Riley & Buffy: Love doesn't have to be Anguish

[deathisyourgift]

Buffy + Riley
Not always the most popular ship, but they were solid, and down-to-Earth-in-love. If you have love for the Riley/Buffy relationship, then post away!



BUFFY: You really have a lot to learn about women, Riley.
RILEY: You're gonna teach me.

RILEY: Being the slayer's part of who you are. You keep thinking I don't get that, but...
BUFFY: It's just ... I know how ... un-fun it can be. The bad hours, frequent bruising, cranky monsters...
RILEY: Buffy... if you led a perfectly normal life, you wouldn't be half as crazy as you are. I gotta have that. I gotta have it all. I'm talkin' toes, elbows, the whole bad-ice-skating-movie obsession, everything. There's no part of you I'm not in love with.

BUFFY: Nobody has ever known me the way you do. Nobody. (Riley doesn't look at her) I've opened up to you in ways that I've never opened up to.. Riley, I need you. I need you with me.

BUFFY: Are you planning on seducing me, Mr. Finn?
RILEY: Always.

BUFFY: Exactly. Riley seems so solid. Like he wouldn't cause me heartache.
...
RILEY: But its just... Buffy's special.

[Greer]

Awe, good luck with this! I may poke fun at Captain Cardboard a lot but it was nice for Buffy to have a normal relationship. Plus, Marc Blucas is such a nice guy and from around my original hometown! So, yay for him. It was sweet how smitten he was with her for such a long time.

[deathisyourgift]

Yeah, plus he's pretty much the most attractive human..ever. haha

I've always thought that the only relationship that would ever have a chance in hell to bring a happy ending to Buffy was with Riley. There are many reasons for this thought, but the main one being that Riley is human. This is my favorite relationship, though I do enjoy the other relationships Buffy has had in the show and the comics.

yay Riley in the comics!! I'm excited to see his part in all this Twilight mumbo-jumbo.

[Greer]

I'm very interested to see what his exact role is with Twilight. I'm curious to see how well he could play the double agent, if that's in fact what he's doing. Hmmmmmm....

[XanderHarris]

I always kind of liked the both of them. Especially Riley was, in my opinion, an interesting character.
Yeah, he reacted a bit weird from time to time, but as a non-superhuman-person thrown into the world of Buffy's, I thought he reacted pretty plausible.

All he ever wanted was step up to Buffy's level, take over the part of saving her, but he never really reached out to her. Sadly.

[menomegirl]

*squee*

A Buffy/Riley thread!

OK, not many posts on it but still.

*squee*

[Rebecca]

I didn't get into the series until after it was finished, so I wasn't privvy to the fan backlash over Riley. I have to say, I thought their relationship was rather healthy until S5. Not sure exactly why they wrote him off, surely Buffy could realize her "gift" and still have a healthy relationship. I dunno. I guess they were isolating her. First Riley, then Joyce, a strained relationship with Dawn and Giles.

Anywhos, they were sososo cute as a couple in S4. Marc Balucas is a hottie!!!

[wenxina]

Well... let me just applaud them for being the only couple on the show to actually be shown to practice safe sex. That episode where they constantly do it, feeding the repressed spirits in the house, Riley pulls open a drawer for a condom, and it's FULL.

[Rebecca]

^^ I noticed that too. I guess you don't need condoms when your vampire boyfriend is shooting blanks lol, that is, if the Buffyverse is free of STIs.

[Greer]

May 16, 2009 17:14:55 GMT -5 Rebecca said:

^^ I noticed that too. I guess you don't need condoms when your vampire boyfriend is shooting blanks lol, that is, if the Buffyverse is free of STIs.

True to that, haha! I guess that's the only relationship that she needed them, right?

I miss Riley for being a stand-up guy. I've been watching some S4 and really liking him, even though it's not as passionate as either of Buffy's dead boyfriends were. He really was a good person and I liked how all of the Scoobies really accepted him as well. Xander especially liked him, which is really random of him, seeing as how he hates any male that is in contact with Buffy beyond friends.

[Rebecca]

Erm... as an avid Bander shipper, I think Xander approved of Riley because he was the first boyfriend Buffy had that was remotely similar to Xander.

[menomegirl]

Bander?.....oh, Buffy/Xander. Got it.

I liked that Xander liked Riley. I understood his dislike for Angel but his hatred of Spike in seasons 5, 6 and 7 always bothered me.

And LOL@the condom usage. I had forgotten that part. Y'all are so right. I cannot recall another instance where such a thing was shown.

[deathisyourgift]

Interesting discussion! I think that Xander, being the lone male in the Scooby friendship always wants to have a guy friend to chat with and identify with (Giles is not in the friendship, he is like the adult supervisor, harsh but true, they don't all want to just hang out with Giles, cuz as Buffy says in S4 he's "very, very old" lol). So, when Riley shows up, I think Xander at first doesn't trust the whole Initiative, and might not like Riley right away. However, Xander does grow to really like Riley, showing that he admires him and what he does a few times (once in the hilarious guise of pseudo-attraction: "Now I get it--can I have sex with Riley too?"). Also, Riley is the only boyfriend of Buffy's that Xander fought to have Buffy realize she needed to make him stay..if that makes sense.

