Xena Media Review #19 (12/08/96) - Part 2 of 4

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TIMELINE
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 04/29/96  20  Ties That Bind


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LIST OF ANNOTATIONS FOUND IN XMR #19
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Amended Annotations
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[050.6] 10-01-95 DAYTIME EDITION. Interview tv show
[058b] 10-01-95 TELEVISION BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL.
[068.5] 10-28-95 WGN. Televised interview.
[073.4] 11-06-95 THE EVENING POST (Wellington) 20/20

Annotations
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[260] 04-29-96 TIES THAT BIND. Episode no. 20. 
[261] 05-01-96 SPECTRUM. Vol. 1 No. 5. Page 2. 
[262] 05-01-96 SPECTRUM. Vol. 1 No. 5. Page 5. 
[263] 05-01-96 SPECTRUM. Vol. 1 No. 5. Page 6.
[264] 05-01-96 SPECTRUM. Vol. 1 No. 5. Page 10.
[265] 05-01-96 SCI-FI UNIVERSE. Vol 2. No. 15.


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AMENDED ANNOTATIONS
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[050.6] 10-01-95
   DAYTIME EDITION. Date unknown. Interview television
show.
   COMMENTARY: Date unknown. Interview television show.
   This televised interview was made probably in
October 1995 (Ms. Lawless referred to an November
episode as coming up, so the interview was definitely
before 11/95). It was an early interview and therefore
was very formal. Ms. Lawless wore conservative clothing
(something she had stated she rarely did) and didn't
make any overt jokes with the interviewer, as she did
with later interviews. 
   In the interview Ms. Lawless related her first HTLJ
experience (HERCULES AND THE AMAZON WOMEN) and related
the famous story of how she got the Xena part due to
the illness of an American actress (still as yet
unnamed in print or in fandom). 
  The interview continued with Ms. Lawless' take on the
Xena character: (1) "Oh, she was thoroughly wicked. 
Thoroughly ruthless.  But you know, when I look back on
them, when the crew and I sat down and watched some of
the old tapes, we were just aghast.  She was absolutely
irredeemable.  Who would have thought?" (2) "She [Xena]
just realizes there's just something more to life and
perhaps she ought to join the social order a little bit
and stop maiming people for no apparent reason."
   When asked what it was like playing a part like
Xena, Ms. Lawless stated, "I can't imagine a better
role.  I can't think of a better role for a woman. 
Certainly not in episodic television, ever."
   When asked about Xena's relationship with Hercules,
Ms. Lawless stated, "he comes and goes....He does come
through in sweeps month.  This month in November you
can look forward to a crossover episode, and yes, it's
very, very exciting." [She was referring to the episode
PROMETHEUS].
   Quirky moments: When Ms. Lawless was apparently told
to sit up straight by someone off camera and off sound
what consequently appeared on camera was Ms. Lawless
saying completely out of context, "Sit up straight? 
Sorry."
   Best line: REPORTER: "Sorry.  I'm having a hard time
hearing you because you're in New Zealand."
   The interview was plagued by a bad satellite feed
(creating such moments as: REPORTER: How does that
happen? LUCY:  Pardon me? *And* REPORTER:  What's it
like to play somebody like that? LUCY:  Because --
pardon me?
   Transcription by Julia Medina
   TRANSCRIPTION:
   REPORTER:  She thwarts a man-eating cyclops, stops
the ruthless warlord Draco's men, and ultimately
defeats the barbarian warlord and saves her village,
her family, and her people.
   If it sounds like something out of this world, it
is. It's the story of Xena:  The Warrior Princess,
played by actress Lucy Lawless.
   If you're a fan of the hit television show Hercules,
you already know Lucy.  If not, let's meet her now.
   Welcome to us -- to News 12.
   LUCY:  Thank you for having me.
   REPORTER:  Of course, you're joining us now from New
Zealand where this story is being taped; right?
   LUCY:  Yes, it is.
   REPORTER:  Okay.  You already appeared in some
episodes of Hercules.  What was your role in those
shows?
