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scifi_rewatchThe return of Hudson Leick as Callisto always promises to herald in one of the better episodes. I mean, we couldn’t just leave her locked up in a jail cell (or in a Hannibal Lecter-type contraption); she’s just too fun. :P Plus, we meet up (and wrap of, of sorts,) with some earlier backstory and character developments. Basically, this is a big one for Gabrielle, but Xena must also step up her game because of that. So not only is Hudson a great actress, but she also boosts up Lucy and Renee.
We also get Joxer for some much needed comic relief and a couple of shocking twists, which have more permanent consequences than usual. It’s a rockin’ (chariot) ride! :p Touchingly, the episode is dedicated to the memory of Michelle Calvert, who played one of Hudson’s stunt doubles in the original “Callisto.”
Summary:
Two jailers enter a prison to feed the prisoners gruel. The superior officer explains to his subordinate that you have to demand their respect because they’re “the toughest, baddest men around.” The worst of the worst is so bad that you need a ladle to reach her from the door. It’s Callisto, strapped down, limb for limb plus head, to her chair. As the superior officer mocks her, Callisto promises to make him squeal like a pig before she kills him. Incensed, the guard enters the cell to smack her on the face, but she’s able to grab his dagger. Smart move, goon.
Later, the guards gamble and Callisto cuts herself free. She enters the fray and quickly dispatches of her jailers as the other prisoners chant her name. Of course, this all ends with her cornering the goon who started this with “here, Piggy, Piggy, Piggy…” :P
Once he’s squealed his last she goes to free her second in command, Theodorus, and sets him to the task of recruiting the strong prisoners to their new army (the weak ones will be “put out of their misery.”) She also wants to take her Hannibal Lecter chair because “I know someone that will look perfect on.” Gulp.
Later at night, someone with loud, crunchy footsteps approaches Xena and Gabrielle as they sleep by their campfire…Xena senses movement and clocks him; turns out to be Perdicas, Gabrielle’s childhood fiancé whom we last saw fighting in Troy. But he’s not done with surprises, as he asks Gabby again to be his wife! He explains that since leaving Troy he’s fought in more battles, killed more men and felt increasingly guilty about it. Gabrielle cautions him that she’s no longer the sweet, innocent girl to save him from his demons, but he counters that even though she fights she hasn’t killed. More to the point, maybe they weren’t ready to marry when they were both innocent villagers but they’re ready now. A choked up Gabrielle flees the scene.
Elsewhere, Joxer is trying to prove himself to two young boys by breaking a barrel of iron with his sword—doesn’t go so well. :P But he does survive another encounter with Callisto! This time he doesn’t want to join her army because he “turned good like Xena.” Speaking of Xena, Callisto has a message she wants Joxer to deliver; basically a guilt trip about killing her when she could have, because now every new drop of innocent blood is on both of their hands. :/ Yikes.
Xena and Gabrielle walk behind Perdicas as they awkwardly discuss the proposal. Gabrielle doesn’t sound entirely comfortable when she says she means to tell the boy no—just hasn’t gotten around to it yet—and Xena complicates things by telling her friend she has her blessing if Perdicas makes her happy. Said emotional drama is broken up by physical drama—Joxer appears at the top of a ledge to deliver Callisto’s message.
A village burns and Callisto’s army raids and pillages as a young girl watches, frozen. Xena, Gabrielle and Perdicas join the fray and the dark warrior women quickly find each other. Callisto gets the upper hand by throwing her dagger at the girl; as Xena dives to intercept it, she’s left defenseless to the sword now in her neck. But Callisto doesn’t want to kill her just yet; she promises to kill Xena’s soul first, and backflips away. Nearby, Perdicas is so traumatized by his latest kill that Xena has to step in and save Gabrielle. Lover boy lays down his ultimatum—he’ll always love her, but he needs to go home now. Enough’s enough. Perhaps stirred by the finality, Gabs tells Xena that she’s going to marry him after all.
