> 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).
>
> The other times are just after the Gab-drag when Xena dismounts and she
> looks at the beaten/bloody unconscious body of Gabrielle, and her expression
> is momentarily concerned for Gabrielle(side note, Xena didn't use Argo for
> this, and I'm guessing the reason is Argo wouldn't have let Xena do that to
> Gabrielle, and also because of what that would do to Xena herself when as
> Illusia Callisto mentioned, killing Gabrielle doesn't do anything but hurt
> Xena more), and then when Illusia Callisto shows Xena an image of Gabrielle
> looking all angelic, the way Xena says her name, you can tell she still
> loves her.
>
> And when Gabrielle knocks them off the cliff which sends them to Illusia, I
> always had a thought in my head that if Gabrielle had just walked away after
> she kicked Xena in the head, Xena might have just let her go. Kinda like in
> The Debt 2 ending where Ming T'ien seals his fate by mouthing off 'bout
> killing Lao Ma when Xena was all set to walk away. Though it was Gabrielle
> who didn't just walk away here...she tells Xena she hates her then tackles
> her off the cliff. That was brilliant. Then we get the intro to Illusia.
>
> I guess not much scares Xena anymore, but Illusia's introduction with
> Callisto acting all cheery even though she's saying nasty stuff
> occassionally, and all the talking animals and other weird effects, I would
> have just started screaming or something. Oh well. It was still cool...when
> Callisto's inside the wheel of fate, her line "Follow your fate" just made
> me think of Ursula's intro song to Ariel in Disney's Little Mermaid. I know
> there is a bunch of Tarot stuff in this ep, but I don't know much about
> Tarot right now(hope to fix that though), but what was the meaning of the
> lion and bull and eagle and snake? And Callisto's line 'bout 'lies may be
> truth and truth may be lies' cuts right to the heart of the matter, since
> betrayal is what started the 'rift'. And as mentioned, when Callisto shows
> her the picture of Gabrielle, the way Xena says her name just...there's so
> much love and pain mixed together. So there is hope(bad pun, sorry) that
> Xena can forgive her. She
>
> Gabrielle's intro to Illusia...I really wish they wouldn't have had Joxer be
> 'silly' for his song, because this is not really him. His giggling and
> tripping over things and such when they have him be somewhat sauve as well
> was just annoying.

> They have Callisto not being violent at all, why can't
> they have Joxer not be clumsy? The guides make perfect sense though,
> Callisto for Xena as a reminder of the price of her warlord days as well as
> how vengeance fails, and Joxer for Gabrielle since he's still 'pure' in that
> he's not a warrior at all, he's never killed anyone, etc. He's kind of a
> reminder of what Gabrielle wishes she could go back to. And I don't like her
> being mean to him...her "So much for the Elysian Fields theory" line when
> she realizes Joxer is there pisses me off. First off, Joxer may not have any
> aptitude towards being a warrior, but he's done some very heroic things. He
> charged into Callisto's lair to rescue X/G in Return of Callisto, tried to
> protect Argo from Callisto(even though they had switched bodies and it was
> Xena, not Callisto, but Joxer didn't know that), and just tried to protect
> Gabrielle from a crazed Xena. Granted in each case it was like a lamb to the
> slaughter pretty much, but the thing is, Joxer KNEW that, but still wanted
> to save his friends. So Gabrielle, get a clue and give Joxer some respect.
> He's always been there when it comes down to it. Xena treats him better than
> you do. Back to Gabrielle's intro to Illusia...her thoughts that this is the
> Elysian Fields and saying only heroes wind up here and her confusion about
> being there, proves she's not feeling that good about herself right now,
> thanks to all the events of the last few months having caught up to her in a
> most horrible way. And her not wanting Joxer to see her naked, were the 3
> naked dancing clones of her in Quill is Mightier not anatomically correct?
>
> And now we have Ares' intro, and what an intro it is. He doesn't hesitate
> for one moment to let Xena know that he wants her back in the worst way.
> Talking about being hard up...for the record, Xena gets to get nekked twice
> in this ep, Gabrielle only once. Sorry bard, guess you got your nekked quota
> fill in Quill is Mightier. Interesting note, for her 'warrior' outfit that
> Ares has for her, it's kinda like her one from the days with Borias. The
> hair is even similar. I felt the song was kind of annoying...not Ares' part
> though, just some of the thugs' lines. Saying Xena's looks(as in glares and
> such, not her appeal) can curdle milk...that's classy...blech. Though it was
> interesting to have them sing that Xena's back where friends are true. Um,
> what friends? She really didn't have any friends in her warlord days.
>

