Willow and Riley?

[Miss Muffet]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think Willow and Riley would have made a good couple? They're personalities seem to fit with the 'they fight monsters, but never forget their homework' vibe. Also, when a Dingoes Ate My Baby song came on at that party from 4x07 and it made Willow upset, Riley had the music cut, no questions asked.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think Willow and Riley would have made a good couple?

Yes, I've said that before. And the two of them, in the few scenes they shared, seemed to have better chemistry.

 

[DeadlyDuo]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think Willow and Riley would have made a good couple? They're personalities seem to fit with the 'they fight monsters, but never forget their homework' vibe. Also, when a Dingoes Ate My Baby song came on at that party from 4x07 and it made Willow upset, Riley had the music cut, no questions asked.

I think they would've been better suited than Riley and Buffy. Willow has the brains which Riley doesn't have whilst Riley has the brawn which Willow doesn't have. Both fulfil a capacity the other doesn't. Riley wouldn't feel threatened by Willow because he would be "needed" to deal with the more physical side of fighting monsters. Buffy didn't "need" Riley and he couldn't deal with it.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Do they get along better than Buffy and Riley? Sure, but don't forget, Buffy and Riley got along in the beginning as well. We never saw Willow have to deal with the Riley that wanted to demand that she need him if a major problem came up. Nor did we ever get his opinion on magic - that would have become a problem for him just like it was for Tara. Amy might have had another rat to join her in the Habitrail. And I am surprised no one has mentioned the real showstopper:

Gay now.

How would Riley have handled that? Some "pray the gay away" conversion therapy? Although he was a TA in psychology, there are some psychologists that believe conversion therapy is effective and he would have tried to change Willow around to what he thought was "right". After all, he is a self-defined corn-fed Iowa boy and no one there flaunts being gay. And what about Willow almost putting the spell on Oz and Veruca that would prevent them from ever knowing love again? Do we really want to subject Riley (or anyone) to that?

 

[Priceless]

I think they would make a good couple right up to the point when Riley realises how deeply Willow is into the magics. I think that would be a deal breaker for Riley. He likes simplicity and to know where he stands, I don't think a relationship with a witch would suit him, and would probably stress him out and eventually make him incredibly paranoid. As for his effect on Willow, at first she'd try to hide her magics (just as Buffy hid her strength) but that couldn't last and she'd end up turning him into a water cooler or something, thereby guaranteeing the end of the relationship.

 

[DeepBlueJoy]

Temperamentally, they are a better fit than Buffy and Riley. I dont see Willow as straight, so I wont ship, but if someone wanted them together, they are plausible.

I like the idea of Riley with someone not Buffy, however. In one of my stories,(After Midnight, posted on TtH) I put him with Faith (non murderous in this case).

 

[Puppet]

I've always, always, wanted the show to have done this. The chemistry was way better than Riley and Buffy, and it wouldn't be forever; we'd still get Willow and Tara in the latter half of S4.

 

[sweetiepie]

Willow is lesbian.

 

[sweetiepie]

Willow is lesbian.

Is Willow bisexual?

 

[nightshade]

Are we talking right after Oz has left? Or is Willow and Oz ending because of her and Riley, I would prefer that to the ending we got with Oz.

 

[Puppet]

Are we talking right after Oz has left? Or is Willow and Oz ending because of her and Riley, I would prefer that to the ending we got with Oz.

My thought is that, when Riley goes to the dorm room to recruit a sad Willow in getting Buffy's attention, they instead find that they have great chemistry and like being in each others company and so they start dating.

 

[thrasherpix]

I'm sure it's unpopular, but I'd have liked the Veruca arc to have been longer, in part because Oz was actually becoming interesting rather than a nice background character, and opens the possibility of a werewolf able to gain greater control over their changes and what they do in wolf form, easily adapted from what actually did happen with Oz when he returned later. I'm fine with the rest. (That said, my vote was for "Yes, but they're better with someone else.")

