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So since Miss Amphipolis was an episode that was written as a result of Lucy's injury, then she was still recovering from it during the filming, right? Which explains why there are no real stunts and real fighting sequences. I'm not really sure of where the episodes were placed in production according to her injury.

I have plans to watch the next couple of episodes tonight so there should be a few more reviews coming this weekend.

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Two more reviews in one post.

Destiny
(screencaps courtesy of Angel Bacchae)

It's the story that started it all. The story that tells of how Xena became what she was years ago, how she turned into a warrior, a killer. It's complex and fascinating to see the details of Xena's backstory, and the reasons for why she is the way she is.

The way that the creators of this show weave history and mythology into one story, breaking the barriers of logical timelines, is one of the things I love most about this series, and introducing Caesar into Xena's past is the perfect example of how creatively they chose to develop Xena's world.

Xena's guilt is never forgotten and she returns to the spot where Callisto's parents (and Callisto's soul) had been killed so many years ago. It's bittersweet, watching them standing on the edge of a place that was once full of such ugly destruction. Gabrielle can't fully understand what went on there but she believes that Xena has changed just as the village has changed. "I wish I could see it that way," Xena tells Gabrielle. She's not accepting of the good she's done.

I find it strangely ironic, and even metaphoric, for Gabrielle to compare Xena's change to the valley. Gabrielle's trying to cheer Xena up, make her believe that she's done good in this world (which is true) and help her get over that guilt and see herself for the good person she is, has come to be. But I don't think Gabrielle realizes that the valley is simply a reflection of what Xena feels inside, a hopelessness, and makes her more melancholy to the fact that she thinks she hasn't changed. The village is still destroyed. The vegetation may have grown back but it doesn't look like a happy place to live--there isn't a person in sight, and the village seems to be left exactly as it was all those years ago: desolate, destroyed, lifeless. A ghost town.

It would be different if they had come upon the village of Cirra to find that it's bustling with life and happiness. But as it is, perhaps the village is a reflection of Xena's own inner turmoil, how things have grown up around the place of destruction but they haven't gone away--and they never will. Reminds me of the metaphor Xena used in Dreamworker, about the pebble always lying underneath the surface of the water and never washing away.

When Xena goes down into the valley, she's haunted by those ghosts in her mind, and a young Callisto (maybe 14?) appears as one of them.

She returns to the hilltop to find Gabrielle is missing. Those men who had taken her are a strange bunch, very tribal, very ritualistic. How they captured Gabrielle and why, I couldn't begin to guess but I love when Xena shows up in the tree and they bow down, believing that she is their goddess returned to earth. She really should have used that to her advantage (using it to free Gabrielle and the other prisoners, perhaps) instead of kicking their butts and making more of a mess of things. Sometimes, her warrior instinct and anger gets the better of her.

How Xena is injured is shocking and very deadly, too, being slammed against a tree and knocking her head against the trunk. She really easily could have been killed in that one blow. But then...this is Xena. It does knock her under enough to go into a trance where she begins to relive her past to the warrior that she became.

There's much more to the Warrior Princess' past than imagined, starting with her first becoming a warrior (or a pirate, I guess) 10 years ago. So maybe a couple months or so after Amphipolis was ransacked, when she was 18 perhaps. She's building up her army to protect her hometown and it looks like she's been doing a pretty good job of it so far. I have a feeling she's been doing more than simply attacking villages and building a buffer around Amphipolis--with all of that loot she has, not to mention her outfit is one big treasure chest, I have to wonder who she has been attacking that has had so much wealth. Greedy kings who thought of Amphipolis as an enemy? Stealing from other pirates who were out to make a profit on the looting of little villages such as hers?

Enter Ceaser. Julius Caesar. A captive of Xena's conquests. Karl plays the bearing of a Roman perfectly. His calm yet condescending demeanor. Anyone who has read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar would immediately recognize that this is the Ceaser just by his introduction: "A brave man dies only once. A man like you--dies a thousand times."

Xena's quite taken with him from the start. His interest in power, his cool and collected demeanor and his talk about his destiny to rule due to the sheer power of his own will...has Xena definitely attracted.

M'Lila is an interesting and unique woman. I like her spunk. She never talks (except in her own Gaelic language), but she is fiery. Xena befriends her on the ship and their friendship isn't well explored but Xena must have seen something in this woman that allowed her to trust her. The fact that M'Lila saved Xena's life from Caesar's cross has a lot to do with that attachment. She'd been shown kindness in a moment of complete desperation after the horrific betrayal by Caesar.