Wedding bells come quickly as a priest presides over the marriage of Gabs and Perdicas with Xena and Joxer as attendants. Gabrielle trades in her green sports bra for a simple white dress, just for this scene. After ritualistic words are spoken, congratulations abound for the couple, of course ending with Xena and Gabrielle alone. It’s a bittersweet farewell with plaintive promises that Xena will visit often…then it ends with a kiss on the lips?? Subtext ahoy! :D
Even during the honeymoon Gabs can’t stop talking about her friend, how she misses her, how they’ll name their first daughter Xena. :P Maybe Perdicas is a wee bit jealous, because he returns the favor with the bombshell that he’s not a virgin. But then he promises he’s not good at the sex act (which in my mind would make bad news even worse,) but Gabs apparently is in the mood, and schmaltzy kissing and slight disrobing starts up.
Elsewhere, Xena sneaks up on Theodorus and puts the pinch on him to find out Callisto’s location. The struggling right hand goon lets slip that his mistress knows the warrior princess and the bard have split up, so Xeen realizes she’s after Gabrielle! Night turns into day and a lovey dovey Gabrielle and Perdicas travel down the road. Their post-coital bliss is interrupted by Callisto, who takes particular pleasure in smacking down Perdicas even though he protests that he’s unarmed. She’s about to strike a killer blow to Gabby when Xena’s chakram intervenes. The two warrior women face off for a moment, but when Callisto is sent into a staggering Perdicas’s path, she takes the opportunity and runs him through the stomach. :/ Content with the damage she’s caused she runs off as widowed Gabby wails over her husband’s body and Xena looks on in stony disbelief.
Xena sings mournfully over Perdicas’s funeral pyre. Backlit by the flames, Gabrielle promises her friend that she’s not going to stand idly by anymore—she’s going to kill Callisto. Xena tries to encourage her to mourn and leave their enemy to her, but Gabs is adamant. The next morning, as she hacks violently into a tree with a sword, Xena comes to collect her but says not to go up against Callisto alone; she’ll surely be killed. Gabs turns this back on her friend and accuses her of never teaching her how to use a sword. Angrily determined she demands a lesson, but Xena refuses to let her destroy her ideals. Gabrielle spits on her old ideals for being helplessly naïve and in an increasingly intense scene starts jabbing Xena with the sword, until the Warrior Princess bats it out of her hand. Ultimately, however, as Xena walks away, Gabs guilts her with the truth that “the innocent young Gabrielle is gone” and the new one deserves a fighting chance. And so the lessons begin, with Gabs getting increasingly maniacal as she parries. Teach me how to kill her, she cackles.
Callisto’s army and dancing women party the night away inside their new stronghold as Callisto sits on her Hannibal Lecter chair. She refuses alcohol from Theodorus, as she doesn’t want to dull her senses, and Theodorus quite stupidly tries to hit on her. Callisto promises to kill him if he’s in love, because like the new Gabrielle she believes love to be a trick of the mind.
Elsewhere, Joxer and an increasingly agitated Gabrielle wait for Xena to come back from scouting. The warrior princess reports that Callisto et al are partying, and it would be best to wait until they’re asleep to attack. She found an unguarded passage inside, and of course Gabrielle isn’t invited. :P Xena tries to dress it up as guarding her rear, but Gabs is having none of it. So Xena goes off into a clearing and does something she’s usually very hesitant to do…she prays to the gods. She reminds them that Gabrielle was once her rock when she herself was ready to give up, and now she wants to save her friend from darkness. Unbeknownst to her, Gabrielle is listening.
Later, Gabs sits on a rock, waiting for Xena, and sadly admits that her friend was right—she needs to go home and mourn. Xena immediately latches onto this idea, and is only a little perturbed when Gabs says she’ll set out now, in the middle of the night. :P Later, she stakes the passageway with Joxer, who shows his own mettle by claiming that he’d sacrifice his own life for Gabrielle. Xena advises him, too, to keep the suicidal heroics at bay. She’s ready to go in. Inside, the soldiers and dancers are sleeping on the floor; Callisto is stretched out across her chair. Someone approaches with a raised sword…it’s Gabrielle! As she’s about to strike, however, she remembers making Xena promise to not turn into a monster during the first “Callisto,” then Xena praying to the gods earlier in the episode. She drops her sword with a clamor, which of course wakes everyone up. Callisto looks more perturbed than anything. Even after all she’s cost Gabs, she still won’t kill her? Gabs stands by her ideal to not take a life; she’d rather die. But Callisto has no intention of killing her right away.
