Season 4, Episode 8

Written by Jane Espenson

Directed by Michael Lange

Original Airdate: 22 November 1999

Anya "Soon, he'll be sweating. I'm imagining having sex with him again."
Buffy "Imaginary Xander is quite the machine."

REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

• James Marsters as Spike

• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

• Marc Blucas as Riley Finn

• Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall

• Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins

• Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates

• Bailey Chase as Graham Miller

• Tod Thawley as Hus

• David Boreanaz as Angel

CO-STARRING

• Margaret Easley as Curator

• William Vogt as Jamie

• Mark Ankeny as Dean Guerrero

SYNOPSIS

• Buffy tracks and kills a vampire while Angel watches her from behind some bushes. The college has a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Anthropology building, and Xander is one of the construction workers. Buffy, Willow, and Anya watch, and while Anya imagines having sex with Xander, Buffy and Willow talk about the meaning of Thanksgiving. Xander begins to dig, but the ground suddenly caves out under him and he drops into an old abandoned building. It's the old Sunnydale Mission. Buffy is upset that her mother is going to be out of town for Thanksgiving, but then decides to cook her own Thanksgiving dinner and invite all her friends.
  
  Covered in a blanket and in terrible shape, Spike runs through the woods, trying to escape Riley and his team as they look for him. Anya arrives at Xander's to find him incredibly sick, and right away starts taking care of him. A green haze comes up from the old Mission and goes to the place where some weapons are being kept, and where the Curator of the Cultural Centre is. After the haze comes in contact with a spear, it turns into a large Native American man and kills the curator. Buffy and Willow later secretly investigate the murder, and wonder why the curator's body was missing an ear. They discover that the spear of a Chumash Indian is missing. Buffy tells Giles about the murder while planning to have Thanksgiving at his place.
  
  After Giles agrees to look up information on the Chumash Indians, and Buffy leaves, Angel appears from the back room. He and Giles talk about watching over Buffy, and Angel tells him he doesn't want Buffy to know, even though it's incredibly hard for him to bare. Buffy and Willow talk about preparations for Thanksgiving and then Riley shows up. Buffy invites Riley to her Thanksgiving dinner, but he already has plans to visit family in Iowa. Willow goes to get coffee and runs into Angel. He tells her he's not evil, and that he's just looking out for Buffy because she might be in trouble.
  
  Starving, Spike tries to get food from Harmony, but she threatens him with a stake and he leaves. Buffy goes to find Father Gabriel, a priest who may have information for them, but finds that a returning Chumash spirit named Hus has killed him. After the mission was uncovered, his spirit was released to re-enact the wrongs that were done to his people. Buffy and Giles talk about it, while working on dinner and then Willow shows up with a stack of books on the Chumash. She explains that while they once were peaceful, the people of Sunnydale horribly mistreated them. Cutting off a victim's ear is a way to prove that the kill was successful. Willow and Giles argue about what happened between the Native Americans and the people who took their land and their lives. When Buffy goes to the kitchen, the two talk secretly about Angel's reappearance.
  
  Anya practically carries Xander to Giles's place, and after some research, they determine that he has Syphilis. Hus gave it to him because he was the one responsible for freeing his spirit in the first place. With only a blanket to protect him from the sun, Spike shows up at Giles' place asking for help. Buffy is reluctant to give it, but after he offers inside information on the Initiative, and Willow helps him explain that he can't bite anyone anymore, they bring him inside and tie him to a chair. Everyone begins to argue about what they're going to do to stop the spirit. Willow doesn't want to kill Hus, but everyone else argues that that's the only way. While Willow, Anya and a weakened Xander go to find the Dean and warn him his life may be in danger, Hus calls forth more spirits to help him get revenge for his people.
  
  The spirits attack Buffy, Giles and Spike with arrows. Helplessly tied to a chair, all Spike can do is try to move out of the way as he gets hit with arrows. Willow, Xander and Anya encounter Angel on their way back and they determine that the Chumash went after Buffy. Buffy tries to go for more weapons, but gets an arrow in the arm. After riding over on bicycles, the Scooby Gang tries to attack the Chumash spirits as best they can with shovels. Angel shows up and helps them out. Buffy cuts Hus with his own knife, and reaches the conclusion that their own weapons can kill them. Hus turns into a large black bear, which Spike desperately tries to get away from and ends up knocking the chair over. Buffy struggles with the bear and then stabs it. All the spirits disappear.
  
  Angel walks away without being seen by Buffy, and later, the gang sits down to Thanksgiving dinner. Still tied to a chair, Spike sits with them and whines that he still hasn't been fed. Xander accidentally lets it slip that Angel was in town.

TRIVIA

• There is more than a storyline reason for Joyce's house not being used for Thanksgiving. Kristine Sutherland was living in Italy throughout season four's filming, and was told that she had to return for season five so that that season's arc could play out, ending in her character's death. As a result of her living arrangements, Kristine only appears in five episodes this season.

CROSSOVER

• Angel makes his first reappearance in Sunnydale since he left town in Graduation Day (Part 2). Once Buffy finds out that he was sneaking around town, she leaves for Los Angeles and confronts Angel in that show's I Will Remember You. When this episode first aired, it was immediately followed by the Angel continuation. Willow also queries Angel's hiring of Cordelia.

CONTINUITY

• Aunt Arlene was Buffy’s aunt, and presumably Joyce’s sister. She lived in Illinois. Arlene was mentioned a couple of times but never seen on screen. In Choices, Joyce called Arlene to tell her that Buffy was accepted to Northwestern University and in this episode, Joyce stayed with Arlene for Thanksgiving.

GOOFS

• Anya says "So this is Angel? He's large and flowery, isn't he?" Anya actually met Angel in Doppelgangland.

• When the Chumash spirits disappear, Spike is lying on the floor, with the arrows still in him. Three of the four arrows he was shot with should definitely have been visible in the shot, but one is missing.

• At dinner, Spike's shirt has no holes or tears in it from the arrows.

• Hus speaks good English for a Native American spirit.

• While he is watching the vampire feeding in their lair, Spike's face is seen reflected in the window during one shot.

The Freshman | Living Conditions | The Harsh Light of Day | Fear, Itself | Beer Bad

Wild at Heart | The Initiative | Pangs | Something Blue | Hush | Doomed

A New Man | The I in Team | Goodbye Iowa | This Year's Girl | Who Are You | Superstar

Where the Wild Things Are | New Moon Rising | The Yoko Factor | Primeval | Restless