Pangs

"Pangs" is the eighth episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Plot synopsis

Summary

Angel secretly arrives in Sunnydale to protect Buffy, who is attempting a perfect Thanksgiving.

Expanded overview

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 sex with Xander, Buffy and Willow talk about the meaning of Thanksgiving. Xander begins to dig, the ground suddenly caves out under him and he drops into an old abandoned building. We later find this is the Old Sunnydale Mission. Buffy is upset that her Mom is going to be out of town for Thanksgiving, but then decides to cook her own Thanksgiving dinner and invite all their 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 Cultural Center where some weapons are being kept. 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 a Chumash spear 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, having come to Sunnydale due to his friend having a vision of Buffy in danger. He and Giles talk about watching over Buffy, and Angel tells him he doesn't want Buffy to know, though keeping a secret from Buffy is hard for both of them. 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 after Willow asks (to her amusement) if it's true that Cordelia is now working for him, he tells her 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 has killed him. After the mission was uncovered, his spirit was released to reenact the wrongs that were done to his people. Buffy and Giles talk about it while working on dinner. Then Willow shows up with a stack of books on the Chumash. She explains that while they were once peaceful, the people of Sunnydale horribly mistreated them. Cutting off a victim's ear is how they proved that a 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 probably has malaria, smallpox and syphilis — some of the diseases that took a terrible toll when brought from Europe to a population without resistance.

With only a blanket to protect him from the sun, Spike shows up at Giles's 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 him, 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, the spirit calls forth more spirits to help him get revenge for their 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 one of the Chumash with his own knife, and reaches the conclusion that their own weapons can kill them. The spirit 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 of 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.

Writing

• Not for the first time, stress brought on by holidays -- travel, family and preparations -- are metaphorically presented as attacks by spirits.

• Two views on America's history are presented by Willow, supporting Native Americans even when they killed people, and Giles and Spike, who champion the other side of the debate, Giles stressing the futility of symbolic revenge and Spike arguing the equal futility of guilt.

Acting

Starring

• 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 starring

• Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
• Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall
• Emma Caulfield as Anya
• Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
• Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
• Tod Thawley as Hus - The Chumash Spirit
• David Boreanaz as Angel

Co-starring

• Mark Ankeny as Dean Guerrero
• William Vogt as Jamie
• Margaret Easley as Curator

Translations

• Italian title: "Crampi" ("Cramps")
• German title: "Der Geist der Chumash" ("The spirit of the Chumash")
• French title: "L'esprit vengeur" ("The Vengeful Spirit")
• Spanish title: "Remordimientos" ("Remorses")
• Japanese title: "良心の呵責" ("Ryoushin no kashaku" - "Pangs of conscience")

Continuity

• Crossover with Angel: After Doyle received a vision of Buffy in trouble ("Bachelor Party"), Angel arrived in Sunnydale in this episode. Buffy is angry that Angel did not inform her and confronts him in "I Will Remember You", aired immediately afterward.

• Willow amusingly questions Angel about hiring Cordelia at Angel Investigations.

Arc significance

• Xander now refers to Anya as his girlfriend. Riley and Buffy are establishing a relationship as well.

• Willow foreshadows the nature of this season's "Big Bad", Adam, by hypothesizing a demon made out of parts when a victim is missing an ear.

• This is first appearance of Angel since The Freshman.

External links

• "Pangs" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Pangs" at TV.com

Reviews

• Soulful Spike Society analysis of Pangs
• Peripheral Visions Review
• Swing the Sickle Review