fajrdrako | Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ted (2x11)

A lot of people told me they didn't much like this episode. I did. Not as a top favourite, but as a nice scary self-contained episode - good stuff. I missed Spike, but what can you do?

I like the pseudo-mystery of who Xander and Willow are talking about in the beginning. The Captain and Tennille? Okay, I remember them. Sort of.
Xander says, "with Spike and Drusilla out of the way, we've really been ridin' the mellow." You really think they're out of the way, Xander? Poor deluded boy.
Xander: "How *is* Angel? Pretend I care.". I get the impression here that he does care - but doesn't want to leave his position of carefully-crafted jealousy. Again, respect for Angel, though he's unhappy with Angel's role in Buffy's life.
Ted: a lot of people I talked to remarked on how odd it felt to see John Ritter in this role. Though I know well who Ritter is and have seen many pictures of him when young, I've never actually seen him in anything, so it didn't feel odd, though I was aware he looked older than he was when he became famous. I thought his acting was good here.
Willow says, "I like my new nine-Gig hard drive." That sounds rather small.
Kisses for Joyce? Pizza for Xander? Computer-enhancing programs for Willow? If we thought in the beginning that Ted might be the least little bit good, we surely could not think so now. He has everyone's weakness sussed. Only Buffy is exempt. I like her line, "I'm just saying there's something a little too clean about this clown."
Giles says, "I believe the... subtext here is rapidly becoming, uh, text. Are you sure there's nothing you want to share?" This was nicely phrased, and so very fannish.
Nice to see Angel and Buffy happy with each other.
Ted says, "Bad luck, little lady!" Yuck. It's a wuick downhill slide to "Do you want me to slap that smart-ass mouth of yours?"
I liked this exchange:
Xander: So he's a little uptight. Last I heard that's not a slaying offense. Don't give me the look, I'm on your side. I'm just saying there are some things in life you have to accept.
Buffy: And I'm saying Ted ain't one of 'em.
Loved the Xander/Cordelia exchange:
Cordelia: In front of your friends! They're gonna know!
Xander: Know what?
Cordelia: Please! It's too traumatic for me to even say it!
Xander: That we kissed?
Cordelia: Uhhh!
Xander: Look, I'm not gonna tell, they're not gonna know. Not your friends, not my friends. You wanna go to the utility closet and make out?
Cordelia: God! Is that all you ever think about? ... Okay.
I liked this exchange, which got to the core of the plot:
Buffy: Will, I'm not wrong here. ...Mom's been totally different since he's around.
Willow: Different, like happy?
Buffy: Like Stepford.
And it's creepy the way Ted calls Joyce "Joycie".
So Buffy kills Ted. Only not really. Hmm. Interesting issues here, not necessarily very well carried through - though I can't quite put my finger on what about it is insufficient.
So Willow figures out Ted's cookie magic. Good for Willow.
Sometimes when Jenny turns up I think she's acting really suspicious. Then I remind myself that many fans like her, in a way that indicates I should stop being suspicious of her.
Ted becomes really scary:
Ted: That's right, little lady, you killed me. Do we have something to say about that? Are we sorry?
Buffy: What are you?
Ted: I'm a salesman! That's what you should've remembered. No matter how you put him down...a good salesman always bounces back!
The interesting thing about Ted is that mundane or even positive qualities are made sinister: cooking, baking, an avuncular concern for Buffy's marks or manners, affection for Joyce, and so on.
So they find the corpses of Ted's wives and things happen.
Giles says: "I don't think it went in too deep. The...advantages of layers of tweed. Better than kevlar." He must have some strange kind of tweed! Reinforced by magic? Or chain mail in the lining?
Buffy fights back. Love it when she says "Uncle Teddy?" Hee!
She defeats him. I hope she breaks him into component parts and feeds him to a smelter.
The 700th reason to love Willow:
Xander: Now, now that's creepy on a level I hardly knew existed.
Willow: The sad part is the real Ted must've been a genius. There were design features in that robot that pre-date...
Buffy: Willow, tell me you didn't keep any parts. [Smart, that Buffy.]
Willow: Not any big ones.
It's interesting that Ted re-created himself as a robot; but it seems to me a little more scary if someone else created him, and there's a person somewhere around capable of making deranged androids.
Jenny and Giles kissing. Not my favourite moment, but nice in its way. For them.