I kinda like this one, for some demented reason.
It starts out with Ares getting a little action in bed. It's interesting that he not only smokes after sex, but blows out chakram shaped smoke rings. Mavican makes herself obvious from the beginning: I don't know what Xena had to do or say to get the job, but I want it." Ares tells Mavican that Xena never asked for anything. That is a BIG CLUE she would do well to pay attention to~ Gabrielle wants her chance to fight, but Xena is hogging all the bad guys. Gabrielle protests, "I'm not a kid anymore. You would think she'd know that." Yes, I have to agree with that! Gabs' sais look awfully long. Gabs says she could have handled one out of five. Hey, Xena's changed duds! Mavican has all kinds of stuff to throw at Xena. Xena does the split chakram throw, and Mavican does a good job dodging them, which surprises Xena. I've read lots of comments about the size of Mavican's chest and how close she looked to spilling out. It never distracted me, but I thought I'd bring it up. Xena is unbelievably feral as they finally draw swords and go to it. Ares stops it with a fireball, which earns him a sword point from Xena. "What in the name of…me…did you think you were doing?" He demands. Funny! Xena demands, "What's this all about, Ares?", like he's her boyfriend or something, hardly like he's the god of war. Ares refers to Mavican as a "diversion" which makes Xena smirk. Gabrielle just saved Xena! Her well-timed sai throw sent Mavican's weapon flying into a melon. Lucy's pregnancy has affected her complexion just a bit. When Xena is aware, of course, the first thing she does is yell for Gabrielle. Xena, "You know what, Sweetie? You talk too much." Hearing Xena say "Sweetie" is a surprise! Xena's cuts traveled with her wherever she went. However, when Gabrielle was injured, it became Xena's when daylight hit. Why is that? What exactly was the purpose of Xena being able to watch Gabs, but Gabs not being able to watch her? The silhouette standing in the spotlight isn't Xena in her new duds. I never thought of this until now, but I always knew they put Xena in a new outfit because Lucy was already pregnant. But they really had a decent excuse, saying that's what Xena ended up with after her resurrection. Gabs was pretty smart about the footprints. After Mavican kicks Gabs, the camera goes to Mavican and back to Gabrielle. Watch Renee smile, when she shouldn't. Xena: It's all right, Gabrielle. As long as she wants me, you're gonna be okay…you're gonna be okay. I fault the writer for making that dialogue a bit over done. Mavican: So what's it like? I mean…being with Xena? It's like a brush with eternity, isn't it? If she already knew that, then why did she ask? How did Mavican get a hold of one of Gabrielle's scrolls? Mavican reminds me of Palimon in Blind Faith. Mavican says the gods are immortal, because we make them that way. I have a good friend that says the same thing. Can someone explain to me how that works exactly? It's very cool morphing from Xena to Gabs! Xena gets the days and Gabs gets the nights? I woulda thought it would have been the other way around. How hard would it be to hit a caged Xena with a spear? Surely, Mavican doesn't really think she got Xena? Mavican sure does a quick disappearance! This episode very much resembles a classic episode of Star Trek entitled Arena. In that one, Captain Kirk is trapped on a planet, and has to construct weapons out of the materials around him. Xena senses Ares, even in this one. Love Ares' taunting, "No…watch my old girlfriend fight." When Xena tells Ares the part of the riddle Mavican has already figured out, Ares narrows his eyes in approval at Xena's intelligence. That is a heck of a thorn in Xena's side! Xena had Mavican hogtied…and used a lot of rope on her. How did Mavican get free so quickly and so easily? Poor Gabs! She was cold cocked before she knew what was going on! And she came to on top of Mavican! Xena: Come on, Gabrielle…look around you… And just like that, Gabs looks behind her. Xena gets great close-ups on gods TV. Ares really pisses Xena off…so much that she hauls off and punches him! Did I already mention how fast the sun goes down? Xena didn't sign her note…how was Gabs supposed to know who it was from? I'm not sure how sanitary that was with Gabs rubbing water into her wound. Through Xena, Ares said he learned that peace through power wasn't quite what he thought