Since this was the Thanksgiving episode, I'll give thanks to Sep, Kitsune, Hula Girl, and JWG for their vacation hospitality; to little Frances for not being lost; and to Sars and Wing for giving me this fun opportunity.
Previously on Buffy: Riley tells Willow he wants to "court" Buffy; Riley makes a chump of himself in front of Buffy; Spike returns to town and gets caught by the Initiative; Riley confirms that Dr. Hardass's implant has rendered Spike incapable of harming any living creature; Spike can't get a fang-on with Willow; Buffy tells Riley that he's peculiar.
We see a young college student walking through the woods. He's obviously been watching a whole lot of TV commercials, since he's wearing a vest and cargo pants. He seems to notice that he's being followed and then Buffy appears right behind him. She smacks him in the face and he attempts to play innocent college boy, but then vamps out. He and Buffy engage in fisticuffs, and he tells Buffy that things were better before she came to campus. For some reason, his voice is much deeper and electronically altered in his vamp state. Buffy stakes him. What is the purpose of this scene? I don't know. Buffy then looks curiously around her, as if she senses another presence. The camera pans into the bushes, where we see Angel lurking and looking befuddled as always. Couldn't he just stay on his own show?
Establishing shot of UC Sunnydale, with Dean Guerrero presiding over a groundbreaking ceremony. He turns the podium over to Dr. Gerhardt, a young redheaded professor of anthropology. She establishes that UC Sunnydale is going to be building a new cultural center. We see Anya, Buffy, and Willow standing under a tree nearby. What can I even say about the outfits these three are wearing? The horror still lingers. When I close my eyes, I can still see nightmarish visions of Anya's patchwork pants and vest, Buffy's cowboy hat with gingham shirt, and Willow's horrible sack outfit with peasant blouse and polyester skirt. "Look at him. Have you ever seen anything so masculine?" drools Anya. Buffy looks confused and inquires as to whether Anya means the Dean or his wife. Willow laughs and indicates Xander, who is standing with the construction crew, wearing a tank top and hard-hat. I realize he'd actually been in the background of other shots during this scene and I hadn't recognized his new beefy physique. Buffy jokes that Xander isn't "at all Village People" and Anya continues to salivate over him. She strays into the area of way too much information when she tells Buffy and Willow that she's imagining having sex with Xander right then. Dr. Gerhardt continues her speech and talks about Thanksgiving as a melting-pot that celebrates making our culture stronger. "What a load of horse hooey!" exclaims Willow. Buffy asks her to explain her comment, and Willow righteously lectures her that the Pilgrims wiped out the Indians. She does admit that her strong opinions come from her mother, but that she agrees with them and understands why her mother doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving or Columbus Day. Buffy then says that Joyce is visiting "Aunt Darlene" for Thanksgiving, thus explaining why her mother will be absent from yet another episode, and Anya refers to the Thanksgiving turkey as a ritual sacrifice while we see Xander posturing with his shovel in the background. When Buffy exclaims that Thanksgiving doesn't include ritual sacrifice, Anya says, "To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice -- with pie." Dr. Gerhardt finishes her long and boring speech and picks up a shovel. Anya is outraged that Dr. Gerhardt is usurping Xander's digging role. Anya really wants to see Xander dig. The crowd applauds and rises to leave and Xander finally begins digging. Anya is delirious with joy and exclaims that she is thinking about having sex with him again. "Imaginary Xander is quite the machine," quips Buffy. Xander throws one more shovelful of dirt and suddenly falls through the ground.
Xander has fallen into an underground room, and as he shakes the dirt from his hair, he looks curiously around. He can see fallen beams and a crucifix hanging on the wall.
Once again, Angel is lurking in the bushes, this time outside Buffy's dorm room, staring winsomely up at her window. ["In a nice touch of realism, the exterior of their dorm looks like a cinder block." -- Sep] Inside, while Buffy distractedly stares out the window, Willow is explaining that Xander fell into the old "lost" Sunnydale mission. Buffy asks how the mission was lost, and Willow explains that it was buried during an earthquake in 1812. When I met Sep in person over Thanksgiving, she was totally enthused about giving our readers a piece of her mind here, so at this point I'm going let say her piece so she'll stop bugging me (kidding!).