She learned a lot from M'Lila:

- the infamous pinch
- training horses (like Argo) to respond to whistle commands
- Her martial arts skills of kicking, jumping and spinning, and agile and quick movements while fighting.
- skills at throwing daggers (when M'Lila releases Xena from the cross)
- the inspiration for the design of Xena's trademark armor
- being a tough woman

Xena's role as a seductress toward Caesar is an interesting side to Xena that seems to come out early in her life (given that she's 10 years younger than she is now). She seduces Caesar, as if she believes she needs to in order to get him on her side. That red dress is very nice. And Caesar seems to fall for this routine but he lets Xena lead the way. I can't help but chuckling at the veiled lewd meanings behind their conversation of conquest, especially his last line about some enemies being harder than others.

The Romans whom had been sent word of Caesar's capture return to give Xena the ransom money and Caesar returns to his people. Xena cares about him clearly, in the way that she kisses him--but Caesar seems almost wooden in every interaction he's had with Xena, like he has other thoughts and plans from the very beginning. Well, maybe wooden isn't the right term but there's something distant about his interactions with her. He doesn't seem to get into them the way that she does. She's much more emotionally attached than he seems to be.

When he returns later, Xena is looking forward to seeing him (having been separated for weeks/months perhaps). And when he betrays her, captures her and breaks their promises of ruling the world together--it makes it so much harder for her, betraying not only her trust but her love as well, and for someone as young as she is supposed to be at this time, it must have damaged at least a bit of her psyche, hardened her and her reaction toward men later on. Or at least, the belief of getting too close to people, trusting too quickly. Xena learned a hard lesson.

Did she love him then? It was very much a girlish desire and lust on her part, and her age probably had a lot to do with how she so easily fell for him, and how deeply she was hurt when he became an enemy. Caesar, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing--and how to get her where he wanted her. I guess he was better at the seduction than she was....

Caesar is selfish and conniving for taking advantage of Xena the way that he did. Egocentric isn't exactly the word for him but Rome was most important to him, above anything or anyone else. A very good portrayal of Caesar and the passion he has for his country and "The Roman Way". He is Roman, through and through.

Breaking Xena's legs is drastic but I guess it's what any Roman would do. And it's horrific as well, seeing her strung up on the cross, helpless and at the mercy of Caesar's plans. He planned on "breaking" her in more was than just the physical and her screams of agony when the mallet is slammed onto her legs makes me want to look away.

After everything that Xena has been through, the first act of kindness comes from M'Lila who'd apparently run off before everything horrible went down with Caesar, and is off to rescue Xena. She frees Xena from that cross in the middle of the night and Xena, helpless and in pain, is taken to M'Lila's friend who's a healer, to mend her legs and save her life. M'Lila's only reasons for doing it are because she doesn't feel that Xena was fated to die that day, and Xena doesn't understand this kind of selflessness.

Xena is taken by this level of kindness. I don't think she'd ever experienced kindness like that before, and it affected her because she had grown into a harden, dark warrior since having left Amphipolis all those months ago. She'd been looting villages in defense of her hometown but somewhere along the way, she had come to enjoy it. The fire of conquest and pillaging--and maybe in some way, had become something like the men who attacked her village even if she didn't realize it. M'Lila showed Xena a friendship and risked her life for her when she didn't have to, and that was important to Xena, and why it moved her so much especially after the Romans find Xena and M'Lila tries to save her from them but this time, she's the one to die.

M'Lila's death sets a lot in motion in terms of Xena's emotional state. That friendship is completely shattered and Xena is affected by that pain. It makes sense that upon M'Lila's death, Xena rises with a new level of hatred and angry, and fueled by adrenaline and the spirit and drive that only Xena herself can possess, she attacks the soldiers who killed her friend. And her legs are broken while she does this. It's kind of unbelievable to see her fighting when she has her legs--her bones probably shattered--in splints and kicking with force enough to knock soldiers down.

The rising theme music really gives this scene a kick butt feel, and you almost want to cheer Xena on until you realize she's not just fighting these soldiers in her defense, she's murdering them.

The moment she grabs the last remaining soldier and uses the pinch she had learned from M'Lila on his neck, she holds him and slowly lets him die, revealing in the joy of his death. Xena's never used the pinch in this way. To see her first use it to kill a man and enjoy it is chilling, and opens up a darkness in her that had not been there before (or had merely been sleeping under the surface until it was awoken by the betrayal of Caesar and the death of M'Lila). "You'll be dead in thirty seconds. But know this, you won't be the last. Tell Hades to prepare himself. A new Xena is born tonight, with a new purpose in life: death." Shiver.