   LUCY:  I started right back in the very first
telemovie where I was playing the bad first lieutenant
of the Amazon Queen, and I was sort of her bully boy --
bully girl.  And then they got me back for another role
which was bigger and the roles sort of kept getting
bigger until somebody dropped out of a trilogy of
stories -- an America actress -- and they said, "Oh,
well.  Let's get Lucy Lawless.   And at least we know
she'll be up to do the role?"  I guess that's what they
said.
   Sit up straight?  Sorry.
   REPORTER:  So after appearing on these episodes of
Hercules, obviously, you got a good reaction from the
audience cause they decided to give you a series all
your own, Xena: The Warrior Princess; right?  And this
is going to follow the story of you and Hercules and
pick it up where it left off in these other three shows
of Hercules?
   LUCY:  That's right.  Or a little while later when
she's had a little brush with something closely
resembling love and decides to change her wicked ways
-- tries.
   REPORTER:  Changing her wicked ways in the ones in
the Hercules stories, as you mentioned, she was
considered kind of a bad --
   LUCY:  Oh, she was thoroughly wicked.  Thoroughly
ruthless.  But you know, when I look back on them, when
the crew and I sat down and watched some of the old
tapes, we were just aghast.  She was absolutely
irredeemable.  Who would have thought?
   REPORTER:  But then she changes her ways in the
series now, and she becomes a hero.
   LUCY:  Yes, she does.  Well, that's what we're
aiming at.
   REPORTER:  How does that happen?
   LUCY:  Pardon me?
   REPORTER:  How does that happen?
   LUCY:  She just realizes there's just something more
to life and perhaps she ought to join the social order
a little bit and stop maiming people for no apparent
reason.      
   REPORTER:  And what are some of the things that she
does that we can look forward to seeing?
   LUCY:  Oh, now, we're scurrying through castles and
saving the world from a world without death.
   REPORTER:  What's it like to play somebody like
that?         
   LUCY:  Because -- pardon me?
   REPORTER:  What's it like to play somebody like
that?      
   LUCY:  It's thrilling.  I love it.  I love going to
work everyday.
   REPORTER:  You consider yourself --
   LUCY:  I can't imagine a better role.  I can't think
of a better role for a woman.  Certainly not in
episodic television, ever.
   REPORTER:  Do you consider yourself like her or are
you basically the opposite of her?
   LUCY:  No, she's a few -- she's like a sliver of my
personality, I guess that's -- yeah, that's how I work
in acting anyway, you pull out strings of your own
personality to make this character and other strings to
make this character, so they're both distinct from one
another but both real.
   REPORTER:  Sorry.  I'm having a hard time hearing
you because you're in New Zealand.  She has a love
interest with Hercules?
   LUCY:  Yes, she does.
   REPORTER:  How far --
   LUCY:  But he comes and goes.
   REPORTER:  -- in the course of the series?
   LUCY:  Well, he does visit.  He does come through in
sweeps month.  This month in November you can look
forward to a crossover episode, and yes, it's very,
very exciting.        
   REPORTER:  All right.  Well, we'll look forward to
watching that.
   LUCY:  Hope you will enjoy watching it.
   REPORTER:  Okay.  Thanks a lot for joining us.
   Lucy Lawless.
   LUCY:  My pleasure.
   REPORTER:  Once again.  That series is Xena: The
Warrior Princess.
 

[58b] 10-01-95
   TELEVISION BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL. October 1995.
Page 132. 21120 words. "The Buyers' Guide to Programs
at MIPCOM"
   COMMENTARY: In a buyer's guide for MIPCOM 1995, XWP
was listed as for sale for 22 episodes. It was after
the victorious November sweeps when the decision was
made to add two more episodes to the first season.
   EXCERPT:
   ACTION/ADVENTURE...
   ...Product Title: Xena: Warrior Princess; Episodes: 
22x60 mins; Rights: TV:  o, Theatrical:, Video:;
Distributor: MCA TV International; New or returning:
New; Stand No.: 11.02/13.01...
