He and Buffy do eventually fall in love, however. As a soldier, Riley calls her self-absorbed and determines she stays in the darkness because she's scared of reality. These traits do not paint a picture of a toxic boyfriend, but Riley's role in Buffy's life is just as toxic as it is endearing.īuffy initially concludes that their differences (her being the slayer and him being a demon hunter) make them incompatible as a couple. He later punched Parker Abrams who compare girls to toilet seats, and risked his hard-earned career to save Oz in his werewolf form. Apart from being human, he first came into Buffy's life by saving her best friend from being hit by a car. Of Buffy's onscreen love interests, Riley Finn (played by Marc Blucas) is an outlier on many fronts. In the end, their dynamic is not conducive to a healthy relationship. Despite there being ways to explain all that goes on between them, it does not excuse their actions. Their history as enemies runs too deep, overshadowing any good that could evolve. Ultimately, this act proves how dangerous their liaisons with one another have become and brings with it the realization that they will always hurt each other. In Season 6, Episode 19 "Seeing Red", Spike sexually assaults Buffy, which is a shocking moment for Buffy and fans of the show alike.
They fall into bed together only to fall right back out, with Buffy often physically and verbally attacking Spike in the aftermath. In Buffy Season 6, their dynamic is thrown into an abusive cycle where they communicate solely through anger. This mutuality, however, extends to their toxicity as a couple. Spike has an innate ability to read Buffy, often better than she can read herself. They are both drawn to the darkness of life, and both want to better themselves. Admittedly, Spike is the romantic interest with whom Buffy shares the most mutual understanding. He also becomes obsessive in his attempts to coerce her to admit she reciprocates his feelings, Spike tries to kiss Buffy between breaths of admission that he has already killed two slayers prior to her. After discovering he has "fallen in love" with Buffy, Spike builds a shrine to her. Whereas Angel seeks redemption to firmly plant his feet on the side of good, Spike adapts to whatever persona will grant him survival. All the while he continues to psychologically torture Buffy for months on end before having his soul restored. This includes victims who resemble Buffy and people she cares about. This event causes Angel to lose his soul and subsequently venture on a killing spree. Whilst toxicity within the relationship has always been present, the most poignant example of it occurs when Buffy and Angel sleep together for the first-time. He often believes she is not capable of handling herself, even treating her like a child. The imbalance is furthered by Angel treating Buffy as someone who needs to be saved. Whilst Angel remains hot and cold, Buffy's self-confidence is destroyed, within the emotional parameters of the term. He admits to falling in love with her the first time he saw her - when she was 15 - and she struggles with her feelings for him. All I want is you."Īdditionally, much of their beginning is blurred by Angel's constant warnings against Buffy pursuing him and his simultaneous hopefulness that she does, despite his protests.
Buffy becomes heavily co-dependent on Angel, most notably in the Season 2 episode "Bad Eggs" when Buffy says "Angel, when I look into the future all I see is you. The age gap alone creates a significant power imbalance in the relationship, and they're not emotionally in the same place. This means he was still 10 years older than Buffy when he ceased to be human. This could probably be overlooked since Angel is a vampire, but he was turned at age 26. To start with, Buffy is 16 years old when she embarks on her relationship with Angel, who is 241. However, upon closer inspection of their relationship, major red flags begin to appear. They shouldn't be in love nor desire each other, yet, they do. In a parallel straight from a Shakespearean text, they are star-crossed lovers: he's a vampire, and she's the slayer.
#SPIKE TV GONE SERIES#
On the surface, Buffy Summers and Angel (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz respectively) seem like a perfect match, especially within the confines of a young adult coming-of-age television series in the 1990s.
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