Question Why do some fans blame Riley for not knowing Faith was impersonating Buffy?

[Agent Z]

I get that Riley is not the favorite among Buffy's main love interests, but one criticism I never understood is that Riley should have known Buffy was actually Faith in "This Year's Girl".

Firstly, Riley doesn't even know what Faith looks like at this point. Secondly, he and Buffy haven't known each other for that long. How is Riley supposed to know if her behavior in this episode is out of character for her or not? Buffy's friends who have known her for much longer didn't realize it was Faith, and the only one who noticed something was amiss was Tara, a person who had only met "Buffy" for the first time in this episode.

 

[thetopher]

I think some fans maybe blame Riley for not realizing is wasn't Buffy inhabiting her own body because Buffy also blames Riley, to an extent.
She admits its irrational and unfair to blame him because in actuality its really a side effect of her own emotional fallout. Later, over on 'Sanctuary' she lays the blame where it truly belongs, with Faith and Faith alone.

Because Riley, at that time, didn't know Buffy that well, didn't know much about magic or that body swaps were even a thing (the Scoobs had known about that kind of spell for years at this point) and furthermore Buffy herself had been obfuscating her own past regarding Faith towards Riley even when she thought that his life might be in danger .

So no, Riley's not particularly at fault. I'd blame Buffy or her friends before I would blame him. After all Faith-in-Buffy had crazy eyes and said 'a-boat' a couple of times, of course she was secretly evil.

 

[NotASlayer]

Tara only noticed because she had the ability to "see" something was wrong with Buffy. Even Willow in that scene thought Buffy was Buffy, despite her odd behaviour.

I think one reason Riley is blamed is because there is an element amongst the fans who go to sometimes extreme lengths to paint Riley as being much worse than he is. Sure, he's not perfect, but no character is.

 

[hoponlilmama]

Never understood it either. I don't think it was really fair on Riley.

As I recall, Joyce couldn't really tell it was actually Faith? Sometimes the gang picks up on things, like in s5when Xander realised something was wrong with Buffy after her return from her quest, but can't exactly pinpoint the issue.

It's the Hellmouth, after all. Lots of weird energy. I guess body-swapping hadn't even entered their minds as a possibility.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

"Most girls are idiots." -Feminist Icon Arya Stark.

It's worth remembering that body swaps should be all about maximum psychological trauma. I mean , just knowing that a mage of sufficient power doesn't even have to defeat you, just lock you away in a dying senior citizen and your life is now his. So, Buffy was having a really bad week.

As for story, no. The first lessons in magic are not swish and flick, it's how to perceive the spirit world. Then how to commune with the spirit world. Tara should be more perceptive to magic, and it's effects. Willow never bothered with the discipline phase, just straight to manipulation.

This body swap spell was created by the Mayor, who is a master in manipulating the perception of reality. Odds are, he added a glamor to the spell to make the swap less obvious. Or at least that's my headcanon.

 

[KaitKat]

I think this just falls under some people will have terrible takes no matter what. It does seem that the vast majority of people don’t blame him but in any fandom theres going to be people with takes so bad you didn’t think anyone could think that way.

 

[garfan]

Don't forget that while Tara was the only one who noticed the swap, Buffy was able to look Giles in the eyes as a demon and recognize him

 

[NotASlayer]

Don't forget that while Tara was the only one who noticed the swap, Buffy was able to look Giles in the eyes as a demon and recognize him

However, the demon was still Giles and still had Giles' eyes. It was not a different body but the same one, just transformed. Looking into the different eyes of a different body is another matter.

 

[Agent Z]

the Scoobs had known about that kind of spell for years at this point

I'd forgotten this wasn't the first time the Scoobies had dealt with a mind swap situation.

The Scoobies being so slow to realize Buffy and Faith had swapped bodies is even more ironic when you compare this to Carpe Noctem from Angel's season 3 where the Angel Investigations gang are able to figure out Marcus had swapped bodies with Angel.