But it just occurs to me that it might've been more interesting if say Willow saved Riley from a werewolf with magic, and then Riley has to figure out what to do about her...only to later find out that the Slayer the monsters keep going on about is real.

 

[Puppet]

I'm sure it's unpopular, but I'd have liked the Veruca arc to have been longer

It actually was meant to. That's why the built-up took more episodes than the actual events of Wild at Heart, but when Seth Green asked to be let out of his contract early, they had to hurry and compress it. Veruca was meant to be at least a half-season, if not a full-season, arc.

 

[TamsinValencia]

I could not see that at all. I can't see any chemistry between them at all.

 

[afanofbuffy]

Willow and Riley!? What!?

 

[Ethan Reigns]

It sounds like a spreadsheet where all the character names are printed in horizontal rows and vertical columns and you just pick an arbitrary intersection. Then you could write a story around it. Like Clem and Joyce, what a perfect couple, her only interaction with a cat was in Dead Man's Party and she didn't like it and Clem eats cats. What a perfect couple! Willow and Riley were one such intersection.

 

[thrasherpix]

I understand why some think so. Riley showed Willow more understanding than her other friends, including Buffy herself. And even when Willow was drowning in her grief, she did something unusual and helped someone who was practically a stranger to her which isn't her normal behavior (though she's helpful to those she's loyal to)...more than once.

It was also nice that the pair seemed able to talk to each other like sensible, intelligent human beings without the drama, but then love is a curse in the Buffyverse so maybe the fact they could is proof that they couldn't be in love (or it would go bad fast if they did).

And from a metastory perspective, the writers wouldn't have to assassinate his character to make room for (quasi) Spuffy. Though it would feel different without Tara or Oz (but at least Riley would strike me as more believable than Tara for coming down hard on Willow for even when magic made sense).

Also, the writers made Riley needy. Well Willow would be as needy as he wanted (and though a witch, at least she's not as strong or tough physically) so it does seem it would work out better, at least going by the story we got. And Riley is pretty smart, not as much as Willow, but enough to keep up (and she'd probably like being intellectually stronger as Riley does in being more capable physically and in combat), and given Professor Walsh, Riley shouldn't have a problem with someone like Willow who would demand a lot of his time and yet also be assertive, potentially domineering at times. (Though Riley could leave for the same reason Tara did, especially if Riley was brain sucked by Glory on top of the mind control chip he endured in s4.)

We should be spared the "cutesy" way she had of talking with Oz and Tara. The more I think about it, the more I'm curious about what could've been.

 

[Plasma]

It sounds like a spreadsheet where all the character names are printed in horizontal rows and vertical columns and you just pick an arbitrary intersection. Then you could write a story around it. Like Clem and Joyce, what a perfect couple, her only interaction with a cat was in Dead Man's Party and she didn't like it and Clem eats cats. What a perfect couple! Willow and Riley were one such intersection.

Honestly you could throw every character name into a hat and draw two and somehow still end up with interesting relationships and pairings.

I mean, yes there’s the creepy nonsense like Snyder and Buffy (🤢), but a lot of the characters have good romantic chemistry with each other.

 

[Tome]

I vote for Dark Willow and Faith. 😄

I always got friendly vibes between Riley and Willow, nothing more.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Yeah. Willow's solution to Oz was to throw herself headfirst into witchcraft, neopaganism and by extension, Tara. So, new hobby, new LTR to go with it. Had she ended up with Riley? First of all, Riley also wants an long term relationship. I mean, that's pretty clear. Second, what we forget about Riley is that he is a G.A. They are going to hang out with other TAs and academics, and Wil throws herself headlong into it. Since a studious Willow who's hanging out with her intellectual peers and working towards graduate school gets her away from magic, I would say she's in a much better place. Dr. Walsh never feels threatened by her, never activates Adam. When Buffy dies in season 5, it's a girl she's moved a away from, everyone accepts her death, the Watchers spring Faith, and the Scoobies move on. Ril and Wil have an interfaith wedding, have a few kids, it's Lilly and Marshall Beta version.