   ...SCI FI/ACTION...
   ...Product Title: Xena: Warrior Princess Episodes:
22x60 mins. Rights: TV: o Theatrical: Video:
Distributor: MCA TV Int'l New or Returning: New Stand
No.: 8900...


[068.5] 10-28-95
   WGN. Televised interview.
   COMMENTARY: In another satellite feed interview
(REPORTER: Is it Saturday morning where you are? LUCY:
Good morning. Pardon me?), Ms. Lawless promoted the
HTLJ double feature of THE GAUNTLET and UNCHAINED HEART
which aired on WGN 10/29/95. 
   When asked about the character Xena, Ms. Lawless
stated, "I think Xena's just battling her own animal
instincts the whole time, you know, she left an ordered
society when she was fairly young, still a child, and
went severely off the rails and is now just sort of
fighting to get back on them.  And she doesn't want to
be a hero; she doesn't want anybody revering her as a
role model or the like, but she just gets caught up in
other people's sticky situations and knows that the
only thing to do is the right thing and help out."
   Also discussed was Ms. Lawless' impression on
working with Kevin Sorbo and the demands of her role.
   When asked what was the fun in doing the character,
Ms. Lawless stated, "It is unfettered.  And I like the
way that it is all sort of very straightfaced and makes
it even campier, you know, because if you don't play it
straightfaced, the audience can't go on the journey,
can't be engaged in the fantasy, and that's what we all
want, you know, just to drop out for an hour."
   Transcription by Julia Medina
   TRANSCRIPTION:
   REPORTER:  She's bold, she's beautiful, and she
packs a wallop.  She is Xena:  The Warrior Princess,
and she'll
appear on a special episode of Hercules tonight here at
8:00 O'clock.
   Xena has her own show here on WGN TV, and next
Friday she'll be battling barbaric enemies, slave
traders, and a host of other evildoers.
   Who is the woman behind the leather, swords and
flashing fists?  Well it's none other than Lucy
Lawless, who joins us live via satellite from New
Zealand.
   Good afternoon, Lucy, or I guess I should say good
morning.  Is it Saturday morning where you are?
   LUCY:  Good morning.  Pardon me?
   REPORTER:  Is it Saturday morning where you are
right now?
   LUCY:  Yes, it is.  It's fairly early on a Saturday. 
   REPORTER:  Well thanks for joining us. Tell us, what
is it like to play a warrior princess?       
   LUCY:  Terrific fun.  I love going -- I love going
to work.  I do.
   REPORTER:  Tell us a little bit about the show
itself.  What are you battling for and who are you
battling against?
   LUCY:  I think Xena's just battling her own animal
instincts the whole time, you know, she left an ordered
society when she was fairly young, still a child, and
went severely off the rails and is now just sort of
fighting to get back on them.  And she doesn't want to
be a hero; she doesn't want anybody revering her as a
role model or the like, but she just gets caught up in
other people's sticky situations and knows that the
only thing to do is the right thing and help out.
   REPORTER:  Sometimes we get forced into doing just
the right thing whether we like it or not.
   LUCY:  Yeah.
   REPORTER:  What was it like working with Kevin
Sorbo, better known as Hercules?
   LUCY:  Oh, terrific.  Kevin's a real pro.  He's
never sick, he never doesn't know his lines, and he's
very, very, very fun.
   REPORTER:  Now we're watching some scenes.  You
can't see this, but tell us about the action here and
the stunts. Do you do a lot of your own stunt work?
   LUCY:  I do all the fighting, and anything we don't
have time to cover or is just too dangerous, they'll
throw some other poor woman off a cliff for.  But you
know I get to do things with rats and spiders and being
drowned under water and all that exciting stuff, so you
will see my face.       
   REPORTER:  You're getting hit by rocks in that
particular clip as we saw.  What is the most fun having
this character?  I would imagine it's just great fun to
be able to totally step out of the modern world and
step into something that is just you know --
   LUCY:  Pure fantasy.
