Teacher's Pet

When Buffy's biology teacher Dr. Gregory (William Monaghan) goes missing (only to turn up later minus his noggin), sexy substitute teacher Natalie French (Musetta Vander) takes over his classes, much to the delight of the male pupils who are only too happy to help out with the class project. What they don't realise—until it's too late, that is—is that Miss French is actually a shape-shifting she-mantis, a giant cannibalistic insect looking for virgins to fertilise her eggs, after which she devours their heads!

As a fan of cheesy science fiction films, particularly those featuring giant man-eating bugs, I think I enjoyed this one a little more than your average Buffy fan. The episode starts off in fine form with Xander fantasising about Buffy, impressing the girl with both his vampire killing and fret-widdling skills, but he soon forgets about the slayer once Miss French starts to release her pheromones. Xander is lured to the home of his new teacher, who is waiting for him in a cleavage enhancing dress, clutching a pair of Martinis; his dream of scoring with an older lady turns into a nightmare, however, when he wakes up in a cage in the basement, with Miss French now in mantis form, preparing to lay her eggs.

Xander's awkwardness with women provides some genuinely funny moments, and Musetta Vander is a nice distraction, but for me this episode is a winner thanks to the terrific mantis monster at the end, a cool animatronic creation that reminds me just how much I prefer practical creature effects over CGI.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Another story that delves into the realm of the supernatural rather than vampires, we have "Teacher's pet."

While yes it's still a 6/10 in my eyes, I had a lot of fun with this one as we get more of a focus on Xander at his goofiest. There is some really dark moments implied on screen here with the science teacher decapitated which for a show of this age rating shocked me.

I found Xander's dream at the start of the episode quite funny and even though he is the weak link of the cast, he's always fun on screen. His story of falling for the new substitute teacher was a really fun rom-com style plotline except this time the teacher is a big mantis. This was a really fun time even though it was nothing spectacular.

I don't know why this episode is so low rated.

Xander really gets to shine in this one. He's so adorable.

It's my favourite one yet. I thought it was hilariously zany. Has a great B movie feel to it.

I like that there's a random claw vampire who isn't even a part of the main plot.

This is one of the only episodes where we actually get into the head of someone other than Buffy; the episode begins with Xander's fantasy/dream. It's not clear it's a dream from context, but it certainly is by content - Xander as Buffy's hero and heartthrob; Xander as a musical headliner at The Bronze.

When the dream ends, everybody is in science class. Buffy is asked a question pertaining to reading she has clearly not done, and the teacher, Mr. Gregory, talks to her after class. However, he encourages her rather than admonishes her, and is immediately eaten by some nasty creature once Buffy leaves the classroom.

Angel isn't very helpful this week. He makes an appearance to warn Buffy about "fork guy" and then does his usual disappearing act. "Fork guy" turns out to only be a nuisance who, in spite of being a vampire with a dangerous claw hand, runs scared from the actual episode's Big Bad - a substitute teacher at Sunnydale High School. Complications ensue.

This episode, which turns out to be Xander centric, even has a nice pro teen virginity message sandwiched in there.

This is one of season one's frequent and weaker stand-alone episodes, but it does have good character development, especially in the area of trust being built between Buffy and Xander.

A mixed episode for me, though an improvement over the last. The dialogue and premise is a bit funnier this time. Some of the jokes just land better I thought. The idea of a new attractive teacher turning out ti be a giant bug is just kind of funny and if anything it's a shame they didn't push the humour more. Her actual plan and lack of subtly didn't really make any sense, nor did anyone question her DOB. Parts of it are a bit laboured and the Angel characters warnings are about as clear as mud. The casting was okay for thos one I Thought, though one student looks about 30, certainly not 17. The design of the creature was quite good I thought taking me back to those old 1950s B movies.

The episode is in no way scary though and also mostly devoid of any good action.