| "Teacher's Pet" | |
|---|---|
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 4 |
| Directed by | Bruce Seth Green |
| Written by | David Greenwalt |
| Production code | 4V04 |
| Original air date | March 24, 1997 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Teacher's Pet" is the fourth episode of the first season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . The episode originally aired on The WB on March 24, 1997, attracting 2.0 million viewers. [1] The episode was written by co-executive producer David Greenwalt and directed by Bruce Seth Green. Xander and the other high school boys fall for a substitute teacher who has the aspects of a killer preying mantis.
After a biology class, Dr. Gregory is killed by an unseen monster, which only shows a pair of large eyes and an insectile limb. The next day, Buffy is alarmed by news of Gregory's disappearance, but the boys in her class are more interested in the beautiful substitute teacher, Natalie French (Musetta Vander), who seems to have a fixation on insects, especially the praying mantis. French suggests making model egg sacs for the upcoming science fair and asks the class for help. She selects Blayne as her lab partner for that day, to be followed by Xander the next day.
Cordelia finds Gregory's headless body inside a cafeteria refrigerator. That night Buffy goes into the park and confronts a vampire who has a large claw in place of his right hand. They fight but are interrupted by the police and the vampire escapes. He encounters French while she is walking home with groceries and flees in terror, indicating that French is not human.
The next day Buffy is late for her biology class and is horrified to watch as French seems to sense somebody at the door and then turns her head 180 degrees to see who it is. After the class, French claims to have left supplies at home so she asks Xander to come over to her house that evening and work on the egg-sac project there instead.
Back in the library, Buffy realizes that Blayne never returned home from helping French. Giles recalls a creature known as the "She-Mantis", or the "Virgin Thief", which preys on virgin males to fertilize its young. That night, Xander arrives at French's house to find her wearing a tight dress and acting in a sexually suggestive manner. She offers him a drink, which he takes and then collapses. She turns into her mantis form and takes his body to a cage in the basement, where he wakes up next to Blayne.
Meanwhile, Willow calls Xander's mother and finds out that he is not home. The Scoobies then go to the house where French supposedly lives, but find a retired teacher there whose name the mantis has stolen. Desperate to find the real house before it is too late, Buffy tracks the one-handed vampire and forces him to locate the correct house. Buffy breaks through the window just as French in mantis form is about to mate with Xander. She burns the monster with insect repellent while the others free Xander and Blayne. Giles and Buffy, using recorded bat sonar, send French into convulsions so Buffy can hack her to death with a machete.
The next day, Buffy sadly puts Gregory's glasses back in his closet, not noticing that a sac of she-mantis eggs is attached to the bottom of a shelf and one begins to hatch.
"Teacher's Pet" was first broadcast on The WB on March 24, 1997. It pulled in an audience of 2 million households. [1]
Vox ranked it at #132 on their "Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best" list of all 144 episodes (to mark the 20th anniversary of the show), writing, "By 1997, the student/teacher love affair was already a well-worn teen soap trope, and "Teacher's Pet"'s twist of having the teacher be a literal predator is only mildly clever." However, "the core Scooby dynamics have really started to gel: The scene where Giles corrals the kids into researching the two monsters decapitating and shredding their way through Sunnydale ("Fork Guy doesn't do heads," Buffy notes) hits all the classic beats ... This is also the first episode to really show off the Buffy/Angel chemistry that will drive much of the next season." [2]
Noel Murray of The A.V. Club gave the episode a grade of B. He wrote that the "fundamental goofiness" of the premise was a "strike against" the episode, but that it benefited from "depth of characterization". Murray commented that the episode's subtext was the teenage fear of the reproductive practicalities of sex. [3] A BBC review said that the episode "struggles to tread new ground" and was "uncomfortably paced". However, the review praised the effects of the praying mantis and some "delightful moments". [4] DVD Talk's Phillip Duncan was somewhat disappointed with the episode, calling it a "by-the-book monster thriller set in the high school". Despite the standardness, he felt that it was still "worth watching". [5]
"Dead Man's Party" is the second episode of the third season of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by Marti Noxon, directed by James Whitmore, Jr., and first broadcast on The WB on October 6, 1998.
"Some Assembly Required" is episode two of season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on The WB on September 22, 1997. It was written by staff writer Ty King and directed by Bruce Seth Green. The narrative follows the Scooby Gang as they find body parts all over Sunnydale High School. They follow the trail of the clues to find something more gruesome. Meanwhile, Buffy confronts Angel about their relationship, Willow admits that she loves Xander to Buffy and Ms. Calendar and Giles' romance begins to blossom, as she asks him on a date. There's only one problem: their date is interrupted by schoolmate Eric and his sinister plans.
