The Pack (Buffy episode)
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"The Pack" is episode 6 of season 1 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After a school trip to the zoo, Sunnydale High's delinquents are more cruel than ever -- and Xander joins them. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.
Plot synopsis
Summary
Buffy and the Scooby Gang are on a school trip to the zoo when Xander sneaks into the quarantined hyena cage to help a boy that is being picked on, but he and four others are infected by something and begin to act strangely. Buffy suspects something is wrong when Xander starts being mean to Willow and hitting on her a little too strongly, but Giles shrugs it off as teenage angst. He is forced to change his mind however when the Sunnydale High mascot, a piglet, is eaten, followed by Principal Flutie. Buffy, Giles and Willow lure them back to the Hyena cage and after a run in with the keeper manage to restore Xander and the others back to normal.
Expanded overview
"The Pack" starts with a Sunnydale High School outing to a zoo. A gang of four kids taunt and terrorize other students, and when one boy does not have the courage to tell Principal Flutie what they have done to him, they force him to go with them to the Hyena House even though it is under quarantine. Xander follows to help him, whereas Willow and Buffy are stopped by a warden. He warns the two girls that the animals, fresh from Africa, are said to have special powers. They can even call your name.
In the Hyena House, the hyenas take a flashy-eyed look at the gang of four and Xander. Their eyes flash in return. Only the original victim is spared. None of them notice that they have been standing on a magic symbol of some kind.
Xander is now part of the gang, and his behavior has changed: He is insulting, cruel, tends to scratch himself and smell people. Even more odious, the school's new mascot piglet Herbert tries to flee when it smells Xander. During dodge ball, Xander hits Willow with an excessively hard throw. The game ends with Buffy the last remaining member of her team and Xander, the gang of four and the victim from the Hyena House on the other side. Instead of attacking Buffy, the pack goes for the boy until Buffy steps in.
Later, Xander tells Willow in front of the laughing gang that he won't be needing her help any more and is happy he won't have to look in her pasty face ever again. Buffy watches the exchange, but when she confronts him, Xander walks off with the other four, still laughing. Guided by their noses, the five pay a visit to Herbert's cage. Xander suggests lunch and the piglet squeals in terror.
Giles shows no inclination to believe anything is wrong with Xander except that he is a 16-year-old boy. His attitude changes when Herbert is found, eaten. After checking his books, Giles warns that they could be dealing with a case of possession. Buffy runs to find Xander, and finds the piglet's cage totally demolished. Xander jumps Buffy, pins her to the floor and tries to assault her sexually. Buffy knocks him unconscious with a desk and locks him in the book cage in the library.
When Principal Flutie finds his pig dead, he knows that the original gang of four are involved and calls them into his office. There, they kill and eat him.
Returning from a teacher's meeting to the library, Giles tells Willow and Buffy about what happened to Flutie. Giles and Buffy go see the zoo warden who tells them that he is not surprised by the possession and knows about the magic involved, but is not sure how the students were affected: he hasn't been able to figure out the ritual. Giles supplies the missing information: A predatory act is required, like when the original four students tormented the boy.
Meanwhile, in the library, Xander tries to sweet-talk his way out of the book cage, but Willow sees through his ruse. The other four pack members break into the library, free Xander, and then all five hunt Willow through the corridors of the school. Cornered in a classroom, she is rescued by Buffy and Giles. The five turn away from Buffy and find an easier target, a family in a car. Buffy drives them off there, too, and offering herself as bait, lures them back to the Hyena House where the warden in full war paint is supposed to perform a reverse of the possession spell with Giles' help. Giles realizes that the warden had tried to call the power for himself, but couldn't figure out how until he learned about the predatory act from Giles. The warden knocks Giles unconscious.
Willow reaches the Hyena House before Buffy, and the warden ties her up and puts a knife to her throat. Buffy arrives with the others close behind, and stops in when she sees Willow in peril. The pursuing pack knocks her down, and the warden uses this predatory act to shout a spell that pulls the animal spirits from the five students into himself. His eyes flash and he tries to bite Willow. Xander, freed of the spell, sees Willow in danger and tackles the warden. In the fight, Buffy knocks the warden into the hyenas' pen, where he is eaten. The gang of four flee. When everything is over, Giles staggers in.
The next day, Xander tells Willow and Buffy he does not remember anything, and they shrug the whole episode off with a smile. Giles later points out that he cannot remember reading anything about memory loss during possession in his books, but promises to keep the embarrassed Xander's secret.
Writing and acting
- The episode may be seen as a parable for mob mentality.
- The warden being killed by the hyenas is a rather brutal form of poetic justice.
- At the end, Buffy and Willow have forgiven Xander, though he seriously insulted Willow and attempted to rape Buffy. He may have a valid excuse, but characters will be held to a higher standard in later episodes. Giles, for example, had a tough time forgiving Angel after season two. And Whedon says on the series finale DVD that Spike should never be forgiven for his attempted rape.
Cast and crew
- Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
- Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
- Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
Production details
Music
- Dashboard Prophets - "All you want"
- Far - "Job's eyes"
- Sprung Monkey - "Reluctant man"
Translations
German title: "Der Ruf der Hyänen" ("The Call of the Hyenas")
Quotes and trivia
"You like your men dangerous." -- Hyena Xander with a perceptive insight into Buffy
"I cannot believe that you, of all people, are trying to me." -- Buffy makes another contemporary reference
Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) does not appear in this episode.
When Xander walks into the bronze to meet Buffy and Willow around 8:00, he walks past and stares at a girl who looks surprisingly like a young Amy Acker (Fred in Angel).
The signs in the Sunnydale Zoo are written in the same font as the signs in Jurassic Park.
Continuity
Arc significance
- Xander confesses his love to Buffy in an unconventional manner.
- Principal Flutie makes way for the infamous Principal Snyder in the first major death of the series; Jesse's death seems a tad more predictable by comparison.
- The book cage will be used as a holding pen many times until the school is demolished. Even when love-sick, Willow proves immune to hyena Xander's silver tongue, a trait that will serve her well in "Beer Bad". Her vampiric self will have more success convincing Cordelia to let her out in "Doppelgängland".
Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
External links
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