Buffy The Vampire Slayer, “The Pack" Review (1x06)

Brief Synopsis: “While enduring the annual field trip to the zoo, Xander and several other students enter the quarantined Hyena pen and become possessed by the demonic spirit of the wild animals. When Buffy notices a significant change in Xander's personality, she must figure out what happened and how to reverse it before something terrible occurs...like a devoured Principal.”

"Never Kill A Boy On The First Date" (1x05) quick link here                                                                   "Angel" (1x07) quick link here


Before getting started on this review, here are a few notes about how these reviews will be formatted...

1) I will be reviewing the episodes in bullet point form. This is because it makes the reviews simple to read, and helps break up the vast amount of text.
2) I will be uploading a new review every one or two days, so be sure to check back often! Alternatively, you could subscribe to the blog via email to receive the reviews in your inbox (the subscription box is located to the right-hand side of this blog).
3) If you are watching the show for the first time along with these reviews, please be warned that there may be a few spoilers for things that haven’t happened yet.
4) If you are here from my Buffy The Vampire Slayer/Angel fan page from Facebook (located here :- www.facebook.com/BTVSFC), these reviews are similar to the rewatch reviews that I wrote for that page, only they are longer, more detailed, and in a much nicer format than Facebook allows (curse their lack of italics, bold, and underline!)
5) The basic layout for the review will be the review itself, the ‘quote of the episode’, and then the final score for the episode (out of ten). All of the final scores will also be placed on a separate tab so that you can refer to them easily.

With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?



•    This episode primarily centres around bullying and the effects that it can have on people (especially in a school environment). One of the best things about Buffy The Vampire Slayer is that it seems to cover every issue that a lot of people deal with in their lives in such a realistic way. When I was battling severe depression, suicidal thoughts, and the loss of my best friend, I always had a Buffy or Angel episode that I could put on to help me deal with whatever emotion I was feeling. If I needed to openly grief, I’d put “The Body” or “A Hole In The World” on. If I needed inspiration, I’d put “Amends” on. If I needed to feel like I wasn’t as alone as I felt, I’d put “Family” or “Earshot”. Buffy The Vampire Slayer takes these real life emotions, adds a supernatural spin to them, and then explores them. In this episode the supernatural spin is Hyena possession. Xander and a group of students are possessed by Hyenas and start trying to eat everything in sight...including the new school mascot and THE PRINCIPAL.
•    I must admit, I really like this episode! Does it deal with the issue of bullying and sexuality a little heavy-handedly? A little, yes. However, I think the positives of this episode greatly outweigh the few negatives. This is easily my favourite episode of the first six. In fact, I have this ranked as my 4th favourite episode of season one (behind “Prophecy Girl”, “Angel”, and “Nightmares”).
•    Xander: “We just saw the zebras mating! Thank you, very exciting.”
Willow: “It was like the Heimlich...with stripes.”
Xander and Willow are clearly both sexually frustrated.
•    Bless Principal Flutie in this episode. He tries. He fails miserably, but he tries. At least he does attempt to stop the bullying of Lance. I doubt Snyder would have cared enough to bother. Principal Flutie made for an interesting first Principal of Sunnydale High. The problem was that he was far too weak to survive. The few times we’ve seen Principal Flutie have to deal with a supernatural element (such as Dr. Gregory’s body in the freezer), he’s turned into a gibbering wreck. It’s completely understandable! I’m sure most people would react that way, but a high school located on a Hellmouth certainly needs a stronger authority figure. Say what you want about Principal Snyder, but he is at least capable of running Sunnydale High efficiently.