I think Xander saw Riley as the equivalent of himself, being the normal guy who loves Buffy and can give her a somewhat stable "normal" relationship, which is what he thinks will make Buffy happiest.

[kimtaro]

I'm not TOTALLY against Ruffy, but I am a hardcore Bangel fan. If I were to judge Ruffy on it's own, no comparisons, I feel that Riley was too needy

[deathisyourgift]

May 23, 2009 23:41:41 GMT -5 kimtaro said:

I'm not TOTALLY against Ruffy, but I am a hardcore Bangel fan. If I were to judge Ruffy on it's own, no comparisons, I feel that Riley was too needy

You just like the broody ones lol

[vampmogs]

I liked Buffy/Riley I don’t see why it gets so much hate J

It wasn’t my favourite pairing for Buffy (that’s Buffy/Angel followed by Buffy/Xander) or my favourite pairing in the show (that’s Giles/Jenny hands down) but it was still nice. Riley was a really great guy and the guy she probably should be with. Their relationship was the healthiest Buffy has ever had by far and I thought it was tragic she didn’t reach him in time. Their greatest moment for me is in ‘As You Were’ when Riley gives Buffy that frackin awesome pep speech telling her she’s a “hell of a woman”…. and “still quite the hottie” Riley is fantastic in that scene and it makes you wonder how different things could have been if he had never left.

[gumgnome]

I make no secret of the fact that Buffy/Riley is by far my favourite Buffy relationship. People accuse him of being boring, but like BuffyAngel. WTF? People accuse him of being needy, but like Buffy/Spike. Huh? I just don't get it.

He's the only regular guy in her life that she could eventually have kids and grow old with. He's the only one of her three main love interests that falls in love with her before he knows that she's the Slayer, which gains him mega points for me. He's also remotely the same age (and therefore the same level of maturity, intellectually and emotionally) as Buffy, which I think is important.

I always find "Into the Woods" a hard episode to watch because it spells the end of Buffy/Riley and am eternally grateful to Joss that they brought him back for some much-needed closure (although Sam is freaking annoying).

[The Night Lord]

I actually didn't mind Riley or the Buffy/Riley relationship. For me, Ruffy is better than Bangel and the fact that he's human is, in a way, a whole new ball game for Buffy. So Ruffy gets some points from me

[buffyfan21]

I liked the Buffy/Riley relationship in S4. They were so cute together! And I thought Riley was so sweet to Willow after she and Oz broke up. I really enjoyed any scenes the two of them had together. And it was so cute/sweet Willow helping Riley hook up with Buffy, but at the same time being protective of her friend. I really thought Will and Riley had a great chemistry together in the scenes they shared. I remember on one of the commentaries talking about how they had to be careful not to make it seem like Will and Riley were gonna hook up. I think the two were great friends though, and I also really liked Riley's relationship with Xander as well.

I didn't so much care for the Buffy/Riley relationship in S5, however. Buffy pushing Riley away, coupled with Riley's turn to the dark side, it was hard to watch at times. I hated to see Buffy distancing herself from Riley, but at the same time, I don't think she was fully aware of what she was doing. In her defense, she did have a lot going on, worrying about her mom and sister. I think Riley tried to be understanding about this at first, backing off, letting her have her space, etc., but he eventually became fed up. Can't say I blame him for wanting to be there for Buffy, wanting to be let in. Is that not what a relationship is supposed to be about after all (Well, the healthy ones, anyway, and by this time Buffy and Riley did NOT have a healthy relationship)?

I also think that Buffy's strength was a problem for Riley. He tried so hard not to let it be, but in the end it was, and I think this is what ultimately drove them apart. Buffy was just too strong, she didn't need Riley enough and it drove a wedge in their relationship. She wouldn't even allow him to be there for her emotionally, to console and hold her the way he so desperately wanted, the way any good partner should.

I think fans are so quick to blame Riley for the imploding of their relationship, but I think it was his and Buffy's fault equally. Yeah, ok, he was going out and allowing vamps to feed on him just so he could feel wanted/needed which was LAME, but still.

And then he came back in S6 and I liked him all over again. I'm glad that he and Buffy got that closure to their relationship.

I don't understand why fans are so down on Riley, honestly. Yeah, maybe he wasn't one of the great loves of Buffy's life, maybe that didn't have the fire and passion that she and Angel or Spike had, but I think Riley was a charming, good, decent, and down to earth guy. Willow could see this and that's why she played match maker despite her own relationship problems.

So, I liked his character in S4, thought they all but ruined him in S5, and then loved him again in S6 when he seemed to be his healthy, well-adjusted, all-American-boy charm self again.

I thought Sam was ok, too. She at least seemed nice/friendly to everyone.

[gumgnome]

Sept 2, 2009 12:43:51 GMT -5 buffyfan21 said:

I thought Sam was ok, too. She at least seemed nice/friendly to everyone.

A nice summary - makes me think more about the distinction between S4 Riley and S5 Riley, and it's certainly true that most of my fav moments between the two are in S4 (although I think he's great in "Buffy Vs. Dracula".

Onto Sam. You're right - she is nice. Like Stepford nice. Seriously, one day she's gonna snap and who knows how many will have to die before they bring her down...