Sep here. I've often speculated that Sunnydale is my hometown, and there's been ample evidence throughout the show's history. One episode mentioned a film festival on State Street, which is a main thoroughfare of Santa Barbara and definitely close enough that when I was in high school we would drive down if there was a special event going on. In another episode, we see a Sunnydale population sign, which (until the census updated our information) was pretty much our population. But I was never really sure they were basing it on Lompoc until this episode. You see, Lompoc has a mission (Mission La Purisma, at which I was a docent for many years) that just coincidentally was destroyed by an earthquake in -- you guessed it -- 1812. That settles it: I officially grew up on the Hell Mouth. Suddenly, my formative years are making a lot more sense.
Willow and Buffy hear the noises of students preparing to return to their homes for Thanksgiving and look sad that they will not be doing so also. Buffy lies on her bed dejectedly and sulks that she won't be getting a family holiday. She then springs up off the bed, excited, exclaiming that she will prepare Thanksgiving dinner and invite all her friends. Willow is disappointed; she thought Buffy had agreed that Thanksgiving is a "sham." "It is a sham," admits Buffy, "but it's a sham with yams. It's a yam sham." Willow is not convinced, but Buffy says she really wants to do this. They decide to invite Giles and Xander, and Willow is excited at the idea of not inviting Anya, but Buffy says that would be rude, since Anya and Xander are now a couple. Is Willow jealous of Anya, or just protective of Xander? Buffy sentimentally says that the point of Thanksgiving is that "everybody has place to go."
Outside, we see a pathetic Spike who seems to have fallen onto hard times. He's wrapped in a decrepit old blanket and looks pale and drawn. Woeful music plays as he trundles through the woods. Riley, Forrest, and Graham (hereafter known as "the dumb-atic trio") are patrolling, and Forrest mentions that he needs to pack. Riley admits that he has to stay on campus until Wednesday night to attend a debriefing with Dr. Hard-ass. The dumb-atic trio is now wearing camo face paint instead of ski masks, apparently since we the viewers now know their identity. They discuss how Spike is "neutered" with the implant. More not-so-witty repartee between Forrest and Riley. Maybe those two should just get together already.
In his swingin' basement pad, Xander is sitting in his bed, pulling on socks. ["Did you see that chair? I want!" -- Sep] Anya bursts in, demanding to know why he is not digging, since she went to see him at the construction site. He explains that he's attempting to get ready for work but doesn't feel well. Anya feels his forehead, declares him to be "pasty and wet and disgusting," and tells him not to go to work. She recalls the nasty diseases she inflicted as an avenging demon and starts to strip Xander out of his clothes. He tells her to leave because he might be contagious, but she says she'll stay and they can die together, romantically. "You're a strange girlfriend," says Xander, and Anya is shocked (and delighted) by the term "girlfriend." Xander excuses his statement by saying there's a chance he's delirious.
In the formerly-lost Sunnydale mission, we see an eerie green fog rise out of the ground and stream out of the hole Xander fell through.
Dr. Gerhardt is talking on the phone with an unidentified someone, discussing the exciting opportunity that the formerly-lost mission presents. She appears to be in an anthropological museum, and as she talks she begins to put pottery into a glass case. The green fog creeps into the room and surrounds a knapped flint knife. The fog materializes into a hand as the camera pans up to show a Native American man; he grabs the shocked professor and cuts her throat with the knife. That's too bad, because I thought she was kinda cute, in a Nicole Kidman wanna-be way, and I was hoping she'd stick around.
Buffy and Willow duck under police tape and enter the museum. Buffy expresses sadness that Dr. Gerhardt is dead, and Willow notes that the professor's body was missing an ear. Willow begins to suggest possible perpetrators, including witches and ear-harvesting demons, and then admits that she's "off [her] game." Buffy notices that a "early-1800s Chumash knife" is missing from one of the display cases.
