4DD) "I really like his head! I-it's where you find his eyes..." (00:31:35) WILLOW LOVES XANDER: Another moment of genuine concern we see from Willow, regarding Xander. She truly worries about him in dangerous situations, not to mention the fact that her jealousy earlier in the episode about Xander falling for somebody else has now turned into fear for his life. See 2R.
FORESHADOWY SADNESS: Willow's lament about how much she loves Xander's eyes is given irony, in hindsight. In the seventh's season's Dirty Girls, The First's most powerful minion, Caleb, gouges out one of Xander's eyes.
4EE) "Well, Xander's not a..." (00:33:58) BUFFY CLUELESS: Although it is a known fact that Buffy is incredibly smart, she has also proven herself to be incredibly clueless, regarding Xander's feelings for her, or Xander as a possible sexual being, in general. Here we see that it doesn't even occur to her that Xander might be a virgin, perhaps because she doesn't yet, at this point, know him well enough. It is interesting, however, that, although she isn't personally attracted to him, that she instantly assumes that he isn't a virgin. Is this meant to show her total lack-of-knowledge regarding how unlikely it is for a "funny" (read "not cool") guy in high school like Xander to have had sex (remember the original shooting script's description of him in Welcome to the Hellmouth--see 1F)? Maybe it is meant to imply that, although she does not view him as a sexual being, in relation to herself, she has not completely written him off as a male. To her, he may be "one of the girls" (see 3OO), but that doesn't mean that he may not be a "guy" to somebody else. That, of course, is what Willow is hoping for, as well. Buffy's cluelessness regarding Xander, however, makes her all the more human. She is not a two-dimensional superhero character, who always knows the right thing to do, and always solves the problem. Her total ignorance regarding Xander's love for her, something staring her right in the face, reminds us that, in some ways, she, emotionally, is a normal teenage girl.
4FF) "Yes, that would be wrong." (00:36:07) FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: Buffy's exclamation of "that would be wrong" prefigures the scene in Who Are You?, when Faith, in Buffy's body, mocks Buffy by saying similar words. Ironically, of course, in that situation, Faith is implying that Buffy is a goody-two-shoes, who always scolds people for behaving inappropriately. What Faith does not realize, however, is how, in many ways, Buffy and her have a great deal in common. Buffy here is also about to do something "naughty," and jokingly, scolding herself, much like Faith does, mimicking Buffy.
Act Four
4GG) "We will." (00:37:51) CONTINUITY CHECK: This small exchange between Buffy and Willow perfectly defines the differences in their characters. Willow has the "impulsive drive to fix things...," but does not necessarily know the best way to go about doing so. Buffy, on the other hand, is much better at tacital planning, and pausing her emotions at times, in order to think cooly and clearly in battle. While some, such as Kendra, would accuse Buffy of, herself, being too emotional, Buffy knows when her emotional attachment to people is important (here, for example, it is her caring for Xander that makes this rescue so necessary to her), and when one has to think rationally.--from a submission by Sanjerine, with additions and paraphrasing by Rob
4HH) "Better than radar." (00:38:55) BUFFY SMART: "...Buffy is smart. That is the quality that allows her to survive as long as she did. It's not her Slayer strength per se, nor her connections to the world, although they are useful. It is her ability to think. She knows how to think 'outside the box', how to delegate jobs, and how to use the solution of one problem to solve another. And when she thinks she is right, nothing can stand in her way."--Brian, Thurs, 09/27/01 at 19:57:17
4II) "Kiss me." (00:39:15) FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Xander, still tethered, watches in horror as the She-Mantis lowers her ghastly face towards him. He struggles futilely. It's the grossest thing that's ever happened to him, until, through teeth dripping with unspeakable fluids, she says: Kiss me."--"Teacher's Pet " by David Greenwalt, available from Pocket Books, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season One, Volume 1
4JJ) "He taught me if you do your homework you learn stuff." (00:40:01) BUFFY SMART: Buffy succeeds against the She-Mantis where all others have failed, because everybody else who faced the monster (i.e. Doctor Gregory, Gile's friend from Oxford) did not find the right balance of science and primal instinct necessary to face such a monster, representative of primal nature. Dr. Gregory was destroyed; Giles' friend went mad. Buffy, on the other hand, integrates nature with civilization. She blends "science with primal instinct. She falls on her Slayer senses to...[battle the bug, but s]he also does her homework...[to figure out how to succeed]."--submitted by Rahael, with some additions by Rob
4KK) "...extremely important to file not simply alphabetically by author..." (00:40:06) GILES VS. TECHNOLOGY: Giles proves here that he does not only have difficulties with computers and videos--he is pretty clueless about tape recorders as well, although he should get some credit for being able to record that oh-so-interesting-sounding treatise on filing, in the first place.
4LL) "You can go there with it." (00:40:44) SLAYER POWER: "A female sexual predator might sound feminist, especially given the misogyny of the male sexual predator, but Natalie French, the praying mantis, is an archetype of male fear of female sexual power, and one of the oldest excuses in the book (since Eve, at least!) for 'keeping those nasty women barefoot and pregnant where they can't cause trouble.' The quick-thinking, decisively-acting girl hero saves the helpless male victims (while her watcher seems to stumble around cluelessly). This sends a good message for positive female power...," since our strong, female hero shatters the illusion of the female seductress and predator, both physically and metaphorically.--Masquerade, "Teacher's Pet " Analysis at http://www.atpobtvs.com
4MM) "You were right, I was an idiot, and God bless you." (00:41:20) LESSON LEARNED: "Xander learns about looking beyond the stereotype when he admits to Buffy at the end of the episode that he's been a fool. Miss French's outwardly beautiful appearance deceived him about the ugliness inside--the ugliness of stereotypes...[Now] he'll never have...[another] fantasy about Buffy being helpless and he having to ride to the rescue again--he now realizes that that is also a different kind of illusion."--submitted by Rahael
4NN) "Blayne--shut up." (00:41:57) MANLINESS: And thus, with the discovery that Blayne is also a virgin, another stereotype is shattered. Although earlier it seemed that Blayne was more in-control and manly than Xander, we learn here that "Blayne's image is just that--a carefully constructed image. Xander is far braver than he is."--submitted by Rahael, with some additions by Rob
4OO) "No more, no less." (00:43:20) UNFAIRNESS IN THE BUFFYVERSE: As is befitting the idea that Mr. Gregory's kindness to Buffy is something very rare in an authority figure or teacher, he is replaced by the same cookie-cutter, boring, unfeeling teacher that Buffy was always used to encountering. This also foreshadows the replacement of the kind Principal Flutie, on the event of his death, with the downright evil Principal Snyder. See 6FF.
4PP) The eggs hatch. (00:44:15) FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: "The end of the ep is a warning in itself--Miss French's eggs are hatching in the science room. Perhaps, the shattered glasses...[that Buffy picked up a moment earlier are meant to]...accompany that warning. Buffy is not seeing all that she needs to see...[about Angel, for underneath his kind exterior, a dark side lurks, as well]."--submitted by Rahael