It's a pivotal and crucial moment in Xena's past. She abandons her desire to fight for her hometown. Now, with a broken soul and a shattered life, all she wants to do is kill with no purpose.

During all of this, Gabrielle has been traveling to get Xena to the healer that had been M'Lila's friend. Gabrielle's brave and willing to travel a long distance to save her friend (up the side of a mountain, in fact). It's sad to find that Xena dies in the end of all of this, though not entirely unexpected I guess considering her injury. It's bittersweet to see Gabrielle having traveled all that way only to have her hopes shattered, and losing Xena.

The ending is interesting, though. In some vast landscape with lava and very weird image bubbles floating around, Xena appears tied to a cross and is met by M'Lila who now talks to her (in her thoughts). Are they in limbo? Is it all in Xena's mind? Xena realizes that she has more living to do and she has to go back--is it her choice though, really? Didn't her body die? The ending is slightly cheesy and I think I'd be happier to have it end with Gabrielle leaning over Xena's body, without the setup that she would be coming back. (obviously, that would happen or the show would be over). So I think ending on a tragic note instead of a hopeful one would have been best.

A very powerful episode and an intense look into Xena's past to explain how she turned into what she was.

The Quest
(screencaps courtesy of Angel Bacchae)

The opening is perfect, showing Gabrielle's grief over having lost her best friend, waking from a horrible nightmare that has haunted her since Xena died.

The coffin is very beautiful and ornate, but how exactly did Gabrielle have it built? Did she have the healer build it for her and she brought Xena down from the mountain in it? And how long has Xena been dead?

When Gabrielle is traveling and runs into thugs on the roadside who are looking to make a profit off of Xena's body, word has seemed to spread very fast announcing Xena's death. No one but Gabrielle and the healer would know about Xena's death, and I can't see them telling anyone. Unless it was started by those tribal men who had injured her before. It works for the story, I guess, but doesn't make (logical) sense.

I'm not sure I like Iolaus appearing. He comes in and is around to comfort Gabrielle for a few minutes (which is touching and nice to see) and then disappears, never to be seen from again. It's a waste of a good character and it's not essential to the story for him to come and then go even if he's going to notify Hercules of Xena's death. He should have been left out or given more of a role here but I don't think his presence really would have worked all that well considering this is supposed to be Gabrielle's story and journey.

Gabrielle saying that she loves Xena--this is a pivotal moment in their relationship. Gabrielle's faced with Xena's death and she realizes just how much Xena has meant to her. She loves Xena in a very deep and real way, and it's nice to see her acknowledging that in words.

My favorite part of this episode is how Gabrielle has to go on alone without Xena in her life. For the past year or so, she and Xena have grown close and she has depended on Xena for a lot of things. Now that she's gone, she's faced with the grief and the strength that she must carry and grow into in order to carry on and live life without Xena in it. It's a fascinating idea and one that really helps Gabrielle develop, and grow stronger. It makes sense that the Amazons would tie into all of this, and bring back Gabrielle's almost forgotten Rite of Caste.

Ephiny is back and I have to say, I like her more here than I did in Hooves and Harlots. She's much more calm, much more of a leader and less of a hotheaded young Amazon. She's grown up a lot since then and she would make a great leader.

I know that Gabrielle has the Rite of Caste and therefore is entitled to the crown of leadership but really, I think Ephiny deserves it more. As much as Gabrielle is entitled, she doesn't know the Amazons ways, she hasn't been around them, hasn't lived with them and grew up with them. While Valasca (who killed Queen Melosa in a challenge to inherit the queenship) is a rival for the crown to Gabrielle (and really, it couldn't be more obvious that she is a villain here if she had it stamped on her forehead--her cocky, hotheaded attitude and temper really does scream "villain"), she does have a point in that Gabrielle isn't fit to rule.

Ephiny wants her to take up the mask of the queen, though, because Xena is gone and because it means that it would put Velasca in her place. It's so convenient that these problems of the Amazons come in at a time when Gabrielle has just lost her place in the world and is looking for somewhere new to belong. It's good that Gabrielle has the Amazons, otherwise, she would be alone (except for her biological family, of course, but in a way I think she can find herself being able to feel closer to the Amazons than she could now with her family, because the Amazons are part of the changes that Gabrielle has gone through and would understand--her family is, essentially, a par of her past).