•    The biggest problem that I have with this episode...how does just looking at the Hyenas possess the students? Do the Hyenas have magical retina powers? Are they telepathic through eye contact? It makes no sense whatsoever. Yes, I’m aware this is a television show about a Hellmouth, a Slayer, and vampires, but even by a sci-fi show’s standards this is unrealistic.
•    I must commend Nicholas Brendon in this episode. His acting was superb all the way through. He plays cute, angry, upset, funny, being a jerk, and a whole host of other emotions so well in this episode. This is easily his strongest acting of the show thus far. It’s his first central episode and he delivered big-time.
•    Oh Willow, I just want to protect you from the world and keep you in a little jar so that no-one can ever be mean to you. Willow is deeply in love with Xander at this point. Like, scarily deep. She notices every tiny detail about him including slight changes in his mood (and blood pressure). Willow’s undying love for Xander is what makes his actions in this episode (after he’s possessed) so much more heartbreaking. If Willow merely fancied Xander, this episode would hold significantly less weight. The fact that the audience is already aware of Willow’s infatuation with Xander is what brings this episode from ‘good’ to ‘great’.
•    Why are Buffy and Willow sat around talking about boys they like? I thought when girls socialised by themselves they did nothing but have pillow fights in their underwear? Has society been lying to me for 24 years?!
•    Willow: “You remember...you fail math, you flunk out of school, you end up being the guy at the pizza place that sweeps the floor and says ‘Hey kids, where’s the cool parties this weekend?’, we’ve been through this.”

That is scarily accurate to what happens to Xander in season four. I’ve never noticed that before. Whilst I don’t have definitive proof on Xander asking kids about where the cool parties are (it would be in character for him), he definitely works in a pizza place.

•    The dodgeball scene was highly disturbing. Xander and the pack going after what they perceive to be the weakest person there, which is pretty much what all bullies seem to do. I think that “The Pack” does such a good job in tackling the issue of bullying. How many of us can relate to having been bullied during our school years? I was personally bullied every single day for years at school and it left me with no self esteem, no self worth and no self respect. For the longest time I thought that there must have been something wrong with me for others to pick on me so much. I started to try to be a different person, to conform, and look and act more “normal” in an attempt to fit in. It was to no avail, as I still continued to be bullied anyway. In the dodgeball scene, the pack attack Buffy rather than Lance because they perceive Lance to be the weaker person. That doesn’t mean that Lance is weak, it’s just the perception that the pack have. I think the same can be said for real life bullies. They tend to pick on people because they deem them unable to defend themselves.
•    This episode is filled with disturbing scenes. I can think of at least four. The first one is Xander calling Willow ‘pasty-faced’ and generally being an ass to Willow. I am aware of the fact that it’s not really Xander acting that way, but here’s something to consider...possessed Xander is still attracted to Buffy. Does this imply that Xander still maintained aspects of his own personality when he was possessed? Like vampires after they’ve been sired? If this is the case, what Xander said to Willow takes on a whole new meaning.
•    Alyson Hannigan has the best upset face that I’ve ever seen in my life. Every time she’s upset or crying, I die a little inside.
•    Can we not have Willow cry again, ever? That would be nice. I’m sure this show will grant my wish. Nothing bad ever happens in the Buffyverse, right?
•    At this point in the episode, I was enjoying it, but I was left thinking “okay, so the pack are rude and obnoxious, but they’re not really a threat, are they? Buffy and Giles will reverse the possession and everything will be back to normal again with little damage done outside of insults”...I was wrong. Just as I was thinking this, the episode picked up the pace in a significant way.
•    Herbert! Nooooooooooooooo! Is it wrong that Herbert’s death upsets me more than Principal Flutie’s death? Although, the second a pig was introduced to the episode (after it already being established that something happened with the Hyenas and Xander), I knew it was only a matter of time before Herbert was eaten or killed.

