Riley Finn - Character History

Character History

A native of Huxley, Iowa, Riley was Buffy Summers' boyfriend for parts of Seasons Four and Five. He is first introduced during Buffy's relationship and conflict with Parker Abrams. Riley realizes his feelings for Buffy after punching Parker for an inappropriate comment he makes regarding their night together. Even though he led a double life as part of a secret government organization known as the Initiative, Buffy found some normalcy in Riley as a regular college guy and someone to whom she could relate. Initially, each kept the other from knowing their respective secret lives, but the truth came out during the events in the Emmy-nominated episode "Hush."

Buffy and Riley fought demons together and continued saving each other's lives and the world, although Riley was never quite let into Buffy's inner circle. Initially, Riley automatically assumed that all demons were evil, but discovered that demons are capable of both good and evil just as humans are after assisting in saving Oz from the Initiative complex. Having been torn between the Scooby Gang and the Initiative for some time, Riley decided to leave the Initiative upon discovering the extent of its corruption, and spent the remainder of the season in hiding within the ruins of Sunnydale High.

The Initiative was destroyed at the end of Season Four, and Riley was relieved of his military standing. He was left at loose ends, and his behavior became reckless. Over time, Riley began to see himself as below Buffy in strength, and began to push his body well past its limits. In "Out of My Mind," it was discovered that the drugs that Professor Walsh had secretly fed him were causing Riley's pain receptors to shut down and his heartbeat to spike, and would eventually have killed him. Even with this knowledge, Riley initially refused medical treatment from the government out of paranoia, though Buffy eventually convinced him to do so. Rendered a normal human by the procedure, Riley's insecurities and feelings of weakness only increased, and he became increasingly frustrated with Buffy's seeming inability to open up to and be honest with him.

Seeking thrills, and wondering what Buffy seemed to find so appealing about vampires - Buffy having allowed both Angel and Dracula to drink from her - Riley began to let vampires feed from him, which Buffy discovered in the episode "Into the Woods" when Spike reveals Riley at the vampire's nest. His behavior, as well as Spike's manipulations and a sense that Buffy would never truly love him, led to their breakup. Riley left Sunnydale to join another black ops army unit fighting demons elsewhere, and left the show.

Riley returned in the Season Six episode "As You Were," in which he showed up unexpectedly, tracking a demon about to hatch eggs that could wipe out Sunnydale. However, he did not return to make up with Buffy, having recently gotten married to a fellow demon hunter named Sam (Ivana Miličević). The battle done, Riley left Sunnydale, never to return again. He was, however, mentioned in Season Seven when Buffy asked for the Initiative to remove the malfunctioning chip in Spike's head.

In canonical comic book continuation Season Eight issue "Time of Your Life, Part IV," it is revealed that Riley is one of villain Twilight's followers, as he is present in the laboratory with Warren Mears, Amy Madison, and Twilight, and bears his mark. Samantha Finn has thus far not appeared in Season Eight. Pretending to be Buffy's "inside man," he arranged for their rendezvous in New York City. Later, seen in "Retreat, Part II," Riley is with Twilight and his other followers as they try and track the Scooby Gang through their use of magic; Riley tries to convince Twilight that the results could be a mistake of the scanning technology. He is also intrigued by Twilight's remark that he "knows" Buffy. During a large battle between the Slayers and Twilight's forces, Buffy recovers an injured Riley, revealing to the other characters that Riley was a double agent for her in an attempt to figure out Twilight's plans and identity.

Riley also appears in the first issue of the follow-up series Season Nine; the structure of "Freefall, Part I" suggests that Riley—like Spike, Xander, Willow and others—could have been Buffy's possible one-night-stand after the party she hosts at her apartment in San Francisco. Riley remains married to Sam. With the end of magic, Riley now uses his military resources to watch for ordinary terrorists.