it was. He says Xena's problem is she's set in her ways…she resists change. Xena's the Bob Dole of warriors! Mavican should have known Xena was coming; she should have hurried more. Xena tells Mavican her destiny is to be forgotten. When Xena throws the sai in the fire, it flares up. How? Xena kills me as she eggs Ares on. "She's asking for your help." What a great look! Poor dumb Mavican….what a way to die! When it's all over, Ares doesn't want to hear it. "No, no don't say it. You've won already." In some ways, this episode reminds me of Fins, Femmes, and Gems. Gabs is starved for a little attention, and goes to great lengths to get it. And Xena promises in both episodes that Gabs will get a little more action. Gabrielle says, "I know you. Sometimes I wonder if you really know me, but I know what's in your heart." But Xena is confused, "Then you know more than I do." Rarely does Renee overact, but her "You don't know how much that means to me" is just that, overdone. I dunno why, but it really bugs me. Xena grabs Gabbers roughly around the neck. Gabs cringes. Xena has a solution. "I'll tell you what…the next bad guy we come across…the next seven little bad guys we come across…they're all yours." Gabs answers with "Little bad guys? Is that a crack about my height?" Xena responds, "No, they're just harder for me to reach." (Sounds to me like it was a crack! She chuckles after she says it) "Yeah, well, I guess that makes sense," Gabs replies. Xena: "Yeah." Gabs: Good strategy. And thus ends this one. Mavican didn't do much for me, but I did like the compromise that Xena and Gabrielle reached. Xena will soon find herself having to let Gabs take a more active role, when she learns a big secret in the next episode.
Ares says he has certain standards that Mav does not possess…Xena never
asked him for anything and he knows Xena is the right one. Mav,, ticked off,
throws a sword at the door as Ares leaves. He tells her to leave and not be
there when he returns. Mav has a plan of her own, and starts to carry it out with determination.
We ALMOST see a fight with Xena and five thugs. The bad guys are tossed into
the air and we hear Gabby asking Xena to leave her just one bad guy to
pound, but Xena wants it all for herself. Gabby, still grousing about the
fight, goes to the well for water. She has quite a pair of jugs as she
fills them from the well. Ares shows up, and cozies up to Gabby, trying to be “sympathetic’ and then leaves.
Enter Mavigan: Gabby is just leaving with the water jugs when Mav throws
some unusual daggers at them, puncturing them, and startling Gabby. Mav is
sporting quite a nice pair herself, and I was wondering how many times they
popped out during filming, sort of when Lucy sang the Anthem and
accidentally exposed a Warrior Princess breast…heh-heh.
Anyway, Mav says she will kill Gabby to get Xena’s attention….Xena appears,
and Mav throws a spear at her, but Xena catches it. Xena is wearing a new
outfit with some different armor. Mav says the obvious…she wants to kill
Xena, and starts throwing a lot of daggers at Xena, who deflects them with
her sword. Xena throws the Chakram at Mav and MISSES….I couldn’t believe it! Mav does some fancy leaps and rolls, and the split-up Chakram just keeps missing her.
Mav is wearing a thong….I know….
Ares shows up and stops the fight. He will determine who will be Xena’s
successor by sending them to an other-world thru a vortex.
The rules: If Mav kills Xena, Mav will be the new successor and will come
back to this world. If Xena kills Mav, she wins but will have to stay there.
Gabby is the one who can kill Mav and Xena and Gabby will both come back.
Complicated, huh?
As he creates the vortex, like the one Callisto came thru in Sacrifice, Ares
says that they can call for his help. Mavigan jumps right into the vortex
and yells for Xena to follow. Xena and Gabby resist, and try to hang on just
like in A Necessary Evil when they resisted Velasca’s mini-tornado. They are
drawn in, anyway.
In the other-world, Gabby finds herself in darkness except for a small
spotlight on herself. It looks like she is in an endless cave. Xena finds herself alone in the daylight, and sees that Mav is there too, ready to fight. Ares has deprived them of their weapons, and they then fight hand-to-hand. Mav is a good fighter, and after a long scene, falls down a small hill, calling that she will find Xena later. Both women have cuts on
their faces.