   REPORTER:  Completely untethered if you will.
   LUCY:  It is unfettered.  And I like the way that it
is all sort of very straightfaced and makes it even
campier, you know, because if you don't play it
straightfaced, the audience can't go on the journey,
can't be engaged in the fantasy, and that's what we all
want, you know, just to drop out for an hour.
   REPORTER:  You bet.
   LUCY:  Or two hours if you watch both Hercules and
Xena together.
   REPORTER:  If you watch Hercules and Xena together,
it's two hours worth of the fantasy drop out.
   LUCY:  Yeah, your fantasy fix for the week.
   REPORTER:  Thanks for joining us.  Look us up when
you're in town.  Kevin was in town doing some promos
recently, hope to see you over here too.  Thanks a lot.
   LUCY:  Yeah, thank you.
 

[073.4] 11-06-95
   THE EVENING POST (Wellington). Page 3. 388 words.
"No Second Chances Allowed" By Phil Wakefield
   COMMENTARY: This news item announced the making of
Hercules 20/20 TV3 documentary which was broadcast
11/06/95. It also observed that TV3 still hadn't
committed to whether it was going to carry HTLJ or XWP.
   The 20/20 Interview was annotated as XMR073.5, and
appeared in XMR #18.
   EXCERPT:
   ...TV3 SHOULD have better luck with the Hercules TV
series; starting with a making-of the show, which
features in tonight's 20/20.
   While you might think Anita McNaught's report is a
plug for a new TV3 show, the network has yet to buy
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or sister hit Xena:
The Warrior Princess.
   The twist with both is they're being shot in
Auckland and feature New Zealand actors (including Lucy
Lawless as Xena).
   However, you won't recognize them from their accents
- they've been trained in California-speak for viewers
of syndicated TV in the US. 
   Clearly, they like what they hear. Hercules has been
out-rating both Baywatch and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(which returns next week) while Xena last month made an
impressive bow.
   Hercules and Xena are estimated to have pumped $
US100 million into the local economy and have been
enjoyed by critics for their "mix of action, goofy
dialogue and nifty special effects".



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ANNOTATIONS
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[260] 04-29-96
   TIES THAT BIND. Episode no. 20. Series 1-20. First
release. Guest stars: Tom Atkins (Atreus) and Kevin
Smith (Ares). Cast: Stephen Lovatt (Kirilus), Sonia
Gray (Rhea), Lutz Halbhubner (Tarkis), Jonathon
Whittaker (Andrus), Nancy Broadbent (Areliesa), Heidi
Anderson (Slave Girl), John Manning (Ranch Hand #1),
Mark Perry (Warrior #1), Tony Williams (Warrior #2),
James Marcum (Warrior #3), and Robin Kora (Village
Elder). Written by Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster.
Directed by Charles Siebert.
   RATINGS HISTORY: 1st release (04/29/96): 1st ST:DS9
ranked 9th at 5.7; 2nd HTLJ ranked 13th at 5.2; 3rd
BAYWATCH ranked 14th at 4.8. XWP did not place in the
top twenty. 2nd release (08/12/96): 1st HTLJ 4.5; 2nd
XWP at 4.0; and 3rd ST:DS9 at 3.9
   SYNOPSIS: This synopsis was brought to you by guest
synopser, Anita Firebaugh (Bluesong@aol.com).
   Xena and Gabrielle watch as a warlord puts many
women and girls into a cage; his most recent pillage. 
Xena wants to save them, and hatches a plot, but before
she can do anything a man with white hair runs from the
woods and attacks the warlords.  Xena goes and saves
him; he says he is her father.  Xena does not
believe him.  She and Gabrielle rescue the women and
girls, and one runs away because she "went willingly"
with the warlord's men in order to spare her sister.
