Sometimes I think the show is trying to kill me. In the episode we have Spike, Buffy and Angel all in the same spot... But they don't have scene together. Buffy doesn't even know that Angel has come to town. (Although she does go to LA to see him in the corresponding "Angel" episode "I Will Remember You.") Angel doesn't get to see Spike tied up in Giles' living room. Spike doesn't get to ask Angel about the fate of the Ring of Amara. It's such a missed opportunity. That said, "Pangs" is still a lot of fun. It's BTVS's only Thanksgiving episode. It tosses Spike in with Scoobies for the first time. And it raises some really interesting questions by debating the political correctness of the holiday. If you're watching on DVD, don't skip this episode.
The title "Pangs" is referring to more than just hunger. This episode has pangs of guilt, conscious and pity, too. UC Sunnydale is being attacked by a restless Chomush spirit. He was released as they dug the foundation to the new Cultural Center. Angry, he sets out to avenge the wrongs done to his people and the Scoobies actually feel some pangs of guilt about the treatment he endured. Willow is especially horrified by the plight of the indigenous people and refuses to try and kill the spirit. In the meantime, Xander contracts mystical syphilis, people are turning up dead and Angel arrives in town to on a tip that Buffy may be in danger.
Buffy is set on cooking a big Thanksgiving meal at Giles house. She feels pangs of conscious about the spirit. But she knows that she has to do something to stop him... Right after dinner. Spike, still unable to feed thanks to the chip in his head, finally makes his way to Giles' front door. Desperate, he offers to tell the Scoobies everything he knows about the Initative in exchange for sanctuary. The Scoobies feel a pang of pity for Spike and his raggedy, "Little Match Girl" style blankey. They let him in. Then Xander, Willow and Anya go to warn the dean about the attacks and the Spirit begins bombarding Giles's apartment with arrows. Buffy has to stop the Spirit before her entire celebration is ruined.
There are a lot of good parts to this episode. I love Anya and she's especially funny in "Pangs." From demanding that Xander dig so she can watch him "ripple" to consoling him over his new diseases ("Syphilis won't kill you... It'll just make you blind and insane") you just gotta laugh. And Giles and Willow are great as they argue about the best way to defeat the Chomush spirit. She's determined to be sensitive to the spirit's grievances. Giles doesn't care about past wrongs, he just wants spirit to disappear. And for once Spike agrees with him. Having Spike run to Giles' house for help is just brilliant. He winds up tied to a chair, lecturing Willow and Buffy about the flaws in their "namby-pampy" political correctness. "You annihilated his race, what can you possibly say that will make him feel better?" (And to understand just how ineffective that rope and chair would be if Spike tried to escape, see season seven's "Don't Ever Leave Me." He's sitting in Giles' living room because he WANTS to be there. He has no place else to go.) And you just don't get many lines funnier than, "You made a bear. Undo it! Undo it!" Also, I like that Buffy is wearing a black cowboy hat at the beginning of the episode. The bad guys in Sunnydale are of often called "black hats." And "cowboys" are the symbolic enemies of "Indians." I think the hat is the show's way of saying that there are no easy answers to Giles and Willow's fight. No more heroes and villains. Everyone's a little bit wrong.
"Pangs" is about family and home, which is only fitting since it's a Thanksgiving episode. The Scoobies have gathered with their "real" family (Each other) in the home of their patriarch (Giles). Riley is going back to Iowa to be with his family. Spike tries desperately to find a place to belong, but all his evil haunts are closed to him now. He can't feed with the other vampires and even Harmony kicks him out. He finally winds up on Giles' door step where he is taken in. None of them realize it yet, but this is Spike's new "family," his new group, and the place he now belongs. Meanwhile, Angel comes back to town, but Sunnydale is not home anymore. He is apart from the group, not quite fitting in. Spike is now sitting at the table and Angel is the standing on the outside. Angel's "family" is back in LA with Cordy, Doyle and (soon) Wes. The episode ends with everyone being at, or heading for, their homes.
On the downside, I really do feel bad for the Spirit. Like Willow, I wish that there could have been a way to make things right with him. Also, why would Joyce leave town over Thanksgiving and not include Buffy?
My favorite part of the episode: Xander's reaction to his new syhpilis. "That's no fair."
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