Teacher's Pet
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Production number: 4V04
Original US air date: 25/3/97
Written by: David Greenwalt
Directed by: Bruce Seth Green

Guest stars:

David Boreanaz: Angel
Ken Lerner: Principal Flutie
Mussetta Vander: Miss Natalie French (The she-mantis)
Jackson Price: Blayne
Jean Speegle Howard: The real Miss French

Synopsis:

Buffy's Biology teacher is killed before the credit sequence. Meanwhile, Angel makes his first public appearance, in the Bronze, and warns Buffy that a powerful enemy is near - The Fork Guy. Dr. Gregory's replacement is the gorgeous Miss Natalie French, with whom Xander immediatly falls in lust, and Dr. Gregory's decapitated body is found in the cafeteria's freezer. Buffy hunts down fork guy, but he escapes. He comes across Miss French and to Buffy's surprise, is terrified of the substitute teacher and runs off. Miss French Takes Blayne, a macho Jock, then Xander, to her house and of course, she turns out to be a giant bug - a She-Mantis. Buffy uses fork guy as a kind of Vampiric sniffer dog and she, along with Giles and Willow, rescues Xander and Blayne from the cellar where Miss French has locked them up for breeding puposes. Amusingly she can only use virgins.

Review:

Monster of the week style tosh, though the attention to detail and Nicholas Brendon's comic abilities make it watchable tosh. Oh, and four seasons later those mantis eggs hidden away still haven't hatched....

Points of interest:

It's confirmed that Xander is the short for Alexander

Xander's middle name is Lavelle, not Forgiveness as he claims.

Fork Guy is supposed to have claws instead of his right hand - however both hands are clearly visable on several occasions.

The Mantis Creature is a thing from Babylon 5's pilot episode, painted green.


Music featured in this episode:

Superfine: Already met You
Superfine: Stoner Love

Vampire Deaths: 2

Total Deaths: 4