Teacher's Pet

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"Teacher's Pet" is episode 4 of season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is the fourth episode overall.

Plot

One evening at The Bronze, Xander suavely saves the Slayer from a menacing vamp, then mounts the stage to play his guitar solo and "kiss her like she has never been kissed before." He is rudely awakened from this beautiful dream to find himself stuck in the hell known as biology class, and Dr. Gregory is about to call on him.

The only teacher who believes in Buffy, Dr. Gregory, is killed by a monster. The substitute teacher, Natalie French, turns every boy's head, and seems to have a thing about insects, especially the praying mantis. Buffy and Willow just roll their eyes.

Angel shows up at the Bronze, warns Buffy that somebody wants to rip her throat out, gives her his jacket, and vanishes again. Cordelia finds the headless body of Dr. Gregory in the cafeteria locker. The Scoobies try to figure out if there is a connection to the Master, but don't rule out that there is a second monster about. Buffy goes into the park and confronts a vampire who has a large claw in place of a right hand. The fight is interrupted by the police, and the vampire flees. While in pursuit, she sees the vampire come up behind Miss French, who just stares at him. To Buffy's surprise the vampire bolts in panic.

The next day, Buffy is sent to a counselor to help her get over seeing the dead body. This makes her late for the surprise test that Miss French gives the class—a test where she helps Xander with a question. Buffy looks through the window in the door, and Miss French turns her head 180 degrees to look at her. Later, Miss French asks Xander over to her house in the evening to work on a project.

Back in the library, Buffy figures that Miss French must be a praying mantis, and convinces the others. Buffy tries to warn Xander, but he brushes her off, saying that she is just jealous.

Miss French welcomes Xander with a drink, a fire in the fireplace, and a tight dress. The drink knocks him out just when she turns into an insect. Xander wakes up in a cage next to another student who tells him how she mates—deadly. Willow calls Xander's mother and finds out that he isn't home. Buffy gets Giles to record bat sonar, while Miss French chooses Xander to be her next victim. When the remaining Scoobies visit the house where Miss French is supposed to live, they find a nice old woman who is the real Ms. French, but retired in 1972. To quickly find Xander, Buffy tracks the one-handed vampire, who is so scared of the she-mantis that he knows just which house is the right one. Buffy breaks through the window when the mantis is about to mate with Xander. She slays the insect, using the bat sonar to weaken it.

Buffy, in Angel's jacket, later meets him at the Bronze. He tells her to keep it, and Buffy is obviously smitten. The last scene shows Buffy putting Dr. Gregory's glasses in his closet, but not noticing that there are she-mantis eggs attached to the bottom of a shelf.

Starring

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
• Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest Starring

• David Boreanaz as Angel
• Ken Lerner as Principal Flutie

Co-Starring

• Musetta Vander as Natalie French
• Jackson Price as Blayne
• Jean Speegle Howard as Elderly Miss French
• William Monaghan as Dr. Gregory
• Jack Knight as Homeless Guy
• Michael Ross Verona as Teacher
• Karim Oliver as Bud #1

Background Information

Circa 1980's a friend of Rupert Giles, Ferris Carlyle went hunting for a She-Mantis after several teenage boys were led back to her nest in the Cotswolds. Upon his killing of the creature, Carlyle was condemned to a mental asylum.

Broadcast

• “Teacher’s Pet” captured a Nielsen rating of 2.0 on its original airing.

Other

• The real Mrs. French was played by actress Jean Speegle Howard, director Ron Howard's mother. Her husband Lance Howard appeared on Angel (series).

Continuity

• Angel gives Buffy his leather jacket in this episode. She will be seen wearing if off-and-on throughout the rest of the series.

• This episode begins Xander's habit of entering into relationships with literally monstrous women in the series, the exception being Cordelia. However, in Angel, she becomes part demon long after dating him.

• The tease at the end of the episode shows one of the Mantis Monster eggs, hidden away in the science lab, beginning to hatch. This could be interpreted as a reference to Creature Feature Cinema, where the monster is frequently shown to have survived in some form, regardless of intent for a sequel. In continuity-based television, however, such a tease is almost always indicitave of a follow-up sometime later in the series. In this case, the fate of the creature's offspring is never addressed.

Appearances

Characters

• Angel
• Claw
• Cordelia Chase
• Dr. Ferris Carlyle offscreen
• Principal Bob Flutie
• Natalie French
• Natalie French/She-Mantis
• Rupert Giles
• Dr. Stephen Gregory
• Xander Harris
• The Master (Only mentioned)
• Blayne Moll
• Willow Rosenberg
• Buffy Summers
• Unidentified substitute teacher
• Unidentified Blayne's friend
• Unidentified homeless man

Organizations and Titles

• Order of Aurelius
• Scooby Gang
• The Slayer
• Watcher

Species

• Human
• Vampire
• Mantis-creature

Locations

• The Bronze
• She-Mantis' lair
• Sunnydale High
  • Sunnydale High School library
• Weatherly Park

Weapons and objects

• Stake
• Machete

Music

• Superfine performs on stage at the Bronze when Xander walks in to their song “Already Met You.”

• When Xander smashes the mantis eggs in the fourth act, the song “Stoner Love” is played.

• Original score was written by Walter Murphy.