Riley Finn
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 Marc Blucas as Riley Finn |
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Riley Finn (born in Huxley, Iowa) is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television program Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Marc Blucas. The character is a regular in the fourth season and the first part of the fifth season.
[edit] Biography
Riley, a native of Iowa, was Buffy's boyfriend for parts of season four and five. Leading a double life as part of a secret organization called The Initiative, but also as a regular college guy, Buffy found some normality in Riley, but she also found someone to whom she could relate. Initially, each kept the other from knowing of the secret lives, but the truth came out during the events in the Emmy-nominated episode "Hush." It is unclear what service Riley belonged to, whether it's the Army or Marines. Riley has called his troops "a bunch of Marines" in one episode. And Faith had referred to him as "clean Marine" in another episode.
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. The Initiative was destroyed at the end of the fourth season, and Riley was relieved of his military standing. He was left at loose ends, and his behavior became reckless. Seeking thrills, he began to let vampires feed from him, which Buffy discovered in the season five episode "Into the Woods". His behavior, as well as a sense that Buffy would never truly love him, led to their breakup. Riley left Sunnydale to join another 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. The battle done, Riley left Sunnydale, never to return again. Riley was however mentioned in season 7 when Buffy asked for the Initiative to help Spike.
Riley, the opposite of both the eternally brooding Angel and the tortured "bad boy" Spike, held out the possibility of normalcy in Buffy's life. Riley is also notable in that he is the only boyfriend of Buffy who had a friendship with her usually jealous friend Xander.
[edit] Appearances
Riley has appeared in:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Riley was introduced in the show's fourth season as a recurring character but he became a regular in "Doomed" and continued on as a regular until season five's "Into the Woods", appearing once afterwards. He appeared in 30 episodes.
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- Season 4 - "The Freshman", "Fear, Itself", "Beer Bad", "Wild at Heart", "The Initiative", "Pangs", "Something Blue", "Hush". Regular from "Doomed" onwards.
- Season 5 - Regular from "Buffy vs. Dracula" to "Into the Woods".
- Season 6 - "As You Were"
Riley Finn also appeared in page 114 of Australia's TaxPack 2006 as part of an example for those who make mistakes on their tax returns.
There is a Wicked Willow book series, an alternate trilogy which shows what would have happened had Evil Willow not been stopped. In the second book, Shattered Twilight, Willow makes a golem, and they can only be made from the deceased. Riley Finn was Willow's golem to try to defeat Buffy. He is later destroyed by Willow because he betrayed her by uniting with Buffy.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by: Parker Abrams |
Buffy Summers' love interest Season Four, Five |
Succeeded by: Spike |
