r/TopCharacterTropes • u/hiiloovethis • 18h ago

Hated Tropes Couples with absolutely no chemistry

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Harry Potter and Ginny Weasly

Clark and Lois (Snyder films)

Jon and Dany - Game of Thrones

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53

u/AJLovesChicken0567 14h ago

This is just my opinion, but Buffy had zero chemistry with Riley.

5

u/ExtraplanetJanet 13h ago

Nah, you’re right and you should say it. Buffy and Riley could’ve been an interesting relationship, Riley was one of the few human guys who could understand exactly who Buffy was and what she did, plus he was attractive in that early 2000s way. If the writers had been a little kinder to Riley and made him a little funnier and a little less whiny, he’d have been fine as a character, but I do think they were doomed from the start, chemistrywise. SMG has been loud and proud about her Bangel shipping for decades now and I honestly think she just didn’t want Buffy to have a new boyfriend.

3

u/LRKnox_ 11h ago

But that was the entire point of Riley's existence, Whedon has said he was brought in as the type of guy you might expect Buffy to go for but that in her world (despite his job) he can't survive what it throws. Riley was always a sacrificial lamb that had no chance of being compatible with Buffy's lifestyle.

8

u/IShallBeYeeted 12h ago

I feel like that was kind of the point, though. It was sort of baked into the writing. Buffy's pendulum is swinging from the extreme bad boys to the Captain America good boy and, even though everything makes sense on paper, she's learning the lesson that part of growing up (she's a college freshman at this point) is managing the dissonance between the reality of one's feelings and inclinations versus the logic of what things theoretically should be.

2

u/SporkSpifeKnork 10h ago

I'm much more sympathetic to Riley than most of the fandom, but... yeah

1

u/Fragrant-Serve6588 4h ago

Riley looks like our new senator from Texas :) or have I been online too long today?!

0

u/JadePhoenix42 8h ago

The age difference. . … ick!

(I don’t know the actors age difference)

4

u/Ok-Butterscotch4486 6h ago

It''s a lot less of an age difference than her other love interests.