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Post by Clare on Sept 21, 2008 15:44:01 GMT -5
1.04 Teacher's Pet - Episode #004
A preying mantis posed as an attractive female teacher nearly eats Xander and other male virgins from Sunnydale High
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 26, 2008 7:04:16 GMT -5
I'm giving this one a 4 out of 10. It was enjoyable, but full of flaws.
Like since when were there giant preying manitses? They never said she was some kind of demon, only that she was an insect. And how is it that she could tell who was a virgin and who wasn't? And why did she twist her head around when she could have just turned around - anyone in the class would have been freaked out if they saw that, and her cover would have been blown. And if blaine was kidnapped the day before, why is he still alive, and why did she pick xander first? Does blaine smell or something? And why would a giant mantis thats as intelligent as a person be afraid of bat sonar on tape? And what happened to those eggs!
I was also a little bothered by the vamp guy with the claw. Vampires used to be humans, but this guy was pure snarling monster. I can't imagine what kind of person he must have been when he was alive, and I don't really want to.
Still there were a few good moments, like when claw vamp ran away from miss french. And cordy talking about how killing teachers can help her loose weight. Like I said before it was a good episode, if you look past the flaws.
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Post by partcynic on Sept 9, 2009 11:39:23 GMT -5
1x04 “Teacher’s Pet”
Episode Rating = 5
One of the most refreshing things about season one is its incredible consistency (really, S3 is the only subsequent one that comes close, and even that requires deleting “Dead Man’s Party”), and I think it says a lot that even a so-called ‘bad’ episode like “Teacher’s Pet” is stuffed to the brim with wit and entertaining character moments. While its main plot is admittedly questionable, the core four are as dynamic and fun to watch as ever, and the episode’s excellent window into Xander’s personality is more than enough to make-up for the creative but silly She-Mantis.
What I Liked about “Teacher’s Pet”:
- Looking back of the series, it’s sad to see how few showcases Xander would get, so those we did receive are all the more valuable. This ep is a snapshot of Xander in one of his best time periods – being an affable dork whose heart is in the right place. Nicholas Brendon does a fine job in portraying his character, and the writing lets us into his psyche, providing lots of good-natured laughs. His unease around women (and specifically, sex) was consistently believable and amusing, serving up great moments such as his opening Guitar God fantasy, the excited whoop after being asked to visit Ms French’s home, and the very realistic, very teenaged reaction he has to her cleavage-exposing dress.
- The dynamic between Willow, Xander and Buffy is evolving steadily, with regard to both their functioning as the Scooby unit and their network of unreciprocated attractions. At this juncture, the show is giving enough hints as to the characters’ feelings to make its point (Willow’s obvious fixation with Xander; Xander’s comments about Angel and later projection of his own jealousy onto Buffy when she tries to warn him about the She-Mantis), yet is avoiding having them dominate the proceedings.
- As is commonplace for season one, the dialogue and pacing are both excellent. Every scene has some memorable lines, and the humorous and emotional moments are played equally well.
- For all of its issues, the She-Mantis story is imaginative, and works as a subversion of the common ‘hunting for female innocence’ horror trope. It was interesting to see what that kind of narrative would be like if it was turned on its head, and introducing the obnoxious Blaine - only for his sexual bravado to be revealed as a big lie - was funny, as well as having quite a bit of truth to it.
- The early scene with Buffy and Dr Gregory was sweet – it was nice to see a non-Giles member of the faculty show her positive regard, and her upset after learning of his death was touching. I also liked how his ‘do your homework’ advice proved a recurring theme in the episode, and was actually vital to defeating the monster.
- Cordelia’s brief scenes were excellent. She may be a one-dimensional stereotype at this point in the series, but she’s a truly hilarious one.
- David Boreanaz’s acting still has a way to go, but his performance here was far better than in the two-part opener, and the Angel character is being written closer to his eventual personality. The interaction between he and Buffy was successful at hinting at things for the future (such as in Buffy’s wearing his leather coat all episode, and the flirty ambiguity of the penultimate scene), and Xander’s pettiness is funny (I agree – Angel is a girly name).