•    “Job’s Eyes” by Far plays as Xander and The Pack walk across the school. Beautiful song and one that fits perfectly for this episode. “Job’s Eyes” really adds another dimension to that scene.
•    How disturbing is Principal Flutie’s death? THEY EAT HIM! That’s so messed up! One of the worst deaths in the Buffyverse in some ways. In a show like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, you expect a certain amount of death...from the students and people Buffy comes into contact with. Very rarely would a show kill off the Principal. Principal Flutie wasn’t a big part of the story and I was just expecting him to pop up every now and then, then fade into the background. Even after the pack started attacking Flutie I was expecting Buffy to swoop in and save the day! It takes a lot of guts for a show to do something so drastic (in such a grotesque way) so early on! Especially when a second season wasn’t confirmed! However, I’m not going to lose any sleep over Flutie’s death as it led us to the far superior Principal Snyder.
•    What made Principal Flutie’s death more spectacular was that it was left to our imaginations what was happening. Nothing graphic is shown at all. Our own twisted imaginations created something far worse than the show could come up with...curse you, brain.
•    I guess it’s some small comfort that Xander wasn’t part of the killing of Principal Flutie. I almost wish he was, just for the emotional mileage we could have gotten out of that story. Even though it wouldn’t have been Xander’s fault due to the possession, watching Xander’s reaction and guilt would have been interesting to see unfold. It would have made Xander grow up much faster than he did.

•    Believe it or not, Principal Flutie death, nor Herbert’s death, nor Xander’s treatment of Willow in this episode, is the most difficult thing to watch...
•    The most disturbing scene award goes to: Hyena Xander’s attempted sexual assault of Buffy. I’m glad Buffy hit him with a desk. I never knew that goofy, comedic-relief Xander could be so creepy! Nicholas Brendon plays creepy very, very well.
•    Possessed Xander does let Xander’s feelings for Buffy out into the open. I’ve always wondered why Buffy is so surprised in “Prophecy Girl” when Xander asks her out on a date. Did she think that possessed Xander was lying here? Possessed Xander didn’t really lie at all...he just twisted the truth and said horrible things to upset people...JUST LIKE ANGELUS! Mother of all that is pure, is this where Joss got the idea of Angelus from?!
•    No, no hurt the baby! Bad Pack! Stay on the ground.
•    WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WOMAN? DON’T JUST STAND THERE! TAKE YOUR BABY AND RUN!
 
•    Xander trying to manipulate Willow into letting him out of his cage was a great moment too. If I could use one word to describe this episode it would be “uncomfortable”. I mean that in a good way. This is good uncomfortableness. Xander’s treatment of Willow in this episode, his sexualisation of Buffy, the dodgeball scene, Herbert’s death, Flutie’s death, this scene, it’s all so uncomfortable...which it should be! We’re dealing with an episode that revolves around bullying. It should be awkward, it should be emotional, and it should be uncomfortable. Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer did such a fantastic job of writing this episode in a realistic way. It couldn’t have been easy to tackle the issue of bullying realistically whilst having the bullies possessed by Hyenas, but somehow they make it work.
•    The Pack calling “Willow” through the windows used to creep me out so much when I was a kid...it still does a little bit if t he lights are off and I’m alone...
•    I was genuinely surprised that the zoo keeper was the villain-of-the-week. I didn’t suspect him at all when I first saw the episode. I was nine years old when I first saw this episode! The zoo keeper being the villain made a certain amount of sense, but his motives felt forced at best.
•    Xander: “Nobody messes with my Willow *hugs Willow*”
Oh, real Xander, you deserve a basket full of kittens (as long as they’re not used for poker) for making Willow smile again.
•    The episode ends with another shocking reveal; Xander remembers everything that he did whilst possessed by the Hyena! This actually comes out into the open during season two’s “Phases”.
•    To sum up, this episode was excellent. Out of the six that I’ve reviewed so far, I felt that it served the most character development for Xander and for Willow. Not only that, but the episode was intense, memorable, and full of twists. “The Pack” signified for me that Joss Whedon was starting to find his feet for what Buffy The Vampire Slayer was capable of doing.
•    My only complaint of this episode is that nothing has consequences! Xander’s attempted sexual assault of Buffy is never brought up again because Xander was possessed, Principal Flutie’s death is barely mentioned again (unless Snyder is remarking what an idiot Flutie was), and when Buffy and Willow find out that Xander remembers everything while he was possessed, nothing comes of that either!


Quote Of The Episode

Giles: “Xander's taken to teasing the less fortunate?”

Buffy: “Uh-huh.”

Giles: “And there's a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanour?”

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.”

FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10



So what are your thoughts on "The Pack"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!