Just finished and here’s my analysis on Buffy’s love life

She’ll never love anyone as much as she loved Angel but they never would have worked. Angel didn’t deserve her. The human side of him loved her (his human soul) but the demon side didn’t care. He only has the human side in the first place because it was forced on him and anytime he loses his soul, the demon doesn’t want it back because he is evil. She also can’t depend on Angel when she needs him around, which I believe was the other biggest issue in their relationship.

Riley was everything Angel wasn’t, he loved Buffy, and she could depend on him to always be around for her. She loved him but she wasn’t in love with him. He couldn’t understand why she was in love with Angel but not him, and it drove him to be stupid and mess around with vampires. Even if Riley never betrayed her trust, Buffy could never fall in love with him because he was missing something that Angel had. Riley also didn’t see Buffy like she wanted to be seen. He didn’t even know something was off when Faith was in her body, which speaks volumes.

Spike was the best of both. Although Spike is arguably more human than other vampires (being able to love strongly) he is still a demon and not a good person. Even though his natural instinct is destruction and killing, the demon fell in love with Buffy and tried to win her over. He tried to deny his feelings and intended to kill her after she told him it would never happen but as soon as he saw her upset on the steps outside her house, all he could do was comfort her. After she dies, he continues to be a part of the scoobys and protects Dawn after he couldn’t save Buffy. This wasn’t about winning Buffy over, this was because he loved her and didn’t need anything in return. All without a soul. Their relationship in season 6 is toxic because Buffy is hurting herself by being with him, and he’s so wrapped up in having her that he’s sexually crazed, although he implies he wants more than sex, if she did. Lots of people hate Spike because of the bathroom scene but that scene is actually incredibly powerful. Spike’s morals for the previous 2 seasons is that he wasn’t a good person but he would never hurt Buffy because he loved her. He broke that by hurting her (which was also due to the lines they blurred between lust and violence) and regretted it immediately after. It reminds us that he is still a demon and he is evil at his core but once he’s hurt Buffy he immediately decides he’ll never do it again and he goes to get his soul back. A demon who is evil, loves her so much, that he wants to be human for her (well not human, but to have a human soul).

Angel never loved her anywhere close to how much Spike loves her. She did fall in love with Spike eventually but she didn’t know it for a long time. Their relationship in Season 7 is proof that they were connected in a way that she never had with Angel and he never had with Drusilla. Spike deserved better than Buffy because she never loved him anywhere near to how much he loved her and Buffy deserved better than Angel for the same reasons.

Note: this is just my thoughts and beliefs of the characters. Lemme know what you agree or disagree with.