Ted...Buffy vs. Jack Tripper

[Sunnydale Siren]

Huge fan of the late John Ritter, so I have a soft spot for this episode.

while being a poor stand alone , think "Ted" should've been a multi-episode arc. With Ritter appearing several more times during the season.

the final scene with Jenny and Giles was so sweet and romantic.

any thoughts?

 

[Professor Walsh]

I'm watching "Ted" as I type, and so far all I manage to think is "Yugh!" Any teenage girl would object to a new parental figuer who repeatedly called her "little lady". A whole story arc with Ted would drive me crazy.

 

[Sunnydale Siren]

I'm watching "Ted" as I type, and so far all I manage to think is "Yugh!" Any teenage girl would object to a new parental figuer who repeatedly called her "little lady". A whole story arc with Ted would drive me crazy.

L0L!

my favorite part is Ted laying the smackdown to Buffy, follwed by the ensuing free for all.

 

[BuffyElevated]

Huge fan of the late John Ritter, so I have a soft spot for this episode.

while being a poor stand alone , think "Ted" should've been a multi-episode arc. With Ritter appearing several more times during the season.

the final scene with Jenny and Giles was so sweet and romantic.

any thoughts?

I totally agree, except for the ep being a poor standalone- I like it a lot. 🙂
I LOVE John Ritter and his work, and I really wished he would have been allowed to appear in 3 or 4 episodes before they killed him off.

---------- Post added at 03:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------

Edmund Blackadder agrees: They didn't kill him off, he died of natural causes or are suggesting some kind of conspiracy surrounding his death...possibly to boost ratings on 8 Simple Rules? Ohh, this deserves more thought!

Noooo... I meant on Buffy! They killed him off on Buffy. LOL

 

[Kanazaka]

I was really struck by Buffy's hurt feelings when Ted verbally abused her, and her outrage at her mom for liking Ted. It shows how deeply disappointed Buffy is that he can't be a father figure toward her, and how much she loves Joyce. It's also the first time we see her freak out about killing what she believes to be a human being, and she displays a heartwrenching mix of guilt over the the actual murder and for letting her anger get the better of her (which is magnified by Joyce's anger, if I recall correctly). On a completely different note, I also liked Xander's comments about Ted's bachelor pad--very funny.

 

[laianna]

Oh God, no. I must be the only one on the planet who didn't like Ted but I thought he was really creepy! I don't think I could have standed more episodes with him.

 

[wiccianslayer]

I for one think John Ritter is a great actor but one of my favorite moments from the buffy verse is when Ted slaps Buffy and she just coldly says. "I was hoping you'd do something like that" Before she kicked some butt. Also the hitting him then saying. "This is my house." Another of my favorite moments.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

I liked the episode, but didn't like the way that Buffy's killing a human was swept under the carpet - especially since Faith's doing so was made such a big deal.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Except he wasn't a human...

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

No, he wasn't human. But Buffy did kill a human. At the time he "died", she believed him to be human, and he had the strength of a human. She was just as capable of killing a human as Faith. And she never addressed that. Then she goes on and kills Faith. It seems strange to me that she can talk of "killing" Angel in S7, and yet she doesn't acknowledge that in these two instances she "killed" two humans. I wouldn't have minded the gloss so much if Buffy hadn't been so high and mighty over Faith for the next 4 years, but Buffy acts as if she'd never be capable of such a thing.

 

[tone]

No, he wasn't human. But Buffy did kill a human. At the time he "died", she believed him to be human, and he had the strength of a human. She was just as capable of killing a human as Faith. And she never addressed that. Then she goes on and kills Faith. It seems strange to me that she can talk of "killing" Angel in S7, and yet she doesn't acknowledge that in these two instances she "killed" two humans. I wouldn't have minded the gloss so much if Buffy hadn't been so high and mighty over Faith for the next 4 years, but Buffy acts as if she'd never be capable of such a thing.

I BEG TO DIFFER!
Buffy's kill and Faith's kill can't be compared. Faith killed purposely, Buffy didn't. And can you blame Buffy for beating up Ted when he was threathening and hitting her and her mom didn't believe her? Buffy was never as capable of killing a human as Faith. Faith turned evil and killed an innocent man, Buffy accidentally killed a man who could have done the same to her.

I do think it's weird, though, that they're like "Oh my god buffy killed a man! Oh it wasn't a man after well nevermind then 🙂".

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

I BEG TO DIFFER!
Buffy's kill and Faith's kill can't be compared. Faith killed purposely, Buffy didn't. And can you blame Buffy for beating up Ted when he was threathening and hitting her and her mom didn't believe her? Buffy was never as capable of killing a human as Faith. Faith turned evil and killed an innocent man, Buffy accidentally killed a man who could have done the same to her.

I do think it's weird, though, that they're like "Oh my god buffy killed a man! Oh it wasn't a man after well nevermind then 🙂".

