I remember when I was watching as a kid I HATED Riley. Pure pure hated him. I rewatched as an adult and actually felt quite sorry for him, he wasn't perfect but Buffy treated him like garbage. I was never keen on Spike/Buffy either, but as said above, he put himself through hell to try and be good enough for her. As an adult, I don't actually like her I think it was right Buffy end up alone but I'd like to think that she and Spike made their way back to each other. At least we got some more Spike in Season 5 of Angel!