We see Buffy later at Giles's, unpacking grocery bags and exclaiming over how crazy the grocery store was. Giles is obviously bored by this domestic tale of woe, and asks Buffy to tell him about the murder. She explains about the knife, and he notes that the Chumash were indigenous to the Sunnydale area. He wonders whether the weapon choice was significant or just convenient, and Buffy thinks it was significant. As they talk, she's frantically organizing the groceries and going through Giles's cupboards, and finally she demands to know if he owns a turkey pan. Giles responds by asking the question every viewer has been thinking: "Tell me again why we're not doing this at your house?" Buffy gives him a lame excuse about him needing to fit into American society and that since he's the "patriarch," he must host the dinner. Giles is not swayed and theorizes that Buffy means to "stick [him] with the clean-up." I think he's onto something there. Buffy quickly changes the topic back to the knife clue and Giles promises to look into the Chumash Indians. As Buffy trots about the kitchen, she suddenly stops and looks like she hears something far away, but she assures Giles that she is fine and leaves to purchase more food. After the door closes, Giles pauses and then asks an unseen someone what he thinks. Angel walks out from the back of Giles's house and says that Buffy sounds good. Angel looks broody and angsty, as usual. He suggests that the murderer is probably the danger he is there to protect Buffy from. Giles remonstrates Angel that it's not his job to watch over Buffy, and Angel reminds him that it's not Giles's job anymore either, but that hasn't stopped him. Giles wants to tell Buffy that Angel is in town, but Angel says he doesn't want to distract her. Ummm, okay, stalker guy. Angel has definite tendencies in that direction, in both his evil and not-evil incarnations. The guys theorize that the murder is connected to the rediscovered mission, and Angel suggests they talk to one Father Gabriel, who is knowledgeable about the history of the area. Angel prepares to follow Buffy, and Giles again tells him that he shouldn't sneak around without telling Buffy. Angel says that he'd forgotten how awful it feels to be outside, looking in at what he can't have.
Spike, with his blankie drawn up over his head, is doing a Little Match Girl outside a window. He stares sadly inside at a touching tableau of vampires feeding on a helpless young man. Sad, sad music plays as Spike observes the other vamps enjoying what he cannot. I was quite effectively manipulated into feeling sorry for Spike here. Hee hee.
Buffy and Willow are walking down a Sunnydale street, and Willow is reminding Buffy that she already has whipped cream. Willow is wearing yet another horrible outfit, this one consisting of a gray baggy sweater with a big peace sign on the front (so 1988), a pastel ankle-length skirt, and black boots. Buffy says she wants to whip the cream herself rather than use canned, and mentions that later she will be seeing Father Gabriel. Riley comes running up to the girls, looking sweaty and greasy in a zipper hoodie sweatshirt. His hair is so flat that he must have had the hood up prior to his entrance into the scene. Willow makes an obvious "subtle" exit into the coffee shop to give Buffy and Riley a chance to talk. As she enters the café, I can tell that she's quite obviously wearing some sort of bulky remote mike under her sweater at the small of her back. Willow walks around a corner in the café, and Angel leaps out and grabs her. She starts to shout but he covers her mouth with his hand and we can hear her mumble, "Angel! You're all evil again!" He assures her that he's not evil but rather has come to help Buffy. Willow tells him to inform Buffy, but again he says he can't. Willow launches into a little tirade about people leaving for other people's good, and giving up on things just because there are obstacles. Angel stops her, and she admits that she was talking about her own problems. She starts to ask him about the horror of working with Cordelia, but Angel says he doesn't have time to discuss personal stuff. He then looks at Buffy talking with Riley and morosely asks, "Who's that guy?" Buffy is still on the street, explaining her Thanksgiving plans to Riley. She invites him to dine at Giles's but he says he has to go home to Iowa, and then proceeds to tell folksy tales of Thanksgiving with his parents and grandparents. Ugh. Riley better watch out in case his mom mistakes his nose for one of the dinner yams. "What the line?" says Riley, "'Home is the place that when you have to go there --'" "'They have to take you in,'" finishes Buffy.