Buffy didn't kill purposely? Buffy went way overboard in using her slayer strength on Ted. What did she think was going to happen. What human could take that kind of attack from a Slayer? Buffy attacked him, knowing full well that he was no match for her. Faith, on the other hand, staked a guy who jumped out of the shadows while they were patrolling. It was her reaction to what she had done that was wrong, the act itself was almost understandable. Buffy lost her temper, and kicked someone she thought human down the stairs. Faith may have been over-hasty in staking the man, but Buffy's action was much more reprehensible.

---------- Post added at 01:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 AM ----------

Oh, but I do agree with the last bit though!

 

[tone]

Buffy didn't kill purposely? Buffy went way overboard in using her slayer strength on Ted. What did she think was going to happen. What human could take that kind of attack from a Slayer? Buffy attacked him, knowing full well that he was no match for her. Faith, on the other hand, staked a guy who jumped out of the shadows while they were patrolling. It was her reaction to what she had done that was wrong, the act itself was almost understandable. Buffy lost her temper, and kicked someone she thought human down the stairs. Faith may have been over-hasty in staking the man, but Buffy's action was much more reprehensible.

Oh wait - was that the only person Faith killed? It's been a while since I watched season 3, but if so I take back the purposely-thing. I was so sure she stabbed some other guy too.

How do you know that Ted only had the strength of a human, by the way? He was a robot designed to kill, if I was his creator I would've made him stronger and more durable than a regular human. And still, if not - Ted was able to ruin Buffy's life. Buffy had been in a psychiatric clinic before because of the vampires, what would happen if she was put back there? I doubt the doctors would have let her out easily.
It was a pretty hopeless situation for Buffy. I agree that she didn't have to use her full strength, but it was in self defence. Ted would have killed Buffy if he could.

 

[foreverdark]

Buffy didn't kill purposely? Buffy went way overboard in using her slayer strength on Ted. What did she think was going to happen. What human could take that kind of attack from a Slayer? Buffy attacked him, knowing full well that he was no match for her. Faith, on the other hand, staked a guy who jumped out of the shadows while they were patrolling. It was her reaction to what she had done that was wrong, the act itself was almost understandable. Buffy lost her temper, and kicked someone she thought human down the stairs. Faith may have been over-hasty in staking the man, but Buffy's action was much more reprehensible.

Faith accidentally killed the deputy mayor and she killed the volcanologist on purpose, under Mayor Wilkins orders. The demon with the Books of Ascension isn't considered murder as he was a demon.

Buffy "killing" Ted is a bit more confusing. Yes she shouldn't have attacked him as she did, one hit should have sufficed. But emotions do boil over in times of high stress. While her attempted murder of Faith was pure revenge.

 

[LittleMissLikesToFight]

I think Buffy was pretty freakin pissed, which is where all the overkill (no pun intended) came from... but i don't think she really MEANT to kill Ted. She was just fed up and let it all go.

 

[tone]

Faith accidentally killed the deputy mayor and she killed the volcanologist on purpose, under Mayor Wilkins orders.

Aha! So Faith did kill some other guy! I take back tacking back the purpose-thing.

 

[foreverdark]

He was a robot designed to kill

He wasn't designed to kill, he was designed to continue his creator's legacy of marriage and the domination of his wife, forever. I think, man I watched this ep just yesterday or the day before too... 🙁

 

[fly on the wall]

I liked the episode, but didn't like the way that Buffy's killing a human was swept under the carpet - especially since Faith's doing so was made such a big deal.

There is a huge difference between Buffy "killing" Ted and Faith killing the Mayor's croney. Faith covered up the death. She lied about it. She tried to frame Buffy. She claimed she didn't care. She regressed. She spiraled out of control, she wouldn't accept help, even though accidents had happened in the past, Slayers had been known to catch humans in the crossfire, and there were ways to take care of these things. The murder Faith committed wasn't a big deal because it involved a human. It was a big deal because she refused to acknowledge it, cope with it, or amend it. She refused to even look at it or admit to it. And THAT'S why everything sort of blew up in her face, whereas it didn't for Buffy, who immediately owned up to what she had done.

 

[Washburne]

I haven't come to this episode in my rewatch but knowing my memory I need to ask this now. Since I'll probably have forgotten about it when I do watch it. Where are they playing golf? Why even bother asking you wonder? If they're in Sunnydale they seem to build things pretty fast. Which is a possibility. Or you know, another mistake by the writers. 😉

From the end of When she was bad:

Xander: Hey, I got a plan: how 'bout miniature golf.

Willow: There's no course here.

 

[Aleris]

Even though it's really hard to compare the two, Buffy showed remorse more openly than Faith did about having killed a human.

Faith DID show remorse, but MOST of it was when no one was around, so everyone thought she was a heartless kill with no qualms about who she killed. Whereas Buffy was clearly distant and mopey and all that jazz around the gang after she killed Ted.


ON TOPIC:
If Ted had maybe a couple second scenes in a few episodes prior to this one, we might have felt a bit more of the "Buffy's just being paranoid" vibe, but because it was a completely stand-alone story, we knew from the get-go that he was going to be the bad guy of the week so we were more inclined to naturally take Buffy's side when she thinks something is wrong with him. Which is maybe why it's deemed to be a bad episode, I don't think it properly drew on our emotions on the situation.

*shrugs*