The army feigns sleep as Xena enters, and when she’s deep enough inside they ambush her. Callisto has a gift for her nemesis—Gabrielle at swordpoint! Her plan is unleashed in the next scene; she’ll burn Gabrielle in a fire (like Callisto’s family died,) while Xena watches helpless from the Hannibal Lecter chair. Xena struggles fruitlessly against her bonds as Gabrielle’s fire is lit…then in barrels Joxer, who is immediately knocked out. :P But not before getting Xena’s chakram onto her foot! Xena is able to use it to cut free both her and Gabby’s bonds. Once again the two warrior women enter a fight (with Gabs grabbing a staff and fighting Theodorus.) But when they’re once again caught at a standstill, Callisto suggests chariots and then flips out to them.
The two ride furiously down theNew Zealand Grecian beach in a stunningly choreographed and edited scene. Not much is happening for a little bit, except the action-packed chasing, until they’re side by side and Callisto is able to use her spoke to dislodge one of Xena’s wheels. Xena whips herself onto Callisto’s chariot and is dragged along back…Callisto tries to go faster, but Xena is able to crawl up the rope. She reaches the driving area and the women enter a slap fight for awhile until Xena sends them both rolling down a steep hill. …and into quick sand! :O
The two of them start to sink, slowly, and in her way Callisto seems to find peace, dying alongside her enemy. But Xena has a trick up her sleeve—or rather her chakram and whip, which she uses to hoist herself out. Callisto is very impressed…and then horrified as it becomes evident that Xena won’t save her as well. For all her previous talk of accepting death, Callisto screams and begs as her face and hands are slowly submerged. Xena watches, half resolved, half guilty. Later, she tends to Joxer’s minor wounds (he’s on his way out of the story for awhile), and in the sunset she comforts Gabs who is thinking thoughts of love to Perdicas in the afterlife.
Disclaimer: Although Xena finally conquered her dark nemesis Callisto, it took her weeks to get the sand out of her leather unmentionables.
Thoughts:
I’m going to give my quick props to Scott Garrison (Perdicas) and David Te Rare (Theodorus) for reprising their minor roles. Really adds to the continuity.
Dearly departed Perdicas may be small fries in the grand scheme of things, but it’s worth noting how he fits into Gabrielle’s backstory (when played by a different actor, but still. :P) So yes, the romance was incredibly rushed in this episode, but he fits into the innocent world that Gabrielle was trying to escape, and he’s also changed himself, not just in this episode but in “Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts.” They allude to it often that without him deciding to leave home and test his own horizons, Gabs never would have fallen in love with him. And yet his struggles with his kills speaks to Gabrielle’s burgeoning role and conflicted morals in the warrior culture.
No epic series, even one that embraces the cheese like “Xena,” can endure without arcs and growth for the main characters. If Gabrielle is going to continue traveling with Xena, she’s going to experience such things as loss and helplessness at the hands of warriors. And with fighting (emphasis on that word) for good becoming normalized for her, it’s only natural that she’ll question her old, “innocent” lifestyle and embrace a more militant attitude. I love how it’s not black and white with her—she wanted to leave the stagnant, pastoral lifestyle of Potedia and experience more of the world, and that means figuring out what ideals and choices to hang onto, and what to let go of. (The critics on FemPop pointed out the bittersweet irony of Xena’s sacrifice in “Remember Nothing” to keep Gabby from suffering meaning much less after this episode. :/) I’m with Xena on keeping the “blood purity” of not murdering anyone, but at least Gabs lost her V card. :P Maybe we’ll finally move past this obsession with boy toys? I mean holy hell, Lucy and Renee like to pretend that “it’s natural” for two female friends to kiss on the lips at one of their weddings, but…nah, not buying it. :P
Beyond the subtext, Lucy and Renee were on fire this episode, playing off of each other wonderfully and challenging the other to amp up the character emotions. As Gabrielle angrily deals with her grief, Xena nervously deals with her fears of losing the person who’s become her rock. And Hudson always steals the show with Callisto’s raw, unapologetic and deeply pained rendition of Xena’s victim-turned-nemesis. It’s a shame to think that she’s dead (though surely we don’t just want to see her escaping from jail cells for the rest of the series,) but…this is a scifi/fantasy show. :P That’s all I’ll say about that.
