0:01 : The Slayer introduction is attached to this episode. It’s technically incorrect, now that Kendra has been called.

0:50 : Xander mentions that Spike and Drusilla are out of the way, probably considered dead. Buffy is certainly not worried about them, or the Order of Taraka…

0:56 : Xander also mentions that he’s just jinxed them majorly by declaring it quiet – just as he did in School Hard.

1:04 : Speaking of the Order of Taraka, they have seemingly stopped their pursuit of the Slayer. Now this is fine, with no client, but who paid them in the end? Giles didn’t make it sound like they could be bought off or dissuaded so easily in What’s My Line?

1:37 : Our superb guest star who, by the end of the episode, you’ll wish, evil or not, was somehow still around after the Slayer takes him out! John Ritter makes his mark as Ted Buchanan (or rather his robotic double) and formed an instant rapport with the cast and crew, especially Nicholas Brendon, to whom he became a lifelong friend and mentor.
    His career is a lengthy one, spanning five decades, starting with Three’s Company and it’s associated spin-off. He voiced Clifford the Big Red Dog, which gained him four Emmy nominations. He’s been referred to as the ‘greatest physical comedian on the planet’ by his contemporaries. A role in the sitcom 8 Simple Rules entered the television history books when the actor halted filming in their second season. Taken to hospital, he suffered a cardiac arrest and died later that evening. He was 54. The show, remarkably for a sitcom, wrote his death immediately into the story and changed the entire premise of the show for the remainder of it’s three-season run.

4:23 : Take note of the picture that Ted points to on the Summers’ fridge…

5:01 : Just a really fun moment: Giles, urging Buffy to show some restraint – even against vampires – as she takes her aggression on Ted out on everything male around her. “Its staking time, really. Don’t you think?”

6:06 : Capped off with his brilliant line: “I believe the subtext here is rapidly becoming text.” Used this one in reality ourselves.

7:47 : Ted suggests taking Buffy and her friends for a trip to the nearby Mini-Golf course. Which expressly didn’t exist when Xander suggested it in When She Was Bad.

8:22 : Presumably, Giles and Jenny haven’t spoken since The Dark Age…

9:06 : …which Jenny dutifully reminds us was three weeks (or three episodes) ago. Recurring characters on Buffy and Angel are frequently told of the events they miss if the actor themselves is missing from the episode, and usually the same length of time has passed. For example, in Entropy, Willow fills Tara in on the adventures from the episodes she missed that season.

11:02 : Small Sunnydale’s latest big attraction: the miniature golf course! These scenes were filmed at Sherman Oaks Castle Park in California.

14:33 : Note here that the picture of Buffy and Joyce from the fridge, which Ted drew attention to in the opening scene, is gone. It’ll turn up on Ted’s desk later, a nice, very fastidious, continuity touch.

16:00 : Xander and Cordelia continue their dalliance, with Xander actually paying her a compliment – in public, much to her horror – and then slipping away to make out. They’re hoping no one has noticed, but Willow is clearly onto them.

17:53 : Ted’s co-worker, named as Neal, is played by Ken Thorley. If his voice and mannerisms seem familiar, it may be from Star Trek: The Next Generation, where he played recurring (and heavily-made up) alien barber, Mr. Mott, on the Enterprise.

21:23 : Another cute moment: Buffy swinging, calling for vampires to slay – complete with sing-song voice!

22:22 : Ted points out, quite astutely, that any sane, rational person who read Buffy’s diary would think she was delusional and have her placed in psychiatric care. He then threatens to do just this by telling Joyce. Sorry Ted, but Joyce already did that – as we’ll find out in Normal Again. It didn’t take. Apparently. Hopefully.
    Probably.

23:30 : “You killed him.” For a while here, the episode dovetails, very effectively, into a serious piece of drama. At no point, apart from the mini golf moment, has there been a recognisable hint that Ted is not human – and we’re led to believe for almost the entirety of the rest of the episode that Buffy has killed a human being.
    As a result, we see how her peers and teachers react to her and there’s a discussion had about Buffy’s responsibilities and how it operates within the confines of the human judicial system. We’ll cover it again shortly…

24:02 : James G. MacDonald makes his first appearance as Police Detective Stein. As Sunnydale police go, he’s slightly more tolerable than any other we see. In this episode, he’s seen here responding to Ted’s ‘death’ and questioning Buffy, but he’ll do so again, in season three’s Consequences (where there’s another Slayer/human death).

27:16 : Xander asks what sort of creature Ted was, specifying bugs, which relates to Teacher’s Pet and What’s My Line?

29:02 : Please note, Cordelia, after Xander teasing her with joining, is officially part of the team. She’s hanging about in the library and no one questions it as they did in season one.

29:30 : Cordelia, airing her views, asks why Buffy isn’t exempt from the law.

29:43 : The Scoobies discuss the idea, which they’ll do again in season three, this time over Faith when No commits the same crime. Her reaction is what sets her apart from Buffy.

29:54 : Again, Cordelia proves she has no tact, by bringing up Giles’ personal history, as recently revealed to her in The Dark Age.

33:24 : “She nailed it shut.” So Joyce knows Buffy uses the window and normally leaves it? After this episode, it’s never nailed shut again, so does Joyce forget about this whole episode? Or is it subliminal acceptance of what she’s seen her daughter is capable of? By the end of this episode, Joyce Summers seems to live in a world of rather unhealthy denial.

35:23 : Surprise! Rather than being a demon when Buffy stabs his arm, he’s revealed to be a robot! It’s not the last time Buffy will face a mechanical menace…

35:23: There’s an interesting observation to be made here: the denizens of Sunnydale seem to be very gifted with technology. We see this through the Initiative and to some extent with Willow’s hacking skills, but also in ordinary people. The real Ted was a genius, accomplishing something no other human has. So has Warren Mears, when he created his tech, by the same standards. Is there something on the Hellmouth that amplifies tech nerds into mad scientists?

41:49 : Well… Ted did tell Xander in the opening scenes that a cast iron skillet is the best to use for frying and cooking. Originally a reference to John Ritter‘s Three’s Company character (a chef), it here, as Buffy proves, is also excellent for pummelling…

41:49 : During the filming of the climatic battle scene, both actors were ill: Sarah Michelle Gellar had the flu at the time, whilst John Ritter had food poisoning from the night before.

43:05 : Question time: just how does Buffy explain Ted to both the authorities and her mother? Sure, with the police she can feign complete ignorance, but with her mom: she certainly implies by her wording that Joyce doesn’t know Ted’s true nature as a robot. Unfortunately, we’ll be left to ponder – when Joyce next brings up Ted she mentions him being a robot.
    Would have loved to have heard that conversation… “Mom, about you’re old boyfriend…”

43:32 : Willow keeps some of the non-evil parts of Ted, although as far as we know she never uses them again, apart from maybe to repair the Buffy Bot in Season Six.

44:04 : After this episode, Giles and Jenny are officially a couple again. For two weeks (or episodes if you’d prefer…)