   Gabrielle goes after her, and the older man stops a
thug from beating up Gabrielle.  Xena thanks him, and
then they take the women and girls away.  While the
women bath and ready themselves for the journey back to
their village, Xena sits on a hill, watching, and
humming a song.  Suddenly the stillness is broken when
the older man comes riding a horse through the creek,
shouting for Xena.  He has several men chasing him;
Xena goes after them on Argo and once again saves the
older man.  The older man says the horse was owed to
him; Xena does not believe this, so she checks out his
story.  Finding it to be true, she is confused about
this person.  Is he her father or not?
   Xena is attacked by a dart-blower; Xena catches the
dart, and the older man goes after the attacker. 
Gabrielle sees him kill the man while he was pleading
for mercy.  But when Xena checks out the story, the
attacker had a hidden knife.  The older man then tells
Gabrielle in an offhanded manner that she should take a
hike so he can spend some time with his daughter.
   Gabrielle offers to lead the women and girls back to
their village while Xena and the older man ride rear
guard.  Xena and the older man are attacked; together
they fight them off.  They reach the village, and the
villagers take the old man prisoner, because he once
led an attack on their village.  Xena says she will
stop the warlord if they leave her father alone.
   Xena goes after the warlord.  They have a fight, and
Xena wins. She takes his army and leads them back to
the village.  She sees her father hung up to die; she
screams "Take the village" and "Kill them all" to the
men around her.  She pulls her father down and he dies
in her arms.  The villagers are rounded up, and she
walks toward them with her father in her arms.  "Who
killed my father?"  she asks.  She cannot even see
Gabrielle; she has reverted to her old ways.  Gabrielle
stands up to her, and in fact hits her in the upper
back with a pitchfork.  Then her father speaks, asking
her where her anger is, and Xena realizes Ares has
been playing games with her.  She tells him to kill
her, but he does not, and he vanishes.
   As the show ends, Xena tells Gabrielle that some
families are made, and they are closer than blood, and
that is how she feels about Gabrielle.
   COMMENTARY: (Back to Kym) I am slacking off these
days. I only watched the first thirty minutes of TIES
THAT BIND when writing this commentary. Maybe I will
get to the last thirty minutes sometime later. The
first thirty minutes positively exhausted me. Knowing
how the show ends, I can assume the last thirty will
surely hospitalize me. The slow yet inevitable
seduction of Xena to the darkside, along with
Gabrielle's supreme self-sacrifice in bringing Xena
back, not to mention some beautiful camera work and a
sound track to die for, can and will take me out when I
do get around to watching the rest of the show (now,
now, this is a repeated viewing...I have seen the show
complete many times but it was way in the past). This
show, at least in my humble opinion, is AMAZING. I
could talk for hours merely about the first thirty
minutes, and no doubt I will. However, not today. 
   As a tangent, I watched SINS OF THE PAST again a
couple of days ago and I was dumbfounded how EVERYTHING
about the show is in that one episode. It was truly a
great foundation for what was to be built. It was
chuckfull of Xena-isms: the silly gravity-defying
acrobatics; the 'magic' chakram; the lingering looks
between Xena and Gabrielle; Xena SAVING Gabrielle;
Gabrielle SAVING Xena; weird dialogue; Xena's world-
weariness; Xena's quest for redemption; Xena's use of
the word "friend"; Gabrielle's extraordinary gift of
gab; Xena's relationship with Argo (even though she
does call Argo a he!); lots of fog; "the look"; Xena's
family; Gabrielle's family; Perdicas (eek!); and that
is only the short list! 
   What can I say...XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS as a show
amazes me and I am the first to admit I am obsessed by
it. But what a wonderful obsession!  Now, back to TIES
THAT BIND.
   1. THE PITFALLS OF FATHERHOOD. Robert Tapert, one of
the creators of XWP and an executive producer of the
series, once stated "I believe, in the basest and
crassest of ways, that there's a formula to stories
about heroes, and no one had ever tried to do it before
with a woman hero.  Or if they did, they made excuses
for her being a woman." (tentative XMR322, 07-01-96,
MS. Magazine, Vol 7, No. 1, July/August 1996, page 74,
"Xena" She's Big, Tall, Strong--and Popular" by Donna
Minkowitz)
   One of the great formulas of the hero, or more
appropriately macho male myth, was that of the great
rift between the father and the son. In TIES THAT BIND,
the audience was treated to Xena's version of her
father angst. Her father abandoned her family when Xena
was 4. As an adult, Xena felt unresolved and ambiguous
feelings towards her father's memory. She was disgusted
by his actions and yet fondly remembered the 'good
times'. Too bad for Xena that psycho-therapy would not
be invented for another couple of thousand years.
