The Pack

"The Pack" is the sixth episode of the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is the sixth episode overall.

Synopsis


The students of Sunnydale High are on a field trip, this time to the zoo. A group of bullies tease another student, Lance, and are interrupted by Principal Flutie. Lance doesn't rat on them, so they decide to include him in their exploration of the off-limit hyena exhibit. Xander goes to make sure everything is okay, and all of them, except for Lance, get possessed by the evil spirits of hyenas.

Xander and the four bullies adopt the behavior of the wild animals and begin to act very strangely. Xander snubs Willow, though his attraction to Buffy becomes more intense and aggressive. His friends notice him acting meaner to other students, while Giles brushes it off as teenage boy behavior.

The possessed students are very possessive, mean, and territorial. They stick together as a pack (hence the name of the episode). They even go so far as to eat the new school mascot, Herbert the Pig, raw. At one point, Xander is detained, trying to assault Buffy, while the other four bullies devour Principal Flutie.

Giles eventually believes the girls' concern for Xander and investigates the hyenas with the zookeeper, who has researched the animals. They set a trap for the students, but it is almost too late when Giles realizes that the zookeeper had tried to absorb the hyenas' spirits himself. Willow is captured, and the zookeeper uses her to perform a "predatory act" by holding a knife to her throat and draws the spirits out of the students and into himself.

He becomes evil and Buffy, trying to stop him from hurting anybody, accidentally knocks him into the hyena pit, where he is subsequently devoured. Xander claims to have no memory of the possession, though Giles reveals in private that he knows Xander is just pretending. He promises Xander that his secret "dies with" him.

Production

 * Despite being credited as a series regular, Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase) is absent from this episode.


 * This is the first time that a series regular has been absent.


 * All sequences shot at the zoo were filmed at the Santa Ana Zoo.


 * This is the second episode where no vampires appear. ("Witch" being the first)

Broadcast

 * "The Pack" earned itself a Nielsen rating of 2.4 on its original airing.

Deleted Scenes

 * One line was cut
 * Xander - "Welcome to the jungle."

Other

 * The majority of the hyena documentary footage shown in the episode is actually about African Wild Dogs, not hyenas.


 * In the episode Xander is deferred to as the unofficial leader of the pack, which is a small irony considering the show's feministic roots and the fact that hyena packs are matriarchal.

Quotes
Xander - "We just saw the zebras mating. Thank you, very exciting." Willow - "It was like the Heimlich with stripes!"

Xander - "I ate a pig? Was it cooked and called bacon?"

Giles - "Xander's taken to teasing the less fortunate?" Buffy - "Uh-huh." Giles - "And, there's been a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanor?" Buffy - "Yes." Giles - "And, well, otherwise all his spare time is spent lounging about with imbeciles." Buffy - "It's bad, isn't it." Giles - "It's devastating - he's turned into a sixteen-year-old boy. Of course, you'll have to kill him."

Continuity

 * Xander's feigned amnesia about his activities while he was possessed is later uncovered gradually.


 * Buffy is wearing the leather jacket Angel gave her.
 * Principal Flutie is killed and eaten in this episode. He is later mentioned in Season Seven's "Beneath You" by Buffy when she asked Robin Wood if he heard about what happened to Mr Flutie.

Music

 * Sprung Monkey - "Reluctant Man"
 * Dashboard Prophets - "All You Want"
 * Far - "Job's Eyes"

Characters

 * Joey Anderson
 * Mr. Anderson
 * Mrs. Anderson
 * Heidi Barrie
 * Herbert the Pig
 * Kyle DuFours
 * Principal Bob Flutie
 * Rupert Giles
 * Xander Harris
 * Tor Hauer
 * Coach Herrold
 * Rhonda Kelley
 * Lance Lincoln
 * Willow Rosenberg
 * Buffy Summers
 * Dr. Wierick the Zookeeper
 * Unidentified young woman

Organizations and Titles

 * The Pack
 * Primals
 * Scooby Gang
 * The Slayer
 * Watcher

Species

 * Human
 * Hyena

Locations

 * The Bronze
 * Sunnydale High
 * Sunnydale High School library
 * Sunnydale Zoo

Weapons and objects

 * Knife

Miscelaneous

 * Masai ceremonial garb