Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 2 Episode 11: Ted

​ Welcome to the midpoint of season 2 of the greatest show ever! Buffy the Vampire Slayer! And on top of that it has the one and only, the great John Ritter. You Know, Jack Tripper from Three's Company. Oh yeah, before I forget, this episode was written by David Greenwalt & Joss Whedon and directed by Bruce Seth Green and is staring John Ritter! Yes John Ritter! Did I mention John Ritter is in it? Good. If you haven't seen it yet stop reading this and check it out on Netflix before it's too late or click on the iTunes link, you know if you want to buy it, which you should, because well John Ritter.

​Now if you are asking who is John Ritter or what is Three's Company, well you are missing out and I'm sorry for you, but here is a taste.

Okay, now let us get to why you are all here, to talk about John Rit. . . I mean Buffy the vampire slayer. The episode starts off with Willow and Xander having a friendly argument while Buffy ignores them completely. She is lost in her own head, not really listening. They make it to Buffy's house where they find the door slightly open. She tells the others to wait outside while she goes in for a look. Seconds later she hears glass break and her mom squeak. She rushes to the kitchen to find her mother, the annoying Joyce, kissing John Ritter, or well his name on this show is Ted.

​Ted cooks for the gang and impresses Willow with free demos, which causes her to freak out in a good way. Everyone seems to love Ted, but for Buffy who pretends to be okay before taking all of her anger out on some poor vampire. He never asked for any of this but does the slayer care? Oh no, she just wants to cause him pain. Even Giles is trying to calm down. Buffy complains to Giles about vampires but it is clear that she is talking about Ted.

​The next day at school Xander is raving on and on about Ted and even Buffy can't find anything bad to say about him. She just doesn't like the guy and doesn't know why. It doesn't help when he shows up at Sunnydale High and invites them to play minigolf and Xander signs them up.

​Now let's move away from Ted for a bit and go and check in on Giles. He makes his way to Jenny's classroom to tell her that he has some of her text books. It is clear he wants to talk to her but doesn't know how, not since she was possessed by the demon that was after him in Dark Ages. She tells him that she needs space, he can't keep coming around and trying to fix things. It makes her feel bad that she doesn't feel better. Giles leaves heartbroken. God can we just sit here for a moment and cry for our beloved Giles?

​Buffy is alone with Angel and all she wants to do is bitch and complain about Ted. She seems a bit obsessed with him and Angel tries to get her mind off of it. The next day everyone is playing minigolf and Ted lectures Buffy on her grades before trying to act like her father. This is where we finally start to see that Buffy is right, there is something really off with Ted. He even threatens to slap her across her face. He makes a smart remark about not being wired a certain way which is telling. It is also important to note that everyone loves his cookies. Cookies are evil.

​As Buffy tries to tell Joyce about Ted, Joyce lets it slip that she might be in love with him. The look on Buffy's face is heartbreaking. Her mother just confessed love for a man who was not only rude to Buffy but scared her, not much can scare the slayer but Buffy is also a teenage girl. A teenage girl whose parents just got divorced and this new man in her life is trying to change everything for her. That would be scary for any child. It all gets worse when Joyce doesn't believe Buffy when she says that Ted threatened her.

​Xander complements Cordy and she snaps at him. She gets pissed off at him for saying it in front of his friends because she doesn't want anyone to know. He promises her that no one will ever know and then asks if she wants to make out. She is disgusted that that is all he thinks about and then agrees to it. I love them together.

​Being the tech wizard that she is, Willow finds out where Ted works and Buffy goes to his job to spy on him. This is where things go sideways. Ted is a workaholic who never misses a day but is taking off for his wedding. His wedding to one Joyce Summers. Buffy is going to have a new step dad and she is not happy.

​At dinner it's important to note that Buffy has yet to eat anything that Ted cooked. This is important to keep in mind. Buffy asks Ted and her mother if they are engaged and they tell her not yet, but Ted asks how that would make her feel. Buffy tells him that it makes her feel like killing herself. Joyce sends her away and apologizes to Ted for her daughter. It makes me sick how bad a mother she is. To be fair she is under a spell, wait what? We will get to that.