However, the wily and wascally Ares used Xena's longing
for a unified family and her unconscious and vague
mourning for her father to his advantage. 
   2.  ARES. In Ares' first appearance in the
Xenaverse, THE RECKONING (#06), he openly wooed Xena to
the dark side by offers of worldly power to do good. In
his second appearance in TIES THAT BIND, he went
undercover to try to trick Xena into being his
representative on earth. By INTIMATE STRANGER (#31) he
had given up on making Xena his representative and
attempted to give Callisto that honor. Ares apparently
never quite made the connection that he failed in his
first two attempts because of Xena's friendship with
Gabrielle. Callisto had made that observation sometime
between CALLISTO (#22) and RETURN OF CALLISTO (#29)
while she was in prison. In CALLISTO, Callisto's goal
was to hurt Xena; she used Gabrielle as a means not an
end to harm Xena. However, in RETURN OF CALLISTO, she
told Xena that she was going to kill Xena's soul
first...which was Gabrielle. Callisto, of course, wound
up killing Perdicas instead, but served the same
purpose; by killing Perdicas in Gabrielle's presence,
Callisto effectively made Gabrielle a basketcase. 
Finally in INTIMATE STRANGER, Callisto inexplicably
gave up on Gabrielle and went after Xena's mother
instead. (Uh-oh, maybe there is something to this
lessening of the theme of Gabrielle symbolizing Xena's
soul and will to do good???). But hey this is all a
tangent...we can't let Callisto dominate in a section
about Ares! Come on, Callisto (in Xena's body) showed
how wimpy he was in INTIMATE STRANGER, only to have
Xena (in Callisto's body) show how even moreso wimpy he
was in TEN LITTLE WARLORDS. It looks like season two is
not being nice to Ares. However, TIES THAT BIND still
portrayed the honorable and respectful Ares that was
the theme of the first season. It will be greatly
remembered for that.
   3. WRITERS. The team of Adam Armus and Nora Kay
Foster has given to us: CHARIOTS OF WAR (#02), DEATH IN
CHAINS (#09), BEWARE GREEKS BEARING GIFTS (#12), TIES
THAT BIND, and GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN (#28). Their
first exploration of the father-child angst was in
CHARIOTS OF WAR as between Cycnus and Sphaerus. 
   4. DIRECTOR. Charles Siebert's best work for XWP
thus far is his Ares trilogy: THE RECKONING (#06), TIES
THAT BIND (#20), and TEN LITTLE WARLORDS (#32). The
most mature, ironically, was his first, THE RECKONING.
His direction of Ares was inspirational and showed that
he understood the character. This theme was continued
on through TIES THAT BIND. This time Ares attempted to
seduce Xena in a radically different way than in THE
RECKONING. However, Mr. Siebert lost his momentum in
TEN LITTLE WARLORDS by abandoning any reference or
continuity with the previous Ares shows. True, TEN
LITTLE WARLORDS was a comedy relief piece that is
rumored to have been re-shot and re-placed in the
seasonal calendar after Ms. Lawless' injury. For that
reason I shall still hope for the greatly anticipated
Ares episode where it finally dawns on Ares that
Gabrielle is the key to Xena's soul, not earthly powers
or riches or even blood relatives. Since the producers
of XWP tend to keep threads and themes with one
director, I also anticipate that when this great
episode is to be shot, Mr. Siebert will be chosen for
the task.   
