The Pack (7 Apr. 1997)

Xander and several other students are possessed by the spirit of a demonic breed of hyenas that wreak havoc at the high school

Director:

Bruce Seth Green

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Matt Kiene,

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase (credit only)
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Ken Lerner	...	Principal Bob Flutie
Eion Bailey	...	Kyle DuFours
Michael McCraine	...	Rhonda Kelley (as Michael McRaine)
Brian Gross	...	Tor Hauer
Jennifer Sky	...	Heidi Barrie
Jeff Maynard	...	Lance
James Stephens	...	Dr. Weirick
David Brisbin	...	Mr. Anderson
Barbara Whinnery	...	Mrs. Anderson (as Barbara K. Whinnery)
Gregory White	...	Coach Herrold

Storyline

On a school field trip to the zoo, Kyle DuFours's gang of bullies taunt good boy Lance, till Xander stops them balancing the nerd over the fence of still quarantined hyena's- suddenly they are all eerily effected by the evil beasts' magical stare. Willow is completely smitten with Xander, but he chucks in her maths tutoring when the hyena spell progresses, as sensed by the piglet Herbert principal Bob Flutie introduces as mascot for the Sunnydale Highschool's 'Razorbacks' football team. Next Xander dumps Wilow, fully joining Kyle's 'hyena pack' of bullies. When the four known bullies are called in Flutie's office for devouring mascot Herbert, they eat him too. Luckily Xander was enforcing himself upon Buffy, so she knocked him down and locked him up. Giles, who first thought Xander was just suffering from pubertal hormones, now realizes it's a Massai 'primary' cult soul transfer, and Buffy tells him about what zoo keeper Dr. Weirick told them about the nasty hyenas, so they go talk to...

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Plot Keywords:

hyena | bully | zoo | piglet | dodgeball | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 April 1997 (USA)

Filming Locations:

1800 Stewart St., Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Joss Whedon listed this as one of his favorite episodes.

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Goofs

The Hyena exhibit is a very dangerous design. There is no guardrail or similar barrier to keep visitors at a safe distance. Anyone can walk up to the bars and get mauled, as the bars are wide enough for people to stick their arms or legs through. In fact, the bars are so wide apart that not only could skinny people or children squeeze completely through, but the hyenas could simply walk out of their exhibit.

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Quotes

Giles: Xander's taken to teasing the less fortunate?
Buffy: Uh-huh.
Giles: And, uh, there's a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanor?
Buffy: Yes.
Giles: And, well, otherwise, all his spare time's 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.

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Connections

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Soundtracks

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer Theme"
Written by Nerf Herder
Performed by Brandon K. Verrett

User Reviews

A first rate episode

For all his cute, goofy charm, a possessed Xander Harris can be a pretty scary guy. His eyes go flat, his smile takes on a hard edge and you just know that he's not going to be making any harmless wisecracks for a while. In this episode, a trip to the zoo leaves Xander and several popular students infected with the spirit of hyenas. Exhibiting pack like behavior, they begin terrorizing Sunnydale High. "The Pack" is one of the best episodes of the season. It centers around animal possession, but it is really talking about the cruelty of teenagers, especially when they're in groups. The hyena-people laugh at the weaker kids and terrorize anyone who crosses their path. They finally eat the school mascot and the principal, in a very creepy scene.

Eventually, Buffy locks Xander in the ever-useful library book cage, where he plays on Willow's feelings for him and tries to manipulate her into letting him out. (If it wasn't for that cage, the Scoobies would have a real hard time dealing with all the werewolves, evil Willows and assorted nasties that come their way in later seasons. I'm not sure why its in the library, but its a heck of a design feature.) The best Buffy episodes are character driven, and "The Pack" derives most of its drama from the fact that we know Xander. He loves Willow and Buffy so its disturbing to see what he's become. When he starts ridiculing Willow, you feel bad for both of them. Willow because she's heartbroken and Xander because he's truly not like that. It's really very well done.

I'm not sure I have any specific complaints about the episode, itself. But, I do wish that they had brought up Xander attempting to rape Buffy in "The Pack" after Spike tries to rape her in late season six. Clearly, Xander wasn't in control of himself in this episode. But, Spike had a demon in him, so was he really in control, either? Is that why Buffy forgave them both? Does that excuse them? It would have made for an interesting conversation, in any case.

My favorite part of the episode: The dodge ball scene. "God, this is a cruel sport."