Music, editing, action sequences and Ted Raimi as Joxer were also a joy to watch. All in all, one of the stronger episodes.
Favorite Quotes:
*Callisto interrupts Guard Gambling Night*
Jailer: Luck be a lady tonight!
Callisto: You lose.
*Callisto and Xena meet up for the first time on the battlefield*
Callisto: I’ve missed you, Xena.
Xena: You never wrote.
*Xena’s reigning-in-emotions non-goodbye to married Gabrielle*
Xena: Gabrielle-- I am not going to _let_ you say goodbye. That’s not what this is. We’ll see one another again soon.
*Romantic pillow talk :P*
Perdicas: You’re gonna miss her, aren’t you?
Gabrielle: Yeah. I’m more worried about her missing me, though. She’s gonna be all alone. I have you.
Perdicas: That makes you happy?
Gabrielle: Very-- I-- if we have a daughter, do you think we can name--?
Perdicas: Xena-- I wouldn’t have it any other way.
*Xena and Gabrielle’s tense confrontation about killing Callisto*
Xena: Gabrielle, when we find her, don’t go up against her one on one. You’ll be dead in seconds.”
Gabrielle: If she dies with me-- that’ll be fine.
Xena: Not with me it won’t. Besides, she’d chop you into little pieces before you even struck a first blow.
Gabrielle: That’s because you never taught me how to use a sword. Now, that’s going to change-- right now. I want a lesson.
Xena: No.
Gabrielle: Why?
Xena: Because I won’t help you destroy all the ideals that you live by.
Gabrielle: My ideals were a lie. I thought love was the strongest power on Earth. What a fool. Love is helpless in the face of cruelty.
Xena: Gabrielle, if you’re taken over by hatred-- Callisto wins.
Gabrielle: I’ve got news for you, Xena. She’s already won. Now, show me how to use a sword.
Xena: Not a chance.
Gabrielle: Xena! Teach me.
Xena: No.
Gabrielle: Teach me. Teach me! Teach me!
Xena: I won’t do it.
Gabrielle: Xena, wake up and look around you! The little innocent Gabrielle is dead, and there’s no getting her back. Just teach me how to use a sword, so, at least I stand a fighting chance.
*Callisto lays down the romance law for Theodorus*
Callisto: You’re not falling in love with me, are you?
Theodorus: And what if I was?
Callisto: I’d have to kill you. Love is a trick that nature plays to get us to reproduce. I want no part of it.
*Xena’s prayer*
Xena: If anyone’s listening-- you know, I’m not much for praying. But I don’t know what else to do. I was ready to give up once, and-- and Gabrielle came into my life. Please-- don’t let that light that shines out of her face go out. I couldn’t stand the darkness that would follow.
*Joxer’s speech to Xena*
Joxer: You know, Xena, I know you don’t think very much of me-- and that’s fine. But I care about Gabrielle, too. And I would do anything to avenge her loss, including sacrificing my own life.
*After Gabrielle drops the sword*
Callisto: I don’t understand you. After all I did-- you still can’t kill me.
Gabrielle: I won’t take a life-- even yours. I’d rather die.
Callisto: Oh, but you will.
*Callisto taunts Xena with Gabrielle’s death*
Callisto: You’re about to watch the friendship of your life go up in smoke. Hmm-- I envy her in a way. She gets to leave this life so pure. I wonder if I could have been her.
*Callisto’s death scene*
Callisto: We can spend the rest of eternity in Tartarus, together-- hmm?
