Buffy and Riley... hmmm. I never understood the end of ‘Doomed’. Why did Buffy change her mind? Just because The Apocalypse didn’t happen? No one knows, because she doesn’t say. Anyway, that question was the starting point for this post - what does Buffy see in Riley that makes him worthwhile to pursue?
The thing is - Riley is a nice guy. It’s his defining characteristic. He’s honest, straightforward, smart, good at what he does, honourable - a very old-fashioned kinda guy, really.( Read more... )
The thing is - Riley is a nice guy. It’s his defining characteristic. He’s honest, straightforward, smart, good at what he does, honourable - a very old-fashioned kinda guy, really.( Read more... )
The thing that bothers a lot of people, at least the thing that bothers me, is that he thinks he’s got Buffy figured out fairly swiftly. This is where the fact that he works from logic comes in - he analyses the facts and comes to a conclusion. And he’s a smart guy, because he gets it right most of the time. But this does not impress Buffy at all, because Buffy doesn’t work off logic in the same way - she works off emotions. See Spike gives Buffy a couple of speeches as well in his time, and they make a far deeper impression. Spike works from emotions just like Buffy - time and feelings and experiences all accumulate so that his words carry far more weight. We see this most clearly in the ‘You’re a martyr’ talks:
Riley: “I know that it’s not just a job thing. I’m sure that there is some good looking guy that done you wrong in there, too. But mostly I think you want to stay down in that dark place because maybe it’s safer down there.”
Buffy: “You are so out of line.”
Riley: “No. See I don’t think so."
‘Doomed’
Spike: You're addicted to the misery. It's why you won't tell your pals about us. Might actually have to be happy if you did. They'd either understand and help you, god forbid ... or drive you out ... where you can finally be at peace, in the dark. With me. Either way, you'd be better off for it, but you're too twisted for that. Let yourself live, already. And stop with the bloody hero trip for a sec. We'd all be the better for it.
‘Normal Again’
The odd thing is, that the first speech really irks people (the second one might also, but for different reasons). Because surely we should be happy that Buffy has found a guy who is smart enough to figure out her problems (‘cause he’s pretty accurate). But there are two reasons why this doesn’t work:
1) Riley (being a psych student) is able to ‘diagnose’ Buffy pretty quickly. The problem is that he doesn’t know why she has these problems. He makes a stab in the dark (I’m sure that there is some good looking guy that done you wrong in there, too), but he has no idea how deeply Buffy was hurt by Angel or what Slaying has done to her. Which brings me to point #2...
2) He hasn’t earned the right to speak up like that. Spike in ‘Normal Again’ has earned that right and more besides. If he’s right or wrong is beside the point - he knows Buffy. At this point (‘Doomed’) Riley does not. It’s what I like to call ‘The L’Oreal Factor’ - ‘because he’s worth it’. Riley is in essence saying ‘I’m a great guy, you should date me.’ It’s completely unconscious, a natural by-product of his upbringing, training and environment: He deserves good things. He really is the anti-Angel who always felt unworthy of Buffy. ETA: In one word: Privilege.
We see these two factors again in ‘As You Were’ and ‘Touched’:
RILEY: Buffy, none of that means anything. It doesn't touch you. You're still the first woman I ever loved ... and the strongest woman I've ever known. [...] You're up, you're down ... it doesn't change what you are. And you are a hell of a woman.
SPIKE: I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman.
Riley in AYW is saying that he still sees the woman Buffy used to be in the woman she’s become. This is helpful to Buffy, who feels she has lost touch with everything she once was. But it is also emphatically the view of an outsider - someone taking a swift glance at the situation and coming to a quick conclusion. Riley has no idea of the depression Buffy is struggling with, or any of the events that led to her and Spike getting together. Something happened, and he brushes it aside because he’s sure it’s just a momentary thing, something she can get over. Riley sees her problems as external - something that happened to her (“I know I’m lucky right now...”). But S6 isn’t about Buffy being ‘unlucky’ - it’s about battling the darkness inside.
