Xander is still in love with Buffy, still dreaming of her. Buffy is told by Dr. Gregory that she has to pay more attention to detail and do her homework. Buffy gets a warning from Angel about events to come. They find out the next day that he disappeared. Cordelia finds Dr. Gregory's headless body inadvertently. A mysterious, yet pretty substitute teacher by the name of Natalie French takes over. A despondent Buffy is determined to find out how Dr. Gregory was killed. A vampire attacks her, but to Buffy's shock, the vampire flees the scene from Natalie French. Xander falls for Natalie French. Buffy issues a warning to Xander about Natalie French, but Xander doesn't listen. It turns out that Natalie French is a giant praying mantis. I would rate this is as the weakest episode so far in season one. It's entertaining for sure, just lacks the pizazz of the others in this season. I didn't find the Mantis very intimidating. It felt a bit silly to me, regardless of how hard they tried to make it look imposing. The Mantis is decent looking and everything, just not very scary. I did like how they decided to conceal the face of the mantis before revealing it near the end. It built the anticipation nicely. Angel's role is still minimal at this point, but that would change quickly. People like Cordelia and Willow don't have much to do, especially Cordelia. Xander gets some nice exposure though. The finale is a bit anti-climatic, but the ending seemingly leaves on a bit of a cliffhanger. As I said in previous reviews. I'm essentially a new viewer. If they decide to continue this storyline, I hope it is done a little more efficiently. I liked it, but it's forgettable
7/10
7/10