Xena: Always the optimist.
Callisto: Oh, you’re good, Xena. Xena-- help me. Xena! Xena. Please-- Xena. Help me-- please? You can’t just let me die, Xena. Xena. Xena. I’m counting on you. Help me. Help me! Help me! Xena!
*Parting words to Perdicas*
Xena: What were you doing?
Gabrielle: Loving him.
Xena: He’ll hear your thoughts.
Gabrielle: I know-- forever and ever.
___
We also get Joxer for some much needed comic relief and a couple of shocking twists, which have more permanent consequences than usual. It’s a rockin’ (chariot) ride! :p Touchingly, the episode is dedicated to the memory of Michelle Calvert, who played one of Hudson’s stunt doubles in the original “Callisto.”
Summary:
Two jailers enter a prison to feed the prisoners gruel. The superior officer explains to his subordinate that you have to demand their respect because they’re “the toughest, baddest men around.” The worst of the worst is so bad that you need a ladle to reach her from the door. It’s Callisto, strapped down, limb for limb plus head, to her chair. As the superior officer mocks her, Callisto promises to make him squeal like a pig before she kills him. Incensed, the guard enters the cell to smack her on the face, but she’s able to grab his dagger. Smart move, goon.
Later, the guards gamble and Callisto cuts herself free. She enters the fray and quickly dispatches of her jailers as the other prisoners chant her name. Of course, this all ends with her cornering the goon who started this with “here, Piggy, Piggy, Piggy…” :P
Once he’s squealed his last she goes to free her second in command, Theodorus, and sets him to the task of recruiting the strong prisoners to their new army (the weak ones will be “put out of their misery.”) She also wants to take her Hannibal Lecter chair because “I know someone that will look perfect on.” Gulp.
Later at night, someone with loud, crunchy footsteps approaches Xena and Gabrielle as they sleep by their campfire…Xena senses movement and clocks him; turns out to be Perdicas, Gabrielle’s childhood fiancé whom we last saw fighting in Troy. But he’s not done with surprises, as he asks Gabby again to be his wife! He explains that since leaving Troy he’s fought in more battles, killed more men and felt increasingly guilty about it. Gabrielle cautions him that she’s no longer the sweet, innocent girl to save him from his demons, but he counters that even though she fights she hasn’t killed. More to the point, maybe they weren’t ready to marry when they were both innocent villagers but they’re ready now. A choked up Gabrielle flees the scene.
Elsewhere, Joxer is trying to prove himself to two young boys by breaking a barrel of iron with his sword—doesn’t go so well. :P But he does survive another encounter with Callisto! This time he doesn’t want to join her army because he “turned good like Xena.” Speaking of Xena, Callisto has a message she wants Joxer to deliver; basically a guilt trip about killing her when she could have, because now every new drop of innocent blood is on both of their hands. :/ Yikes.
Xena and Gabrielle walk behind Perdicas as they awkwardly discuss the proposal. Gabrielle doesn’t sound entirely comfortable when she says she means to tell the boy no—just hasn’t gotten around to it yet—and Xena complicates things by telling her friend she has her blessing if Perdicas makes her happy. Said emotional drama is broken up by physical drama—Joxer appears at the top of a ledge to deliver Callisto’s message.
A village burns and Callisto’s army raids and pillages as a young girl watches, frozen. Xena, Gabrielle and Perdicas join the fray and the dark warrior women quickly find each other. Callisto gets the upper hand by throwing her dagger at the girl; as Xena dives to intercept it, she’s left defenseless to the sword now in her neck. But Callisto doesn’t want to kill her just yet; she promises to kill Xena’s soul first, and backflips away. Nearby, Perdicas is so traumatized by his latest kill that Xena has to step in and save Gabrielle. Lover boy lays down his ultimatum—he’ll always love her, but he needs to go home now. Enough’s enough. Perhaps stirred by the finality, Gabs tells Xena that she’s going to marry him after all.