"Get out!" exclaims Harmony and approaches Spike, who is limply propped against a wall in her cave. She's wearing a red-and-blue-striped sleeveless turtleneck sweater and a short red skirt and is really, really looking like Tori Spelling. Really. The resemblance is actually eerie. Harm continues to stick up for herself and tells Spike that they're through, but he takes her in his arms and begins to kiss her shoulders. She weakly says he should go, but he picks her up and puts her on the bed. He begins to stroke her legs, then reaches up under her skirt. Just before they kiss, she scoots away from him and exclaims, "I'm powerful and I'm beautiful, and I don't need you to complete me," grabs a stake from under the mattress and finishes, "And you're mean!" Spike quickly rolls off the bed and tells Harmony how dangerous a stake is. She reminds him that he actually staked her in the past; he agrees to leave but asks pathetically, "Can I have someone to eat?" She brandishes the stake again and he flees.
Buffy walks quietly through a church, calling to Father Gabriel. She exits outside just in time to see Father Gabriel hanging from a noose with the Chumash Indian slicing off his ear. She races towards them and attacks Buckskin Guy. They fight, and he throws her to the ground and tells her, "I am vengeance. I am my people's cry. They call for Hus, for the avenging spirit to carve out justice." ["Nice to see that the Chumash Spirit Avenger had those Berlitz English tapes tucked away in the nether world with him. And let's not even mention that the Chumash weren't warlike in the least." -- Sep] ["Hmm, maybe Buffy has some sort of Universal Demon Translator, like on Star Trek. Or maybe not." -- Ace] Buffy fires off a quip about his "ear collection," and they fight some more. She turns his knife towards his throat and he defiantly says killing him must be a great day for her. She releases him, and he turns into a flock of crows and flies away.
Giles and Buffy are in the kitchen prepping for Turkey Day and discussing the events at hand. Giles mentions how common it is for Indian spirits to change into animals. Buffy says that it's uncommon for her to freeze up as she did before correcting Giles with "'Native American.' We don't say 'Indian.'" ["Um, Buffy? My dad was 'Native American' and I can assure you that he didn't give a flying fig if someone referred to him as 'Indian' or whatever. It's actually quite common for most tribes to have their own word. For instance, the Comanche referred to themselves as 'Nerm,' which loosely translated means 'one of the people.' The implication was that you are either Comanche, and thus a person, or not Comanche and therefore not even human. In short, I think that most 'Native Americans' can take care of themselves. I'm just sayin'. Back to you, Ace." -- ] Giles hastily admits that he's behind the times and still has to make an effort not to "refer to you lot as bloody Colonials." Hee. Go Giles! His point is lost on Buffy as she pontificates on how she likes her enemies to be pure evil so she doesn't have to strain herself with a thought or make a moral decision once in a while. Okay, she just said the first part and I extrapolated the rest. Giles reminds Buffy that the spirit warrior has killed innocent people, which in my book usually makes one "evil," but Buffy interrupts him to have a small meltdown about the lack of a ricer. Giles suggests mashing the potatoes with forks "much like the Pilgrims must have," and reminds her about the point he was making. Buffy says that she wants to solve the problem in a "non-slayey" way. Good luck with that, Slayer.
