Ted

Mark here... we're watching the next episode of Buffy season 2, "Ted".  Boy they really nailed it with this one! John Ritter guest stars as Ted, the guy who Buffy's mom Joyce has been dating.  He is perfectly cast and plays it with an appropriate degree of campiness and creepiness.  Basically, we meet Ted, and Buffy is instantly creeped out by him. Her friends however are impressed by him.  He bakes them cookies and clearly Joyce is taken with him.

Ted is a very "perfect" guy.  He cooks for Joyce and is  a great boyfriend..seemingly.  He shows a dark side initially, but just to Buffy.  Ina game of miniature golf, he threatens Buffy after she cheats at the game. Later Buffy comes to blows with him and he apparently dies after Buffy knocks him down the stairs.  This is a bit of a first for the series, Buffy apparently killing a human.  The writing is a bit weak in that regard. Giles sort of has nothing to say about the matter, except that he will do vampire patrol for a while?  At the same time he makes up with Jenny "Melrose Place" Calendar.

Anyhow, Ted is turns out to be a robot who kills women. It's a simple concept but the show plays it, and John Ritter, perfectly.  In the end, Joyce remembers him as just a bad boyfriend.

Hey Laurel here...this episode was so good!  John Ritter is amazing as the creepy too perfect guy.  Then when he turns on Buffy he amazing as the creepy super creepy guy.

This episode also shows how the gang sticks together and supports each other.  Buffy's mom doesn't believe her when she tries to warn her that Ted is two-faced.  But when Buffy ends up killing Ted, the gang of course whole heartedly believes that there must be something wrong with Ted for Buffy to have killed him, even if it was by accident.

The gang does some digging while Buffy and her mom are feeling guilty/mourning, and discover that he has had 4 marriages but no divorces.  Then when they figure out where he lives they discover all of the wives in the closet!  Gross! But way to go gang!

So Mark and me both agree this is a really good one.  Drumroll please...our first award of 5 stakes!  Check this one out people.

What's my Line? pt 2

Hey Laurel here...So we just wrapped the second part of a 2 part episode where we find out there are 2 Slayers!

In this part Buffy and the other slayer Kendra become pals.  At first Buffy is a little jealous of Kendra because she is a super good slayer technically, and has a lot to nerd out about with Giles, but then she realizes she has her strengths too that Kendra is lacking.  Like a personality for example.

Also in this part Spike and Drusilla execute their plan to cure Drusilla by abducting Angel and tying him up with her so she can drain his life force or something.  It gets a little sexy between the 3 of them but I will let Mark tell you about that part.  Anyway their party gets busted up by the whole gang...Buffy, Kendra, Giles, Willow, Zander, and the 2 remaining bounty hunters.  Kendra and Buffy succeed in rescuing Angel together, and everyone gets out of the burning church except Spike and Drusilla.  But as we find out in the end Drusilla's cure was effective even though they were interrupted...and it seems as though she is going to be able to save Spike too.

Mark here... yeah so we find out that Buffy's drowning at the end of season 1 resulted in Kendra being "called".  So for the first time in Buffy's universe there are 2 slayers.  Kendra is presented as the "good" slayer while Buffy is the unconventional one.  It's interesting but unfortunately Kendra's accent is too distracting to take her seriously.  It's too bad, as Laurel said before, the actress never really had a chance.

We also see the first sparks of romance in this episode...specifically between Xander and Cordelia, and Willow and Oz.  Oz is amazing in every scene.  He is only briefly in the episode but has a subtle charm.  Xander and Cordelia are cornered by one of the bounty hunters and the desperation fires up some passion between them.  It's pretty amusing.

The Spike-Drusilla-Angel dynamic has some sexual tension.  Drusilla tortures Angel and then Angel taunts Spike in a way that has a strong menage a trois vibe.  Anyway, By the end of the episode, Drusilla has recovered but Spike has been weakened.  Burning in a church will do that.  As far as the gang knows, Spike and Dru have bought the farm and Kendra ships out for now, and she and Buffy make amends.

We give this episode 4 stakes.  It was definitely really entertaining and pushed the plot forward, with a second slayer, 2 potential romances and a renewed Drusilla...

What's My Line Part 1

Mark here...Laurel and I have just sat down to the next episode of Buffy season 2, "What's My Line, Pt 1".  I've made us Jamie Oliver's Sweet Potato Chili with Nigella's Guacamole.  Laurel made us a cocktail to go along, called A Salty Chihuahua! It was all very tasty!

Anyway, on to the episode! It's career day at Sunnydale High and the gang is all worried about their career futures...all except Willow, who is singled out as having a promising future by a software company.  Buffy however is stressing out over the fact that she can't go away to college...or really leave Sunnydale.  Seeing how Sunnydale sits on the Hellmouth and she's the slayer...the one and only slayer.  She reminds us again that there is only one slayer and until she dies, she's the one.

Meanwhile, Spike is trying to cure the sick Drusilla and contacts a trio of demon bounty hunters to take out Buffy.  The first one strikes while Buffy is taking a break ice skating.  In a weird montage Buffy opts for some "Me time" on the rink after Angel tells her about it.  It's a weird segment.  I'm convinced it was written in so we could see Buffy take out the demon with her ice skates.  Then we see another of the trio, a weirdo made up of maggots. Also, there is a mysterious girl who arrives in Sunnydale.  We're lead to believe she's the third bounty hunter until the end of the episode. While fighting with Buffy, she says she's "Kendra the Vampire Slayer".

The episode ends on a cliffhanger as we know (but Buffy etc., do not) that Kendra has trapped Angel in a cage by a window.  Once the sun comes up, Angel will be dust...

Hey Laurel here...Not much to add except that the only other student at Sunnydale who is being recruited by the software company besides Willow is...wait for it...Oz!  Romance is brewing?

Also poor Kendra the vampire slayer.  She has the worst accent I've ever heard.  Mark was telling me that she is supposed to be Jamaican, and they brought in an accent coach to teach her the accent only 2 days in advance of shooting.  It ends up sounds kind of Jamaicain/Scottish/???.  This poor actress never stood a chance.

Mark here...one more thing that's weird. After Giles tells Buffy how dangerous this trio of Bounty Hunters is, he lets her leave and walk home alone...and then wonders where she is?!?  Kind of weird and out of character.

In any case, we give this episode 3 stakes.