- Claw was a decent mini-villain, and while he doesn’t fit in with the post S2 conception of vampires, he works as far as season one’s underground, medieval style goes (and his sacrificial penance is a concept that would recur when The Three were introduced in the “Angel” episode). It was clever to have his fear of Ms French be the tip-off that alerted Buffy to her suspect nature, and using him as a sniffer dog at the end tied back into it nicely.
- The ending egg sacs were cliched, but fun. As I’ve mentioned before, I think it would have been cute for a Mantis monster for pop up in S7, fitting the ‘back to the beginning’ theme.
What I Disliked about “Teacher’s Pet”:
- A few of the more campy, B-movie elements could do with being filtered out (Xander’s over-the-top shouts for help; the pan from the girl at the very beginning – whose scream was clearly a flat one pulled from a sound bank, and had no fear connotations whatsoever), but they do add a bit of goofy charm.
- The actress who played the She-Mantis/Young Ms French was attractive enough, but not to the extent that I bought all of the men’s infatuation with her. It helps that it was later revealed to be the work of pheromones, but I always have a hard time being pulled in to the initial part of the story.
- The score music during the park scene fight is weak, and it’s clear that they hadn’t yet gotten Sarah Michelle Gellar to provide them with ‘battle noises’ to dub. You can hear plenty of exertion during the struggle, but it’s obviously not Buffy/SMG who’s making the sounds.
- Why would the She-Mantis do a total neck twist in the middle of a full classroom? She admittedly had the students distracted by their tests, but someone could have looked up at any time and have seen that disturbing sight. It’s especially weird given that she could have just turned around.
- Costume-wise, the She-Mantis needed a bit of work. It wasn’t too bad considering the show’s limited budget, but it looked more like a person in a suit than a believable, living creature.
- During the Mantis-hunt, why does Buffy tell Willow that they haven’t got enough time to knock on doors, but feel that it’s fine for her to head into the vast sewer network and attempt to find Claw? She was pretty lucky that he’d chosen to stay holed up in the exact same place.
- How exactly did those egg sacs get in the classroom closet? Did the She-Mantis mate with Dr Gregory before killing him? (Apologies for any unpleasant mental images that thought might have given you!)
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it:
Being a broken record, I will say that I feel identically. Although “Teacher’s Pet” could undoubtedly do with some re-tooling in the areas of plot and special effects, it’s also a funny, charming episode that shines a spotlight on someone who would become a vastly under-utilised character. In addition, the story itself is worth some commendation, with obvious thought having been put into it, no matter how lacking some aspects came off as being. Because of these factors, I give “Teacher’s Pet” a solid, baseline score of five out of ten.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 10, 2009 19:26:20 GMT -5
I'm sticking with my rating of 4, this time making it a low 4. It was a pretty ridiculous story filled with flaws, and very few good moments (cordy's hilarious conversation with the councellor and xander's wish fulfillment dream at the start were the only ones I can think of). Overall it wasn't very entertaining, and I would only watch it when watching the whole season. In my last review I did plenty of nitpicking, finding quite a few flaws. And upon rewatching, I've found some more.  This episode may have more flaws than any other, up until season 6 at least. - Why would miss french keep the teacher's body inside the fridge? Even assuming she mated with him in the school and not lured him back to her house like she did with the others, why would she leave it where it's bound to be discovered? Wouldn't she rather want to hide it? - I can understand the vampire being afraid of miss french when face-to-face with her, but why did he become petrified when just walking past her house? What a wuss! - Why would the She-Mantis do a total neck twist in the middle of a full classroom? She admittedly had the students distracted by their tests, but someone could have looked up at any time and have seen that disturbing sight. It’s especially weird given that she could have just turned around. Agreed, and dare say this was the biggest, most obvious mistake in the episode, and possibly the whole season. It was just so stupid. -The actress who played the She-Mantis/Young Ms French was attractive enough, but not to the extent that I bought all of the men’s infatuation with her. It helps that it was later revealed to be the work of pheromones, but I