They are interrupted by a knock, and Buffy answers the door to reveal Willow carrying a stack of books as high as her head and a box of peas. Willow enters and puts down the books as Buffy snipes about frozen peas. Willow says that she didn't have time to get fresh peas because she was busy reading about the "Chumash War." Giles interrupts that the Chumash were peaceful. Thank you, Giles. Although Sep already mentioned that ages ago. Willow says that the Chumash were "fluffy kittens" until the Spanish came. Which unfortunately is pretty true. Buffy, still more concerned about the peas, complains that they are going to be mushy. Willow reassures her that they won't be, and Giles turns around and says brightly, "I like mushy peas." Aw. How adorable and very British of him. Buffy inquires further about the Chumash, and Willow lists some of the atrocities they suffered, such as forced labor, imprisonment, et cetera. Sep assures me that this part of the program is historically accurate, and if Willow would like to see that diorama she should come to Mission La Purisma, where there are three. Buffy opines that Hus is redressing the wrongs against his people. The camera angle changes so that we are now viewing this scene from outside the window as Willow suggests that they should be helping Hus. Giles quite rightly points out that they should not be helping him with his "rape, pillage, and murder," and just then we see a coyote, who has been watching through the window, scamper off. Willow and Giles start to argue, with Willow suggesting that they should help "bring the atrocities to light." Who at this point doesn't know that the Indians got a raw deal? As they bicker further (and Giles is winning) the camera zooms in on Buffy getting more and more distressed. Finally, in a very small voice she says, "I have to baste," and runs into the kitchen. Giles leans in closer to Willow and tells her that he believes Buffy may be in personal danger. Willow asks if he is referring to Angel, and Giles is surprised that she knows. Gosh, Giles seems jealous that he isn't the only one that Angel came out to (as it were). They agree that Buffy shouldn't know about Angel, and they exchange more words as Willow suggests that hers is the level head and Giles's "is the one things would roll off of." Another knock on the door interrupts their sniping; this time it's a sick looking Xander, accompanied by Anya, who is supporting him. Giles marvels that Xander "looks like death," while Buffy disappointedly notices that Xander didn't bring rolls. Looks like it's time to hand Buffy that etiquette manual Sep mentioned last week, this time with the "Sympathy" section highlighted.
Cut to Hus breaking into a museum case of weapons and stealing them. ["Geez, any self-respecting Spirit Avenger would make his own weapons. Hus has no honor!" -- Sep]
Xander is lying on the couch, Anya wiping his brow. The gang discusses his various symptoms as Willow recites possible diseases; when she mentions smallpox, Anya gets that excited look like when you're watching Jeopardy and you know the right answer even before Alex Trebek confirms it. Xander gets upset at the mention of syphilis, and Willow tries to reassure him that since it's mystical it will probably go away as soon as the spirit-avenger guy goes away. Buffy mentions that they aren't sure what they're going to do and Giles suggests they could "give him some land," and that he's "sure that will clear things right up." Buffy admonishes Giles that sarcasm doesn't accomplish anything but Giles mutters that "it's sort of an end in itself." ["Giles, Giles, where have you been all my life?" -- Sars] Willow suggest that perhaps there's an appropriate Wiccan spell and starts reading off a list of ingredients, but at the mention of salt, onion, and sage Buffy identifies it as the recipe for stuffing. Xander protests the unfairness of the situation because he didn't give the Chumash syphilis. Willow predictably defends Hus, which is easy for her to do since she's not going to go blind and have pus-filled sores covering her entire body. Giles explains that because Xander was the first person Hus saw, Xander represented Hus's oppressors, but Giles can't figure out how Hus chose his other victims. Xander asks Buffy when she's going to do her patented Slayer thing, but Buffy says the question is still before the court. "Question?" repeats Xander. Buffy gives him a unsettled look and stirs the contents of her bowl harder. The bowl contains some sort of white mixture and I'm concerned that she's whipping cream by hand; I'm not much of a cook, but I'd recommend an electric mixer for that task, Buffy. But then, I'm not the Slayer. Willow primly reminds Xander that there are two sides here and Xander retorts that "the representative to syphilis votes 'Yea.'" Willow says that "it's not that simple." Xander reminds her that they are dealing with a vengeance demon and "you don't talk to vengeance demons. You kill them." Anya, resident vengeance demon, is taken aback by this and says, "I didn't know you felt that way." Xander just gives her a concerned look and an "uh" sound. This sets off Giles and Willow again, and Xander and Anya argue as well. Suddenly Buffy stands up, obviously agitated, and says, "This won't do! It needs more condensed milk." She heads to the kitchen and Giles follows her to remind her that they will solve the problem. Buffy, pathologically concerned with her dinner at this point, snaps, "And we will have a nice dinner. Both. End of story." Giles remarks that Hus won't stop and that vengeance is unending blah blah blah as there is another knock at the door. Buffy answers the door but nobody appears to be there. Suddenly Spike, still covered in his tattered blankie, lurches into the doorway, murmuring, "Help me." Buffy pushes him down. Spike protests that he's boiling out there, and Buffy asks him if he wants her to speed up the process; Giles approaches and hands her a stake. Spike wants an invitation inside, Buffy and Giles refuse, Spike informs them that he's harmless and asks for confirmation from Willow. Giles asks Spike to clarify. "Spike had a little trip to the vet and now he doesn't chase the other puppies anymore," is Spike's explanation. Ba ha ha! Spike gets all the best lines. Buffy is unmoved and Spike tries to bribe an invitation in by plying her with information about the Initiative.