"Go Fish" is episode 20 of season two of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by David Fury and Elin Hampton, directed by David Semel, and first broadcast on The WB on May 5, 1998. Xander joins the Razorbacks swim team to find out why their best team members are being killed by horn-headed, ridge-skinned "gill monsters".
"Real Me" is episode 2 of season 5 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on The WB on October 3, 2000.
"Band Candy" is the sixth episode of season three of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by Jane Espenson, directed by Michael Lange, and first broadcast on The WB on November 10, 1998.
"Revelations" is the seventh episode of season three of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by Doug Petrie, directed by James A. Contner, and first broadcast on The WB on November 17, 1998.
"The Zeppo" is episode thirteen of season three of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by Dan Vebber, directed by James Whitmore, Jr., and first broadcast on The WB on January 26, 1999. Feeling left out by the gang, Xander ends up accompanying a student named Jack O'Toole, who raises some friends from the dead and decides to blow up the high school. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang are trying to stop an apocalypse.
"Earshot" is the eighteenth episode of the third season of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by Jane Espenson, directed by Regis Kimble, and first broadcast, out of sequence, on September 21, 1999 on The WB. The originally scheduled broadcast was postponed following the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. Buffy goes slowly mad with a case of telepathy, while the Scooby Gang must solve the mystery of who might kill the students of Sunnydale High.
"The Yoko Factor" is the 20th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on May 9, 2000 on The WB.
"Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" is the fifth episode of the first season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on The WB on March 31, 1997. The episode was written by story editors Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali, and directed by David Semel. The narrative follows Buffy Summers, as she struggles to find a date and stop the rise of the Anointed One.
"Witch" is the third episode of the first season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). It serves as the show's first regular episode after the Pilot and originally aired in the United States on March 17, 1997, on The WB. Sometimes billed as "The Witch", the episode was directed by Stephen Cragg and was the first episode not written by show creator Joss Whedon and the first of seven with no vampire in it.
"The Pack" is the sixth episode of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on The WB on April 7, 1997. The episode was written by story editors Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer, and directed by Bruce Seth Green. In the episode, Buffy's friend Xander and four classmates are possessed by animal spirits, causing them to act increasingly like predators.
"The Puppet Show" is the ninth episode of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on The WB on May 5, 1997. It was written by story editors Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali, and directed by Ellen S. Pressman.
"When She Was Bad" is the first episode in the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on The WB on September 15, 1997. The episode was written and directed by series creator and executive producer Joss Whedon. The narrative follows Buffy Summers returning from her summer vacation and behaving strangely following her encounter with The Master in the previous season's finale. The Anointed One attempts to revive the Master with a ritual involving his bones. However he requires something from the Slayer and sets a deadly trap in motion.
"Prophecy Girl" is the season finale of the first season of the drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the 12th episode of the series. It first aired on The WB on June 2, 1997. Series creator Joss Whedon wrote and directed the episode.
"Out of Mind, Out of Sight" is the eleventh episode of the first season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on The WB on May 19, 1997. In the episode, an invisible force is attacking people at the local school and Cordelia may be in danger. The relationship between Buffy and Cordelia grows closer. The title of the episode is a play on the proverb.
"I, Robot...You, Jane" is the eighth episode of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was written by staff writers Ashley Gable and Thomas A. Swyden, and directed by Stephen Posey. The episode originally aired on The WB on April 28, 1997.
"Nightmares" is the tenth episode of the first season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode's teleplay was written by David Greenwalt, with a story by Joss Whedon, and directed by Bruce Seth Green. The episode originally aired on The WB on May 12, 1997, attracting a Nielsen rating of 2.5. The episode is about the students at Sunnydale High beginning to experience aspects of their worst nightmares while awake, leading the Scooby Gang's investigation to a young boy with a secret. However, before they can get to the bottom of things, they must face their own nightmares, which are rapidly taking over reality.
"Bad Eggs" is the twelfth episode of the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by Marti Noxon and originally aired on The WB on January 12, 1998. Buffy must contend with the Bezoar and a pair of vampire cowboys.
"Phases" is episode 15 of season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by series story editors Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali, and first broadcast on The WB on January 27, 1998. In the episode, Oz learns that he is a werewolf, while Buffy endures the emotional trauma of dealing with Angelus.
