Forget Me Not

Despite the title, this episode is one I don't remember very well, nor do I care to. I find it to be probably my least favorite of all the clip shows, but that shouldn't be surprising considering Xena is in it very little. Still, Renee O'Connor proves once again what a superb actress she is.

Apparently, Gabrielle's conscience is driving her crazy.

Joxer is VERY faithful to Gabrielle.

Gabrielle is getting a sponge bath in the beginning. Hmm…

The voices are very hard to hear in this episode…it distracts me.

Joxer kills me with "Yeah? Well, I can make her forget. I'm a very forgettable person!"

I love the set design for this one…the cave looks great!

Somehow, from the beginning, Gabrielle doesn't seem surprised to learn of Ares' involvement.

That image of her covered in blood is horrible!

But she screams great!

"What's a Potodeia?" Funny Gabs, and the same thing I asked myself the first time I heard it.

Ares is very philosophical in this one. "Pain is nature's way of saying, Hey, you're alive!"

And he gets Gabrielle on a technicality. "No, no, what I said was I would be here to save you, and I am."

Gabrielle's heartfelt, "I can't go back; I can't go forward; I don't know what to do" is well-spoken.

Renee looked very, very cold. Freezing cold.

Love this line from Gabrielle too, "Very strange. In every story, you tell me this thing I'm wearing gets smaller. Is it enchanted?"

Joxer's response? "Yeah, they are…it is."

Gabrielle asks, "Jerkster? Do I live around here?"

Joxer responds, "No, you wander around with me and Xena."

Then Gabs says, "I'm looking forward to meeting Xena. Do you think she'll like me?"

He answers, "Probably." There's an understatement!

Gabrielle asks him, "Are we going to sing that Jerkster the…Joxer the Mighty song again? I like that song." Oh gods!

The first scroll Joxer read her was called, appropriately enough, Sins of the Past.

He also read Callisto.

Gabrielle: I'm in love with you?
Joxer: Yes, yes you are.
Gabrielle: I think I knew that.

Gabs puts her head on Joxer's shoulder, which makes him appear a little nervous.

Ares likes the fact that Gabbers is smart. I can buy that.

Very cool effect with Gabs on fire!

Even cooler when she pounds the ground!

Love Gabs, "Yeah, for friendship."

And then, "I wanted to get there before Xena, so that I could betray her. I wanted to betray her. I gave her everything and it meant nothing to her. I hated her for loving someone else. I wanted her to hurt. I wanted her to be punished. And I almost got her killed. My hatred and jealousy almost destroyed my best friend."

She just summed up the whole Rift as I see it!

Then she proceeds to knock the stuffing out of Ares!

"Take me Joxer, now. Like the time just before you saved Ulysses." Uh…Xena saved Ulysses…does that mean she took Gabrielle first?

And then Gabs is all over Joxer.

She asks, "Is this that centurion/ gladiator game we used to play?" Once again, who exactly played it?

Poor Gabrielle…"You lied…what's a lie?"

Gabs has never danced nude in the rain anywhere near Joxer. Has she done it anywhere near anyone else?

No doubt about it, Joxer has a good heart.

Xena explains a lot with her, "Nightmares can tell you a lot of things. Thank the gods you talk in your sleep. I knew this was one journey you had to make without me. I'm just glad you made it back."

She looks awfully close to tears.

And her eyes look green in this scene…weird.

Xena also gets the final line of the episode, "No, Joxer, not even Memocine could help her with that." She says that in regards to Gabrielle being able to forget Joxer.

The best thing about this episode is it does explain how Gabrielle got to Chin ahead of Xena. However, did it really take a whole episode to answer that question?

ally take a whole episode to answer that question?

Here's Gary's take on Forget Me Not. Enjoy!

In Forget-Me-Not,we see that Gabby is troubled by terrible pain for what she has done in her past. We didn't see her as bad,but she sees herself that way,and her guilt is driving her crazy. She goes to the temple of Mnemosene and wants to forget her past,so she can have peace. While there,Joxer is trying in his fumbling way to help her. When she is in the spirit world,he takes Gabby's body out of the temple and tries to give her back her memories,but only the good ones. He also tries to convince her that she is in love with him. While Gabby is in the "underworld" where there are three rivers to cross,she sees the first one,thinking it isn't so bad,and when she splashes water on her face,she sees how she has killed in the past,starting with Meridian in The Deliverer,and allows Crassus to die in When in Rome.Her guilt shows the blood on her hands and face,including Hope's blood as in Maternal Instincts. Ares shows up to remind her that she may not make it,and she should go back. We find out later that the Ares she sees is really one from within her....her guilt.The part of her which is bad. The second river has ice in it,and her acting abilities made us believe that she was freezing. I read in the Chakram that the water was actually warm. She did a great job in this "clip" show...we see Xena with her in the present only for a minute at the end. The whole show was Gabby and her reactions to what she has done in her past. Meanwhile,Joxer is reading her scrolls to teach her who and what she is,but is really lying so that she will love him. Back at the third river (of fire,this time),Gabby must cross it,despite Ares' warnings. When she was in the fire,the screams she cried were so vivid,I actually had tears in my eyes...What a performance that was! Also,near the end,when she realizes that Ares was really a projection of her guilt that was inside her,she reaches out and her staff appears....she screamed "YOU" in such a way that one's blood ran cold...it was full of anguish and the feeling of being betrayed. She must decide to remove all her memories or go on and remember all the pain....she chooses to remember,and comes back to the present to tweak Joxer's nose and be the "old" Gabby...that is when she meets Xena for the last minute in the show. Gabby realized that she had within her the guilt of killing,the betrayal of Xena at Chin,and her desire to hurt Xena because of Gabby giving up her home,family,killing her daughter,and dedicating her life to Xena,only to have Xena leave her to repay a debt that superceded the years Xena and Gabby had together..She came face-to-face with her shortcomings.

I loved this show,and it depicted a different Gabby who is,after all,human,but who truly loves her best friend,Xena. I give this episode an "A"...it is in the same class of Renee's fantastic performance in Paradise Found.

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