Gabrielle wants time to mourn and take Xena back to Amphipolis like she had always promised (in The Greater Good) but Ephiny convinces her that it's better that they give Xena an Amazon funeral and then maybe Gabrielle can finally let her go. It's a beautiful idea of Xena's body burning to release her spirit. Ephiny clearly is concerned about Gabrielle and regards her as a friend.

After Gabrielle takes up the mask of the queen, realizing her place is with the Amazons and the good she can do there, and the life she can create, her goodbye to Xena is very touching. "Xena look. They made me Queen. Me, the little girl you found in Potidaea. It's time that I let you go. See, I have to find my own life. Just as you were searching for yours. You know, there are two kinds of tears--tears for those who leave you and tears for those who you never let go. And I won't say goodbye to you, Xena, 'cause we'll be together again, one day."

It'd be nice to see Gabrielle leading and developing away from Xena for a while longer, maybe an entire episode. Of course, Xena has to come back (that's a given) and it's an interesting idea to use Autolycus to do it. Actually, I could have seen Iolaus in this role but having Autolycus show up again is nice (and probably has more comedy potential than Iolaus). He's quiet comical, bringing a little lighthearted fun to an otherwise sad and depressing episode (without Xena).

When Autolycus finds out that Xena has possessed his body (how, I'm not sure--her spirit was able to come into someone else's body but not her own?), it's funny to see him walking around and trying to keep in control of his body while Xena pulls him in completely different directions (even when she's in someone else she has to be in control). She gives him the idea to steal the Dagger of Helios and he's reluctant to help at first until he realizes he has not choice and what's at stake. Xena wouldn't trust anyone but the King of Thieves to steal her body back from the Amazons.

I'm not sure what to make of Gabrielle's anger toward Autolycus when he is trying to steal Xena's body. Her first thought is that he's there to steal it for a profit and she's disgusted by that. When Autolycus tries to explain that he's there because "Xena is in his body", she can't believe it as real. Gabrielle's built a wall around herself, a barrier. In order for her to go on, she can't keep believing that Xena is there or wishing she was there. She has a duty to herself and the Amazons. She has to put Xena away in order to move on. Perhaps she doesn't want to believe that Xena might come back because getting her hopes up and then being disappointed again would be worse than continuing to believe she's dead.

Gabrielle finally realizes that Autolycus is telling the truth when Xena takes control of his body to get her own body off of a funeral pyre. The look of shock and amazement on Gabrielle's face as Autolycus acts just like Xena (though, he could do with a bit more practice on the war cry) has Gabrielle believing the truth. Autolycus has some great moments, especially when he catches the chakram and is completely shocked by it. In an "did I just do that?" sort of way.

She and Autolycus whisk Xena's body away from the Amazons. Valasca shows just how much hatred she has for Gabrielle because Gabrielle is queen and Valasca is not--I mean, really, why is Gabrielle taking the body of Xena and stopping the funeral ceremony a betrayal of the Amazon people? That makes no sense; Valasca is just looking for an excuse to gang up against Gabrielle and take what (she believes) is rightfully hers.

When Xena again takes over Autolycus' actions in order to speak to Gabrielle directly...it's beautiful. Gabrielle can't believe that Xena is alive--or at least that she's seeing Xena again after all the time that has passed. It's an emotional moment for Gabrielle and I gotta say, something about her standing against the misty blue background makes her look more beautiful than normal. Could also bee the Amazon outfit which I really love.

The tenderness in both of their eyes and the way that Xena speaks to Gabrielle is a teary moment. They've come together in their minds and it's not real, and that makes it more bittersweet and ethereal. At least Gabrielle now knows that Xena's soul isn't completely gone, and that there is hope. Gabrielle has to be the strong one for them, this time.

The kiss--it is sweet and romantic. I do think she kisses Gabrielle because of the extreme life/death situation they are in, and she does care but it's not a sexual feeling for me. It feels very much like an extension of the feelings they've always had, and how close they've become being that they have become, basically, each others worlds. It is sweet and shows the depth of their bond and attachment. It's just a nice little moment, and a reaction I can see between them since Gabrielle is seeing her again after all this time apart (Xena being dead and leaving Gabrielle so abruptly) and Xena wants to reassure her that everything will be all right. It's tender and dainty but I also think that Autolycus plays a part in the kiss as well, especially where his hand on Gabrielle's butt is concerned when they get back into "reality". Gabrielle's shocked that he would do that and Xena knocks him down to prove she's just as shocked--taking a tender moment of hope between them and turning it into something more, well, lewd.