   Mr. Siebert's other episodes included the first part
of his "Sisyphus" series, DEATH IN CHAINS (#09). TEN
LITTLE WARLORDS served double duty, being his third
Ares episode and second Sisyphus episode (Mr. Siebert
even appeared as Sisyphus in TEN LITTLE WARLORDS; Ray
Henwood played Sisyphus in DEATH IN CHAINS; ooooo,
perhaps more evidence that TEN LITTLE WARLORDS was the
episode which supposedly was re-shot?). DEATH IN CHAINS
was a quirky exploration into the necessity of death;
just as TEN LITTLE WARLORDS was a quirky exploration
into the necessity of a god of war, aka the general
need for an outlet for humanity's warlike urges (was
this guy sent by the Shadows, or what???).  Mr. Siebert
also directed ORPHAN OF WAR (#25) which took him out of
his usual Ares/quirkiness explorations. I haven't
figured out yet where that episode fits in the grand
scheme of Siebert things, but I am working on it. 
   5. THE REDEMPTIVE FRIENDSHIP. Once again it is the
pure at heart Gabrielle who has to beat some sense into
Xena, both figuratively and literally. 
   In THE RECKONING, Xena went into a bloodlust and did
not come out until she swatted Gabrielle across the
room. Xena was shocked into sobriety by her deed.
Xena's bond with Gabrielle was greater than the
bloodlust Ares had induced. Fast forward to TIES THAT
BIND. Ares sees Gabrielle as nothing more than a
hinderance to his plans. While in his Atreus disguise,
he convinces Gabrielle to leave Xena. Not good enough
Ares. Gabrielle was at the village that he wanted Xena
to attack. Xena dutifully attacked (hey!!! they are
flaying dad down there!!! take the village!!), but
Gabrielle stood up to Xena. Interestingly enough, when
Xena brushed off Gabrielle, there was a brief moment of
recognition, but was quickly buried. Gabrielle then
took the now legendary farm tool and slammed it against
Xena's back. Gabrielle did perhaps her bravest deed (I
found this more brave than what she did in THE GREATER
GOOD. In GREATER GOOD, she was essentially required to
masquerade as Xena and to carry on in Xena's supposed
death. Her motivations were noble, but also inspired by
an emotional chain of events  where she didn't really
have time to understand and consider the consequences
or real motivations of her actions. In TIES, Gabrielle
faced her death knowingly with time to understand what
she was doing. The scene where she hits Xena is a grand
moment for Renee O'Connor. In those five seconds she
goes from righteous anger to utter and complete fear as
she awaits to be skewered by Xena. A tough moment which
Ms. O'Connor superbly performs). You can tell by
Gabrielle's looks she did not expect to survive but was
doing so to make a political statement. Luckily, Xena
got the message. 
   So what is the real message of this episode, other
than Ares is a pain in the proverbial rear end? It is
that Gabrielle is more than just a comic foil, action
buddy, or even student to Xena's teacher; Gabrielle, at
least during this part of the series, represented to
Xena all the good things in her life and the reasons
why Xena was attempting redemption at all. This grand
theme of the growing spiritual, emotional, and physical
friendship between Xena and Gabrielle reached its
current apex in the episode REMEMBER NOTHING (#26)
where the friendship between the two women were cast as
being not only foretold and inevitable, but as
unbreakable and consequently eternal. This was also
supported further in REMEMBER NOTHING where Lyceus (her
beloved brother and pre-Gabrielle moral compass) and
Gabrielle almost merge. It is through this episode that
you learn how important both Lyceus and Gabrielle are
in Xena's perception of her life.
   HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Monty Pythonesque dartblower. (2)
Chakram hovering in place while Xena fought, and then
when she was free, the chakram flying back to her and
re-attaching itself to her belt. Look ma! No hands! (3)
Ares: "Sometimes the best man for a job is a woman";
tough break for Kirilus. (4) Every single scene with
Rhea. Her approach, her style, her subtle use of drama
is beyond my abilities for description (I only hope she
was not a method actor!). You got to see her, to
believe her.
   DISCLAIMER: No Fathers, Spiritual or Biological,
were harmed during the production of this motion
picture.

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Continued in Part 3

