ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Mother! (or Alien Resurrection, Part 2)
This episode is so awesome and robust, my notes floweth over. Like WAY over. Forgive me my inability to contain their power.
Let us open with some stats:
- Number of times Xena walks out the door while Herdotus and Hecuba are talking to her: 2
- Number of times they show a pinwheel, windmill or stone mill: 7
- Hens/Chickens sightings: 2
SPOILERS: My reviews are full of them! I'll try to note when I'm about to spoil the series by posting [SERIES SPOILER] before said item and [END SPOILER] after. Please don't read the review, unless you've seen the episode under discussion or don't care if I spoil it.
EXTRA NOTES:
1) The destroyer's lair: how many times have we seen this same cave dressed in different rocks?
2) John Smith played the shepherd, Pluto's owner, who "bought it" at the beginning. He was also in “Ten Little Warlords,” “A Fistful of Dinars” as Marleus, and “Lost Mariner” as Bloomer.
3) Xena senses Hope (as Gabrielle) is behind her the way she always senses Ares, because Ares and Hope are both gods.
4) Xena running through the forest, away from the destroyer, and even when Destroyer knocks down the door while chasing Xena and Hope, feels like a nod to Predator.
5) Liz Friedman and Chris Manheim wrote this fun episode. The first Xena episode for Liz, but she has two more coming. Chris Manheim has written seeeveral episodes — a few that I love, too — including “Remember Nothing” and “A Solstice Carol.” She’s also written a couple of duds, but whatev. She has more eps coming!
6) In this single episode, it is exponentially apparent how much Gabrielle has matured since Season 3.
7) So what happened? How did Hope know Gabrielle was in the bedroom. Did Lila look too obvious coming out with the bandages or did she turn Gabrielle in? I’ll go with the former. Or maybe, just maybe, homegirl sensed she was there.
EXTRA QUOTES:
1) H/G: "I can't believe you're here." X: "The gods themselves couldn't keep me away."
2) H/G: "Xena, when you didn't answer my messages, I thought-" X: "Messages? Gabrielle, I never got them!" — Uh-oh, get outta there, girl. We’ve all heard that before!
3) X: "It's hard to describe, but I saw you. Not now, it was.. someplace in the future." H/G: "The future. Don't tell me you've become an oracle." X: "Not a very good one.” — Love this delivery.
4) H/G: "By the gods, that's the worst yet." X: "There have been others?" H/G: "Sheep, cows, a horse, never a man.. until now." — Love this writing.
5) H/G: "You never give up on anything, no matter the odds, the cost, the pain. I missed you, Xena."
6) Joxer: "Xena, you don't look so good. You know, um, whatever that thing is out there-" X: "That thing is Dahok's grandchild, the destroyer." Joxer: "Destroyer.. Uh, Xena, let me go get Gabrielle. Why don't you sit down for a while?" X: "That thing is the destroyer. And that means that the girl in the other room is not Gabrielle. It's Hope." — One of my all-time favorite moments and lines this season.
7) Joxer: "Xena, you're hurt worse than ya know. Of course that's Gabrielle." X: "You shut up and you listen to me. I wanted to believe it too, `cause she is good, but she's not Gabrielle." — YES, GOD!!!
8) Lila to H/G: "It's bound to be weaker next time Xena tries. She'll probably kill it, no problem.” — Hhahahahaha! I kinda love Lila, ya know??
9) H/G: "I could've sworn this bridge was sound." — Love this choice of words.
10) X: "Gabrielle? Gabri- is that you? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." — This is so intense. I wonder if anyone has ever stopped to talk about this. Why is Xena saying she’s sorry? I don’t think it's because she nearly killed her with the sword.
11) X: "I searched for you. I was afraid that-" G: "You thought I was dead." — I can't tell you how many times I've had this exact conversation.
12) G: "How could you? I didn't know that I was gonna survive. I'm not sure I have, really." — Love the shit out of this intense line. God, what the fuck is she talking about?
13) X: "I don't know how to tell you this-" G: "Hope's alive." — I love this, because when Gabrielle says this, her delivery conveys two things: “Oh no” and “thank god.”
14) G: "The thought of Hope with my family. I mean, if she were to hurt them-" X: "She won't. Now that she knows I'm on to her, she'll use your family as leverage. As long as she needs them, they're safe. You know that." G: "..I don't know that." — Thank you, Gabrielle. NONE of us were buying that shit.
15) H/G: "He's right. If you were a real friend, you wouldn't leave poor Joxer all alone out there, waiting for the monster." Lila: "You sent him out there alone?" Hecuba: "Poor young man. He's just too brave for his own good." Herodotus: "Or too stupid.. Well, it's true. He'd have to be a fool to take it on alone. Ask her." — Hahhahaaha!
16) G: "Just- don't say anything. Look, it's me. It's Gabrielle.. all right. Just- now, I want you to listen to me. I know that thing in there looks like me, but it's not. She wants to kill us all." — I love this so much. I LOVE THIS SHIT SO MUCH.
17) Hope: "It's turned into quite the family reunion. What is it now, four generations? Your parents, there's you, me, my pride, my joy. Your grandson, mother. The destroyer."
18) G: "Why aren't you dead?” Hope: "Well, it's certainly not for your lack of trying, is it? The truth is, I could say the same thing about you, if I cared, which I don't." — Interesting for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s kind of funny. Second, Hope doesn’t know why Gabrielle’s not dead?
