Teacher's pet (thing)

Season 1, episode 4

Teacher's Pet

Cast:
Buffy Summers: Sarah Michelle Gellar
Xander Harris: Nicholas Brendon
Willow Rosenberg: Alyson Hannigan
Rupert Giles: Anthony Stewart Head
Cordelia Chase: Charisma Carpenter
Angel: David Boreanaz
Natalie French: Musetta Vander
Principal Flutie: Ken Lerner

Buffy's biology teacher, Dr. Gregory, goes missing. He was attacked by a giant praying mantis. That evening, Angel warns Buffy about a pending attack, and she notices his arm is wounded. The next day Dr. Gregory's substitute teacher arrives, Miss Natalie French. She's driving all the guys in the class crazy with her sexy appearance while she's telling them about the upcoming science fair. When she asks for volunteers to help her build a giant mantis, every boy suddenly wants to help. She picks Xander and a guy called Blayne.

Later that day in the cafeteria, Cordelia finds Dr. Gregory's head in a fridge. Buffy recalls Angel's warning, and she suspects that it has something to do with this murder. When she goes to patrol in the park for vampires, she sees Miss French walking with a bag of groceries. A vampire wants to attack her, but for some reason he runs away in terror when he sees Miss French.
Buffy sees Miss French turning her head 360 degrees, and she finally figures it out: her new biology teacher is a praying mantis. She warns Giles, who immediately tries to get in touch with a friend in England, who is an expert in the field. Unfortunately, the poor guy is institutionalized.

Meanwhile, Willow finds out that Blayne's mother has reported him missing. It's Xander's turn to work with Miss French this afternoon, so she tells Buffy, who goes out to warn Xander, but he thinks she's ealous. Miss French gives Xander a drink as soon as he arrives. The drink contained some kind of drug, and Xander passes out. Then Miss French takes his hand, and her arm turns into a mantis' foreleg. She drags him away to a cage, where he wakes up. Blayne is in a cage next to Xander's. Miss French has now completely turned into her mantis form.

Giles learns from his friend in England that there is a creature called a She-Mantis, who lures male virgins to her nest. It was the She-Mantis who drove the guy crazy. Buffy and Giles think of a way to defeat her. They record bat-sounds from the video library, which they will play to disrupt her nervous system. The vampire who wanted to attack Miss French in the park is called in to find her. When they find her house, he attacks Buffy, who kills him. Buffy enters the house, goes to the basement, and uses insecticide to make it safer. She then plays the bat-sounds, and it has the desired effect on the creature. Buffy then kills it, and frees Xander and Blayne.

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