"The Pack"
The students of Sunnydale High school are spending
the afternoon at the zoo. Besides the standard zoo animals, this facility
has a special new hyena exhibit, marked "Positively No Admittance."
And this is of interest to the (well dressed) mean people that were picking
on this shy boy named Lance. After grabbing poor Lance's notebook, they
enter the forbidden hyena house, forcing him to follow. Xander, worried
about his timid classmate, decides to come to his rescue. As they wait for
Xander, Buffy and Willow meet an eccentric zookeeper, who claims the hyenas
can understand human speech -- they learn people's names, call out to them,
and then eat them. Meanwhile, the crowd in the hyena house starts to get
rough with Lance, but suddenly their eyes start flashing yellow -- apparently,
they've stepped into a mystical circle on the floor and a transformation
has taken place.(ummm okay?)We see the eyes of one student who never meant
to be there, and they're flashing yellow, too. It's Xander. (We have got
to interupt here to say, poor Xander! He just got attacked by a praying
mantis in the last episode! Can't the writers give him a break for a little
while?)
Back at school, Principal Flutie proudly introduces the students to Herbert,
the Sunnydale Razorbacks' new mascot. Not quite as menacing as the team's
namesake, Herbert is a actually a really cute piglet. Buffy is holding Herbert
when Xander walks by and Herbert starts to shriek a lot. Since returning
from the zoo trip, he is more confident, more aggressive, and generally
not the same old Xander. His love-sick puppy stares have turned to animal
leers -- he has even taken to sniffing Buffy.
Willow brings the news to Buffy and Giles that Herbert is dead-- the pint-sized
porker has been eaten by the hyena-possessed students. Buffy tries to confront
Xander, but he becomes even more aggressive and pounces on her. And he gives
away the fact that he likes her a lot. They scuffle for a while, but Buffy
finally decks him, and locks him into a steel book-return cage. When it
is discovered that the pack is responsible for Herbert's demise, Principal
Flutie is up in arms. He summons the group to his office to reprimand them,
but doesn't get the chance.
Buffy and the gang later find out that principle Flutie was eaten. (Yes,
by the students.) The "official" story is that a pack of wild
dogs did it, but Buffy, Willow and Giles know the truth. Since Xander was
with Buffy when the incident occurred, she is relieved that he was not involved.
Giles has figured out that in order to restore order, the spirits of the
hyenas must be taken from the students and put back into the animals. While
Buffy and Giles go to the zoo, Willow offers to watch over Xander. The zookeeper,
well-versed in these matters, offers to help with the "transformation,"
and says that all the students must return to the mystical circle in the
hyena cage. But one member of their pack is missing -- Xander -- and Buffy
and Giles realize, to their horror, that they will seek him out, leaving
Willow vulnerable to their attack. When they do just that, Xander breaks
free from the cage, but Willow hides. They escape the school grounds and
Buffy leads them all to the zoo.
While everything seems to be going according to schedule, it turns out that
the zookeeper's plan is to absorb all the hyenas spirits himself.
He does, and grabs Willow in order to perform a predatory act which is part
of the ritual. Xander, back to his old self, reacts to seeing his friend
in jeopardy and dives on the zookeeper, freeing Willow. When the zookeeper
goes after Buffy, she hurls him into the hyena cage, where he is promptly
devoured. The next day at school, Xander (from embarrassment) is putting
on like he doesn't remember a thing so Willow and Buffy explain what happened
to him.