[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement:
Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor
of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users'
privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your
privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket
to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we
also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.
Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your
contribution is not tax-deductible.)
PayPal Acct: 
Feedback: 
Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):
[ Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message ]
Date Posted: 21:42:30 08/03/05 Wed
Author: sparkle- I know I rarely delurk, but it popped in my head
Author Host/IP: 24.107.144.230
Subject: So, did anyone ever find out who William the Poet was?
Was there anything definitive on who posted those wonderful little posts *veg* on that other board? Just curious. Another question, did you feel bad for Riley or for Buffy regarding the end of their relationship? Also just curious since I happend to catch the season in rerun recently.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Replies:
[>
I felt bad for both but I have a feeling the thread will get ugly. -- Christian, 22:04:31 08/03/05 Wed [1] (209.240.205.62)
[ Edit | View ]
[>
REALLY! Oh, man I wasn't thinking along those lines!!! -- sparkle *jeez* I'm on med's I'm sorry. Please let it go!, 22:18:38 08/03/05 Wed [1] (24.107.144.230)
I was just watching thinking, they both have valid points. Yes Buffy was emotionally unavailable, but she was taking care of her mom and dealing with the whole KEY issue. Yet It thought, as I do on most shows, if you just come out and say it, just let it out, it's better than not. ANYway, sorry if I brought up a sore subject. I don't frequent other boards so I'm behind on what camp hates what camp. *damn*
[ Edit | View ]
[> [>
LoL! Nah, it's cool. I liked Marc Blucas and Riley, -- Christian, 22:27:50 08/03/05 Wed [1] (209.240.205.62)
But the problem was that there was no chemistry between him and SMG/Buffy. And Buffy trying to start the "dating game" again after her "Angel" breakup made "Riley" a boring character. Angel was a hard act to follow. But he was a really nice guy.
It's just that some here are not too fond of Riley.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [>
I felt bad for both of them . . . -- Marie, 23:18:47 08/03/05 Wed [1] (4.228.141.48)
although I will admit that if you have to pick someone to blame, I tend to blame Riley. I also freely admit that some of my resentment stems from the writers talking about how wonderful he was. I liked him, but, well, didn't really see the wonder, and as for the ful? Nope. He was a regular guy--and that's okay, except he was a regular guy that came too soon after the rebound guy, who came too soon after Angel.
To me, both characters seemed to be in love with some idea of the other--not really in love with each other. Buffy was the pretty, perky blonde that shared Riley's interest in making the world a better place; Riley was the normal guy who could go on picnics but did a really great field dressing if needed.
But when it comes to the breakup? Yeah, I tend to favor Buffy a little. In his defense, she should have been more open. She did shut down emotionally, and as a result he was shut out. However, he never told her he felt that way. She never had a chance to change. Then, he "cheated" (at least, that's how the show presented it) on her while her Mom was in the hospital, possibly dying.
He's harder for me to sympathize with.
[ Edit | View ]
[>
Re: So, did anyone ever find out who William the Poet was? -- Eurydice, 23:04:57 08/03/05 Wed [1] (141.154.23.82)
I felt bad for Riley. He loved Buffy, but she didn't love him. And yeah, he had issues and cheated on Buffy with the vamp ho, but he was still more emotionally invested in the relationship than Buffy was.
And from Buffy's point of view, after she got over the momentary pang of "how DARE a guy leave ME?!!" I figured she was kind of relieved to get that emotionally needy guy off her back so she could concentrate on more important things, so I didn't feel bad for her.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [>
Even if Riley was more invested in the relationship . . . -- Marie, 23:31:13 08/03/05 Wed [1] (4.228.141.48)
that happens. Relationships do have up and downs. Six months before, Buffy seemed pretty invested. The problem is--while they might have been invested in the relationship (Okay. So tired of that phrase now, but am not able to think of a better one right now. Sorry.)I'm not sure either one was invested in who the actual person in the relationship.
I'm not sure it's fair to judge Buffy's emotional ties to Riley based on Riley's own insecurities, and Buffy's own tendencies to introvert during emotional crisis. Introverting doesn't mean you're not invested--it just means you're not always able to open up. And some of not falling into despair over his departure (Alliteration is fun.)can easily be attributed to the KeyDawn explosions that happened fairly quickly afterwards.
Further, Riley wrote the relationship off pretty quickly, too. He never told Buffy he was having any of these problems--she never had a chance to address them. Plus, for someone so emotionally invested, he and the Sambot got married very quickly. You could get backlash from his rebound time. (Of course, that doesn't stress me too much. It lends itself rather nicely to my "They weren't in love with each other. They were in love with love." theory.)
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [>
Well, that wasn't really the question -- Eurydice, 00:30:07 08/04/05 Thu [1] (141.154.23.82)
The question was which one did I feel sorry for at the moment when the relationship ended - and that's not a matter of logical analysis of their entire relationship or a comparison of their individual personality traits, it's just a matter of which character tugged my heart strings at the time they broke up. All I know is that I felt as if Riley cared more for Buffy at that time than she cared for him, and that I had a greater emotional reaction to his pain than I did to hers.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [> [>
Well, darn! I like to argue. How can I argue when you're being nice? ; ) -- Marie, 06:30:36 08/04/05 Thu [1] (4.228.141.70)
[ Edit | View ]
[>
I felt bad for Buffy -- Gachnar, 23:05:31 08/03/05 Wed [1] (165.121.61.25)
. . . and that's saying something, since by that time I was pretty sick of Buffy . . . but I never thought Riley was . . . oh, never mind. I can't get exercised over it now.
I'm just here for the muffins.
