- Story Arc: Lexington and The Pack
- Characters: the Manhattan Clan, the Pack
- Enemy(ies) : the Pack
Introduces the Pack: A group of paid hunters, hired to play superheroes in a TV Show. An anonymous letter brings them the attention of the Gargoyles.
Meanwhile, Lexington becomes intrigued with them, and sneaks into their studio to meet with them.
They agree to meet with the clan, but turn it into an ambush, with Lexington feeling betrayed.
The pack fail to capture the clan, and end up going to prison.
Jackal and Hyena make their next appearance in the episode "Her Brother's Keeper" and the Pack as a whole returns in the season 2 opening episode Leader of the Pack.
This Episode contains the following Tropes:
- An Aesop: Several, from the morality of hunting for sport to the challenges of staying connected to the world, with a good message about taking TV with a pinch of salt thrown in for good measure.Goliath: (The Pack are) worse (than animals). An animal hunts because it's hungry; these hunters do it for sport.Hudson: Maybe we shouldn't believe everything we see on television.Goliath: We can't hide from the world, we must live in it. We must search for allies, kindred spirits. And sometimes we must take chances like we did tonight. To do otherwise, is to remain forever alone.
- Alternate Aesop Interpretation: In-Universe example. The Manhattan clan discusses what lessons could be learned from Lexington and Goliath's encounter with the Pack. The former at first declares they should never trust anyone else, but the latter retorts that some endeavors may require taking risks because never leaving the comforts of their confines will leave them, in Goliath's own words, "forever alone". In addition Brooklyn and Broadway also suggest they both shouldn't give too much trust to people they've just met.
- Audience Surrogate: Lexington serves in this role for this episode. He has a high degree of naivete in taking the Pack at face value as legitimate heroes in much the same way that many of the younger demographic would have about certain things popular at the time (e.g. such as Pro-wrestling (Kayfabe) and Power Rangers). See also Take That below for further details.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: After Lexington knocks out Fox, Wolf gleefully faces Goliath ("Finally, some real action.") He does okay for about three seconds... then Goliath catches his punch and breaks his hand. Cue Wolf's Oh, Crap! face.
- Flat Character: The "Evil Ninjas" in The Pack were created to be faceless individuals with little to no character development both as a contrast to the antagonists within the true show, Gargoyles, and as an invocation of
Cliché Storm regarding animated shows of the Eighties and early Nineties (e.g. G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc.). See Take That below for details. - Heroic Bystander: Twice:
- While they didn't intend to help the gargoyles, the family of four that gush over the Pack distracts them from killing Goliath and Lexington before they come to.
- The photographer of the fashion photo shoot that Goliath, Wolf, and Fox accidentally interrupt. While the other models run away, he stays and takes several photos of Fox holding a gun to a model's neck. Said photos are instrumental in getting the Pack arrested.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Although the game in question is gargoyles rather than humans. Wolf's motives in particular resemble those of General Zaroff.
- Male Gaze: While the swimsuit model that Fox takes hostage isn't an important character, the camera spends a lot of time on her whenever she's on screen.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Though he doesn't get as much focus as the eponymous team, late in a work day, one of the "Evil Ninjas" leaps across the room from Fox note then takes off his mask revealing a man named Harvey grinning like a doof. ("Work on those backflips, hear me?")
- Mook Horror Show: We switch to the Pack's perspective once they get onto the gargoyle-covered rooftop, as they're picked off one by one from the shadows.
- Nice Character, Mean Actor: In-universe example. The Pack are adored as television superheroes by the public, but are actually Ax-Crazy mercenaries. Though Dingo and, to a lesser extent, Fox are subversions as the former is an Only Sane Man Punch-Clock Villain who's Only in It for the Money and the latter is revealed to be more an amoral rogue than genuinely evil.
- '90s Anti-Hero: The Pack invoke this trope in their television show. Later episodes deconstruct this to show what kind of people would be willing to become individuals like this.
- Ninjas: The opponents that the Pack frequently fights on their television show.
- No Stunt Double: In-Universe example. The Pack doesn't need stunt doubles as they have real-life combat training from having fought as mercenaries in Latin America.
- Noodle Incident: Dingo alludes to some past jobs they took part in a Central American war.
- Pet the Dog: Fox takes a moment to speak amicably to the "Evil Ninja" Harvey.
- Shout-Out: The scene where the Pack searches for the gargoyles on a rooftop full of stone gargoyle statues is a reference to a scene near the end of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, where Gaston tries to find the Beast among the many gargoyles on the castle's roof.
- Show Within a Show: "The Pack" which is shot at a studio owned by David Xanatos.
- Take That!: The Pack is a potshot to a multitude of children's shows made during The '80s and early Nineties that treated audiences as if they couldn't appreciate and/or understand the complexities of real-life and excessively substituted substance (e.g. character development and good writing) with Excuse Plots. note
- The Tease: Fox acts a bit flirtatious towards Lexington during his introduction to the Pack, getting up close, smirking seductively and silkily rubbing the underside of his chin, all while speaking in a very breathy tone of voice. Not that he seemed to mind.
- Viewers Are Morons: In-universe example. Despite the "Evil Ninjas" being the Pack's recurring nemeses, the creators of the Pack always think they have to remind audiences that they are the villains.
- Villains with Good Publicity: The Pack. Prior to being the stars of the Superhero, Sentai-esque television show, "The Pack", they were mercenaries who took part in unspecified shady dealings. They even get the aid of some children during their battle against Goliath and Lexington believing the Gargoyles to be the belligerents. Subverted at the end when they, with the exceptions of Jackal, Hyena, and Dingo, are arrested after holding a woman hostage at gun point.
- Weirdness Censor: When Goliath and Lexington are sent hurdling into an alleyway, a family walks by as the Pack arrive. The Pack assert that the gargoyles are monsters sent by the evil ninjas, and while the kids throw random debris off the ground at Lexington, their father believes it's a publicity stunt.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Goliath's belief that defeating Xanatos makes his clan the rightful owners of the castle reflects his tenth century thinking. Back in 994, a military victory would have won Goliath the castle for as long as he could defend it. The idea of a defeated foe retaining ownership of a castle he does not currently inhabit is foreign to Goliath.
- Xanatos Gambit: The entire plot. On one side, Xanatos collected a group of powerful mercenaries and have them work as some actors. They are secretly on his pay and he knows they are getting bored with their lavish lifestyle. On the other hand, Xanatos has the Gargoyle Clan who is now his enemy. After using Owen to set both sides up with knowledge of each other and on a likely collision course, Xanatos sat back and watched for three possible outcomes: the Pack and Gargoyles become allies (unlikely as it could be), the Pack defeats the Clan in part or whole, or The Clan defeats the Pack. Either way, it will test the Pack's strengths, the strength of the Clan, and he will be able to observe and plan to counter both teams if need be. He gets all this information at no real direct risk to himself and no way for him to lose.
