3-12 The Bitter Suite

First air date Feb 2, 1998.

This episode starts out with Gabrielle lying naked inside an Amazon sweat hut being flayed by one
of them. Outside the hut Ephiny tells Joxer Gabrielle has been inside for three days. Joxer thinks
she needs to get out of there but Ephiny tells him she needs to work through the pain.

Cut to Xena on a mountain top in a snow storm singing her pain. Ares appears and says she needs to
take revenge on the one who betrayed her - Gabrielle. And she knows who she needs to kill.

Back inside the hut Callisto appears to Gabrielle, who knows she isn't real. Callisto says Xena's
hatred of Caesar took them to Britannia where Xena abandoned her to Dahak. She asks if Gabrielle
hates her and Gabrielle screams out YES! but outside they hear Gabrielle scream NO! and Joxer runs
inside the hut to get her.

Xena comes into the Amazon village riding hard, then flips off the front of the horse. She is
looking for Gabrielle. Ephiny tries to stop her but Xena breaks her arm. Joxer carrying Gabrielle
from the hut sees Xena. Gabrielle starts to run away but Xena gets her whip and lassos Gabrielle's
ankles. Joxer tries to help but get punched in the face. Xena gets on her horse and drags Gabrielle
away from the village and across the countryside (did I have to mention the Gab-Drag?) until she
comes to a cliff overlooking a large sea.

Ok first things first...even though this was a great episode, it was trippy
as hell...I kept/keep wondering what the writers/PTB were smoking.

Now onto the ep itself...the acting in this episode excelled Maternal
Instincts quite a bit. Very subtle acting by Lucy. Even though she's
determined to wreak vengeance on Gabrielle, you can tell she's not in full
hate mode, and that she still loves her, she's just grieving and feeling
betrayed by her. Her raged expression breaks a few times just for a split
second, once when Ephiny says her name with some compassion knowing Xena
lost her son, but also as a warning to calm her down(of course Xena doesn't
appreciate it, in a way it's like Willow attacking Xander when he keeps
telling he loves her in the S6 finale, she doesn't want to be loved because
she can't handle it at the moment because caring means pain).

In article bignews6.bellsouth.net>,
David E. Milligan bellsouth.net> wrote:

It's a pun. A 'suite' is a piece of music (condensed from a larger work)
like "The Nutcracker Suite".

Ted

On a scale of 1 - 10, I give this one a 15!!!!! I thought it was absolutely
outstanding. Joe LoDuca's music was amazing. The performances (vocal and
otherwise), the costumes, the use of Tarot imagery, the sets, the staging,
the contrast between Xena's world and Gabrielle's, the baring of all of
their emotional baggage - there is nothing to pick at in my opinion. I agree
that it didn't make a lot of sense about Solan creating Illusia, but so
what? This is the second best episode in the entire series - and one I enjoy
watching over and over again. And I listen to the CD of the music from the
episode frequently - I just love it!

Major kudos to everyone involved with the creation of TBS!!!!!!!

Laura

Oops - forgot this:

Well, in MY version of the Xenaverse, it really did happen!!!!!! I saw it as
a direct homage to the scene in "From Here to Eternity" - two lovers lying
on the beach, starting to "get it on" as the waves crash around them, and
the camera discretely pans to another view, as if to give the lovers their
privacy while events unfold!

But of course, as TPTB always did, they leave it ambiguous enough so you can
read anything you want into it - the subtexters, like me, believe they DID
IT; non-sub-texters can say they were just splashing and playing in the
water, relieved to be back in the real world, their friendship restored.

Laura

The first time I saw this episode I pretty much hated it. I had no
idea that they were going to do a musical (saw on DVD, not TV) and I
was very much into the whole rift storyline. I wanted to see them
work their way through the rift, not fix every thing with a song and
dance. I felt cheated at the time. Since then I've come to
appreciate the episode as a stand alone ep. I think it's very well
done and I enjoy watching it but I can still remember the tension I
felt when I finished watching Maternal Instinct and went to put in
Bitter Suite. I was wondering how they were going to get out of this
mess..... then the song started and I was thinking 'WTF????'
LOL! It's kind of funny for me now but at that point in time I was
unhappy.