10 Worst Sci-Fi TV Characters Of All Time

10. Riley Finn - Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy Season 4 seriously struggled to fill a certain giant David Boreanaz-shaped hole in its cast. After three seasons of romancing the brooding, occasionally super evil Angel, the writers decided it was high time for a change in Buffy’s love life. Enter Riley Finn, a sensible, wholesome, age appropriate military man from Iowa. Riley’s a great bloke from the get go; he’s polite, he’s caring and above all brave. The problem is, he’s a wee bit too great.

Devoid of any real flaws, pushed ahead of long term favourites such as Xander, Willow and Spike for screen time and played rather vacuously by Marc Blucas, the guy’s just plain boring. An attempt in Season 5 to add some darkness and nuance to Mr Finn winds up coming off as straight character assassination.

Codependent and woe-is-me in his approach to Buffy and her struggles to balance slaying with taking care of her mum and sister, Riley becomes an inconsiderate jerk. Worse still, he gets a sudden hankering for vampires feeding on him, swiftly ending his dynamic with Buffy and adding to the increasing depression she suffers from during seasons five and six.

Blucas returned one more time in Season 6 with his Mr. Perfect image restored for one of the weakest, plot hole-laden episodes in the show’s history. A poor send off for a poorly done character.