After his partner Doyle has a vision of Buffy in trouble, Angel comes to town secretly to make sure she is alright.

At the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Cultural Center at the college, Xander falls into a sacred Indian burial area and releases Hus, a vengeance spirit of the Chumash Indians, the original residents of the Sunnydale area. Buffy is determined to have a traditional, home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner, but Xander has come down with a debilitating mystical disease, and people connected to the Cultural Center start dying mysteriously...

Very satisfying with Jane delivering a nice variation on the best Buffy running joke of trying to live a normal life but with pesky supernatural intrusions.

I love Buffy's line to Willow about 'that's one fine hobby you've got there'(oslt) when they are in the museum. Xander's delirium with the syphilis is delightfully silly.

The dialogue all the way through about the iniquities of Thanksgiving are highly plausible just as Xander comments. Spike delivers a fine speech on victors justice.

Angel's presence is almost superfluous but I suppose it sets up I Will Remember You nicely. Maybe they could have made the threat a bit more specific thereby beefing up his role. 7/10. sk

a good episode but mostly here to give a reason for buffy to go see angel in i will remember you even if angel could have come for a better reason than vengeance spirit (who seemed to have learn english very quickly after centuries underground)

buffy obession to have a normal thanksgiving dinner (while thinking about dealing with hus without too much trouble), willow obsession to not kill hus, xander quiet funny syphillis, anya being anya, and the introduction of spike in the scoobies as the evil but quiet logic thinker.

the attack of giles flat was really good, the gang on the bike playing cavalery to the rescue :thumbsup: , riley/forrest/graham patrolling ( i would believe graham being a military, the other look a little silly in their camouflage outfit), love angel telling willow he doesn't have time for personal stuff but end up asking who is the guy talking to buffy

:thumbsup:

A joyfully clever crossover- for me, the way Angel is marginalised is pretty much the point- on the outside, looking in (like Faith, later). Quite a high death to joke ratio too, on second thoughts.

The completely dodgy invention of an otherwise totally unknown auntie to visit to get Joyce out of the way! :whistling:

Wonder when Joss decided that Xander's clap would one day be something to sing about?

Bloody colonials :p

aunt Arleen and her family are in Illinois, joyce called them to tell them about buffy being accepted to an other university than UC sunnydale (choices)

Oh, THAT one... :thumbsup:

of course, the fact that the transcript on buffy-vs-angel site i checked show me 2 different spelling (" aunt darlene's" in pangs and Arleen in choices) could also mean a different aunty or it's a transcription error :shrug:

You are so Buffy knowledgeable it is both brilliant and hilarious. sk

I liked this one much more than I remembered.

The one thing that grates on me is Willow's overblown political correctness. She's correct of course. But as understandable as the presence of Hus and his actions are... hello Will, innocent people are being killed, and your best friend is dying as a result. I love that Spike is the voice of, if not reason, but common sense here.

Some great things about this episode... the presence of Angel for a start, and his marginalisation. Love the first reaction of everyone to him, assuming he's evil again!

Claire mentioned the bicycle cavalry... made me smile too!

How lucky is Spike? Sat tied to the chair, covered in arrows, but somehow remaining in one piece!

Anya is brilliant... love her line about Thanksgiving... "It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie."

Not much elso to say... everything else was covered by John and Claire. :thumbsup:

I've always loved the episodes Jane Espenson writes, and this is up there with the best of them.

Andrew :yahoo:

anya commented on seeing on angel for the first time (whatever happened with him watching evil willow in doppelgangland ................. or was she really too upset to notice the brooding guy in the back) :rolleyes:

She sticks to her principles even when the going gets tough?

And then beats herself up later for abandoning them in order to pitch in and kick Shumash ass...

Wasn't as if it was TERTIARY syphilis anyway... :shrug: :thumbsup:

TV.com has a great page with trivia and quotes devoted to that very special Thanksgiving Episode

quotes and trivia