It's field trip time, and this year it's a trip to Sunnydale Zoo. Xander and Willow get into the field trip fun by watching the zebra's mate. However, Buffy is not getting into the spirit of things and is sulking around. Xander tries to convince her that it's not that it's a field tip it's getting out of school.

All is not happy in the Zoo though. Four students, Heidi, Kyle, Rhonda and Top get their happy's from causing trouble and bullying the other kids, including Buffy and a boy called Lance.

Unluckily for the bullies Prinicpal Flutie catches them and threatens them with suspension, but Lance sticks up for them. They 'reward' him by letting them go with them into the restricted hyena exhibit. Xander spots them and offers to go and save the day.

After he leaves Buffy and Willow decide to follow him, just to make sure that he's ok. However, they are stopped by the zookeeper of the hyena exhibit. He tells them that the hyena enclosure is off-limits because the hyenas have just come from Africa and are under quarentine.

Meanwhile, in the hyena enclosure the four bullies push Lance dangerously close to the edge of the hyena pit. Xander arrives just in time to stop them but they all get caught by the stares of the hyenas. The eyes of the four mean kids and Xander glow eerily and they all start laughing.

That night at the Bronze, Xander begin's to show signs of change when he rudely eat's Buffy's food. When the bullies come in a start teasing an overweight boy, Xander joins in.

At school the next day he changes even more when he breaks friends with Willow and drops out of geometry class. Buffy worries about the change, but doesn't know what to do about it. She confides her worries in Giles, but he doesn't want to believe her.

Mr Flutie has bought a school mascot, a pig called Herbert. Xander and the rest of the pack go on the hunt for food. They come across herbert and he becomes lunch. Nasty, nasty business.

When Herbert is found munched on, Giles comes to the conclusion that something is wrong withb Xander and the four bullies. Giles, Buffy and Willow do some research and find out that with the help of a special ceremony, the evil spirits of the hyenas (a special breed of) were transfered into the five schoolkids.

Buffy goes on the hunt for Xander and the other four. She finds Xander and ends up fighting with him until he pins her up against the drinks machine and attempts to sexually assult Buffy. She knocks him unconscious (with a desk) and drags him back to the library and locks him in the weapons cage.

While this is going on the rest of the pack are sent to the Principal's office. Flutie tries to lecture them, but instead they attack him and eat him all up.

After Giles finds out about the mysterious death, (it's blamed on wild dogs) he and Buffy go to the zoo to get some more information from the zookeeper of the hyenas. Willow stays to keep an eye on Xander. When he comes round, he tries to persuade Willow to let him go, but she's not taken in.

At the zoo, Buffy and Giles work together to try the transposession of the pack in the hopes of removing the hyena spirits and putting them back where they belong. They then realise that the pack will go looking for the missing member of the pack, and Willow's there on her own! Buffy rushes back to save her. Unfortunately, the pack have got there first and mange to break Xander out of the cage while Willow does the smart theng and runs away. Luck is not on her side though as Xander corners her in a classroom. However, Buffy and Giles manage to save her.

The pack disappear to find another meal and find a family of three that are getting into a car. They attack the car but Buffy comes to break up their party.

Meanwhile, Giles discovers the truth behind what happened. The zookeeper was trying to transpose the hyena spirits into himself bu failed. The zookeeper knocks Giles out and drags him into a back room. Willow is on lookout outside and hears Buffy approach, she runs in to tell Giles but is taken hostage by the mad zookeeper and held at knifepoint while he transposes the hyena spirits into his own body.

Just as he is about the bite Willow, Xander throws himself at him, knocking Willow across the room to a safe distance. Buffy fights him and he ends up plunging into the hyena pit.

The next day Xander apologises for everything he did (or might have done) while he was possessed and hopes that Buffy will forget about his attack on Buffy. he pretends to not remember a thing about it.

After the girls leave, Giles tells Xander that he doesn't know of any cases of memory loss connected to this phenomona. Xander asks him to keep that fact their little secret.

Our View
We be liking these Xander-themed epsiodes. Another chance for him to play hero, although this time it goes slightly wrong. The part where he tries to assualt Buffy was quite scary really. RIP Principal Flutie and the school mascot. We liked Flutie...
Our Score - 8

The Professional View
The silliest epsiode of the season, though in many ways the most disturbing. Frighteningly, Xander makes a creditable bully. There's not enough plot to fill the screen time requirements, and what there is is a bit inconcsequential. But it's amusing, and occasionally scary.
Their Score - 6