Cut to Hus, who is lonely and saying a spell in English to conjure more spirit warriors. I can understand that. It's the holidays, and who wants to spend them alone? It's hard being the only Chumash revenge demon in existence. Everyone needs friends.
The camera pans up to show Spike being tied to a chair. Spike complains that Buffy is cutting off his circulation until she reminds him that he doesn't have any. Spike protests that he came in the spirit of friendship, but when Buffy gives him a "whatever" look, he admits that it was "seething hatred, but I've got information." Buffy wants him to tell her everything, but Spike says he's too hungry to remember. "Then sit," replies Buffy as she smacks him on the head and goes to give Anya directions on the cooking. Um, I cannot believe for one second that Spike is stupider than Angel who, when he is in his sensitive demon phase, manages to feed without starving to death. I know Spike is well aware of the existence of blood banks and hospitals, not to mention butchers.
Giles has finally figured out that Hus is targeting authority figures, which leads Buffy to suggest that the Dean might be . Spike is cracking me up at this point by asking for brandy when he hears it is an ingredient in one of the recipes. "Just a small brandy," he whines after he is ignored the first time. Giles suggests warning the Dean. Buffy asks Willow if there is a non-deadly way to defeat Hus. Willow isn't down with this and says that she won't help. Anya walks over to get the brandy as Buffy tries to convince Willow that she is just as upset, but the fact that she stops mid-sentence to tell Anya to add "a quarter cup of brandy and let it simmer" makes her statement a lot less convincing. Then Buffy gets tough, saying that even though Hus has been wronged, they have to end this. Spike, god bless him, sneers, "Oh, somebody put a stake in me." He goes on about the nature of conquering nations: "Julius Caesar isn't going around saying, 'I came. I conquered. I felt really bad about it.'" Snerk. "You had better weapons and you massacred them. End of story." Willow starts to suggest that if they could talk to him (no reason you can't, Will. He speaks perfect English), but Spike cuts her off with, "You exterminated his race. What could you possibly say that would make him feel better? It's kill or be killed here, take your bloody pick." ["Word." -- Sep] Xander, showing that he's not a stupid guy, pipes up, "Maybe it's the syphilis talking, but some of that made sense." Giles sniffs that he made the same points earlier. Buffy mentions that someone has to go warn the Dean. Willow and Anya get up to go, and Xander starts to get up too, but Spike interjects, "Oh, leave that one. He looks like he's ready to drop any minute and I think I can eat someone if he's already dead." Ba ha ha. Spike is worth double whatever they're paying him, as is the writer who comes up with his lines. Buffy reminds everyone to hurry as dinner is in an hour.
