fajrdrako | Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Pack 1x06 (Reply)

I have a bit of a problem with my notes for "The Pack". I wrote them in my treasured steno pad. Having an appointment with the dentist, I jotted down my notes on what buses to take and when, tore off the scrap of paper, and then tossed it out after I got there.

Turned out I had notes re "The Pack" on the back of that page.

Oh, well, I have a good memory, right? (Anyone who knows me well can now fall over laughing.)

I remember that I really, really liked the episode. How's that for starters?

I watched it with Beulah, who, a week before, was wondering why we were actually watching Buffy. This time, she was on the edge of her seat, as I was. "I can see why this show is a cult classic," she said at one point. And when the Pack attacked the Principal - "Oh, no! They're going to eat him!"

Specific comments:

Buffy has a very ugly coat. It reminds me of a coat I owned when I was 16. Orange. Short. Had a tied at the waist. I have no photos of myself wearing it, I'm glad to say. It just means I really, really can't make snarky comments about Buffy's fashion sense, if I was no better at her age.

Wonderful commentary by Zander and Willow:

Xander: We just saw the zebras mating! (Thank you, very exciting...
Willow: It was like the Heimlich, with stripes!

Loved Willow all the more in this. Xander didn't excite me, but he seems to have dropped the mannerisms and habits that bothered me in the first few episodes.

And I really relate to this bit:

Buffy: Uh, I was looking at the fishes.
Willow: Was it cool?
Buffy: It was fishes.

Because, you know? I have no interest in looking at fishes. None. Even when they are colourful they are boring. Not exactly ugly (though sometimes ugly), but - totally not interesting to me.

(There. I said it. Out loud. How un-PC of me. Are the Fish Defamation people going to come after me?)

I can equally relate to what follows:

Xander: Buffy, this isn't just about looking at a bunch of animals. This is about not being in class!
Buffy: You know, you're right! Suddenly the animals look shiny and new.

I can totally relate to that. When I was in high school I knew that being out of class was the best thing ever. We never went to the zoo, though, mostly because Ottawa doesn't have a zoo.

Is this the first time Joss Whedon used the adjective "shiny"?

Interesting set-up: Mean kids take Kyle to the hyena cages, Xander goes to defend him - yay, Xander! - Magic happens and Xander is caught in it. Spirit of Hyena. What I most like about that is not just that it's scary, but I've never seen it used in TV or movies before. Maybe I just haven't seen enough, but it strikes me as a great twist on the old possession plots. - And, in Buffy, a nice change from demons and vampires.

Conversation between Buffy and Willow about Xander:

Buffy: You got it bad, girl!
Willow: He makes my head go tingly. You know what I mean?

I think Willow was really cute saying that. That being said, I still don't much like the Willow-has-a-crush on Xander theme. It's the same way I feel about Tosh having a crush on Owen in "Torchwood" - I like her a lot more than him, and I don't think he's good enough for her, and I am not happy with her feelings. Yeah, I know, learn to live with it and go with the flow of the plot. I'm just complaining here. Even though I don't like it, I like the way they're doing it.

(I'll also try to stop mentioning 'Torchwood' but keep in mind that this is difficult for me.)

I like Willow's description of Angel: "Willow: a dangerous and mysterious older man whose leather jacket you're wearing right now".

But I don't agree with Buffy's description of Angel: "Buffy: I suppose some girls might find him good looking -if they have eyes, all right..." Because I don't find him good looking. But he does have a certain charisma. In context. Not looks, but style.

I totally loved the follow-up there:

Willow: There he is!
Buffy: Angel?
Willow: Xander!

Says so much about both of them, reiterates the whole conversation they just went though so beautifully!

Loved the way Xander sniffed Buffy's hair. Creepy. The creepiest thing about it is that he doesn't even know it's creepy. Remember when they were advertising shampoo that was supposed to smell good, and everyone in the ads was going around sniffing other people's hair and commenting on how it smelled? that was creepy, too, though it lacked the hyena element.

