The Pack (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"The Pack" is the sixth episode of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on The WB on April 7, 1997. The episode was written by story editors Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer, and directed by Bruce Seth Green.

When Buffy and the rest of Sunnydale High endure the annual field trip to the zoo, Xander and some other kids sneak into the quarantined hyena exhibit, but leave in an altered state. It's up to Buffy, Giles and Willow to discover the cause behind Xander's bizarre behavior and reverse the transformation before it's too late. Meanwhile, Xander's new aggressive demeanor doesn't play well with his old friends.^[1]

The students of Sunnydale High are on a field trip at the Sunnydale Zoo. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is confronted by a group of bullies who pick on her because she was expelled from her old school. The group then targets another student, Lance. When Principal Flutie (Ken Lerner) interrupts, Lance doesn't denounce them, so they decide to include him in their exploration of the off-limits hyena exhibit. Seeing the bullies enter the hyena exhibit with Lance, Buffy tries to intervene. Xander (Nicholas Brendon) offers to do it himself as it is a non-Slayer-related problem. As Xander departs, Buffy and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) realize he will need help and follow. They are stopped by the zookeeper, Dr. Weirick (James Stephens). He tells them the hyenas are in quarantine since they've just arrived from Africa. He also tells them that, according to Maasai tribesmen, hyenas would call out people's names to separate and then devour them.

At the exhibit, the bullies try to throw Lance into the pit, where a vicious hyena with glowing green eyes appears. Xander arrives and saves Lance. Everyone except Lance is standing atop a large symbol painted on the ground. Suddenly, the group turns to him, laughing and Lance flees the exhibit.

The next day at the Bronze, Willow is eagerly waiting for Xander. Buffy acknowledges Willow's crush on Xander. In turn, Willow brings up Buffy's interest in Angel. Buffy admits to finding him attractive but says she can't start a relationship with someone who's rarely around and whose main interest is fighting vampires. Xander arrives and takes some of Buffy's food without asking. He also sniffs and notes that Buffy has bathed. They see the bullies making fun of a boy, and Xander laughs at their cruel joke.

Principal Flutie chases a small pig through the school halls until Buffy picks it up. He introduces him as Herbert, the new school mascot for the Sunnydale Razorbacks. As Flutie talks to Buffy about the students lacking school spirit, Xander walks past, and Herbert suddenly starts squealing. Buffy notices Herbert's reaction.

In gym class, Coach Herrold announces they have to play dodgeball. Buffy and Willow are placed on the same team, while Xander is in placed with the bullies. Xander and the bullies eliminate everyone, including Willow, whom Xander throws the ball at harshly. Near the end of the game, Buffy is the only one left on her team. Instead of targeting her, Xander and the bullies throw their balls at Lance, who is their teammate.

Willow confronts Xander about his recent behavior. Xander says his feelings for Willow have changed. He tells her that he will drop her tutoring, therefore no longer having to look at her "pasty face." Xander and the bullies laugh as Willow becomes upset and runs off. Buffy confronts Xander, but he only laughs louder before walking away. Xander and the bullies take hot dogs from other students during lunch. Unsatisfied, they enter the faculty room, where Herbert is in his cage. They close the blinds, and Xander announces, "Let's do lunch."

Buffy consoles Willow about Xander. Buffy believes something is wrong with him, but Willow thinks something is wrong with herself. She points out that Xander is not as rude to Buffy as he is to her. Buffy consults the expert, Giles, but he brushes it off as normal teenage male behavior. This phrase takes Buffy back to her conversation with the zookeeper, and she believes his change is the result of their trip to the zoo. Giles decides to research, and Willow arrives with the news that Herbert has been eaten.

Principal Flutie confronts the four bullies, claiming they were seen outside of Herbert's room. He orders them to his office with a threat of detention. In the library, Giles believes this to be the work of the Primals, a sect that worships animals, believing that they can reach a sacred state by placing the spirits of animals into themselves.

When Buffy goes to the faculty room where Herbert had been, Xander finds her there. Buffy knocks him down, but Xander rolls her over and ends up on top. He remarks about Buffy liking dangerous men like Angel, giving him more motivation to act violently. Buffy tries to tell him that he is possessed, but he ignores her. She pushes him off, but he holds her against a vending machine. Meanwhile, in Flutie's office, the other bullies corner the principal and attack him.

