Characterization In The Buffyverse — ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ Season 5, Episode 10

This is part of a bi-weekly series concerning the characterization of Buffyverse characters. Arguably the best place to begin reading this series is at the beginning, but that is up to each reader. As a reminder this column will cover major and some minor characters from the shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Angel (1999-2004). Other Buffyverse media, such as the graphic novel Spike: Into The Light (2014) are not pertinent to this series. Also there will be no referencing real world events that have direct relation to either show in this bi-weekly series. Although this series does reference things that have no direct relation to the show in order to examine things such as metaphors and literary analogues.

This week: Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Riley Finn (Marc Blucas) break-up with each other. Also, Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) gives an opinion on the break-up.

(Warning of spoilers from this point on!)

(Trigger warning for mentions of gaslighting, victim blaming, and stalking)

Joyce Summers (Kristine Sutherland) makes an appearance in this episode, but it is more to give false hope about her continuing to survive than then anything else. She displays some personality, but is otherwise not too notable.

Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg) acts like a typical teenager. However, her presence here does not add much to her overall characterization, and it absolutely fails to add to the plot.

Buffy begins to trust Spike (James Marsters) despite repeatedly randomly showing up in her house (Season 5, Episode 9, “Listening To Fear”). This trust is on display by the fact that she follows him out to the vampire suckhouse when previously she would assume he would lead her to a trap. Despite Riley’s accusations, she does show love for him when they are alone in her home. Nevertheless, there is some truth to her acting like he is convenient while she converses with Joyce. Her quick dusting of the gang of vampires suggests she could be more efficient on patrols involving most vampires. Lastly, her caving to Riley and Xander’s emotional manipulation is a plot contrivance, but one that fits with her abandonment issues (Season 1, Episode 10, “Nightmares”).

Riley faces some consequences for his supernatural type of cheating. While this occurs, he tries gaslighting Buffy about the situation by putting the blame on her. Yet, his jealousy about her past experiences with vampires and her strength are the root causes of their problems. His giving a very sudden final demand to Buffy insisting she give him another chance or he will leave is also very toxic. Lastly, he becomes a puppet of the plot since he does not kill Spike, but instead commits a tiny bit of torture before having a conversation.

Spike stalking Buffy is toxic and there is no excuse for it. Still, he is a bit of a hero. Without his behavior, Buffy would not know about Riley until he would inevitably be dead or undead. Spike’s other actions regarding her make him appear like an awkward teenager trying to simply pull up the courage to talk to their crush. When it comes to antagonizing Riley post-stabbing, it is a bad idea that Spike only survives due to plot dictations. Spike is perceptive when pointing out that Riley and Buffy’s romance would never last. Finally, his admittance that he probably has no chance with Buffy is realistic at this point … even though it will not stay true.

Xander essentially victim-blames Buffy by saying she should forgive Riley and rush after him. He also gaslights her by accusing her of being mentally ill. He also seems to realize that Riley is a visitor of the vampire suckhouse when Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and Buffy are discussing it. Yet, whether or not he put two-and-two together in some mysterious fashion will always remain unclear. What is clear: he puts Riley’s thoughts and feelings before Buffy’s while not knowing the whole situation. This makes him, among other things, a disloyal friend.

Giles serves to provide expository dialogue on the vampire suckhouses being a common thing. During this dialogue, he also reveals a throwaway detail about his past as Ripper which very slightly grows his character.

Anya’s (Emma Caulfield Ford) inability to relate to children is very apparent in this episode. There is a dichotomy to this trait; she is over a thousand years old, so it is understandable, but this also means Xander is a figurative zygote in comparison to her. Thus, how she is able to relate to him and him to her is a bit of a mystery. Unless one considers that her dumbing down in intelligence is a xenophobic bit of characterization. In that light, she is the supernatural equivalent of a stereotypical immigrant romantic partner who cannot fully speak a language nor understand the customs they are now experiencing.

Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) exists here to make a joke that helps establish some animosity between her and Anya that will play out in their next appearance (Season 5, Episode 11, “Triangle”). Otherwise, she has little-to-no purpose.

Major Ellis (Nick Chinlund) and Graham Miller (Bailey Chase) are kind of similar to the character Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna) from the Rambo franchise (Rambo: First Blood Part II [1985]). They served with Riley Finn in military operations for the United States of America and get him to come back to the military.

Dr. Aaron Kriegel (Randy Thompson) is a generic television show doctor. That said, his presence establishes the timeline between this episode and the last one while also giving false hope about Joyce surviving from this point forward.

Whip (Emmanuel Xuereb), the tough vamp (Adam Gifford), and the junkie vampire girl (Rainy Jo Stout) are three of the suckhouse vampires. They serve as physical antagonists for Buffy to release some rage on.

While this episode is arguably pivotal for the show and its characters, it fails to really grow them. It also is exemplary of the lack of proper communication between characters while prominently displaying the toxic traits certain characters have.