In ‘Touched’ Spike expresses something very different. Years worth of (intimate) knowledge come together. And he says that who she is - the good, the bad, the ugly - it’s all worthwhile, it’s all loveable. They both know that her problems are internal, that she has a lot of darkness inside, that she cuts herself off. Spike says that he loves her anyway - and not in spite of these things, but because of them - because they’re part of her. To borrow the half-remembered lyrics of a song (thanks to Rhiannonhero):
When I fell for her
I fell for her hard
From the beauty in her eyes
to every small battle scar
The battles that Buffy has had to fight have made her who she is - and that is the person that Spike loves. She wouldn’t be Buffy without her scars.
Which brings me to some of the most telling dialogue. The first is from the beginning of ‘Doomed’:
Riley: But I’m a walking bruise today. [...] I don’t see a scratch on you.
Buffy: You’re not looking hard enough.
Riley: I’m looking pretty hard.
This reminds me of ‘Something Blue’ and Spike’s effortless insight:
Giles: She [Willow] seems to be coping better with Oz's departure, don't you think?
Buffy: She still has a way to go, but yeah — I think she's dealing.
Spike: What, are you people blind? She's hangin' on by a thread. Any ninny can see that.
Riley takes things at face value. He asses situations and reacts accordingly - tallies up strengths and weaknesses. Logical. Straightforward.
Spike always looks beneath. This is partly because of his inherent poet nature, and partly because he leads a dangerous life. He’s managed to stay alive for a long time because he works out what makes people tick, not just what physical strengths they have. We see this most clearly in his fight with Nikki - logically she should have won. But she didn’t. Spike has learned to exploit his opponents weaknesses, how to get under their skin. And boy does he get under Riley’s skin. The chaos element of Buffy is what Riley can’t understand - what intrigues him - and Spike says that this is what she has in common with vampires - that there is a link there that Riley can never hope to get near:
Spike: Face it, white bread. Buffy's got a type, and you're not it. She likes us dangerous, rough, occasionally bumpy in the forehead region. Not that she doesn't like you ... but sorry Charlie, you're just not dark enough.
‘Shadow’
So Riley tries, and we all know the outcome of that. Buffy uses the chaos, but Riley gets used by it. He tries to be different, without understanding that if she can’t love him for who he is, it can never work. Spike saw this in ‘Lovers Walk’:
Spike: I've been all wrongheaded about this. Weeping, crawling, blaming everybody else. I want Dru back, I've just gotta be the man I was. The man she loved.
Buffy fell for Riley because he was a good man. Trying to be bad was never going to work in a million years.
Riley: “I know that it’s not just a job thing. I’m sure that there is some good looking guy that done you wrong in there, too. But mostly I think you want to stay down in that dark place because maybe it’s safer down there.”
Buffy: “You are so out of line.”
Riley: “No. See I don’t think so."
‘Doomed’
Spike: You're addicted to the misery. It's why you won't tell your pals about us. Might actually have to be happy if you did. They'd either understand and help you, god forbid ... or drive you out ... where you can finally be at peace, in the dark. With me. Either way, you'd be better off for it, but you're too twisted for that. Let yourself live, already. And stop with the bloody hero trip for a sec. We'd all be the better for it.
‘Normal Again’
The odd thing is, that the first speech really irks people (the second one might also, but for different reasons). Because surely we should be happy that Buffy has found a guy who is smart enough to figure out her problems (‘cause he’s pretty accurate). But there are two reasons why this doesn’t work:
1) Riley (being a psych student) is able to ‘diagnose’ Buffy pretty quickly. The problem is that he doesn’t know why she has these problems. He makes a stab in the dark (I’m sure that there is some good looking guy that done you wrong in there, too), but he has no idea how deeply Buffy was hurt by Angel or what Slaying has done to her. Which brings me to point #2...
2) He hasn’t earned the right to speak up like that. Spike in ‘Normal Again’ has earned that right and more besides. If he’s right or wrong is beside the point - he knows Buffy. At this point (‘Doomed’) Riley does not. It’s what I like to call ‘The L’Oreal Factor’ - ‘because he’s worth it’. Riley is in essence saying ‘I’m a great guy, you should date me.’ It’s completely unconscious, a natural by-product of his upbringing, training and environment: He deserves good things. He really is the anti-Angel who always felt unworthy of Buffy. ETA: In one word: Privilege.
We see these two factors again in ‘As You Were’ and ‘Touched’:
RILEY: Buffy, none of that means anything. It doesn't touch you. You're still the first woman I ever loved ... and the strongest woman I've ever known. [...] You're up, you're down ... it doesn't change what you are. And you are a hell of a woman.