Wedding bells come quickly as a priest presides over the marriage of Gabs and Perdicas with Xena and Joxer as attendants. Gabrielle trades in her green sports bra for a simple white dress, just for this scene. After ritualistic words are spoken, congratulations abound for the couple, of course ending with Xena and Gabrielle alone. It’s a bittersweet farewell with plaintive promises that Xena will visit often…then it ends with a kiss on the lips?? Subtext ahoy! :D
Even during the honeymoon Gabs can’t stop talking about her friend, how she misses her, how they’ll name their first daughter Xena. :P Maybe Perdicas is a wee bit jealous, because he returns the favor with the bombshell that he’s not a virgin. But then he promises he’s not good at the sex act (which in my mind would make bad news even worse,) but Gabs apparently is in the mood, and schmaltzy kissing and slight disrobing starts up.
Elsewhere, Xena sneaks up on Theodorus and puts the pinch on him to find out Callisto’s location. The struggling right hand goon lets slip that his mistress knows the warrior princess and the bard have split up, so Xeen realizes she’s after Gabrielle! Night turns into day and a lovey dovey Gabrielle and Perdicas travel down the road. Their post-coital bliss is interrupted by Callisto, who takes particular pleasure in smacking down Perdicas even though he protests that he’s unarmed. She’s about to strike a killer blow to Gabby when Xena’s chakram intervenes. The two warrior women face off for a moment, but when Callisto is sent into a staggering Perdicas’s path, she takes the opportunity and runs him through the stomach. :/ Content with the damage she’s caused she runs off as widowed Gabby wails over her husband’s body and Xena looks on in stony disbelief.
Xena sings mournfully over Perdicas’s funeral pyre. Backlit by the flames, Gabrielle promises her friend that she’s not going to stand idly by anymore—she’s going to kill Callisto. Xena tries to encourage her to mourn and leave their enemy to her, but Gabs is adamant. The next morning, as she hacks violently into a tree with a sword, Xena comes to collect her but says not to go up against Callisto alone; she’ll surely be killed. Gabs turns this back on her friend and accuses her of never teaching her how to use a sword. Angrily determined she demands a lesson, but Xena refuses to let her destroy her ideals. Gabrielle spits on her old ideals for being helplessly naïve and in an increasingly intense scene starts jabbing Xena with the sword, until the Warrior Princess bats it out of her hand. Ultimately, however, as Xena walks away, Gabs guilts her with the truth that “the innocent young Gabrielle is gone” and the new one deserves a fighting chance. And so the lessons begin, with Gabs getting increasingly maniacal as she parries. Teach me how to kill her, she cackles.
Callisto’s army and dancing women party the night away inside their new stronghold as Callisto sits on her Hannibal Lecter chair. She refuses alcohol from Theodorus, as she doesn’t want to dull her senses, and Theodorus quite stupidly tries to hit on her. Callisto promises to kill him if he’s in love, because like the new Gabrielle she believes love to be a trick of the mind.
Elsewhere, Joxer and an increasingly agitated Gabrielle wait for Xena to come back from scouting. The warrior princess reports that Callisto et al are partying, and it would be best to wait until they’re asleep to attack. She found an unguarded passage inside, and of course Gabrielle isn’t invited. :P Xena tries to dress it up as guarding her rear, but Gabs is having none of it. So Xena goes off into a clearing and does something she’s usually very hesitant to do…she prays to the gods. She reminds them that Gabrielle was once her rock when she herself was ready to give up, and now she wants to save her friend from darkness. Unbeknownst to her, Gabrielle is listening.
Later, Gabs sits on a rock, waiting for Xena, and sadly admits that her friend was right—she needs to go home and mourn. Xena immediately latches onto this idea, and is only a little perturbed when Gabs says she’ll set out now, in the middle of the night. :P Later, she stakes the passageway with Joxer, who shows his own mettle by claiming that he’d sacrifice his own life for Gabrielle. Xena advises him, too, to keep the suicidal heroics at bay. She’s ready to go in. Inside, the soldiers and dancers are sleeping on the floor; Callisto is stretched out across her chair. Someone approaches with a raised sword…it’s Gabrielle! As she’s about to strike, however, she remembers making Xena promise to not turn into a monster during the first “Callisto,” then Xena praying to the gods earlier in the episode. She drops her sword with a clamor, which of course wakes everyone up. Callisto looks more perturbed than anything. Even after all she’s cost Gabs, she still won’t kill her? Gabs stands by her ideal to not take a life; she’d rather die. But Callisto has no intention of killing her right away.
