Listening to Fear
Buffy Episode Review
In which there is much about Ben. And maybe snot demons from outer space.
So, why did I decide that Intern Ben was Buffy's new love interest? I suppose it's written in some press release somewhere...
What Did I Think?
I really don't object. In fact, when I thought Ben was just a random doctor, I actually liked the idea. Buffy needs some kind of balance to her "Bash first, ask questions later" philosophy. Back in "Incan Mummy Girl," Willow suggested that she handle a situation, "you know, non-violently," and Buffy objected that she doesn't always use violence. Actions, however, speak louder than words, and Buffy has often seemed to use force before talking things out.
Riley, being a soldier, is very much in the mindset that force is an acceptable solution to a problem, but a doctor, theoretically, would have a different take on life. He'd be more interested in saving lives than taking them. There could be an exploration of what being a Slayer means to someone who doesn't immediately approve of who Buffy is and what she does.
The end of this episode established that Ben isn't just a random doctor. He has a connection to Glory, but we don't know if he knows Buffy is the Slayer. He was interested in what the nutcase said to Dawn, but that might have been his "covering" for Glory, rather than his guessing that Buffy and Dawn had set the guy off in particular.
They have a couple of directions that this could go. One is that Ben could pull an Angel and be the mysterious-drop a few hints at a time-guy, and the whole forbidden love angle could be played up. Or they could find out about each other, the same as happened with Buffy and Riley, and then team up against Glory... the same way Buffy and Riley teamed up against the Initiative.
His advice to Buffy and the bitter "I'm doing what I've always done, cleaning up Glory's mess" statement indicate that he's a nice person, though not nice enough to flinch from summoning the Queller demon to kill for him. His decision to present himself as a doctor may be more than convenience and the final scene indicated that he resents his ties to Glory. Whether this speculation is right or wrong, Ben's connection to Glory does accomplish one important thing: it allows for exploration of his background and motivation for becoming who he is.
Something disturbingly lacking from Riley was any information about who he was before coming to Sunnydale and why he made the choices he did. We never knew why he decided to join the Initiative, so there was very little emotional investment in his leaving or in his subsequent questions about what to do with his life. Because there was no other information about Riley's personality beyond his connection to Buffy, his actions are justified within that relationship. This makes it look as if all his problems stem from the fact that his girlfriend can kick more butt than he can.
Riley being a soldier is a defining character trait. He could have joined up because of a father's expectation, or a friend that fell out of a tree as a child, or because of some other experience, all reasons that would explain why he's having such trouble seeing himself through any other kind of mental paradigm. That kind of motivation - independent of Buffy - would give Riley a little more depth and, quite frankly, make him seem like less of a chauvinist jerk.
The bottom line is that with a character as important as Buffy's lover, the audience shouldn't have to fill in the blanks that way; that's the job of the show's writers. Whatever happens to Ben, he's already showing more promise than Riley. (This presumes they don't make the explanation less interesting than the question, as they did with Tara.) He also possesses at least the possibility for bringing some new complications into Buffy's life, rather than replaying the same song she danced with Angel.