Something strange I noticed about Buffy the Vampire Slayer.?
I didnt hate Riley, but I definitely found him bland. I also didnt care for the fact that he was a graduate student teaching assistant who began dating one of his freshman students. (Really, the entire show was a little creepy about this both the Buffy/Riley relationship and the Cordelia/Wesley flirtation were treated as just its sexy because its technically forbidden rather than an actual ethical problem.) Also, the fact that his defining characteristic post-Initiative was insecure about not being as strong as Buffy was not really endearing. For the most part, the rest of the Scoobies were fairly normal for most of the series, but they still managed to contribute. Riley feeling sorry for himself because he was only a buff human trained soldier wasnt very sympathetic. (Hell, Xanders superpower was that he sometimes had the knowledge and abilities of a solider Riley had that full-time plus some residual abilities from the Initiative drugs.) I say all this as someone who thinks the Buffy-Angel romance was highly overrated (and yes, also rather creepy in the beginning), though Im sure that for many other fans, nobody who wasnt Angel would have been satisfactory. Mostly I just think Buffy had terrible taste in men. Honestly, the best part of Rileys arc for me was the end of it. His realization that his girlfriend was still pining for her ex (Angel) and intrigued by another guy (Spike), and that she didnt love him the way he loved her, was the first time I really felt for the guy.