BtVS: Ted

Ted has the distinction of having possibly the most famous guest star of the series, the late John Ritter. his untimely death on Sept 11, 2003 was a shock to a nation that knew him best as Jack Tripper on Three's Company. his role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, though perhaps not his most famous outside the fans of Buffy, will always be one of my favorites. he will be missed.

Ted Buchanan, a seemingly soft spoken, polite, outgoing, friendly, thoughtful software salesman dating Buffy's mother, turns out to be Ted Buchanan a dysfunctional, twisted, out of control, serial killer robot. from the moment buffy discovers Ted and her mother Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) kissing in the kitchen she doesn't like him. her Slayer instincts tell her there's something that's just not right about the guy. all of her friends, even Giles and Angel tell her that it's just "parental issues".

in the end she turns out to be right.

i'll admit that's a sketchy synopsis, but Ted is another one of those episodes where the elements are more important than the plot. written by the two top guns Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt (that should be your first clue) we find out that the Order of Taraka has called off the bounty on Buffy's head, Cordy and Xander are still hot for each other (though doing their best to keep it hidden), and that Angel is recovering nicely from the ritual to restore Drucilla. but the most important aspect of this episode is the subplot involving Giles and Jenny's relationship, and you know what that means.

Giles Report: near the beginning of the episode Giles makes up a lame excuse to drop in and check on how Jenny is recovering from her possession ordeal (the Dark Age for those not paying attention). somewhat harshly, Jenny lets him know that she needs some space and inadvertantly hurts Giles' feelings.

later in the episode, Giles volunteers for patrol to give Buffy time to deal with the trauma of killing Ted (at the time she thinks he's just a person and feels remorse for accidently causing his death). while he's on patrol Jenny shows up wanting to apologize, just as a vampire comes out of the shadows. naturally Giles goes after the vampire to protect Jenny, telling her to get his crossbow. unfortunately she misses the vampire and nails Giles in the, um, lower back region. in a truly manly type move Giles pulls out the arrow, stabs the vampire (who finds it all pretty funny up to that point) and sends him to dustville. Jenny rushes Giles to a hospital, where he dies from blood loss. (just kidding)

all is forgiven and the two lovebirds are together again. happily ever after? are you kidding me? this is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. this, for those of you out of the loop on how romances figure into the buffyverse, is just the calm before the storm. hold on to your seats boys and girls, cause the roller coaster of love ride has just made it over the first hill and it's a long way from being over.