"Remember the guy that boinked Buffy for a one-night stand?"
Yes that was Parker aka. the other worst Buffyverse character ever.
"There was a whole big build-up making him look like the next boyfriend for Buffy, but then they pulled one over on you, and Buffy was taught a valuable lesson. Then she meets Riley, and learns about secret identities and how she will always have a different life. Riley was the textbook perfect guy (nice, caring and shared interest--demon slaying). But the whole point was that Buffy is The Slayer, and as such she is drawn to darkness (Angel, Spike)."
Yes he was "technically" a nice guy. His main problem is that he couldn't stand not being the center of her attention. If you notice all through Season 4 she was all over him once they started dating. But then during Season 5 her attention was then put on more important matters, her own family. So instead of simply understand this, he gets pissed and thinks she's trying to ignore him which wasn't the case. So what does he do? He goes and cheats on her with a vampire to see why she "let" Dracula bite her and why Dracula and Angel had so much power over her. The guy in the grand scheme of things was completely clueless and 100% self centered.
"He represented extreme strength and intelligence, moreso than any Big Bad before him (with the exception of the Master, who was foiled by his own lackeys more than anything else)."
He was definetly powerful. He just didn't have much of a personality. As a whole he was just really dull compared to previous Big Bads. He wasn't really funny and he wasn't really evil. He was just doing evil things which really didn't make him interesting imo.
"He really enjoyed being evil but had a human side, which made him the best Big Bad--someone once said that the best villians are those who believe they're doing something for a reason and that they are right."
Now the Mayor rocked. All his little sidekicks too like Mr. Trick who was hilarious, and ofcourse Faith. He's what I like in villains, he was full of personality and always cracking jokes. But as good as he was, he's no Angelus imo. Angelus is the exact type of villain I like. I think there are 2 types of villains, 1 is the type that does what they do for power the other does it because they love it. Angelus loved what he was doing and took joy out of not simply killing people but enjoying the suffering that comes after the kill. That's something that none of the other Big Bads had. The scene in Passion sums up why I love his character so much.
He actually went to her house after killing Jenny just to see their pain. That's what I liked about him. He's completely evil and just loves it. He also set up that Jenny scene with her laying in bed and Giles being led up to her room with rosepedals. While that episode was suppose to make you hate Angelus, it actually made me like him.
I liked Jenny and all but just seeing how Angelus operated was awesome.
"Although Buffy is The Slayer, she had the chance for perfection with Riley. But she chooses Angel (and later Spike) because she is drawn to the drama."
I don't include Spike in this.
But I think the reason she chooses Angel isn't so much for the drama but because he can actually understand where she's coming from. He had to do certain things to get his life back. It wasn't his choice to do those things it's something he has to do, much like she has to be the slayer whether she likes it or not. Riley can't understand that. The majority of her life was just being the slayer and everything else was basically shoved to the side and that's something Riley never would've been able to accept imo.
