The Pack

• Air Date – April 7th, 1997
• Writers – Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer
• Director – Bruce Seth Green
• Producer – Joss Whedon

The cool kids are out in force tormenting the geeks on this Sunnydale High field trip to the zoo.  Buffy, Xander, and Willow all catch some hell from the in-crowd as does a particularly introverted and shy young student names Lance.  After they harass Lance and take his notebook, the cool kids enter the hyena exhibit that is of course chained off and has a large sign that says no admittance.  Lance follows close behind hoping to get his notebook back.

Xander may be a geek, but he’s no coward.  Concerned for Lance Xander enters the hyena exhibit in hopes of getting him out of there before he gets pummeled.  While waiting for Xander to return, Buffy and Willow meet the zookeeper who tells them that hyenas are more intelligent than most people think.  He explains that many tribes believe that a hyena can understand human speech, will learn people’s names, and in the dark of night will call out to them in order to lure them away from their camp and eat them.

Lance is not faring well in his attempt to get back his notebook, and the in-crowd is starting to get physical.  As they are attacking and laughing at Lance something comes over the attacking kids and their eyes begin to glow.  There is a magic circle painted on the floor of the exhibit and the kids are in the middle of it.  Clearly the kids are under some spell, and Xander’s eyes are glowing yellow as well.

Sunnydale High has a new mascot.  Principal Flutie is showing off Herbert the Sunnydale Razorback, who is less a razorback and more a baby pig.  Buffy, Willow and Xander meet the new mascot, and clearly Herbert doesn’t like Xander.  When the two get close Xander appears uncomfortable and Herbert panics.  Xander is clearly different since the field trip, exhibiting much more confidence and aggression than he ever has before.  Xander’s love for Buffy has been twisted and now he seems overcome with lust as he sniffs her when she isn’t looking.

Willow, Giles and Buffy learn that Herbert is dead, but what they don’t know is that he was eaten alive by the hyena possessed kids, including Xander.  As Buffy is questioning Xander about his new and unpleasant behavior he attacks her, expressing his desire for a mate.  Buffy easily overcomes Xander while trying not to hurt him, and locks him in the book storage cage in the library.

It is soon discovered that the possessed kids killed Herbert, and the principle is enraged.  The group is called to the principal’s office where Mr. Flutie intends to punish them.  The pack, having grown more aggressive over time, kills and eats principal Flutie.

As the news of Flutie’s death begins to spread, the official story is that a pack of wild dogs killed him.  Buffy and the gang know better, and after researching the issue Giles has discovered

that the students are possessed by animal spirits, specifically hyenas, and that these spirits must be returned to the animals from which they came.

Willow stays with Xander as Buffy and Giles return to the zoo in order to prepare for the ritual to exorcise the hyena spirits.  They encounter the zookeeper again who agrees to help them a bit too quickly, and who knows a lot about mysticism and hyena spirits.  The zookeeper reveals that in order to complete the transformation all of the possessed students must be present in the magic circle at the hyena exhibit.  Unfortunately Xander is locked up at school with Willow, and Giles believes the rest of the pack will hunt for him and endanger Willow.  Of course the pack does this and Xander breaks free.  Willow hides as all this is going on and remains unharmed.  Buffy finds the pack and lures them to the zoo.

The suspicious zookeeper reveals that it was he who created the magic circle and started all this craziness with the intent of becoming possessed by the hyena spirits himself.  He was unable to complete the ritual, and the kids did so accidentally.  What the zookeeper was missing was a predatory act at the end of the ritual, an act he intended to complete now by killing Willow.  With the ritual in progress, the hyena spirit leaves Xander in time for him to come to his senses and save Willow from the zookeeper.  The zookeeper then turns on Buffy, and she throws him into the cage with the actual hyenas where they immediately commit a predatory act and eat him.