The thing about Riley's is that he prefaced it with all the crappy things about Buffy's life before telling her - "but none of that touches you."
He tries to avoid it at first - when Buffy brings up her patheticness, he tries to play it off like he doesn't know what she's talking about, but it's the elephant in the room, how horrible things are for her. They both know it's there, so he might as well acknowledge it. She's practically forcing him to, so he basically says, "Okay, yes, I noticed how crappy your life is, but I don't think less of you for it."
Spike, on the other hand, isn't responding to the bad situation that Buffy's in.
He does, at first. He starts out by trying to convince her she was right about Caleb and she should take back her leadership. He tries to convince her that's it's chaos at the house without her. When she shoots down all of his practical arguments (which, granted, aren't terribly convincing), he tries to connect on an emotional level - and that's what works.
And really, I don't think he intended it as a pep talk. Initially, when he first walked in the room, that's what he was doing, but then he just got pissed at what she said and wanted to say his piece, and that inadvertently turned into a better pep talk than his previous deliberate attempts to cheer her up.
So, no, they're not exactly the same. (It would be a bizarre coincidence if they were.) But there are some remarkable similarities, which was why I made the post in the first place - but clearly I see it more because I have a more positive view of Riley's speech than you do. I doubt I'll change your mind about Riley, but my explanation obviously comes from how I see it.
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He tries to avoid it at first - when Buffy brings up her patheticness, he tries to play it off like he doesn't know what she's talking about, but it's the elephant in the room, how horrible things are for her. They both know it's there, so he might as well acknowledge it. She's practically forcing him to, so he basically says, "Okay, yes, I noticed how crappy your life is, but I don't think less of you for it."
Spike, on the other hand, isn't responding to the bad situation that Buffy's in.
He does, at first. He starts out by trying to convince her she was right about Caleb and she should take back her leadership. He tries to convince her that's it's chaos at the house without her. When she shoots down all of his practical arguments (which, granted, aren't terribly convincing), he tries to connect on an emotional level - and that's what works.
And really, I don't think he intended it as a pep talk. Initially, when he first walked in the room, that's what he was doing, but then he just got pissed at what she said and wanted to say his piece, and that inadvertently turned into a better pep talk than his previous deliberate attempts to cheer her up.
So, no, they're not exactly the same. (It would be a bizarre coincidence if they were.) But there are some remarkable similarities, which was why I made the post in the first place - but clearly I see it more because I have a more positive view of Riley's speech than you do. I doubt I'll change your mind about Riley, but my explanation obviously comes from how I see it.