I liked Riley, 'cause if there was anything Buffy needed, it was a relatively normal, stable, human relationship.
But Adam sort of went nowhere.
And yeah, the Initiative was just plain stupid. Why a secret base beneath a public college?? Why secret agents with secret identities that are full time jobs?? Wait, he was a secret agent who was also a soldier? Which was he? Like Joss said, they had no clue how the military (whice branch was it, btw??) works. Hey, ya know, they have these things called expert consultants... Supergirl is having the same problem. The DEO is written like a clubhouse.
Speaking of Riley and poor writing how about that moment (was it in Hush?) where the shit was about to hit the fan, so he tossed Buffy his blaster (which she never used before), while he went hand-to-hand. She didn't know what to do with the gun, and he was outclassed in the fight. Stoo. Pid.