[ Edit | View ]
[>
Riley was the "normal" guy. -- Rosalind, 00:33:42 08/04/05 Thu [1] (154.20.142.158)
And sooner or later Buffy had to find out she doesn't "do" normal. My husband, the big old smarty-pants, has just informed me that this is a double entendre and not a pun. Boy, do I feel stupid! He's going to pay for this later on tonight. He's looks sooo pleased. Oooh, I Just did another double entendre.
But really, how else was Buffy ever going to find this out except by trying normal on for size with someone like Riley? Xander maybe but this would be just too complicated after the inevitable break up as Xander was too important a character for such romantic experimentations. Buffy is a vampire Slayer and therefore vampires are going to trigger her strongest emotions. She is going to love them, hate them, be attracted to and repelled by them, sometimes all at the same time.
Upon rewatching the whole Riley-as-boyfriend story arc, it's easy to see that Buffy's Slayer senses were tingling when she called a relationship between them doomed right from the beginning. Riley leaves their bed to visit vamp whores but Buffy, in Buffy Vs. Dracula leaves it to hunt. I felt for both of them because I liked Riley as a character even though I thought he wasn't going to be around for long even back in Season 4. The whole Riley thing was very well set up and well written. He loves Buffy but he knows Buffy can't love him and this is why he doesn't really stake Spike in Into the Woods.
[ Edit | View ]
[>
Ok, but what about William The Poet???? Anybody? -- sparkle, 12:58:43 08/04/05 Thu [1] (24.107.144.230)
[ Edit | View ]
[> [>
he was one of the mods on the board where he posted -- toothy, 16:47:38 08/04/05 Thu [1] (4.137.17.192)
He was not an insider
I still enjoyed reading his posts though, btw, he was a he
[ Edit | View ]
[> [>
Thank you!!! His posts were very fun. He was really... -- sparkle ...a mod? So i guess the board mama knew?, 18:06:53 08/04/05 Thu [1] (24.107.144.230)
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [>
no no no....I think you misunderstand me -- toothy, 22:17:00 08/04/05 Thu [1] (4.137.17.192)
He was not a mod on this or any of AnGeLX's boards, but a mod on another buffy board, of which the name escapes me at the moment.
Have you ever heard of that show where the guy supposably talks to the dead? WTP was like that. He took known spoilers, and made it seem if there was something more. But as the saying goes; there was no there, there.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [> [>
Yeah I did get that. I think it was a Yahoo board maybe, -- sparkle , I remember a Linda Barthalow or somthing though, 22:33:33 08/04/05 Thu [1] (24.107.144.230)
[ Edit | View ]
[>
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do -- Rosie, 18:37:16 08/04/05 Thu [1] (170.97.167.60)
I felt bad for both, for I like both Buffy and Riley. In regard to their break-up, I didn't feel more sympathetic toward either one.
Riley screwed up - not just because he visited the vamp whore. He screwed up when he failed to let Buffy know how he felt about her emotional distance from him. He also screwed by trying to revolve his life around her, in the first place.
Buffy screwed for a good number of reasons. First, she began dating Riley for the wrong reason. She used him as "Rebound Guy", after Angel's departure and Parker's treatment of her. Two, she also used him in some desperate attempt to have a "normal" relationship, after her romance with Angel. She literally pegged him as her "Joe Normal". So basically, she used him on two counts. She also treated him as fine china after the Initiative doctors removed the last of Maggie Walsh's drugs from, failing to realize that he was already an experienced demon hunter . . . probably just as experienced than herself. And worst of all, she had emotionally distanced herself away from him.
But in the end, Buffy and Riley failed as a couple because deep down, their personalities were too similar . . . and too different. They were both introverts with quirky senses of humor. Yet, their moral and philosophical outlooks were too different to find a common ground.
It just didn't work.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [>
Yep, there really weren't any bad guys in this relationship -- Eurydice, 20:24:07 08/04/05 Thu [1] (141.154.25.241)
[ Edit | View ]
[>
WtP posted at Stakehouse -- Moscow Watcher, 06:12:34 08/05/05 Fri [1] (83.237.227.126)
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/the_stakehouse/
They still keep his archive. Quite a read. WtP had never been outed, but there was another poster, joecole63 whose style suggests that he was one of the writers
[ Edit | View ]
[> [>
Yep, there was quite a mythology built up around him -- Eurydice, 09:47:57 08/05/05 Fri [1] (141.154.24.189)
All sorts of rumors of how he was one of the writers or the PA who got the coffee or at least the night janitor in charge of paper shredding. He and his followers insisted that he knew all and saw all and they'd go from board to board, flaming the unbelievers - I have more than a few scorch marks myself. Ah, those were the days. :-)
[ Edit | View ]
[> [>
The STAKEHOUSE!!! That's it! Thank you so much. -- sparkle *been bugging me* but he wasn't an insider?:-(, 14:05:05 08/05/05 Fri [1] (24.107.144.230)
[ Edit | View ]
[>
Re: I felt bad for Buffy... -- Joann, 21:23:34 08/08/05 Mon [1] (205.188.116.201)
because it reminded me of another time when she couldn't express her feelings and was left hurt and alone. In the episode "When She Was Bad" and Angel visited her while she was in bed *asleep* and only after he left she said in a tiny voice "I missed you" and the song played "It doesn't Matter" (from the BtVS CD). It is pretty sad when someone leaves thinking you don't care and you do. In Riley's case I thought he demanded too much from her. Her job was as important as his but he expected her to give more time to him over everything else...um, I guess she didn't really ever love him.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [>
I never felt Riley was too demanding. It's just that Buffy doesn't know how to open up. -- Christian, 12:08:36 08/09/05 Tue [1] (209.240.205.62)
But now it's just that Buffy doesn't know (maybe afraid) how to "love" any other guy.
[ Edit | View ]
Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
