Buffy The Vampire Slayer

(S01E06) This was an exchange between my wife and I last night:

Me: "Hey, we’ve gotta watch another Buffy tonight."
Wife: "Oh yeah, that’s right. Which episode is it again?"
Me: "Um ... Oh yeah — the one with the hyenas."
Wife: "Oooh ... ugh."

That pretty much sums up this episode. In fact, later this year, when I list my bottom five Buffy episodes of all time, I’m pretty sure ’The Pack’ will be on it.

There are really only two things that make this episode stand out from others (besides it being bad, that is). We’ve got the killing of the first principal, Mr. Flutie, and we’ve got an episode that’s referenced at least a couple of times in later seasons.

The continuity of this show is one of the things I appreciate immensely. Sure it’s not perfect in that respect, but the writers consistently pay homage to the fans in continually referencing, sometimes very subtly, things that have happened in previous seasons ... even if they aren’t from stellar episodes.

What did I hate? I hated that Xander was somehow able to take down Buffy, even if he was possessed. I hated that the possessed kids laughed "like a hyena." I hated that the goings on really did nothing to advance or otherwise change the relationship of any of the characters, even though it very well could have. With the good episode before it and the excellent one to follow, this was like a big turd sandwich surrounded by two gourmet pieces of focaccia bread.

This episode was written by Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer, two writers whose only other writing credit for Buffy is ’Inca Mummy Girl.’ Need I say more?

Main points of interest in this episode:
- Principal Flutie is eaten to death.

Quote of the episode:
Giles: "Xander’s taken to teasing the less fortunate?"
Buffy: "Uh huh."
Giles: "And there’s a noticable change in both clothing and demeanor?"
Buffy: "Yes."
Giles: "And otherwise all his spare time is spent lounging about with imbeciles?"
Buffy: "It’s bad isn’t it?"
Giles: "It’s devastating — he’s turned into a 16 year-old boy. Of course, you’ll have to kill him."
Buffy: "Giles, I’m serious!"
Giles: "So am I. Except for the part about killing him."