> Gabrielle in the Illusian version of Potedaia...a typical version of how
> Utopia is a fallacy, because it's not as good at it seems. They don't
> hesitate to say that Xena destroyed Gabrielle and she needs to kill her as a
> mercy thing. All while talking about how peaceful and BORING village life
> is. Of course this totally ignores that Gabrielle left Potedaia in the first
> place because she didn't fit in there...she wanted adventure, and to learn
> how to be a warrior. Though Gabrielle was a bit innocent of what that meant.
> She only saw the heroics, not the bloodshed part. Was nice to see Lilla,
> even if she was nasty. Would have been nice to see Willa O'Neal play a bad
> guy.
>
> When it comes to the climax, Xena/Gabrielle's different backgrounds, it was
> cool but also confusing with the back and forth-ness. And Gabrielle was
> stupid to think she could kill Xena. And Xena finally kills her. And again,
> we have the slight break in Xena's facade of anger/rage. Then Ares proves
> again how much he's hard up for Xena. That was quite a dance. I really liked
> Xena's dress. And he doesn't hestitate to show his distaste(to put it
> mildly) of Gabrielle. And Callisto's right there to remind Xena that killing
> Gabrielle didn't accomplish anything. At least it wasn't really
> Gabrielle(how did that get accomplished?). And even though this was a 'dark'
> ep when you get down to it, it was rather amusing to see Xena
> so...discomfited?...when the real Gabrielle shows up and is upset that Xena
> killed her(some people are just SO picky!). Xena starts fidgeting and
> looking elsewhere and crap. 'Twas cute.
>

> At least X/G are now at the point where they can talk. Granted it still
> dissolves into a blaming/shouting match. But it's a start, because now
> they're getting to the reasons for their estrangement. Though I really am
> not happy with Gabrielle for saying it's all Xena's fault, because she
> abandoned Gabrielle in Brittania. That's crap. X/G both got played by
> Khfrastar/Dahak. Xena would NEVER have done anything to put Gabrielle
> through that if she knew. I think they should have focused on their
> blindness about Hope, Gabrielle believing without a doubt a good, and Xena
> having no doubts that Hope's evil. They refused to compromise on
> that...granted it was proven that Xena was right, but Solan might be still
> alive if either of then had been willing to concede the other might be
> right, and to find a way to know for sure what Hope's future was(a seer
> maybe...Hope would be stuck, because if she killed the seer before the seer
> could reveal Hope was evil, well there ya go, that's proof too). They both
> screwed up when it came to Hope, so I'd say they are about equally to blame
> for that. Almost. Gabrielle is a bit more to blame, like 60%% to Xena's 40%%.
> Because she did willingly betray Xena. In Gabrielle's Hope, Xena ends up
> meaning nothing to Gabrielle when it comes to her daughter. She even told
> Xena that Hope was her daughter and that Xena better not come between them.
>

> Now we get to the hatred bit of the episode. As I've said before, Xena's
> hatred of Caesar did NOT lead to Gabrielle's torture(torture is not always
> physical) at the hands of Dahak's cult. Maybe her hatred of Ares...because
> he did tell her that Dahak was evil, she just refused to believe him, which
> is understandable since he has proven himself untrustworthy. But it doesn't
> change the fact that he did warn her and she ignored it. That was her only
> fault in the whole mess. No one FORCED Gabrielle to go to Brittania...as
> mentioned already, X/G both got played by Dahak and Co. That shouldn't be
> the issue of the 'rift, at least to me, the issue should be the whole
> aftermath, with Hope and Chin and crap. But I guess Gabrielle is still in
> serious denial about it all, and is trying to find anything to assuage her
> guilt. It's interesting that Gabrielle's lie was that she killed somebody,
> and Xena's lie was that she didn't. That's a change of pace.
>
> Yay, X/G are willing to forgive and move on! Funny how nearly being
> crucified will do that to a person...get them to want to make peace that is.
>
> Solan made Illusia? Gabrielle seems to think so. And I thought *I* had a
> messed up imagination...well this is just one more thing that can be
> construed as evidence to my theory that Hades might be Xena's real father.
> Hades definitely could arrange this, with the help of his sister Celesta,
> just for his daughter at the request of his grandson.
>

> Now Xena finally admits she killed Ming T'ien. This was not such a big deal
> at least, considering what just happened in Maternal Instincts, so Gabrielle
> doesn't hesitate to forgive Xena for it. Just one issue though...Xena when
> she starts singing to Solan, what was the point when she goes on about "do
> good for those who hate" and such...a little life lesson for a son who's
> already DEAD? Made no sense. And gotta hand it to Gabrielle, it must have
> killed her to see Xena/Solan reunited knowing that her own daughter is dead
> by her own hand, but she just smiles with happiness for Xena.
>
> Wow...they end up on the beach perfectly fine, and Gabrielle is healed and
> back in her regular outfit. And X/G enjoy a little water sporting. But
> um...one thing...Xena, bit of advice, rolling around in salt water when
> you're wearing leather, REALLY BAD IDEA!
>