The army feigns sleep as Xena enters, and when she’s deep enough inside they ambush her. Callisto has a gift for her nemesis—Gabrielle at swordpoint! Her plan is unleashed in the next scene; she’ll burn Gabrielle in a fire (like Callisto’s family died,) while Xena watches helpless from the Hannibal Lecter chair. Xena struggles fruitlessly against her bonds as Gabrielle’s fire is lit…then in barrels Joxer, who is immediately knocked out. :P But not before getting Xena’s chakram onto her foot! Xena is able to use it to cut free both her and Gabby’s bonds. Once again the two warrior women enter a fight (with Gabs grabbing a staff and fighting Theodorus.) But when they’re once again caught at a standstill, Callisto suggests chariots and then flips out to them.
The two ride furiously down the
The two of them start to sink, slowly, and in her way Callisto seems to find peace, dying alongside her enemy. But Xena has a trick up her sleeve—or rather her chakram and whip, which she uses to hoist herself out. Callisto is very impressed…and then horrified as it becomes evident that Xena won’t save her as well. For all her previous talk of accepting death, Callisto screams and begs as her face and hands are slowly submerged. Xena watches, half resolved, half guilty. Later, she tends to Joxer’s minor wounds (he’s on his way out of the story for awhile), and in the sunset she comforts Gabs who is thinking thoughts of love to Perdicas in the afterlife.
Disclaimer: Although Xena finally conquered her dark nemesis Callisto, it took her weeks to get the sand out of her leather unmentionables.
Thoughts:
I’m going to give my quick props to Scott Garrison (Perdicas) and David Te Rare (Theodorus) for reprising their minor roles. Really adds to the continuity.
Dearly departed Perdicas may be small fries in the grand scheme of things, but it’s worth noting how he fits into Gabrielle’s backstory (when played by a different actor, but still. :P) So yes, the romance was incredibly rushed in this episode, but he fits into the innocent world that Gabrielle was trying to escape, and he’s also changed himself, not just in this episode but in “Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts.” They allude to it often that without him deciding to leave home and test his own horizons, Gabs never would have fallen in love with him. And yet his struggles with his kills speaks to Gabrielle’s burgeoning role and conflicted morals in the warrior culture.
No epic series, even one that embraces the cheese like “Xena,” can endure without arcs and growth for the main characters. If Gabrielle is going to continue traveling with Xena, she’s going to experience such things as loss and helplessness at the hands of warriors. And with fighting (emphasis on that word) for good becoming normalized for her, it’s only natural that she’ll question her old, “innocent” lifestyle and embrace a more militant attitude. I love how it’s not black and white with her—she wanted to leave the stagnant, pastoral lifestyle of Potedia and experience more of the world, and that means figuring out what ideals and choices to hang onto, and what to let go of. (The critics on FemPop pointed out the bittersweet irony of Xena’s sacrifice in “Remember Nothing” to keep Gabby from suffering meaning much less after this episode. :/) I’m with Xena on keeping the “blood purity” of not murdering anyone, but at least Gabs lost her V card. :P Maybe we’ll finally move past this obsession with boy toys? I mean holy hell, Lucy and Renee like to pretend that “it’s natural” for two female friends to kiss on the lips at one of their weddings, but…nah, not buying it. :P
Beyond the subtext, Lucy and Renee were on fire this episode, playing off of each other wonderfully and challenging the other to amp up the character emotions. As Gabrielle angrily deals with her grief, Xena nervously deals with her fears of losing the person who’s become her rock. And Hudson always steals the show with Callisto’s raw, unapologetic and deeply pained rendition of Xena’s victim-turned-nemesis. It’s a shame to think that she’s dead (though surely we don’t just want to see her escaping from jail cells for the rest of the series,) but…this is a scifi/fantasy show. :P That’s all I’ll say about that.