Sunset. Back to Giles's apartment. Buffy is setting the table; Giles is studying. Spike sullenly asks when dinner is. "Later," snaps Buffy. "Hey," he continues, "do you know what happens to vampires who don't get to feed?" Giles allows that he has always wondered about that, but Buffy shushes him. Buffy tells Spike that he can have gravy because "that has blood in it, right?" Spike: "Do you know what else has blood in it? Blood." Buffy: "Do I have to gag you? Because I am not going to listen to you whine all the way through my dinner." Ace: "Hey, Buffy, if you substitute 'season' for 'dinner,' I could say the same for you." Buffy continues that it is going to be a nice, civilized meal. I think that Hus, the Chumash guy shooting arrows in from an upstairs window, has a different idea. Spike jumps around in his chair, maneuvering it in order to get a better view of the action. Buffy tries to talk it out with Hus; as Giles pulls her away she yells, "You can have casinos." Gee, thanks. Your ancestors decimated entire cultures, but it's okay, because then you then gave the remnants of those cultures legalized gambling. And even that is under fire in a lot of areas, despite the fact that reservations are technically supposed to be sovereign states. ["And if you believe that . . ." --Sep] Giles and Buffy hunker down behind the couch as arrows rain down from above. Hus's little friends mob the other windows of Giles's house and begin to fire as well. Spike gets shafted (heh -- see what I did there?) with a wooden arrow in a potentially dangerous area. He looks down and yells, "Hey, watch the heart!"
Willow, Xander, and Anya are leaving the Dean's house. Apparently, the Dean didn't take them very seriously, possibly because Anya started the conversation with, "Everyone got [sic] both ears?" As they walk along, Angel appears in front of them. Xander recoils in shock and for the sake of exposition says, "Angel?" Anya: "So this is Angel. He's large and glowery, isn't he?" Xander, always one to jump to conclusions where Angel is concerned, pronounces him evil again. Angel whines, "I'm not evil again. Why does everyone think that? I haven't been evil for a long time." Well, Angel, perhaps it's because you're somewhat of a recidivist in the evil department. Willow explains that Angel is here to protect Buffy, and Angel, reminded of his purpose, tells the group that all of the Chumash weapons are missing from the cultural center. Willow explains that they came to check on the Dean because the demon is after authority figures, and Angel explains that, to a warrior, the authority figure would be the strongest fighter. For the sake of the plot we'll pretend that Giles wouldn't have thought of that and (even more unbelievably) that Angel would have. It dawns on them that the spirit is after Buffy, and Angel says that he'll call Buffy, but first he leans down to break the lock off a chained bicycle. Also, and may seem like an odd thing to notice, but kudos to Nicholas Brendan's acting in this scene. His posture was spot-on for someone who is two toes away from six feet under.
At Fort Giles, Giles himself answers the phone and tells Angel that they're "under siege now, actually." I'm sure a phone call was such a helpful thing in that situation. After getting off the phone, Giles observes that they need a plan. The camera swings over to Spike (well on his way to becoming a pincushion, with two arrows near the heart and one impaling him near the shoulder), who snerks, "Yes, let's talk about it some more." Buffy ignores him, asking Giles where his weapons chest is. ["I want a weapons chest for Xmas!" -- Sep] Giles points her in the right direction and Buffy crawls towards it, but as she's reaching for it she takes an arrow in the arm. Spike becomes quite distraught at this point and starts hopping his chair around and attempting to apologize to avoid taking more arrows. Buffy and Giles ascertain that there are far too many warriors for them to handle alone and they are in dire need of help.
Fortunately, help (if you can call a snide demon, a deathly ill mortal, and an overly liberal Wiccan "help") is on its way as Xander, Anya, and Willow furiously ride stolen bikes across a campus lawn to the strains of climactic music. At the University of Arizona they'd get a ticket for that, sure as shootin'.
Buffy and Giles have managed to lay their hands on crossbows, and on the count of three they rise up to take a shot at the Chumash. The Chumash lean coolly out of the way, hardly pausing in their "shoot lots of arrows but don't try to actually enter the building and overwhelm them with sheer numbers" strategy. At this point Sep would like me to mention that, although the Chumash did use the bow and arrow for about 1,500 years, the spear thrower was by far their weapon of choice.