​It's a slow night in the vampire world so Buffy heads home. Sitting in her room is none other than Ted. He threatens her once again, telling her she is to do whatever he says from now on or he will show her journal to Joyce and have Buffy locked up for believing in vampires. Buffy tries to stop him from taking the journal and he hits her. The two of them fight as Joyce watches on in horror. Ted falls down the stairs and lands at the bottom, dead.

​Buffy confesses to the police that she pushed him and they question her. She tells them that he threatened her and hit her. The cop comments that he must not have hit her hard because she doesn't have bruises. Buffy almost breaks down, it just makes you feel for her so much.

​But not nearly as much as the silent car ride home. Joyce doesn't say a word to her. The next day at school everyone just watches her, judging her. Xander and Willow start asking her all these questions, such as what kind of demon he was. When Buffy admits that he was human you can see the judgement in her friends eyes. This episode really pulls on the heart strings a lot.

​The police are at school questioning teachers about Buffy trying to figure out what kind of person she is. Willow tries to find anything she can about him online as Xander rants about how everything is bad and he hates Ted. He takes one bite of a cookie left over from Ted and everything changes. He is no longer worried about anything. He is just in a great mood. The key is in the cookies, in the food. Never trust great tasting food made by people you don't know. It could be drugged.

​Giles decides to take over for Buffy on patrol since Buffy is riddled with guilt. Buffy tries to talk to her mom about everything but Joyce won't hear it. She wants nothing to do with Buffy right now. Willow finds out that the cookies have something similar to ecstasy. Cordy finds an address and old marriage licenses, something isn't right and the gang heads out to his house.

​Jenny tracks down Giles and tells him that she forgives him for putting her in danger, seconds later she is once more put in danger as a vampire attacks. Speaking of attacks, Buffy is alone in her room when Ted attacks her. He man handles her in a way that no human should be able to. We intercut between this and Jenny shooting Giles with an arrow. It's a funny moment, lucky he isn't hurt too bad and uses the arrow to dust the vampire. Buffy hits Ted and we see that he is a robot, say what!!!
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​Ted knocks her out and heads downstairs to find Joyce as the Scoobies break into his house. Turns out he has been married four times and is a lot older than he looks. They find nothing in his house until they find a rug out of place. It leads to another house below that one. Joyce is in shock at seeing Ted standing before her. He makes up a story about only being dead for a few moments before waking up.

​His house is right out of the 50's. He clearly has been around for a long time and he as for his old wives. Yeah he keeps them in the closet, well their dead bodies anyways. Ted tries to talk Joyce into coming away with her but she is more worried about Buffy, for once. Ted's programing starts to act up and Joyce thinks that something is wrong with him, still not thinking that he is a robot because, well, who would?

​On a happy note, Giles and Jenny patch things up. It's good to see them happy together. They were really cute together. Buffy wakes up just as Ted is trying to get Joyce out of the house. She is stalling for time but he won't allow it. She now sees that the man is insane. He throws her into a wall and is about to carry her out when he hears Buffy and goes in search of her. She hits him with a pan of all things and we see his robot face. It is right out of terminator, very cool. Another hit and he is down for the count. No more Ted, poor John Ritter.

​Joyce and Buffy are back on good terms, I'm glad for Buffy even if I'm not a fan of Joyce. The police also know he is a robot so Buffy is not in any legal trouble. This is truly a great episode, and even hints at the fact that Willow never grows. She kept part of Ted because he is a robot and she finds that cool. She will go on to keep the Buffybot because it's a robot and that is cool. Damn Willow, try to learn.

​Okay before we go, this is the 20th anniversary of Buffy and Entertainment Weekly did a great reunion video for the show so I thought I'd put a link to it down below if you guys want to check it out. It's about 40 minutes and worth the watch! I love this show!!!