19) Hope: "No one but me. Dahok's flame, rising to save me. But then, I've always been Daddy's little girl, haven't I?" G: "Always." Hope: "Is that why you never loved me?" G: "I loved you, Hope. I just had to stop you." Hope: "For Xena?" G: "No, for us all." — I felt the bite of this. It's really sad.
20) G: "It's over, or is it? Xena? Do you ever? Do you get the feeling that sometimes nothing is really over? You know, it just keeps coming back around, but it's- it's wearing a different face. It's- it's the same underneath. Do you know what I mean?" X: "Sure. I was trapped in a cycle of violence and hatred. And no matter how I tried to break free, something always pulled me back, until you." G: "Xena-" X: "No, it's true. You talk about trying to find your way, but to me, you are my way." G: "How can I be your way, when I'm lost, myself?" X: "I'm searching for answers, too. But how we look for them doesn't matter, as long as we look for them together, you and me." — It is my life’s goal to figure out what they’re talking about here. If it’s what I think they’re saying, then I have the same problem with chocolate.
LOVED:
1) How much blood is in this.
2) The Destroyer accidentally hurting Hope.
3) Hope not being a very loving mother. So deep. The mother/daughter shit in here is so nuanced. Gabrielle was a terrible mom, and now, probably because of that, so is Hope. Makes you wonder how Hope would've been if Gabrielle had chosen her instead of Xena. That's right, I said it.
4) Xena and Joxer drawing their swords while following Hope in the forest.
5) Joxer yelling in the face of that skeleton.
6) Hope beats herself up to frame Xena.
7) Lila is holding up that sheet and when she lowers it, Gabrielle appears like a magic trick.
8) Hope asking Gabrielle why she never loved her.
9) Hope’s face at all times. It’s just so pissed and hot.
10) Xena, in a rare display, is pinned helplessly against the wall by the destroyer.
11) The destroyer stabbed his own mother and they died together.
12) Xena telling Gabrielle she’s her way. What great writing.
SUBTEXT:
(Sorry, I just really want to elaborate on some of the subtext in this episode:)
1) The cold reception from Gabrielle’s parents to Xena feels very “so this is your lesbian girlfriend," all the way down to Hecuba insisting that Gabrielle introduce her to Joxer, whom her parents seem way more accepting of as a suitor. Hecuba says to Gabrielle about Joxer, "Oh, what a nice young man, so gallant." And it feels like the viewer is in on Xena's and Gabrielle's thoughts that "Joxer and Gabrielle" is never going to happen, because they know and we know it's "Xena and Gabrielle." God, just now writing this, I’m realizing how gay this episode is.
2) Xena says "So..how's she been?" and Herodotus says, "Without you, just fine." As though Xena stole Gabrielle away and put her in danger. He even fucking says, "You should know, seducing her away from home with your heroics? Filling her head with strange ideas. 'How's she been?' Changed forever because of you." This is awesome, because “seducing”?? Really?? And this is also a common conception that parents have toward their gay children’s significant others. They think their child was “turned.” That gay people are bad influences.
3) During Hope and Gabrielle's mother/daughter talk, Hope asks Gabrielle if she had to stop her for Xena. She knows there's only one person for Gabrielle and she's obviously and understandably jealous of her. Gabrielle loves Xena so much, she would kill her daughter.
4) Xena tells Gabrielle “You are my way.” It feels a lot like it’s now Xena who’s balls-deep into Gabrielle, whereas Seasons 1-3, it was the other way around. INTERESTING.
EXCELLENT SCENES DISSECTED:
1) 14:08 — I FUCKING LOVE THIS SCENE. I remember watching it for the first time and that was when I realized, "I am fucking IN this shit." The door is closed, we know Gabrielle and Xena just dashed out of it and closed it behind them. The destroyer kicks it down, and we see Xena and Gabrielle, mid-flight, booking it to the house. Before the camera (destroyer) gets to them, they close the front door.
2) 17:49 — This beautiful fucked up shot of Hope as Gabrielle. Death in a sunny window beside a victim who doesn't know Gabrielle's a wolf in sheep's clothing.
3) Ok, that scene where Gabrielle and Hope are both walking through the forest (but we don't know one of them is Gabrielle yet) is fucking awesome. I ask you, how many good scenes can one episode have? I actually think they never show Gabrielle walking in the forest. I gotta go back and look, but I think they keep showing Hope and then when Xena is about to strike, it's the first time we see Gabrielle.
4) 28:27 — When that tear falls down Xena’s face.
5) Xena saving Joxer at the cave entry. It’s just perfect. It’s so short, but it’s smart, beautifully lit and shot...
- Dead bodies: ✓
- Dope-ass stunt: ✓
- Scary, funny sound effects: ✓
- Sinister but focused look on Xena's face: ✓
- Chakram richochet off a skull: ✓
A stunt woman jumps from far away behind Joxer, off camera, then Lucy Lawless lands in front of him, rises slowly, a fucking STELLAR look on her face. Next is the camera angle off the side of Xena's leg toward the dark cave, using the most subtle vertigo effect, with some truly scary growling emanating from it. In perfect time, there’s the konk to the tree and down drops her chakram, which she uses to free Joxer. Xena doesn’t look at any of this. She never takes her eyes off the cave. AND THEN comes the most amazing line of all time…“Come and get some.”
Here, why don't you watch a little bit of this. About 30 seconds in, Arnold runs from the Predator, like Xena does from the destroyer. This isn't the first time I've referenced this movie in conjunction with Xena.
Due to the heaving amounts of blood in this and the past two episodes, and due to the fact that I was listening to this song in the time during this viewing, here is Blood Orange's "It Is What It Is." Sure it's a love song, but it's also a bit dark, like this episode.
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