Buffy drags an unconscious Xander back to the library and locks him in the book cage. Giles returns from a teachers' meeting and tells them Flutie has been eaten alive, but the official theory is that wild dogs got into his office. Buffy and Giles go to the zookeeper to get information on transpossession while leaving Willow to look after Xander. Xander wakes and tries to talk his way out of the cage. As Willow comes closer, he makes a grab at her through the book slot but misses.

The zookeeper tells Giles and Buffy he discovered the hyenas were a vicious breed worshiped by the Primals. He has knowledge of transpossession, so he tells Buffy to get all the possessed students to the exhibit. They realize the remaining pack will seek out Xander, endangering Willow. Indeed, they arrive at the library and call out to Willow before breaking into the windows. They manage to free Xander but are fended off by Buffy. On the street, the pack attacks a family of three, but Buffy arrives and gets their attention, making them chase her back to the zoo.

At the exhibit, Giles meets the zookeeper, who is wearing the tribal garb. He realizes the zookeeper wanted the hyena spirits drawn into him all along, and the possession of the students was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He then knocks Giles out. Willow arrives, unaware of what Giles has uncovered. She agrees to let the zookeeper tie her up and hold a knife to her throat, claiming it is the "predatory act" that will trigger the ritual and save the students.

Buffy arrives with the pack on her tail. Over the symbol, the zookeeper chants, and the hyena spirits transfer from the students into him. He then tries to attack Willow, but Xander saves her while the other four students run off. The zookeeper, now possessed, becomes aggressive. Buffy knocks him into the hyena pit, where they devour him.

The next day at school, Xander is shocked when Buffy and Willow tell him that he ate a live pig, claiming he has no memory of the possession. He asks if he did anything else embarrassing, but Buffy shrugs it off. As Buffy and Willow leave, Giles tells Xander that none of the research he did on animal possession mentioned memory loss. Xander begs him not to tell anyone.

Theresa Basile, in a series about consent issues in Buffy, cites Buffy as telling Willow that Xander "tried his hand at felony sexual assault," but points out that "he does believe that she's attracted to dangerous men – that if he were dangerous and mean, she would be attracted to him"; and this is "before they find out that Angel is a vampire." However, "Buffy and Willow were 100% angst-free after they realized Xander was possessed, and considering that both girls were treating it as a joke and laughing about the possession after it was over, a sincere, serious apology on his behalf would have been completely out of place."^[2]

DVD Talk's Philip Duncan described the episode as "Another standard plot that's made more interesting by the school setting and the similarities to real life groups and pressure that are often found in school."^[3]

Reviewer Billie Doux, giving a rating of two out of four stakes, suggests a comparison with Lord of the Flies and calls Nicholas Brendon "seriously menacing." "What this series does really well is take an ordinary high school situation (bullies and gangs) and move it to a higher, more horrible, and more absurd level (hyena transpossession). ... But we all know that deep down, teenagers are scarier than vampires, don't we?"^[4]

"The Pack" was first broadcast on The WB on April 7, 1997. It earned a Nielsen rating of 2.4 on its original airing.^[5]

Vox ranked it at #73 on their "Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best" list of all 144 episodes (to mark the 20th anniversary of the show), calling it "stupid, but in that early Buffy way where it all kinda works regardless... It's all dumb, metaphorical fun."^[6]

Noel Murray of The A.V. Club gave "The Pack" a grade of B, writing that "the storytelling in this episode is engaging and a few of the scenes genuinely creepy", though its central metaphor was not as developed as "Teacher's Pet". He felt that the episode was an example of how Sunnydale High did not feel like a believable high school, and criticized some of the action and the teenagers' hyena characteristics, but he praised Flutie's murder and Willow's development.^[7] A review from the BBC described it as "a highly inventive episode with an unusual premise, albeit one that is somewhat difficult to believe." The review praised Xander actor Nicholas Brendon, but felt that "the supernatural elements are clumsily handled" and called the ending "rushed and muddled."^[8]

Rolling Stone ranked "The Pack" at #59 on their "Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best" list, calling it "unhinged," and referring to Xander and his pack as turning into "feral idiots" after they are possessed. "It’s a pretty heavy-handed metaphor about hormonal teenagers, but honestly, it plays out in such a silly, stupid way that it’s hard to not love this episode."^[9]

"The Pack" was ranked at #130 on Paste Magazine's "Every Episode Ranked" list^[10] and #120 on BuzzFeed's "Ranking Every Episode" list.^[11]

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• "The Pack" at IMDb