efficiency but be risky/fatal to the recipient if monkeyed with?

As to why do it this way...well maybe she was looking at the thing with some foresight like if it needed removed for further modification or repair with minimal surgical risk?

He could only move his arm on one side, so maybe the impulses were only partial blocked...kinda like a stroke victim, but instead of brain injury it's just synapse blocking? Perhaps it would have worked completely if installed directly on the nerve, which is what Adam implies is its location.

He sure didn't have to dig too deep 😉

I bet I've dug deeper in my silly attempts at trying to rationalize this part of the story element!

 

[Perny]

The whole Riley has a chip thing was lame. REALLY!
And well look at that...
The guy is trying to take it out...himself. Into a wound, searching for a metal chip, in a nervesystem....Idiot

 

[hannahfngrl26]

I am no Riley fan but I just wanted to jump on this ship for a second and say a few quick things. Remember people that this is a fictional show. Regardless of whether the chip thing made sense the bigger picture is that they placed him in that situation to show that he loved Buffy so much he could overcome something as big as a mind control device or what ever it was to help her. I think that is what matters here.

 

[Relic]

I get its fictional, I just like actions to have consequences I can wrap my mind around both in motive and execution.

Riley was a super soldier to be sure, and loved Buffy bunches, but I don't think it would be enough to override his nervous systems 'leash' (if it had been done correctly.) I think he just discovered his 'collar' was on kind of loose and slipped out of it.

Him knowing where to cut to remove it is a big stretch....Adam pointed out its location, but still....How did Riley know where to cut and dig to remove it?

There is much we don't know about Riley pre Buffy. Maybe Maggie was working on a similar control chip for HST's before she went the route of brain chip behavior modification? It seemed like Riley knew what he was doing, almost like he has saw it before, or something very close to it.

I don't think the chip was saddled on a nerve, maybe tethered to one and the linking cables broke when he dug it out. He couldn't pull out a thorax nerve without severely screwing himself up...least thats what I think.

I agree with pernilleborup as far as what we know for certain by what is told to us; it is a WTF moment. 🙂 There is more to the characters though that we don't know....its writers liberty! I love season 4 and am actually kind of fond of captain cardboard, so I've though up ways to give it all a pass.

I also agree with Hannah about why it was done...to show Riley's love for Buffy.

I imagine it was also done to show how wicked the initiative was in experimenting on it's living soldiers and removing it more from identification with the US government/army for viewers/fans of the patriotic nature. (Buffy vs the army might make for some sore fan base, but Buffy vs. a shadow group that experiments on their own people will certainly get a pass.)

As far as the love angle though... Angel could not break a curse for love of Buffy and Spike could not override his chip for love of killing....Love is powerful, but I don't think Riley's was powerful enough to override his chip.

Season 4 had a bit of a sci-fi bend and it's not coincidence Riley's chip was in his chest of all places....and could be removed with alittle battlefield surgery....least in my humble opinion

I've though long and hard about this, I credit that bit of heroism to a failed install by Professor Walsh, not Riley's love for Buff overriding the laws of biology.

 

[InsaneMystic]

I saw the ep only yesterday (yes, finally I've got my tapes of S4 complete and have seen the whole season! :yay: ) and I find that scene ridiculously unbelievable. At first Riley isn't even able to talk unless Adam allows him to, and then he breaks free to perform complicated nerve surgery (and it would have to be darn complicated - after all, that chip is overriding brain functions...) on his own chest - nowhere near the solarplexus, by the way?
With a glass shard?
One handed?

Uh-huh, yeah, right. To me, that's almost on a par with Spock assisting Bones with his own brain transplant on classic Trek's "Spock's Brain". :lmao:

 

[IdiotJed]

I am no Riley fan but I just wanted to jump on this ship for a second and say a few quick things. Remember people that this is a fictional show. Regardless of whether the chip thing made sense the bigger picture is that they placed him in that situation to show that he loved Buffy so much he could overcome something as big as a mind control device or what ever it was to help her. I think that is what matters here.

lol I hear ya! Not every storyline or circumstance is believeable in it's context and it's just there to serve some other blatant cause. I'm not really sure it's that big of a deal, however, as Whedon fans, we're used to having some kind of reasoning for everything.