During a class field trip to Sunnydale zoo, a bunch of bullies attempt to head trip Buffy, and then turn their attention to a more vulnerable pray, nerdy Lance. After pressuring him to go with them to the off limits hyena section, Xander saves Lance from the gang, but then along with the bullies is mysteriously possessed by the hyenas. Buffy and Willow notice a change in Xander's behaviour, as he starts acting more animal like, and hostile towards them. Things come to a head when Xander starts hanging out with the other bullies, and becomes nasty towards Willow who is just trying to help her long time friend. Next things take a darker turn.
There are many note worthy things to discuss about The Pack, and the more I watch it the more I think its up there with the best of season one, if not quite the best. The episode once again merges a familiar horror narrative and uses it as an effective metaphor for the pains of teenage life, and High School. The opening scene in the Zoo feels very organic, and is very well played by the actors. The representation of bulling feels very realistic, and well observed. This includes Lance's reaction to being bullied, the way feeling under threat, he sticks up for them in front of Flutie. The bullies are nicely played too, with a fine mix of bravado, yet, cheesy, dumbness, the stand out performances are from Eion Bailey as gang leader Kyle, and Michael Mccraine as Rhoda. On that note, it was also refreshing to see female bullies on television. Of course Cordelia and the other snobs play that role, but they are different kinds of bullies, these girls are allowed to be rough around the edges, mean and masculine. Its another fine example of the progressive gender roles women play on the show.
As this series moves along, there is a greater consistency to the story and characters, for example, in the opening scene when Kyle and co. bring up Buffy's murky past at her old high school (again another spot on comment on bully culture), although Buffy's retort about "just being thankful" when challenged on why no "cool people" hang out with her is again very sharp, and goes towards not just Buffy's wit, but how she uses this sharp humour as a weapon to rebel. Its these subtle touches and character depth which sets Buffy apart from most females on television, and certainly most superheroes male or female.
At this point you can see the chemistry growing between the leads, especially Gellar and Hannigan, their conversations about Xander and Angel respectively, and the later one about Xander's odd behaviour again feels very realistic, the flow is low key, and you can feel the bond between the characters, these scenes are intimate, and yet take on a life of their own through the actors. This is actually Willow's most important episode to date, as we really get a sense of how much she loves Xander, and how awkward his crush on Buffy makes their relationship at times. Of course with Xander's less than sensitive actions towards Willow these feels manifest themselves, in a brutal and yet powerful way. However, Willow is also giving proper agency to respond, stand up to Xander, and out smart him as the episode progresses, and its here that we really start to see Hannigan grow into the part.
It impressed me how the set up scenes with Xander, and the gang mix light and dark touches, as this makes the direction of the episode more ambiguous, and as a result, when things take a darker turn later on, the developments hold greater dramatic weight. I've decided that I won't post spoilers as part of my reviews, however, I will put warnings at the start of certain reviews, about not reading on, if you don't want to stumble onto something which happened previously. So make sure that you've seen The Pack, and therefore know the fate of a certain character before watching The Puppet Show in a couple of episodes time. Just a heads up people! Without revealing too much, about the dark twist to this episode, the turn of events is another thing I like, and the message which this series sends, and how Buffy keeps the viewer on their toes, and isn't afraid to pull the rug out from under them. It was also important to introduce this darker edge, because up til now the show had played it fairly light, while there were distinct differences between Buffy and other teen programming, it was still in danger of becoming too soapy at times, so this episode I think is an important turning point. There's also some excellent dialogue between Buffy and Giles, including his sly remark about Xander's strange behaviour actually making him a teenager, and Buffy's well placed X-Files reference in response. This is good character growth, because it demonstrates Gile's old fashioned, and cynical views, but more importantly Buffy's street smarts, and instinct. Its another example of the slayer thinking outside of the box, and piecing things together, while Giles is still a bit limited in his thinking or methods. More on this in future reviews.
Now for the rough edges which stop this from ranking up there with the greatness of future episodes. First of all the pacing is a little plodding, one or two scenes either could have been cut or at least cut down, and while most of the scenes seem to be important to the drama, I did think some of the points were a bit over egged, for example maybe, dodge ball scene could have been lost, and the slow motion shots of the bullies and walking with metal thrashing in the background was a bit cliche, and again seemed to ram the point home too much. Again because of the low budget, certain scenes maybe don't seem engaging enough, and I feel like the glowing green eyes signifying the switch to animals was a cheap visual. However, one thing I will say, is that The Pack proves that often, less is indeed more, as by having the camera cut away at crucial moments during the dark moments, and using the power of suggestion, it actually makes these scenes stand out more, and have a greater impact. Despite a few minor complaints, overall this is a successful episode, and the best and most important up to now in the series.
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