Buffy, Xander and Willow are walking home after an evening out. When they reach Buffy's front door she notices that the door is ajar. She pushes the door open slowly, and hears Joyce cry out and the sound of glass smashing. Buffy rushes into the kitchen and sees Joyce kissing some bloke. The scene cuts to Buffy and her mother talking just outside the back door about Ted while he is in the kitchen making mini pizzas for everyone. Joyce met him when he did some work for the art gallery, which explained all the late nights Joyce had been having. Buffy's Slayer-sense starts up and she refuses to be nice to Ted, she has a bad feeling about him. However, Xander and Willow love him, especially as Ted is such a good cook and promised Willow some computer software from work.

later that night, Buffy is on patrol with Giles at the playground. We see her beating some poor vampire into a bloody pulp before dusting him. Giles is a little concerned about her behaviour, but she won't talk to him about what is bothering her.

The next day Buffy is trying to persuade Xander and Willow that something is wrong with Ted, but they won't believe her, he is such a nice guy after all. Xander makes fun of Buffy's parental issues through the medium of dance. As Buffy lets of steam abou Ted he turns up behind her, he is in school installing some new software. He has a gift for Willow (the computer software he said he'd get her) and invites the three of them on a day out to the miniature golf course. Buffy doesn't want to go, but Xander accepts the offer for the three of them.

Sometime after school, Buffy is at Angel's apartment, complaining about Ted while changing the dressings on Angel's hand (reference back to the duLac ritual). Buffy is getting so worked up about Ted and Angel tries to explain to her that she should give the man a chance. Then he cunningly changes the subject by telling Buffy to kiss him.

The day out at the mini golf course comes and everyone apart from Buffy is having a good time. She isn't very good at golf and manages to smack the ball into the rough. Joyce says that they shouldn't count it but Ted has a very strong idea about right and wrong and insists that they do. Buffy disappears behind the castle of the hole to find her ball. When she does find it she drops it in the hole. Ted watches her doing this and has a real go at her about cheating and talking back. He then threatens to slap her if she steps out of line again. Buffy (unsurprisingly) is a little bit freaked out by this.

The next morning Buffy tries to tell Joyce about the way Ted acted, but she won't believe her, she still refuses to eat anything that Ted had made.

At school, Buffy begs Willow to check Ted out. Cordelia walks past and Xander compliments her on her clothes. She bites his head off and walks off. Xander rushes to catch her up and persuades her to go and make out in the closet.

Buffy cuts school to go and check up on Ted where he works. She pretends to be a temp. She finds out, to her horror, that Ted is planning on marrying her mother. That night, Ted has cooked dinner for the three of them, but Buffy is still refusing to eat his food. She asks them whether they are getting married and Joyce responds with a 'No'. Ted asks her how she would feel if they did, Buffy replies with 'I would feel like killing myself.' She leaves for her room, but instead goes out to pummel some vampires. Unfortunately, none turn up. Buffy returns home and climbs in through her bedroom window.

She finds Ted sitting in her room waiting for her. He's been through her things, found all her Vampire Slaying stuff and has read her diary. He threatens to send her into a mental institution. They get into a fight and Ted slaps Buffy, hard. She has so been waiting for that, she hits him back and they get fighting. They take the fight out onto the landing, Joyce shows up just in time to see Buffy get the upper hand. Buffy punches ted and he falls heavily down the stairs. Joyce checks his pulse, but there isn't one. Ted is dead.

Buffy is taken to the police station for questioning, but isn't being charges with anything, for now. Joyce refuses to speak with her. the next day at school Buffy is still upset and it doesn't help that everyone is staring at her. Xander and Willow aren't much help either. She goes home and Joyce still won't talk or ever look at her.

With the Slayer out of action, Giles goes out on patrol. Xander, Willow and Cordelia try to find any evidence that could prove that Buffy did nothing wrong, but he's clean. Xander rummages through his bag and finds some cookies that Ted had made from him. He eats one and starts acting all strange, telling Willow and Cordy not to worry about anything. Willow puts the pieces together and they head off to the Science Lab.

Giles is at the playground looing for vampires. He is surprised by the apperance of Jenny Calendar who is there to apologise for her behaviour. A vampire turns up and Giles 'tries' to fight him. Jenny tries to help by shooting the vampire but misses the vamp and shots Giles in the back instead.

Buffy is moping about in her room. She decides to go Slaying but finds out that Joyce has nailed her window shut. She turns round and discovers Ted standing behind her. Alive, well and very angry. They get into another fight. Ted manages to to overpower Buffy and starts to strangle her. She grabs a nailfile off her desk and stabs it into Ted's arm. It exposes lots of wires and little flashing lights. Ted is a robot. He shorts circuits a little bit, then knocks Buffy out.

Willow analyses the cookies and finds that they contain drugs that make people mellow and co-operative. Cordelia becomes research girl of the episode when she digs up Ted's home address and that he was first married on 1957.

They go to check it out. It doesn't look like anyone has been there for years. They find a trapdoor and go into the basement apartment. It looks like something out of the 50's. Xander opens a coupboard and finds Ted's four ex-wives in it. They have the evidence they need.

Back in the park, Giles is still fighting the vampire. He pulls the the crossbow bolto out of his back and stakes the vampire with it. Jenny takes him to hospital.

At Buffy's house, Ted goes downstairs to re-introduce himself to Joyce. He tries to persaude her to go away with him, but she won't leave Buffy. Ted gets annoyed and knocks her out. At some point Buffy comes round and goes down to confront Ted. She smashes him over the head with the iron frying pan, smeering his face up his head. Buffy keeps on hitting him until he can't fight back.

The next day, Joyce and Buffy are sitting out on their front porch. Joyce is worried that Ted will come back, even though Buffy tries to convince her otherwise. They decide to have a 'Thelma & Louise' night.

Buffy goes back to school and is ready to start Slaying again. She is about to walk into the Library when she sees Giles and Jenny smooching. Annoyed she complains that she can't walk into a room now without an airhorn.

Our View
Very funny, We couldn't help liking Ted even though he was pyscho (it must be something about John Ritter, you just can't dislike him), it must have been those cookies. Lots of great one liner's and Cordy was actually research girl!

Our Score - 7

The Professional View
Ted contains one of the greatest performances in the series - John Ritter's chilling portrayal of a control-freak on he verge of wrecking two people's lives. Unfortunately, Buffy's raison d'etre requires the 'demonisation' of the central character to conform with standard cliche's, and in doing so a huge opportunity to explore a relevent issue is lost. Otherwise, the episode contains everything you'd expect from the series' two best writers; pithy dialogue, intelligent characterisation and superb timing. It's a pity it couldn't have contained more feeling.

Their Score - 8