The final stretch of the episode includes Gabrielle and Autolycus traveling to a sacred chamber that just happens to be near Amazon lands, using the Dagger of Helios that Autolycus had stolen at the beginning in order to open a sacred compartment in the cavern that held Ambrosia. Why the gods keep Ambrosia on earth, even with the possibility of being accessible by mortals, I'll never know. Apparently, the Ambrosia will bring Xena back to life and not make her a god. The ultimate healing medicine.

Valasca is on their trail and captures Autolycus for a moment, taking the dagger from him (after a nice beating to which she states "I like pain. I like what it does to people and I like what it makes people do."--she's a nice one, all right...) and heads off to the cavern to become a god herself. Autolycus and Gabrielle follow and Xena possess Gabrielle this time and they fight. Gabrielle isn't great at playing Xena, though, she doesn't have that "something" down right. The steely gaze doesn't work for her, or the low trying-to-be-commanding voice.

It's a cool fight between Velasca and Gabrielle/Xena, hanging from the vines as Valasca unlocks the chamber on the ceiling releasing the Ambrosia which looks very much like jello. Gabrielle is able to knock Valasca down and she's skewered by the spikes on the floor below. Ouch. Her reaching up with a hand after being injured, though, lends you to believe that she's not gone for good...

Gabrielle returns to Xena's coffin with a piece of Ambrosia that had gotten stuck in her outfit, and opens the coffin--Xena's well preserved for having been dead all this time, maybe because her soul hadn't "officially" crossed over, it left her body in a kind of limbo whereby it wasn't susceptible to, well, decay. She gives Xena the ambrosia (though how is a body going to swallow anything for it to take affect?) and Xena awakes. Her dreary, weak look as she stares up at Gabrielle is full of pure tenderness and thankfulness. They are back together at last.

It's great to have Xena back. Her talk with Autolycus is very revealing about his intentions and the depth of his character. He's a good guy, and Xena can see that. After all, she was inside him. And he is nice--he may be thief but he has integrity and helps people out when he can.

Gabrielle comes up and sits next to Xena and she asks Xena to promise that she'll never die on her again. Xena's look is one of surprise but she promises it anyway. I like when they talk about how Gabrielle felt to have Xena inside of her, how it made her feel protected and safe--the world needs people like that.

After losing her and then bringing her back (and Xena had stayed strong, too, to not let her soul leave this world), they're finally back to where they have always been--friends and companions--and Gabrielle leans on Xena's shoulder. The world is back as it should be.


Edited to add: a couple more thoughts about the kiss and the "I love you" that I forgot to include as I mentioned in my response to Gabfan.

Thanks Gabfan.

As for the kiss, it is sweet and romantic but not a lot beyond that. I do think she kisses Gabrielle because of the extreme life/death situation they are in, and I think she does care but it's not a sexual feeling for me. It feels very much like an extension of the feelings they've always had, and how close they've become. It is sweet and shows the depth of their bond and attachment. It's just a nice little moment, and a reaction I can see between them since Gabrielle is seeing her again after all this time apart (Xena being dead and leaving Gabrielle so abruptly) and Xena wants to reassure her that everything will be all right. What can I say, we all have our interests and passions and things we like to analyze more than others. (actually, I think I've just analyzed it more now. maybe I should include it above)

Actually, I just realized that I didn't discuss Gabrielle saying that she loved Xena for the first time in The Quest. Maybe I should go up and edit it, because basically, I think this is a pivotal moment in their relationship. Gabrielle's faced with Xena's death and she realizes just how much Xena has meant to her. She loves Xena in a very deep and real way, and it's nice to see her acknowledging that in words.

Of course I know what importance they are to subbers. I'm just explaining how I see it. But yes, thanks for mentioning your thoughts.

Bump

Thanks.

By the way, I'm not sure Miss Artifys is fully transgender, i.e. that he actually lives his life as a woman in everyday life as opposed to wanting to express his feminine side in a performance setting.

True. Perhaps I was using the term to loosely. I simply meant, a man wanting to be/being a woman. And in this case, it did feel more than just wanting to do it as a performance, more like it was part of him or the life he wanted to lead.

Yeah, I do think the girl (or rather the pendent) is what makes Xena relive that part of her past.