Music, editing, action sequences and Ted Raimi as Joxer were also a joy to watch. All in all, one of the stronger episodes.
Favorite Quotes:
*Callisto interrupts Guard Gambling Night*
Jailer: Luck be a lady tonight!
Callisto: You lose.
*Callisto and Xena meet up for the first time on the battlefield*
Callisto: I’ve missed you, Xena.
Xena: You never wrote.
*Xena’s reigning-in-emotions non-goodbye to married Gabrielle*
Xena: Gabrielle-- I am not going to _let_ you say goodbye. That’s not what this is. We’ll see one another again soon.
*Romantic pillow talk :P*
Perdicas: You’re gonna miss her, aren’t you?
Gabrielle: Yeah. I’m more worried about her missing me, though. She’s gonna be all alone. I have you.
Perdicas: That makes you happy?
Gabrielle: Very-- I-- if we have a daughter, do you think we can name--?
Perdicas: Xena-- I wouldn’t have it any other way.
*Xena and Gabrielle’s tense confrontation about killing Callisto*
Xena: Gabrielle, when we find her, don’t go up against her one on one. You’ll be dead in seconds.”
Gabrielle: If she dies with me-- that’ll be fine.
Xena: Not with me it won’t. Besides, she’d chop you into little pieces before you even struck a first blow.
Gabrielle: That’s because you never taught me how to use a sword. Now, that’s going to change-- right now. I want a lesson.
Xena: No.
Gabrielle: Why?
Xena: Because I won’t help you destroy all the ideals that you live by.
Gabrielle: My ideals were a lie. I thought love was the strongest power on Earth. What a fool. Love is helpless in the face of cruelty.
Xena: Gabrielle, if you’re taken over by hatred-- Callisto wins.
Gabrielle: I’ve got news for you, Xena. She’s already won. Now, show me how to use a sword.
Xena: Not a chance.
Gabrielle: Xena! Teach me.
Xena: No.
Gabrielle: Teach me. Teach me! Teach me!
Xena: I won’t do it.
Gabrielle: Xena, wake up and look around you! The little innocent Gabrielle is dead, and there’s no getting her back. Just teach me how to use a sword, so, at least I stand a fighting chance.
*Callisto lays down the romance law for Theodorus*
Callisto: You’re not falling in love with me, are you?
Theodorus: And what if I was?
Callisto: I’d have to kill you. Love is a trick that nature plays to get us to reproduce. I want no part of it.
*Xena’s prayer*
Xena: If anyone’s listening-- you know, I’m not much for praying. But I don’t know what else to do. I was ready to give up once, and-- and Gabrielle came into my life. Please-- don’t let that light that shines out of her face go out. I couldn’t stand the darkness that would follow.
*Joxer’s speech to Xena*
Joxer: You know, Xena, I know you don’t think very much of me-- and that’s fine. But I care about Gabrielle, too. And I would do anything to avenge her loss, including sacrificing my own life.
*After Gabrielle drops the sword*
Callisto: I don’t understand you. After all I did-- you still can’t kill me.
Gabrielle: I won’t take a life-- even yours. I’d rather die.
Callisto: Oh, but you will.
*Callisto taunts Xena with Gabrielle’s death*
Callisto: You’re about to watch the friendship of your life go up in smoke. Hmm-- I envy her in a way. She gets to leave this life so pure. I wonder if I could have been her.
*Callisto’s death scene*
Callisto: We can spend the rest of eternity in Tartarus, together-- hmm?
Xena: Always the optimist.
Callisto: Oh, you’re good, Xena. Xena-- help me. Xena! Xena. Please-- Xena. Help me-- please? You can’t just let me die, Xena. Xena. Xena. I’m counting on you. Help me. Help me! Help me! Xena!
*Parting words to Perdicas*
Xena: What were you doing?
Gabrielle: Loving him.
Xena: He’ll hear your thoughts.
Gabrielle: I know-- forever and ever.
___
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