maggie2

I really, really love this episode. It's probably the first complicated BtVS episode. While I agree that the hyena brought out Xander's darkest side, I'm not sure if we can blame him for it. If all that darkness is inside Xander, he gets a lot of points for keeping it in there, even though some of his ugly side slips out once in a while.

Xander raping Buffy: He had the chance to do it in BB&B, but didn't. Same goes for Willow. I don't think he'd do it; he respects Buffy and Willow far too much to do something like that to them.

Lying about not remembering: I like what eowyn315 said about it: The only thing I think we can hold Xander accountable for is lying about remembering - and even then, as others have pointed out, it's really a matter of self-preservation and protecting their friendship from unnecessary conflict. What good would it do for Xander to confess, "Yes, I remember trying to rape you"? He'd obviously apologize, even though it wasn't really his doing, and Buffy would accept it, and then, whether they want to or not, they'd both probably feel awkward about the whole thing. This way, they can pretend it never happened, which is what they both obviously want to do. Remember - Xander asks flat out if he did anything else, giving Buffy the opportunity to speak up if she was bothered by the attack. She lets him off the hook by saying nothing happened. Really, the best thing for their friendship is to forget it and move on, which is what they do.

As a Xander fan, I'd love to see Xander paying the consequences for his actions, see a serious storyline with him asking for forgiveness and redeeming himself, but not in this episode. I'm talking about something Normal Xander did, no possessions whatsoever, I'm talking about the infamous lie and summoning Sweet. Alas, though.