Heh, I always felt there was more chemistry between Riley and Buffy than there was between Angel and Buffy, at least. But yeah, anti-hot all the way. Heck, Riley and the Vamp!Ho was hotter than Riley and Buffy.

(Shrug) I like what I remember of their sex scenes just fine. They weren't really inspiring me to run to my bunk, but nobody does chemistry like James Marsters, as we all know.

Definitely agree that they had more chemistry than B/A. Maybe the problem is SMG.

ETA: Also, despite all of my wishes that Riley could have worked out for Buffy, I think Spike was most definitely more important both to her and for her. She just wasn't made to interact with normal humans, which Riley, despite all those drugs and training, would always be.

I'm not sure I really know what love is (did Romeo love Juliet? What about Jack and Rose? Leia and Han?) or if it even has a steady definition, in or out of the Buffyverse, so I have a hard time deciding if she loved either of them.

It's not so much the intense v. hot -- it's the "emotional" part I was thinking of -- Spike and Buffy's sex was much more emotional than her sex with Riley.

Love's hard to quantify, but I think that she didn't love Riley as much as she wanted to, and that she loved Spike more than she wanted to.

That's a good way of putting it. And it doesn't mean one was loved more than the other, but the comparison is more significant where Buffy's feelings are concerned.

I thought B/A had incredible chemistry. I thought Riley and Buffy had decent chemistry, but the whingier he got, and the more self-absorbed he got, the less attractive I found him.

It's not so much the intense v. hot -- it's the "emotional" part I was thinking of -- Spike and Buffy's sex was much more emotional than her sex with Riley.

Spike and Buffy's sex was much more emotional than her sex with Riley.

Fully agree. My argument came from a different reading of "intense" in your original statement, that contained no "emotional." Now re-evaluating my statements.

I bet Riley would have said he longed for that sort of emotional intensity, but I'm really not sure he would have liked it if he had gotten it. I'm sure I wouldn't want to be used for sex as an emotional escape, at least not exclusively, and I'm not convinced that Buffy/Spike ever really went beyond that. And when it looked like it might, she ended it.

Even Spike wasn't completely happy being used like that, and it definitely seems more along his line than along Riley's.

Maybe the problem is SMG.

This is where I stand, pretty much. I've never been able to see B/anyone chemistry, and I think it's because I just don't get that vibe off of SMG.

Maybe the problem is SMG.

I'm going to revise my original statement to "maybe the problem is SMG as Buffy." Because SMG-as-Faith-as-Buffy/Spike has good chemistry in my opinion, as does SMG-as-Faith-as-Buffy/Riley, I think. I also definitely feel (rather squicky) chemistry with Kathryn/Sebastian in Cruel Intentions.

Oh, it's funny to see things through other people's eyes. I think SMG is in fairly full possession of the BBoC chemistry factor, herself.

I thought B/A had incredible chemistry. I thought Riley and Buffy had decent chemistry, but the whingier he got, and the more self-absorbed he got, the less attractive I found him.

Cindy's take on this, unsurprisingly, is mine. While I thought the B/A relationship was an immature one that should have been obvious as a doomed and tragic mistake from miles away, the actors had enough chemistry in the first season to make smoke pour out of my TV. Really, more than Buffy/anyone else, or even Angel/Darla.

SMG was very changeable in my eyes. Even with the same actors there were days I thought she had chemistry and days you could tell she was reciting her grocery list to herself. But, for me, when she was hot, she was smooookin'!