Ted (Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode)

Infobox Television episode


Title=Ted
Series=Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season=2
Episode=11
Airdate=December 8 1997
Production=5V11
Writer=David Greenwalt and Joss Whedon
Director=Bruce Seth Green
Episode list=List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
Prev=What's My Line, Part Two
Next=Bad Eggs

"Ted" is episode 11 of season 2 of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". See also List of "Buffy" episodes.

Plot

Buffy, Xander and Willow walk to Buffy's house. Misinterpreting an odd situation, they find Joyce kissing a strange man. Joyce introduces her friend, Ted Buchanan, a salesman. He tells them that he has been seeing Joyce for quite some time now. He charms Willow and Xander with computer talk and cooking, respectively. Ted promises to make it up to Buffy for surprising her. Buffy becomes uncomfortable with Ted's 50's sitcom mannerisms; this is not calmed by Ted's offer of miniature golf.

That night, Buffy beats a vampire to an unusually bloody pulp before killing him, worrying Giles that something is troubling her. She refuses to divulge, but Giles secretly has a good idea of what is happening. Later that night, Buffy asks Angel for his take on things, while she tends to the hand wound he sustained recently. He says that her mother needs a man in her life, and she should give him the benefit of the doubt. She reluctantly complies with this idea.

The golf outing goes poorly, as Joyce has revealed Buffy's anti-social behavior. When Buffy cheats, Ted lectures and threatens her with a slapping out of sight of the others, but his cheerfulness comes back full force when rejoining the others.

Joyce doesn't believe this incident happened, claiming Ted thinks the world of her. Buffy recruits her friends to spy on Ted. Under an assumed name, Buffy talks her way into Ted's workspace. He has never missed a day of work, doesn't get sick and is getting engaged. Indeed, Ted has a picture of Joyce on his desk, but the part with Buffy is folded under.

At dinner, Ted denies the engagement, but confesses to Joyce that he has hopes they will. Buffy slips out for some slaying and on her return, finds Ted has read her diary. He threatens to tell Joyce about the 'Slayer' unless she toes the line. She defies him and is slapped. In the resulting brawl, Ted falls down the stairs; Joyce finds him, seemingly dead.

The day after a talk with the cops, Buffy is in a haze of guilt. Willow, Xander and Cordelia dig deeper into Ted's life -- discovering Ted's cookies are drugged; Cordelia finds Ted has had four wives since 1957, all of whom have since "disappeared". That night, while Giles patrols, Jenny surprises him and apologizes for avoiding him. A vampire attacks and Jenny accidentally shoots Giles with a crossbow instead of the monster. Giles, only slightly injured, takes the shaft out of his own body and dusts the vampire.

Buffy again finds Ted in her room; this second fight reveals he is a robot. He escapes to find Joyce. The Scooby Gang investigate Ted's bunker, decorated in 50's style. Xander finds the four wives; all dead. Ted confronts an astonished Joyce. His malfunctions reveal his true intentions; Buffy knocks him out with a frying pan. The next day, Joyce swears off men forever and says that from now on, the two Summers women shall be manless. Buffy suggests renting a chick flick.

The gang returns to school the next day, with Buffy cleared of all charges, and discussing their discoveries about Ted. Apparently, the real Ted Buchanan was a sickly and unsuccessful inventor in the 1950s whose wife left him. In desperation, he built a robot version of himself, "a better Ted", possibly to be the man he thought his wife should have. The robot then kidnapped Ted's wife and held her captive in his bunker until she died. The robot then sought out other women resembling Ted's dead wife and repeated the process again and again.

All seems to have returned to normalcy... with the exception of Mr. Giles and Ms. Calendar kissing in the library.

Acting

Starring

* Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
* Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
* Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
* Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
* David Boreanaz as Angel
* Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Special Guest star

* John Ritter as Ted Buchanan

Guest starring

* Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
* Robia LaMorte as Jenny Calendar
* James G. MacDonald as Detective Stein
* Ken Thorley as Neal

Co-starring

* Jeff Langton as Vampire

Production

*One of Willow’s lines in the teaser was cut: [Golden, Christopher, and Nancy Holder. The Watcher's Guide, Vol. 1. New York: Pocket Books, 1998.]

Willow: I’m just saying that if Tennille were in charge, she would have had the little captain hat.

*“Ted” was shot during the Halloween holiday. Many members of the cast and crew came to the set in costume; Kristine Sutherland (Joyce) wore 1950s clothes like Ted's first wife, and Sarah Michelle Gellar came as Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz", along with her dog, Toto. [Golden, Christopher, and Nancy Holder. The Watcher's Guide, Vol. 1. New York: Pocket Books, 1998.]
*During the filming of the final confrontation between Buffy and Ted, both Sarah Michelle Gellar and John Ritter were ill. Gellar had the flu whereas Ritter had food poisoning from the night before. [Golden, Christopher, and Nancy Holder. The Watcher's Guide, Vol. 1. New York: Pocket Books, 1998.]
*John Ritter claimed this episode influenced his understanding of his own step-daughter. [Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Second Season on DVD. Perf. John Ritter. DVD. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2002.]

References