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This episode begins with many scenes from "Maternal Instincts." Oneis when Xena finds out that Gabrielle did not kill her daughter, Hope. Another is of Gabby killing Hope, and that trying to drink the poison herself. When we are brought back to present day, Gabrielle is sitting on a log. When Joxer enters the scene.. she begins to cry. As Joxer trys to comforther, Gabrielle tells him that she must of to the Temple of Mnemosyne to getrid of these painful memories. Joxer and her are supposed to be meeting Xena at the temple.. but Gabrielle goes to the temple on her own.. and Xena is not there.
As Gabrielle arrives, a woman comes to her. A few seconds later,Gabby desides to go into the temple, ignoring the risks involved in goingin.. the guards warn her that she will risk losing all of her memory.
The priestess explains to Gabrielle that as she entered, her memoriesbecame "a part of" the temple, and are now stored in a bowl of water. Should any of this water be spilt or poured out, Gabrielle's memory will becleared away forever. Gabby is also told of a long journey that is ahead.. andhow, at the end, she must decided if she will keep her memories.. or loosethem. Meanwhile, Joxer is outside desperatly trying to go in after Gabrielle,but fails to get passed the guards. He spots and tree and climbs it, wherehe spots Gabby being prepaired for her journey. Joxer finally enters thetemple by falling out of the tree. He picks up Gabrielle's body, but isforwarned that it is not Gabrielle, the woman he loves, who is is picking up, butan empty shell...
An empty shell indeed. The next scene show Gabrielle, not with Joxer, but in "memory land" with nothing but a white toga on. She sees Ares, andhe explains to her that he will be acting as her guide throughout herjourney. She is escorted forward to The River of Wailing, which is to be herfirst obstacle on her journey to rid herself of her painful memories. Sheslowly steps into the water, and is engolfed with memories from earlier in herlife (the memories came from two of the older episodes of Xena. One was"The Deliver" and the other was "When In Rome"). Once the memories faded,she rose from the river.. covered in blood. As she proceeded to her next challenge, which is to be The River of Woe, Ares warns her that thisriver "runs deep.." but she goes anyways.
Back on "Earth," Joxer is teaching the "empty Gabrielle" aboutherself by reading some of the scrolls to her. However, during the lessons, Joxerdecides to tell the new Gabrielle things that he would like her to believe.
Back in her memory, Gabrielle approaches the River of Woe. She seesa bridge of ice, and decides to cross it. Unfortunatly, the bridge breaks, and dumps her into the freezing water where she remembers things from "The Debt and The Debt II." As she emerges out of the cold water (she hasn'tcrossed it yet, she goes out the way she came in), Ares starts a fire for her. She begins to recall more things from "The Debt II," but with more emphasison how Xena and her had made up in the dungeon. Remembering this gave herstrength, and she decided to cross the river again. As she gets in,the icy river begins to surround her, and before too long she is gets trappedin the ice. She yells to Ares that she doesn't know what to do while clawingher way out. Ares tells her that she can either stay where she is.. ordie.
Joxer continues filling the empty Gabrielle's head with stories. Hetells her that she is in love with him.. and that she really likes the Joxerthe Mighty Song.
Finally making her way of out the River of Woe, Gabby moves on to the next.. The River of Fire. Ares explains to Gabrielle that the problemis with Xena. Gabby responds by saying any problems that her and Xena hadwere resolved in Illusia. Gabrielle then steps into the river, and memoriesof "The Debt" come back to her (with emphesis on the time where Xena leaves her).
Gabrielle asks Xena: "You owe someone so much that you would give upthese last few years?" As Xena gets on Argo, Gabby turns and see Ares(which, if you remember, wasn't in the original "Debt!")). As she is remembering this, she catches on fire. Rushing out of the water, she falls to theground, burning. Ares tells her that she will die. With her mind, Gabrielleputs out the fire and realizes that Ares isn't there to guide her throughthe journey.. but that he is really her conscious or her guilt. She then remembers Ares offering her a chance to go to Chin to seek revenge onXena for leaving her. She took the offer.. and was sent to Chin. After remembering this.. she tells Ares that she wanted to betray Xena.. shehated Xena for loving someone else.. and she wanted to punish her. Gabriellegets furious when she realizes hat her hatred and jaelousy almost destroyedher best friend, and taking a staff in her hand, she begins beating Ares with it.
But the real challenge will be deciding on whether to pour out thewater.. or leave it.. and remember everything.
The scene then moves back to Joxer, who has (finally) realized thatan empty Gabrielle isn't quite as good as the real thing.. no matter howmany stories he tells her about how much she loved him. He confesses to herthat he had been lying... except for the story of her dancing naked wih himin the rain. All of a sudden, she pinches his nose.. telling him thatthat never, ever happened. SHE WAS BACK! She had choosen to keep the bowlfull.. and return home with all of her memories. Her and Xena than began talking.. and Xena tells Gabby how happy she is that she decided to keep all other memories. Gabrielle apologizes and they hug.
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