25 Years Ago Today, Buffy Got Rid of a Controversial Character (And Their Return Would Eventually Be Great)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer may be one of the best TV shows of all time, but not every character is equally loved. That’s particularly true of Buffy’s love interests, where the fandom tends to splinter apart. Some believe Buffy is better with Angel, others ship Buffy with Spike, and the debate can get pretty fierce. But there’s one character who most viewers tend to agree was unsuited to Buffy: Marc Blucas’ Riley Finn, Buffy’s principal love interest in Season 5.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5 marked something of a transition point for the show, as the main characters moved out of high school at last. The plots become darker and more sophisticated, and Buffy deals with personal issues that come from maturing as much as she does with vampires and monsters. Season 5 has some of the best episodes of all time – think “The Body” and “Hush.” But it also has Riley, a controversial and unpopular character who was written out 25 years ago today.

Why Was Riley So Unpopular in Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Riley was introduced as a welcome shot of normality for Buffy, a college relationship with a guy who had nothing at all to do with vampires and monsters. What’s more, at first he seemed like a decent guy, punching another student for making a sexist joke. The problem, though, is that this persona is eventually revealed to be little more than his version of Clark Kent, because he has a true identity – and he’s no Superman, he’s a monster-hunter, part of a government group called the Initiative.

Buffy has somehow managed to find the one guy in university whose life was always destined to collide with her own. The inevitable finally happened in “Hush,” a wonderful episode that stripped Sunnydale residents of the ability to speak as a symbol of the communication problems Buffy and Riley were dealing with because of their mutual secrecy. They prove to be a pretty formidable team, working well together, and start opening up to one another. But there’s a new tension there, as each struggles to incorporate the other into their lives.

Riley gradually transformed, manifesting more than a little toxic masculinity in his insecurity after Buffy visits Angel; she rightly accuses him of “testosterone poisoning.” He slept with Faith while she’s in Buffy’s body, completely failing to take notice of how out-of-character she seemed – or rather, perhaps, completely failing to care. To be fair, Riley is never portrayed as an outright villain or bad guy, but rather simply as a complex person who’s spiraling, and whose own character flaws are gradually dominating. The man Buffy loved was still there, but that goodness was being overwhelmed.

Buffy Finally Confronted Riley

It all came to a head 25 years ago, in the episode “Into the Woods.” Buffy learned Riley’s darkest truth, that he’d started to look to vampire bits to get a cheap thrill he wasn’t getting from his relationship with her. The inevitable confrontation didn’t exactly go well, with all Riley’s worst traits manifesting as he accused Buffy of not being truly committed to their relationship. During the heated, emotional argument, Buffy inadvertently put her finger on the truth; Riley couldn’t deal with the fact she’s stronger, tougher, and more capable than he is.

There’s a sense in which this had been foreshadowed right from the start, when Riley first introduced Buffy to Professor Walsh, his superior. Walsh bragged about how competent and capable Riley was, revealing he’d captured or killed seventeen different vampires and monsters. Buffy’s underwhelmed reaction was amusing to watch; seventeen is basically a slow weekend for the Vampire Slayer, not something to boast about. Though she and Riley operated in the same world, she is the Slayer, and she was so much more than he could ever handle.

To be fair, Riley did have some good points during that final argument with Buffy. The Slayer is a unique role, and Buffy has been trained for years to stand alone, to hold parts of herself back from others because they can’t possibly understand what she deals with every day of the week. But Riley immediately demonstrated the hypocrisy of his complaint, revealing the Initiative wanted to ship him out on assignment that very night, and he broke the news as part of an absurd ultimatum. It was a heartbreaking scene.

“Into the Woods” ends in a shocking way, though. Xander – a character whose own legacy is far from stellar – called Buffy out, and she decides to go to Riley after all. She was too late, arriving after he’s already gone. The scene turns the episode into something even darker, stripping Buffy even of the agency to respond to Riley’s ultimatum, because in the end her own choice does not matter. It’s a suitably dramatic way to end the high school romance plot, but it carries some pretty harsh undertones.

Could Riley Return in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Revival?

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival is in the works, helmed by Chloé Zhao. In a recent interview, Zhao spoke out about whether she’s Team Angel or Team Spike, admitting she prefers Buffy to be with Spike. Oddly enough, though, Zhao admitted she’s come to like Riley; “I actually, in my 40s, appreciated Riley more… When I was younger, I thought, ‘kind of boring. I prefer Spike. And now I’m older, go like, ‘You know what? Maybe a little less Spike, a little more Riley.’”

These comments have naturally led to speculation that an older Riley could return in the Buffy revival, teaming up with Ryan Kiera Armstrong’s new Slayer named Nova. It would make sense for him to have stayed in the vampire-hunting business, after all; he was clearly addicted to action, regardless of whether he chose to stay with Buffy or not. The Initiative could easily serve as potential allies or even rivals for the Slayers, and that would be a fun twist; exploring Buffy’s own legacy through her impact on Riley.

If Zhao does bring back Riley, she’ll need to handle him with care. The character was a complex and divisive one, and he left in an ugly scene that can’t simply be overlooked. But a well-handled return would only underline how great an episode “Into the Woods” really is, turning this particular past adventure into a prologue for something that we all hope will be just as good.

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