Original Air Date: November 23, 1999

Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by Michael Lange

Summary

After staking a vampire on her nightly patrol, Buffy feels a little strange and looks around but she doesn't see anything so she moves on. Angel, unbeknowst to her, is standing by a cluster of trees watching her silently. The next day, Buffy, Willow and Anya are at the ceremonial digging of the Cultural Partnership Center where Xander is helping out by digging. Willow is none too pleased about the speaker's take on Thanksgiving, she says that Thanksgiving isn't about friendship, it's about one culture invading and annihilating another. Anya is watching Xander dig when suddenly Xander disappears from sight. He falls through the ground into a curious underground chamber. That night, Angel stands outside Buffy's dorm room. Inside the room, Willow says that Xander made a big discovery by finding the chamber. They start talking about Thanksgiving, Buffy won't be going home because her mom's out of town so she decides she's going to have her own dinner with the whole group. Willow doesn't really want to because of the death that Thanksgiving involves but she finally agrees.

The next day, Anya finds Xander sick and as white as a ghost. She orders him into bed and he complies. Meanwhile, in the underground chamber, a bright green light lifts from the ground and heads towards the college where it materializes into an indian and kills the lady who spoke at the digging ceremony. After learning about the death, Buffy and Willow search the room where she died for clues. They find that a knife has been stolen from a display case, the label reads Chumash Tribe. While preparing the Thanksgiving dinner at Giles' house, Buffy relates about the missing Chumash knife. Just as Buffy is about to leave the house for groceries she feels a little strange but keeps moving. As soon as Buffy is out the door, Angel appears behind Giles says that whatever killed the lady has got to be the danger. Giles wants to tell Buffy that Angel's here but Angel doesn't want to disrupt Buffy's life. Angel tells Giles to look up Father Gabriel because he knows the tribes very well. Buffy and Willow are out getting whipped cream for supper when Riley stops to talk and Willow heads into the Espresso Pump to leave them alone. In the Espresso Pump, Angel grabs Willow and explains that he's here to help Buffy because his friend had a vision that she was in trouble. Willow says she'll help him out in any way she can and she won't alert Buffy that Angel's in town. Buffy and Riley are busy talking about Thanksgiving, Buffy invites him to supper but he says he'll be going back hom to Iowa for supper.

Later on, Buffy goes to visit Father Gabriel at the church but ends up finding the Chumash indian slitting his throat. Buffy runs over and fights the indian until he gives up. Just before he leaves he says that he is here to avenge the death of his people. Buffy returns to Giles' and relates to him about the indian. Willow shows up then and says that all the Chumash were sluaghtered back in their day. She's extremely upset and she doesn't want Buffy to kill the indians, Giles thinks she's being too sympathetic towards them. During their argument, Anya shows up with a sick Xander on her arm. They all figure that Xander's sick because he found the chamber and they're taking revenge. Meanwhile in the chamber, the Chumash indian summons his people and they rise from the ground. Spike then shows up at the door and gets invited in when he explains that he can't hurt anybody and that he has info on the guys with the guns. They let him in and tie him to a chair. Giles then figures that the indian is tagreting authority figures that the dean will be next. Willow, Anya and Xander head out to warn the dean. While Buffy and Giles are setting the table for dinner, an arrow bolt plunges into the table. It came from a Chumash indian standing just outside the window. There are indians everywhere and Buffy and Giles duck for cover. Over at the dean's house, the trio is jusy leaving after having warned the dean who happens to think they're crazy. Angel appears and says that the indian is going to be after the strongest warrior; Buffy. The trio hop on some bikes and pedal their way over to Giles' house. Angel calls to warn them and then heads over. The trio arrives and helps buffy and Giles fight the Chumash. Buffy is fighting one and she can't figure out how to kill him. Angel appears and snaps some indian necks, out of Buffy's line of view. Inside, Buffy gets her hands on the Chumash's knife and slashes him with it. He turns into a bear and Spike freaks out. Buffy manages to stab him in the heart with the knife and he evaporates in a pouf of green smoke. The other indians disappear as well. Angel, having done his work, takes one last look at Buffy and the leaves.

The gang then sits down for Thanksgiving dinner and Xander lets it slip that Angel was in town. Buffy looks up in shock.

Summary written by Nika

Quote of the Week

Spike: I'm saying, that Spike took a little trip to the vet and now he doesn't chase the other puppies anymore.

My Rating

3.5/5

Nika Summers' Review

Well I have mixed feelings about this episode. I mean, I love the fact that Angel came back to the show for at least an episode but there honestly was no point in having him there. He literally did next to nothing besides kill one guy and take out another which really bothered me because I know everyone wanted a crossover but it really bugged me that they didn't do any more with this one. I really did like Angel's reaction to Riley though, that was cute.Well Anya has really become a great character, I never really paid that much attention to her but she's really becoming one of the gang. She wasn't too great at giving sympathy but that's one of her quirks that makes her so hysterical. Spike was absolutely hysterical in this episode. His reaction to being "neutered" showing up at Giles' door was great. I loved him during the battle scene when he's stuck in the chair with arrows jutting out of his body, that absolutely cracked me up. And his reaction to the bear was great. But the best look that Spike gives is at the end of the episode when they're all sitting at the table and Xander mentions Angel was in town. The evil grin on Spike's face was priceless. This episode was really great for laughs; another one was the trio on the bikes making their way over to Giles' house with the charging music going on in the background. In my honest opinion, this wasn't much of an episode but it did have it's funny moments.

Niki Bartl's Review

Usually I hate themed episodes, especially Thanksgiving, since up here in Canada we had Thanksgiving a month ago and I don't really care to relive the turkey sitting on my table. But this episode just totally blew me away! I laughed so hard that at one point I actually fell on the floor because I was reaching for food and I just bust a gut laughing. Emma Caulfield gets all the best lines and she just does amazing things with them! This episode was great in presenting both sides of the Thanksgiving story and how the characters conlfict in slayage or no slayage. At the beginning I agreed with Willow, but like her, as soon as the fight started I wanted her to kick a little butt. I loved Willow's reaction to Angel and Angel's to Riley, who I am now convinced is so much like Angel, but with less angst. But I digress. Buffy's obsession with Thanksgiving dinner and the atmosphere was hilarious as was Spike! How much do I love this man? James Marsters is thye most versatile actor ever, going from comedy to evil to seriousness in the blink of an eye. I can never praise him enough! Yeah! Buffy is finally starting to heat up and it's looking good!

Cast