Writers:

Matt Kiene

Joe Reinkemeyer

Director:

Bruce Seth Green

Regulars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase

Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest Stars:

Ken Lerner as Principal Flutie

Eion Bailey as Kyle

Brian Gross as Tor

Jennifer Sky as Heidi

Cast:

Michael McRaine as Rhonda

Jeff Maynard as Lance

James Stephens as Zookeeper

David Brisbin as Mr. Anderson

Barbara K. Whinnery as Mrs. Anderson

Gregory White as Coach Herrold

Justin Jon Ross as Joe

Jeffrey Steven Smith as Adam

Patrese Borem as Young Woman

The Masai of the Serengeti really do exist — they are a nomadic East African tribe, located mostly in Kenya and Tanzania, who have a culture that is indeed highly centered around animals. But the offshoot known as "Primals," who are referred to in this episode as living a lifestyle of animal transpossession, are fictional.

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

Giles: "Testosterone is a great equalizer. It turns all men into morons."

More quotes from this episode...

All that's missing is a big ol' "Waah waah waah waaaaaaah."

While not strictly dialogue per se, every sniff, grunt, whine, snarl, and giggle that came from "the pack" made us want to hurl our big black Doc Martens at the TV screen.

• "Oh great, it's the winged monkeys."  Winged monkeys were the servants of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.

  

• "I can't believe you, of all people, are trying to Scully me."  Dana Scully is the skeptical doubter who consistently tries to poke holes in the wild supernatural theories of her partner Fox Mulder on The X-Files.

• "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."  Yanni is a monumentally successful Greek New Age keyboardist and composer who both Will and Brian find more frightening than many of the monsters Buffy has faced in this series.

• Other than Kyle, the individual members of "the pack" are never named in the episode. However, TV Guide credited Brian Gross as "Tor" and Jennifer Sky as "Heidi". And in the scene with the Anderson family, the closed captioning for the episode reads "Rhonda singing softly".

• Jeffrey Steven Smith, who plays the guy who asks Xander about the lead guitarist of a band called Wretched Refuse, appeared in "The Harvest" as the guy in the computer class who eagerly listens to Cordelia badmouth Buffy. It may or may not be the same character.

• Dashboard Prophets - "All I Want" (From Burning Out the Inside, No Name Recordings, 1996)
  Plays at the Bronze as Xander begins to manifest signs of his hyena possession.
  
  
• Sprung Monkey - "Reluctant Man" (From Swirl, Surfdog Records, 1996)
  Plays as Kyle and his friends enter the Bronze.
  
  
• Far - "Job's Eyes" (From Tin Cans With Strings to You, Epic Records, 1996)
  Plays while Xander and the Pack roam the school grounds in slow motion.

Brian:

Nicholas Brendan turns in a star performance here, and the regulars are all strong as well — Alyson Hannigan is in especially fine form as poor Willow frets over the possessed Xander. But the four kids who along with Xander made up the Pack of the title were all such bad actors that their screentime became somewhat cringeworthy, even with Nicholas shining through it all. The twist at the end was nice, however, and ends an otherwise relatively poor episode on an up note. (4/10)

Will:

In this episode we have the privilege of seeing the darker side of Xander. Xander's performance as a bully is very good. The experience is quite traumatic to Buffy, Giles, and especially Willow, who states her wish that Xander had been "possessed by a puppy, or some ducks." This episode made me realize that someone dies in just about every episode, and it is not always a "bad guy." The death of Principal Flutie was surprising, but done in a somewhat humorous way. This is not one of the better episodes — I couldn't quite put my finger on why, it just seemed that something essential was missing from the story — but it does have its share of positive points. (5/10)