The pig as mascot. Wasn't there a similar pig in "Veronica Mars"? Or a goat? Do school really have living animals as mascots?

I love Willow's speech to Xander about why he has to learn geometry and graduate from high school: "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."

What's the 'dode patrol'?

I kind of liked the scene where Mr. Flutey (whom I still don't like, and not just because I can't spell his name) gives Buffy the stuffy-old-guy speech about how kids used to have more spirit, because I loved the way he ended it with considerable self-observation: "Of course, when I was your age I was surrounded by old guys telling me how much better things were when they were *my* age." Yes. This is how each generation talks to the next. Always.

I loved the way Herbert was afraid of Xander. Pig-precognition. Or maybe just recognition.

I loved the slow-motion movement of the Pack. Scary. (I tend to like slo-mo stuff anyway, when it's used for dramatic effect. Usually. Well, at least sometimes.)

I liked how quickly Buffy figured out that Xander was possessed by the spirit of the hyena. Way to go Buffy. Slayer's instincts, or just smart?

More great Willow lines: "Hyenas aren't well liked....Why couldn't Xander be possessed by a puppy or, or some ducks?"

Is that true about the Masai using hyena magic, or did Joss make that up?

I liked the juxtaposition of Xander attacking Buffy and the Pack attacking Flutie. I also loved the way he have a sort of double-perception where Flutie is talking about detention and expulsion and the Pack is planning to eat him. Different spheres of reality entirely.

Scary Xander line: "The more I scare you, the better you smell." It was hard for me to believe that, even possessed, Xander could really overpower Buffy, though.

Great Buffy line about Xander: It's safe to say that in his animal state his idea of wooing doesn't involve a Yanni CD and a bottle of Chianti."

One could tell from a mile away that leaving Willow along with Xander, even if he was locked up, was Not a Good Thing To Do.

Buffy and co. learn the tragic news:

Buffy: They didn't hurt him, did they?
Giles: They, uh... ate him.
Buffy: They ate Principal Flutie?
Willow: Ate him up?

Why is it that this doesn't seem tragic, sad, or anything but funny? Am I lacking in compassion for poor Principal Flutie who always seemed like a caricature to me? There was something cartoonish about him. This was the only note in this episode that seemed 'off' to me. Well, that and Herbert, Flutie's associate. They were cartoonish, in contrast to the hyenas, the Pack, and even the zookeeper, who were scary.

So Buffy said, "Betcha that zookeeper could tell us. Maybe he didn't quarantine those hyenas because they were sick." I thought: lucky they have someone who knows what's going on in the vicinity. Then I thought: "Someone who knows what's going on. Uh-oh. He must be behind it all." Erk.

Buffy, when she leaves Willow to guard Xander: Will, are you sure? If he wakes up...
Willow: I'll be all right. Go.

Oooh, those 'famous last words' scenes. We know Willow won't be all right. Where would be the story in that?

Xander wakes up.
Willow: How are you feeling?
Xander: Like somebody hit me with a desk.

The Pack swarms Willow. Scary, scary, scary. Kind of obvious, too, but that didn't stop it from being scary.

Very scary when the woman with the baby walked past the Pack. Eee. And then - they don't attack. I loved that. It's scary when they attack the car too, but that's much more of a standard scene.

Giles alone with the Zookeeper. Uh-oh.

The fight with the Zookeeper seemed kind of anticlimactic.

Xander cares about Willow again, yay! (I may not like the pairing but I like it when he's nice to her.) Love his line, "Nobody messes with my Willow." I like Buffy's line, too: "This is definitely the superior Xander. Accept no substitutes."

And I do quite love the final lines:

Giles: I've been reading up on my, uh, animal possession, and I cannot find anything anywhere about memory loss afterwards.
Xander: Did you tell them that?
Giles: Your secret dies with me.
Xander: Shoot me, stuff me, mount me.

This is the first time Xander has shown any kind of subtlety.