I found that attitude a little bigoted and narrow-minded of her. Buffy seemed to think that Riley's success as a demon fighter had more to do with the experiments that Walsh had conducted on him than his ability to fight demons. I can only wonder if Whedon had allowed the audience to realize that Buffy's viewpoint was wrong by allowing Riley to successfully deal with the vampire that had wounded her in "Fool For Love" and the vamp nest without the Scoobies' help.
In fact, I have never understood the current thinking that Buffy always needed her friends by her side to deal with supernatural bad guys.
Characters like Spike and many of the series' fans claimed that Buffy was successful as a Slayer because she allowed the Scoobies to fight with her. Yet, the Scoobies were with Kendra when the latter was killed by Drusilla in "Becoming, Part 1". They were ineffective in that episode. Buffy had to do without the Scoobies' help on more than one occasion - especially in her fight against Angel in "Becoming, Part 2" and her successful snatch of the scythe in "Touched". And in "Fool For Love", Riley certainly proved that he didn't need the Scoobies.
Of course there were instances where Buffy had to do things alone. That was the nature of being a Slayer. But unlike the Slayers before her, Buffy accepted the help of her friends and family. She didn't live in absolute secrecy, and therefore she succeeded in ways that other Slayers did not.
Riley was stubborn. Riley's "success" (I'll get to that in a second) in demon-fighting had a LOT to do with the drugs he was being given by Walsh and the Initiative, that's a fact. Without the drugs, he had normal human strength, not strength that could compare to Buffy's.
And...I'm sorry, the "success"...he'd only killed or CAPTURED seventeen hostiles by the beginning of S4. This was largely due to his and Buffy's differing methods, which Prof. Walsh mocked at first ("...you, if I'm not mistaken, poke them with a sharp stick"), but were actually way better than Riley's. (C'mon, Joss, that stupid electricy gun?? Get a real weapon!) Even so, I don't think it was bigoted of Buffy to feel the way she did. Her methods were better, she was a stronger fighter, she obviously cared about Riley enough to want to protect him. And throughout the time Riley was with us, he was stubborn, unrelenting, and insecure. Even when he faced death, he'd fight Buffy every step of the way to avoid her helping him. He may not have been outright sexist, but he was...something. As long as a woman had a title, an official position that she'd earned (as Prof. Walsh had), he accepted her authority. But if a woman was in charge due to sheer physical strength and destiny, he reacted with insecurity. That speaks volumes about him.
And, in "Fool for Love"....all Riley did was throw a bomb into the crypt. A monkey could have done as much. Sure, Riley was capable, with the right timing and technology. Any of the Scoobies could have done that, had they had a bomb. Physically, no, the Scoobies weren't much help. They didn't have the fighting skill that Buffy or Riley had. And yes, you can name a handful of times they were of no use to Buffy at all. But you can name dozens more that they DID help...they have saved her life in numerous occasions, in fact.
I suspect that deep down, Buffy never really knew Riley or even bothered to get to know him. I believe that she had viewed him as some kind of object - her Joe Normal guy - so that she could pretend that there was something normal and safe for her to cling to.
At first, that's probably true. Her initital interest in Riley was largely in fact that he was so wholesome and normal. That's why she was shaken a bit when she discovered that Riley wasn't actually normal. After that, I don't think Buffy could pretend that he was Joe Normal. Yes, he wasn't a vampire, but "not being a vampire" hardly makes someone "normal." Buffy let Riley fight beside her. She even joined the Initiative. These things show she wasn't in denial, clinging to some hope of normalcy that Riley promised. She knew he was different, NOT normal.
