Conversations With Dead People

In which Buffy gets psychoanalysed by a vampire, Dawn gets terrorised by a poltergeist, Willow gets a message from the beyond, Spike gets a hot meal on the hoof, and Jonathan gets knifed in the gut.

Official back-of-box synopsis:

Buffy strikes up a conversation with a vampire who was once an acquaintance in high school; When Joyce materialises in the living room. Dawn defends her from a menacing creature; Willow is overwhelmed when Cassie's ghost appears before her claiming she has messages from Tara; Andrew and Jonathan return to Sunnydale on a mission to save their town.

Links:

This episode's page at http://www.restlessbtvs.com/, the Restless BTVS Trivia Guide

This episode's page at http://www.vrya.net/bdb/, the Buffyverse Dialog Database

Cross-reference:

episodes featuring Symbolic Weather:

• Surprise
  There's a raging thunderstorm as Angel turns to Angelus
• Amends
  A Snow Day in California = message that Angel shouldn't kill himself
• this episode
  a very localised storm, and The First, strike 1630 Revello

episodes with gay themes:

• Phases
  Larry is accidentally outed in the search for a werewolf
• Doppelgangland
  Willow's alter-ego is 'evil and skanky and kinda gay'
• Earshot
  Larry's now so out he's got his grandma fixing him up with guys
• this episode
  Holden informs Buffy that her ex, Scott, has come out.

episodes with scary Mothers:

• The Witch
  Amy's mom takes over her body, not just her life
• Some Assembly Required
  Mrs Epps, there's surgery going on in your basement!
• Gingerbread
  Nice witch-hunt, mom!
• Lies My Parents Told Me
  Spike's mother, enough said.
• this episode
  OK so it wasn't Joyce, but it was very scary

Cast:

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow
• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce / The First
• James Marsters as Spike
• Danny Strong as Jonathan
• Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn
• Adam Busch as Warren / The First
• Tom Lenk as Andrew
• Azura Skye as Cassie / The First
• Jonathan M Woodward as Holden
• Stacey Scowley as Young Woman