SPIKE: I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman.
Riley in AYW is saying that he still sees the woman Buffy used to be in the woman she’s become. This is helpful to Buffy, who feels she has lost touch with everything she once was. But it is also emphatically the view of an outsider - someone taking a swift glance at the situation and coming to a quick conclusion. Riley has no idea of the depression Buffy is struggling with, or any of the events that led to her and Spike getting together. Something happened, and he brushes it aside because he’s sure it’s just a momentary thing, something she can get over. Riley sees her problems as external - something that happened to her (“I know I’m lucky right now...”). But S6 isn’t about Buffy being ‘unlucky’ - it’s about battling the darkness inside.
In ‘Touched’ Spike expresses something very different. Years worth of (intimate) knowledge come together. And he says that who she is - the good, the bad, the ugly - it’s all worthwhile, it’s all loveable. They both know that her problems are internal, that she has a lot of darkness inside, that she cuts herself off. Spike says that he loves her anyway - and not in spite of these things, but because of them - because they’re part of her. To borrow the half-remembered lyrics of a song (thanks to Rhiannonhero):
When I fell for her
I fell for her hard
From the beauty in her eyes
to every small battle scar
The battles that Buffy has had to fight have made her who she is - and that is the person that Spike loves. She wouldn’t be Buffy without her scars.
Which brings me to some of the most telling dialogue. The first is from the beginning of ‘Doomed’:
Riley: But I’m a walking bruise today. [...] I don’t see a scratch on you.
Buffy: You’re not looking hard enough.
Riley: I’m looking pretty hard.
This reminds me of ‘Something Blue’ and Spike’s effortless insight:
Giles: She [Willow] seems to be coping better with Oz's departure, don't you think?
Buffy: She still has a way to go, but yeah — I think she's dealing.
Spike: What, are you people blind? She's hangin' on by a thread. Any ninny can see that.
Riley takes things at face value. He asses situations and reacts accordingly - tallies up strengths and weaknesses. Logical. Straightforward.
Spike always looks beneath. This is partly because of his inherent poet nature, and partly because he leads a dangerous life. He’s managed to stay alive for a long time because he works out what makes people tick, not just what physical strengths they have. We see this most clearly in his fight with Nikki - logically she should have won. But she didn’t. Spike has learned to exploit his opponents weaknesses, how to get under their skin. And boy does he get under Riley’s skin. The chaos element of Buffy is what Riley can’t understand - what intrigues him - and Spike says that this is what she has in common with vampires - that there is a link there that Riley can never hope to get near:
Spike: Face it, white bread. Buffy's got a type, and you're not it. She likes us dangerous, rough, occasionally bumpy in the forehead region. Not that she doesn't like you ... but sorry Charlie, you're just not dark enough.
‘Shadow’
So Riley tries, and we all know the outcome of that. Buffy uses the chaos, but Riley gets used by it. He tries to be different, without understanding that if she can’t love him for who he is, it can never work. Spike saw this in ‘Lovers Walk’:
Spike: I've been all wrongheaded about this. Weeping, crawling, blaming everybody else. I want Dru back, I've just gotta be the man I was. The man she loved.
Buffy fell for Riley because he was a good man. Trying to be bad was never going to work in a million years.
~~~
To be honest I don’t know if they could ever have worked it out. I don’t think so. (Also Riley is dull. Oh - and does anyone have any thoughts on Sam as Lois Lane?)
But finally, just two quotes that illustrate my point perfectly:
RILEY: Hey! You want me to say that I liked seeing you in bed with that idiot? Or that blinding orange is your very best color? Or that that ... burger smell is appealing?
‘As You Were’
SPIKE: (softly) She was so raw. I've never felt anything like it.
‘Entropy’
Riley sees the symptoms. Spike sees the cause. That’s the difference. And that’s why Riley and Buffy don’t work out.
The End
But finally, just two quotes that illustrate my point perfectly:
RILEY: Hey! You want me to say that I liked seeing you in bed with that idiot? Or that blinding orange is your very best color? Or that that ... burger smell is appealing?
‘As You Were’
SPIKE: (softly) She was so raw. I've never felt anything like it.
‘Entropy’
Riley sees the symptoms. Spike sees the cause. That’s the difference. And that’s why Riley and Buffy don’t work out.
The End
