Ah, Thanksgiving. The day of giving thanks. But what’s it really about? Turkey, family, and Black Friday (though not necessarily in that order). Since most writers will jump on whatever chance they get for a themed episode, there’s no shortage of Thanksgiving-oriented television. In honor of these Turkey Day-themed affairs, I’ve teamed up with @Rocketllama to bring you each of our favorite Thanksgiving episodes!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
“Pangs”
Most of us know that family get-togethers are hardly the Hallmark affairs we see in commercials. Often you’ve got everyone trying to keep their long-hidden grievances hidden before the lid blows off and everyone’s grievances coming to air. Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “Pangs” may not be about a family in a traditional sense, but Buffy and her game of not-chromosomally-related family have a Thanksgiving like any good Thanksgiving—full of bickering, confusion, and vengeful Native American spirits.
There are about a billion and one great things about this episode, so I’ll just bullet point a few of the most memorable lines and occurences.
- Buffy’s cowboy hat in the first scene, a hat never to be seen or heard from again.
- Willow: (describing Thanksgiving) It’s a yam sham!
- Normally cool guy Angel’s jealousy over new guy Riley.
- Buffy: and Native American. We don’t say “Indian.”
Giles: Right. Always behind on the times… still trying not to refer to you lot as bloody colonials. - Spike’s speech to try to put an end to Willow and Buffy’s white person guilt over the justifiably angry Native American spirit going around killing people: You won. All right? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That’s what conquering nations do. It’s what Caesar did, and he’s not goin’ around saying, “I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it.” The history of the world is not people making friends. You had better weapons, and you massacred them. End of story.
- A stunt performer pretending to fight a bear.
- Ultimately, after all of the arguing and bloodshed, everyone shuts their yaps and bands together to both fight the vicious ghosts and to have a nice meal— which is exactly what Thanksgiving is all about.
-Alex (@rocketllama)
Friends
“The One Where Ross Got High”
There’s a reason Friends was on for 10 years, and that’s because it’s da bomb. I, too, am choosing a Friends episode as my favorite Thanksgiving episode with “The One Where Ross Gets High.” The show is at its absolute best when all six main characters are together interacting with one another, but still have their individual storylines going on, and this episode has everyone trying to keep something from going off the rails. Joey and Ross want to ditch so they can hang out with hot dancers, Rachel doesn’t know how the hell to make a trifle, Phoebe fights her attraction to deep-sea diver Jacques Cousteau, and Monica tries to hide her relationship with Chandler from her parents and, in doing so, discovers that they don’t like him because Ross told them he got high all the time, when really it was Ross who was getting high. Everything comes together wit one magical outburst in the end, with each character shouting out some kind of confession:
Ross: Hurricane Gloria didn’t break the porch swing, Monica did!
Monica: Ross and Rachel got married in Vegas and divorced— again!
Rachel: I wasn’t supposed to put beef in the trifle!
Phoebe: I love Jacques Cousteau!
Joey: I wanna goooooooo!
And, to cap everything off, Ross and Monica’s parents end up seeing Chandler for the supportive, wonderful guy he is and Joey ends up loving Rachel’s disgusting, meat-filled dessert. All in all, it’s hilarious, while still instilling that warm, family feeling.
-Katrina
So, gentle readers, those are our favorite Turkey-day themed episodes. (Runner-ups include Friends’ “The One with the Football,” The Simpsons’ “Bart Vs. Thanksgiving,” and Community’s “Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations,” an episode some consider to be the best of the infamous “gas leak” year that was season four. What are your favorite turkey day episodes?
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