2-04 Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

First airdate - Oct 21, 1996

The episode starts in a some creepy looking woods. Xena is talking to some
guy about missing girls. Gabrielle wanders off looking at something. Then
she proceeds to tell Xena just about everything there is to know about the
Bacchae (almost, but not everything, as Xena finds out later.)

During this time a man is being chased by wolves. He runs into Gabrielle and
it is Joxer. Xena uses her bullwhip to make the wolves leave.

Joxer has a gift for Xena, the head of Orpheus. The god Bacchus
cut his head off so he couldn't play his lyre and keep the followers of
Bacchus, The Bacchae, from killing, etc. Orpheus blames Xena for the death
of his wife while Xena and her army were fighting Bacchus.

They put Orpheus' head on a scarecrow and go into town where a
festival is going on. Xena goes looking for the lyre and tells Gabrielle to
stay behind and guard Orpheus.

Xena is fighting two Bacchae to get the lyre from them, but they
get away with it.

Gabrielle sees a girl being taken against her will and goes to help. But she
is caught up in the seductive dancing going on. Joxer sees her dancing with
two of the Bacchae and drags her away.

Joxer sees blood on Xena's neck and thinks she's been bitten and
will turn into a Bacchae.

The four of them go into a graveyard where Xena wants to get Dryad
bones to kill Bacchae with. They fight some Dryads, and Xena kills two of
them and gets the bones.

Then Gabrielle turns around and she has turned into a Bacchae.
After a bit of flying and such, she leaves for the catacombs where Bacchus
has his headquarters.

All the Bacchae are gathered around Bacchus, ready to drink his
blood to become a part of him forever. Just as Gabrielle is about to drink,
Xena knocks it out of her hand with her Chakram. Xena tells Joxer to get the
lyre and start playing. And she fights off the Bacchae. Joxer plays and
Orpheus sings, but Bacchus isn't having any of that and knocks it out of his
hand.

Xena stabs Bacchus in the heart with a Dryad bone and he falls
down, then gets back up and laughing, tells Xena only a Bacchae can kill
him. Xena lets Gabrielle bite her. Xena turns into a Bacchae, then she and
Gabrielle fly down to Bacchus and Xena stabs him.

Once he's dead, all the Bacchae turn back into women, including
Xena and Gabrielle, and Orpheus get his body back.

As they are leaving, Gabrielle tells Joxer they are going after
Medusa, so he runs off with a lame story about it being his mother's
birthday.

............

The first time I ever saw this one, I wasn't much impressed with
it. I guess maybe because it was so different from all the other episodes,
and I didn't know what to think about it.

I like it a little better each time I see it, but it's still near the bottom
of my faves list.

The first air date was Oct 21. I wonder why they didn't air it on
the 28th, a week closer to Halloween.

I didn't much like the rapid and blurry camera shots.

Didn't much care for the music, too hip-hop for my tastes.

I DID like watching Gabrielle dance. It was too bad she didn't do
more.

And when did Gabrielle get bitten?

Bacchus looked pretty cool, but he was just TOO irritating to
listen to.

The Dryads look like Harpy skeletons.

How dumb was Bacchus to tell Xena how to kill him????

Orpheus was also Darphus in the Herc-Xena eps.

Xena told Gabrielle that her army fought Bacchus a long time ago.
I wonder if it was anywhere in the neighborhood of, I don't know -- ten
years?

I wrote the word Bacchae 10 times; oops, now 11.

........

Still not that great. The best I can give it is a 6 out of 10.