I remember watching the first time last year (I saw the entire series in three weeks) and when Lessons started I was already looking at Robin as a potential partner for Buffy. (But my default was always that I just wanted her to be happy. Clearly, I did NOT know Joss yet.) I knew Spike would come back but it didn't occur to me for some time that Spike would be her "man" again that season. As you say, how were they going to come back from SR?
Well, I knew it was a soap opera and you can come back from that in soap operas. (ie. General Hospital, One Life to Live, Days, the list is endless. Also various comic books).
See, in soap operas you don't want happy characters. The conflict comes from unhappy characters struggling to be happy. Once they are "happy" - the writers have to figure out how to make them miserable or the series is over.
Buffy attracted a lot of non-soap fans, who are used to shows like Castle or Bones or NCIS ...where the characters are generally speaking happy. They solve the case of the week. Or they have a big adventure. But their personal lives are fine and dandy. Straight dramas like ER, Parenthood, Grey's Anatomy, and Brothers and Sisters, also tend to have "happy characters". But gothic horror soap operas? NO! Not possible. It's a serial, the conflict is often from the interrelationships of the characters. Also it's a romantic serial - you need romantic conflict.
Robin Wood would have been Riley take 2, and Riley was boring because there wasn't enough conflict. Did you like First Date? Imagine a whole season of that? That's Robin/Buffy romance in a nutshell.
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Well, I knew it was a soap opera and you can come back from that in soap operas. (ie. General Hospital, One Life to Live, Days, the list is endless. Also various comic books).
See, in soap operas you don't want happy characters. The conflict comes from unhappy characters struggling to be happy. Once they are "happy" - the writers have to figure out how to make them miserable or the series is over.
Buffy attracted a lot of non-soap fans, who are used to shows like Castle or Bones or NCIS ...where the characters are generally speaking happy. They solve the case of the week. Or they have a big adventure. But their personal lives are fine and dandy. Straight dramas like ER,
Parenthood, Grey's Anatomy, and Brothers and Sisters, also tend to have "happy characters". But gothic horror soap operas? NO! Not possible. It's a serial, the conflict is often from the interrelationships of the characters. Also it's a romantic serial - you need romantic conflict.
Robin Wood would have been Riley take 2, and Riley was boring because there wasn't enough conflict. Did you like First Date? Imagine a whole season of that? That's Robin/Buffy romance in a nutshell.