Lifeblood

Here are Gary’s thoughts:

 

This was a confusing episode for me. We hear Gabby’s voice-over talking about the Amazon history and relating it to Eve’s rite of caste. It is supposed to be the initiation of Eve into the Amazon “nation” and the Amazons’ rebirth. Xena tells Gabby that she doesn’t have to do it, but Gabby will make Eve an Amazon Princess. The problem I see is this: Gabby is the queen in Melosa’s old tribe, with Ephiny and the others. She is now in the North, which has to have its own queen from their number. Gabby cannot be queen of two tribes.

 

Xena says she traded home and family for blood. When they arrive at the Amazon camp, there is a funeral pyre for some Amazons who were killed in a fight with some other group. Yakut, the shamaness, and Amarice are dead, along with a few others. The woman in charge gives Gabby the necklace that Gabby gave to Amarice…Amarice had added a bead for Eve, but somehow knew it was going to be a girl born to Xena.

 

Xena sees Yakut’s ghost. She sees the past of the Amazons and knows she must help Yakut pass over by helping her with unfinished business.

 

The gist: The Amazons have to know their true history. The flashback shows primitive men and women fighting (just like today).

 

The woman, Cyane, is in charge now and says that Xena cannot be at Eve’s rite of caste. Gabby has to be the queen (for a day) for the rite until Cyane is the official queen. Yakut tells Xena to dress in shamaness robes and come to the hut. She says Padma was the first Cyane( I thought CYANE was the first Cyane, per Sin Trade). There is another flashback of Samsara, who looks like Ephiny, who fights what I will call the “white-painted tribe.”

 

She has a dagger made from a bone and carved with a horse’s head. Now it gets more confusing. The Amazons are without men, and they fight men who appear to have no women among them. There is now a man who is told by Sam to “do it,” meaning conjure up a person from the FUTURE to lead the Amazons in the PAST.  A girl from today is plucked from our time and sent back to the ancient times. She is scared and screams a lot.

 

How does she know the old language?  The tribe is confused when this girl adapts so quickly, and she jumps onto a horse. They bow to her because they usually eat the horses. They call her the “Yadma.” Now she is a “Tutolmek” or “one of the girls.” There are scenes which switch back-and-forth showing the rituals of Xena’s time matching the old Amazon ways.

 

There is blood in each ritual, which I guess is the title’s meaning. The girl is cute and screams a lot, but that is it. I didn’t see her as any real leader. She never talks about her life in the future and doesn’t question how and why she got there as any other person would. This was unrealistic.

 

There are occasional long fight scenes with the women versus the white-painted guys. Also, there are a LOT of dances, which take a lot of filming time. Gabby says that without new life, “our” tribe will die out. Hey! How are there going to be little Amazons without MEN? Xena wants the token (horse dagger) and tells Yakut to bring it from the

void. This happens quickly and Xena is to use it to teach the Amazons their past.

 

“Ephiny” and Yadma run for a tree in a race. Nobody even asks her about her clothes or other futuristic items. Yadma falls into the river and is rescued by none other that Karl Urban, who played Caesar. The girl screams again, and is brought to a cave (where ELSE?). He puts the make on a willing Yadma when Ephiny (I am going to keep calling her that) bursts in and attacks the guy. She is about to kill him when Yadma stops her. The rest of the tribe is ticked off at Yadma, since the guy is from the painted tribe.

Ephiny wants the death penalty for Yadma.

 

Eve is in the ritual and is an Amazon now. A painted horse is there and will die in the blood ceremony. Xena, meddling AGAIN, breaks in uninvited and holds up the token. She says she is going to show the TRUTH that Samsara HID.

 

Flashback: Yadma and another girl are caught by the painted tribe. They are cannibals, and Karl has to kill them. Yadma, still screaming (a real bore at this point) cries for mercy. The Amazons attack to free them. The women seem to be able to kill and stomp the guys with ease, so why not kill them all and get it over with? Instead, they let the survivors go.

 

Samsara : she is bitter because her father was killed by the bad guys. In fact, ALL the men and boys were killed and evidently EATEN by the cannibals. How are the women supposed to survive as a race with NO MEN? Gabby, in the present, says that war is BAD and the Amazons NOW should not seek to avenge Yakut and Amarice. (Note: In Helicon, Gabby leads the remains of the Amazon race to get Varia back). This is a switch, since we have seen Gabby recently agreeing that fighting is the way to go.

 

Xena, being where she was told to stay away from, says Yakut will spend an eternity paying for the Amazons’ sins. HUH? What is this about one dead woman paying for sins? This is confusing the god of Eli and other gods, plus who goes where and who pays for what.

 

The Amazons are supposed to retrieve the lost wisdom of their past. We see the flashback of all the Amazons walking and instantly turning their heads at the same time to see the painted tribe waiting to attack them. This was the one realistic and interesting short scene in the show. It showed attentiveness.

 

The Big Fight starts. The bad guys attack and there is a lot of gore, etc, and  in a long, drawn-out scene, Yadma  and other Amazons ride horses in the attack. The painted guys are stunned and lose the battle.

 

The Amazon leader….she doesn’t want them all to die and says the fight is won. Sam still wants to wipe the bad guys out, which makes sense. Yadma says to Karl to lead his people and show them a better way.

 

The camp: Cyane says they strayed too far. Gabby says they have to decide who they want to be.

 

The flashback Amazon: they are on a new mission…honoring their dead men and helping others. Exactly who is left? There are the Amazons and the remnants of the painted tribe.

They now call themselves “Amazons” per Yadma’s instructions.

 

The end: Gabby “baptizes” Eve with water, not blood. Eve is given the rite of caste, and Yakut’s spirit leaves. Gabby says to temper might with mercy. Her over-voice tells of the “wisdom of Xena.”

 

This show made no sense at all, since it was mainly a lot of dancing and fighting, with a flimsy explanation of how the Amazons got their name. We never know how only the MEN died at the hands of the painted tribe, and besides, where are the women of the painted tribe? How do the separate sexes reproduce?

 

Eve is an Amazon Princess, but we never see any other mention of this in future episodes when she is Livia and again Eve. I think it was a waste of film time. A better way would have been a real war in the past with a showing of what happened with a better resolution of the conflict. I think it just left everything hanging. It was a real disappointment.