The gang enters the courtyard outside and springs into action. Xander smashes a clay planter over the head of one Chumash as another drops down from above to chase after Anya and Willow. The girls pick up conveniently placed shovels and beat the warrior about the head and shoulders. One of the Chumash demons finally decides to enter the apartment from an upstairs window (now that the advantage of numbers is lost). Well, what do you expect? The Chumash were never warriors. Although you think they would have taught them basic military strategy in Vengeance Spirit School. The warrior comes downstairs and engages Buffy in hand-to-hand combat. Another jumps in from a ground-floor window and goes after Giles. Woo hoo! Giles gets to kick ass. I love to watch me some Giles fightin'. Alas, Giles seems to be getting worse than he's giving; meanwhile, Spike takes another arrow, and Buffy gets cut as she stabs a warrior in the heart. She observes to Giles that they "don't seem to die," but Giles is occupied with a choke hold and doesn't respond.
Willow and Anya are still shoveling their target to death outside ["Yeah yeah, digging, below the surface -- motif noted." -- Sars]. Xander grabs yet another shovel and lends those bulging biceps to the task. He doesn't notice that he's being followed by one the Chumash spirits, who steals Xander's shovel, eliciting an indignant, "Hey!" Xander gives chase and grapples with the spirit, who throws him through the front door onto the floor and goes for the kill as Xander fends him off.
Enter Angel, who observes the melee for a moment before he leaps over the Melrosean fountain and up to the warrior Willow and Anya are struggling with, efficiently snaps the warrior's spinal cord, and shoves the falling body away, prompting Anya to wonder, "What's he like when he is evil?" A lot more tolerable, Anya. A lot.
Inside, Buffy is still fighting her demon. She has him pinned against a wall, but unbeknownst to her another one is approaching her from behind. Angel observes this from outside and throws a knife, neatly catching the enemy in the chest.
Another nameless Chumash grabs Angel from behind. Angel, after directing Willow and Anya to help the others, flips him over onto the stone staircase. Ouch. Everyone struggles. Giles gets his head bashed against a wall repeatedly. Buffy picks up the Chumash knife and cuts the warrior with it. This time, to his apparent surprise, it hurts him, and Buffy helpfully explains for the viewers at home that "[his] knife can kill [him]." He morphs into a bear as Spike's eyes bulge. Spike: "A bear. You made a bear!" Buffy: "I didn't mean to." Spike: "Undo it! Undo it!" Ace: "Bwahahahaha!" Everyone struggles some more. The bear knocks Buffy down and is about to finish her off until Xander lobs a potato at him and shouts, "That's for giving me syphilis!" This distracts the bear enough for Buffy to recover and sink the knife deep into his chest. It seems that this was the guy to kill, because he (and the others) fade into green mist. Everyone regroups, except for Angel who fades into the night and heads back to his own show until the sweeps crossover event. Buffy looks out the window, obviously sensing something. From his position on the floor, Spike inquires as to the outcome of the battle.
Everyone is sitting down to dinner, and even Spike's chair has been pulled up to the table. You'd think that since Buffy was so dead set (as it were) on getting rid of Spike once and for all last week, she would have finished him off by now. Willow is lamenting her transformation into "General Custer" at the first sign of trouble. I'm glad she said something about that so I didn't have to. Giles, who looks quite the worse for wear from his head-pounding, comments that it's completely normal in a violent situation for instinct to take over. Spike interjects, "That's the fun." Xander: "Nobody asked you." Spike: "Oh, lay off. You all had a fine meal. And me? An entire siege. You'd think one of you would bleed a little." Giles congratulates Buffy, but she doesn't think it was the Thanksgiving it should have been. Xander: "I don't know. Kinda seemed right to me. A bunch of anticipation, a big fight and now we're all sleepy." I guess that explains why Xander isn't celebrating with his family. My favorite part of this shot is the Pilgrim centerpiece pierced with an arrow. It's small touches like those that make this such a great show. Giles is thankful that everyone is alive, Xander for his syphilis clearing up, Willow for everyone working together. She mentions that it was "like old times." Since Harmony isn't in this scene, it falls to Xander to incite major plot advances, and he says, "Yeah, especially with Angel being here and everything." Buffy throws him a look. Jump-cut to Buffy-cam as she sees the gang staring at her down the length of the table; Spike's expression in particular is priceless. We fade to black with Xander dubbing in a "whoops."