The Pack (Buffy episode)
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| "The Pack" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) | |
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| Season 1, Episode 6 | |
| Air Date (US): | April 7 1997 |
| Production No.: | 4V06 |
| Written by: | Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer |
| Directed by: | Bruce Seth Green |
| Guest Star(s): | Ken Lerner (Principal Flutie) Eion Bailey (Kyle) Brian Gross (Tor) Jennifer Sky (Heidi) |
| Previous: Never Kill a Boy on the First Date | Next: Angel |
"The Pack" is an episode of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer that deals with possession.
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Plot Outline
Episode 6 of season 1, "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. "Let's do lunch", Xander says, 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 class room, she is rescued by Buffy and Giles. The five turn away from Buffy, and find a easier target, a family in 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 doesn't remember a thing, and they shrug the whole episode off with a smile. Giles later points out that he can't remember reading anything about memory loss during possession in his books, but promises to keep the embarrassed Xander's secret.
Importance
Xander confesses his love to Buffy, if in a rather strange form. Principal Flutie is killed, making way for Principal Snyder.
Writing and Acting
This straightforward story includes an example of poetic justice when the warden is killed by the hyenas. The student doesn't stand up to his four tormentors, making the situation worse and providing the moral. The episode can been seen as a parable about peer group pressure.
Why Xander left the pack to face Buffy alone after eating the pig is not explained. Given that even the complete pack is reluctant to attack Buffy, this seems very much against his hyena nature.
At the end, Buffy and Willow seem to hold no grudge against Xander, though he has severely insulted Willow and assaulted — possibly even attempted to rape — Buffy. Though Xander was strictly speaking not responsible for his actions, in later episodes the characters will be far less able to just shrug off the things that possessed friends have done. One example of this is Giles, who is reluctant to be around Angel even episodes after his soulless alter ego Angelus has tortured him and killed his girl friend Jenny Calendar.
Quotes and Trivia
"He's not picking on you, he is just smelling you a lot" — Willow to Buffy, wondering if Xander's behavior is her fault
"I can't believe that you of all people are trying to Scully me" — Buffy with a reference to Dana Scully of "The X-Files"
"It's devastating. He's turned into a 16-year-old boy. You'll have to kill him." — Giles showing himself unconvinced that Xander is possessed.
"You like your men dangerous" — Hyena Xander with an insight into Buffy that will be repeated in various episodes by various men
"Don't play with your food" — Buffy to hyena Xander when he attacks a kid
The question of Xander's memory loss comes up later in "Phases" when the Scoobies are trying to figure out who the werewolf is and Xander suddenly claims to be able to think like a predator.
The book cage will be used as a holding pen many times until the school is finally demolished. Even when love-sick, Willow proves herself immune to hyena Xander's silver tongue, a trait that will serve her well in "Beer Bad" three years later. Her vampire self will get Cordelia to let her out of the book cage in "Doppelgängland".
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
- Ken Lerner as Principal Flutie
- Written by: Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer
- Director: Bruce Seth Green
Other Languages
German title: "Der Ruf der Hyänen" ("The Call of the Hyenas")
External Links
- BBC episode guide to "The Pack" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/indetail/pack/index.shtml)
- Detailed synopsis on the Buffy Body Count site (http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/Episodes/106_ThePack.html)