always have a hard time being pulled in to the initial part of the story. Agreed. She was ok-looking, and she did have that 'predator' thing going on, but the boy's reactions were still way too over the top. - How exactly did those egg sacs get in the classroom closet? Did the She-Mantis mate with Dr Gregory before killing him? (Apologies for any unpleasant mental images that thought might have given you!) I assume she would have mated with him, I mean why else would she kill him? (Poor guy, a virgin at his age  ) What I would like to know is, why would she leave her eggs lying around in the school? You'd think she would have taken them home. ...Btw, whatever happened to all of partycynic's replies to my earlier review? Have they been deleted, or are they still on the board somewhere? |
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Post by partcynic on Sept 11, 2009 6:12:03 GMT -5
They're on the old thread. I've incorporated them into the rest of this post. Now them's fightin' words!  I think Ted, Dead Man's Party, Goodbye Iowa, Listening to Fear, Blood Ties, Spiral and The Weight of the World all have it beat there. I agree it's not the brightest thing, but was there any evidence that would have linked her to Dr Gregory's death? If it wasn't for the Scoobs, I doubt that anyone would have made the connection or had any suspicions regarding her - at least until several boys went missing, at which time the She-Mantis would probably have decided to move on anyway. I don't think it's a huge stretch. We've seen demons of many types and varieties (mostly reptilian), so some being insectoid isn't that contradictory to canon. Pheromones, maybe? If she was capable of sending them out to attract men, perhaps she could also pick up on those of others, and detect things about them from that? Or perhaps she was just playing with statistics and got lucky. In a high school with hundreds of boys from 14-18, it's likely that a good chunk will be virgins. I'm pretty sure it was implied that someone else was there when Blaine was taken in. He saw the Mantis kill that guy, hence his knowing how she 'did her thing' with her prey; and being able to explain it to Xander. As for selecting Xander, she was just picking at random ("eeny-meeny-miny... mo"). There is some logic to this. From what I've read, bats are natural predators of mantises, which tend to hunt at night and are therefore easy prey for them. Most mantises have evolved an 'ear' of sorts that allows them to read bat sonar, and 'hearing' it causes an automatic diving behaviour (presumably to keep them out of the path of any that are nearby). I'm guessing that the She-Mantis' reaction is therefore based on biological fact, but with a bit of obvious creative license added. Well, the Master was once a person, but he's hardly got much humanity left in him. Also, we didn't really get enough time with Claw for me to make a decision either way. Both times we saw him, he was retaliating to being hunted, which isn't the best indication as to his everyday behaviour. And the self-mutiliation and 'honour' concept fits with the s1 conception of vamps just fine. |
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Post by cyclica on Sept 11, 2009 17:34:17 GMT -5
Now them's fightin' words! I think Ted, Dead Man's Party, Goodbye Iowa, Listening to Fear, Blood Ties, Spiral and The Weight of the World all have it beat there. Some of those episodes have storylines I'd consider worse (or just more boring), but teachers pet may probably have the most 'smaller nitpicks'. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Well, the Master was once a person, but he's hardly got much humanity left in him. Also, we didn't really get enough time with Claw for me to make a decision either way. Both times we saw him, he was retaliating to being hunted, which isn't the best indication as to his everyday behaviour. And the self-mutiliation and 'honour' concept fits with the s1 conception of vamps just fine. Upon rewatching, clawman seemed more human to me than the last time I watched. I even noticed he had a line, which I didn't notice (or remember) before. Though I still consider him one of the most monsterous vamps that has been on the show. |
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Post by partcynic on Sept 15, 2009 12:19:43 GMT -5
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Post by cyclica on Sept 15, 2009 15:59:09 GMT -5
Cool! Though there are plenty of bigger unanswered questions that are more deserving to belong on that list. *cough*telepathyinshowtime*cough*
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This episode may have more flaws than any other, up until season 6 at least.
)
I think Ted, Dead Man's Party, Goodbye Iowa, Listening to Fear, Blood Ties, Spiral and The Weight of the World all have it beat there.