"Pangs"
Airdate: November 23, 1999

It's that time of year again. Yes, you guessed it... the special holiday episodes.

Buffy sort of lends itself to Halloween episodes, I'll admit that. And they're usually good. But a Thanksgiving theme? After "Pangs", I'm not so sure that's a good idea.

It all starts out innocently enough. Buffy wants to celebrate Thanksgiving, but Xander, in his latest job, has unearthed trouble in the form of a Native American spirit, and Spike's wandering around town, unable to feed and too weak to fight. To complicate poor Buffy's life further, Angel's come to Sunnydale to lurk and watch out for Buffy, because of Doyle's vision in last week's Angel.

It's an alright setup. But I haven't gotten to the details yet.

Buffy spends most of the episode running around like she's possessed by the evil spirit of Martha Stewart. "Yes, Giles, there is big evil to kill. But wouldn't you rather make some lovely dry flower arrangements?" Her focus on having a nice dinner is cute and all, but you'd think she'd be more concerned about the murderer running around town.

Willow's suddenly lost all regard for human life on one end of the spectrum and gained too much on the other; a Chumash warrior has returned from the dead to wreak vengeance on Sunnydale, but Willow refuses to help. 'Cause, y'know, who cares if he's killing people if he was unfairly killed himself a long time ago? It makes me wonder whether she's going to start pausing to consider the childhood issues that Chaos Demons may have and spend her spare time writing angry letters to the Watcher's Council about how they train Slayers to treat vampires badly.

Spike finds himself rejected even by Harmony (who's apparently learned to assert her personhood and find her inner me), and he somehow ends up on Giles' doorstep, in the daytime. I won't get into wondering why he'd go to Giles' place. And I'm sorry, but if it's so frickin' easy to guard against combustion by throwing a blanket over one's head, why do vampires attack people only at night? A daytime Slayer-centered assault would certainly take Buffy by surprise, right? Anyway, the fast and loose vampire rules aside, Spike begs to be fed in exchange for telling Buffy and Giles what he knows about The Initiative... but he just ends up whining and tied to a chair. For once James Marsters seems unable to deliver his lines as well as we're all used to -- and you all know how it pains me to say such things -- but I suspect it's because he's a very physical actor, and there's only so much you can do with a line while tied to a chair.

Angel's just... well, he's lurky. He... lurks a lot. Then he fights some, then he leaves.

The high point of the episode, though, has to be Xander and Anya. In the latest line of small jobs, Xander helps with a construction crew (and ends up single-handedly releasing the vengeful warrior spirit). Anya waxes poetic about him shoveling things (as well she should), and when Xander falls ill, we get yet another mention of writer Jane Espenson's apparent favorite disease: syphilis. I've come to look forward to a good syphilis joke.

I'd just like to suggest something: "scurvy". I'm picturing Nicholas Brendon saying the word, and I'm liking the mental picture.

I get the whole point about how Native Americans have been unfairly persecuted and Thanksgiving is just a sham (and a damn good excuse to eat way too much food). I agree, wholeheartedly. But even the portrayal of the Chumash here left me high and dry; for once I'd like to see a semi-realistic view. Okay, vengeful spirit. I'm fine with that. But could we maybe not have him dressed up like something out of an old Western? They weren't all plains tribes, and I'm fairly certain that even the earliest American settlers often walked completely upright, without slinking around.

Obviously I wasn't fond of the episode, though I think it did have its high points and the basic idea was a pretty cool one. It just left a sour taste in my mouth, much like the cranberry goop that's disguised as food and served up at Thanksgiving dinners across the nation. Except the episode was less... squishy. Also, less purple.

-- Lisa Kincaid

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