At sundown, Gabby is outside the “cave” and Xena is nowhere to be seen. Xena
is in the cave and is watching Gabby on a television-type screen. She watches as Gabby comes to Mav’s campfire. Mav sees Gabby and is overpowered by her….Gabby holds a sharp stick on Mav and does not kill her. Mav kicks her and uses a ropy vine to toss Gabby around, then kicks the bard in the face, knocking her out. Why was Gabby able to overpower Mav so easily, but Xena wasn’t?
Gabby awakens in an elaborate cage made by woodworker Mavigan. There are a
lot of saplings cut and lashed together, with no door apparent. Mav had to
have used a sharp rock to do all this. Mav also made a lot of spears…sharp
saplings. Mav says that Gabby made Xena’s legend true by the writings in her scrolls.
Mav wants to be remembered that way, too…she has quite an ego. She says the
gods are immortal because we make them that way. She talks of her own destiny.
When the sun rises, Gabby struggles and then blends into Xena’s shape, to
Mav’s amazement and merriment. She loves this, even tho it is two against
one, she likes the fight and the fact that she captured Xena without even
knowing it. She says Ares separated their souls but combined their bodies.
Note: If their bodies were combined, they would weigh the combined weight of
each woman, or be well over 250 pounds.
Xena, now in the cage, tries to reason with Mav, saying if they do what Ares
wants, everyone will lose. She wants Mav to work with her and Gabby. Mav
answers by throwing her spears at Xena from a distance instead of closing in
and doing it up-close. Also, why didn’t she tie Gabby to a tree instead of the cage project? That way, when Gabby became Xena, Mav would have been able to kill her easily.
We knew this was going to happen. Mav throws a spear and Xena pretends she
is hit. Mav now approaches, and Xena swings the spear at her, knocking her
down. Xena then rolls the cage, which slips from the rope suspending it, and
the cage breaks on the ground. Mav was able to escape before she got crushed.
Xena is near a stream, and finds some sulphur-like rocks, which crush
easily. She keeps some of this and detects Ares spying on her. He says he
wants to watch his old girlfriend fight. He likes the game.
Xena grabs some vines and bark, and also sees a thorn stuck in her leathers,
so forms a plan. Mavigan arrives, and has made a shield out of sticks, and carries two
spears, throwing one at Xena at once. This episode reminded me of the old
Star Trek when Kirk had to fight the lizard-guy and used the materials from
that world in the fight.
Xena had placed the staff she made with bark wrapped around it next to a
tree before Mav came. Xena now ropes Mav with the thorny vines, knocking her
down. Mav was distracted by Xena throwing the sulphur on the fire. At that moment, sundown happens (must be really short days there) and Xena becomes Gabby again. Mav knocks her down, but Gabby gets up and spots the staff. Mav sneers that she invented the staff-fighting way, but Gabby grabs it, pulling a vine, dropping a deadfall into Mav, like when Xena got hit in Destiny by the same technique. Mav had told her about the blending bodies that Ares designed.
Now Gabby looks puzzled, and we hear Xena telling her (from the cave) to
run….why? Why doesn’t Gabby kill Mav? Gabby gets hit with a sharp rock as
she runs away, leaving Mav to get loose from the vines.
Gabby goes to another cave with the staff. Now she notices the bark…it is a
message on the inside. Xena explains it all and does not want Gabby to kill
Mav.
Xena materializes in Ares Hall of War, and Ares says he has given up on Xena
(yeah, right) and now he wants Gabby to be the successor. Xena is taken
aback at this.
Later, Ares shows up in the cave where Gabby is, and says he wants her to
join him. The Deal: peace thru power is wrong, he says. He needs a strong leader who
can fight, but uses the discretion NOT to when necessary. He wants Gabby to
forget the past and says that maybe gods can change too. Xena will go home
safe with her mother while Gabby carries on the fight for right. He then
gives Gabby one of her sais, telling her to Kill Mavigan. Gabby sees Xena’s face in the reflection of the water in the cave.
The blonde Mavigan enters the cave after Ares leaves and now carries a club.
She sees the sai Gabby has and then attacks. Gabby gets her on the ground
(again) and holds the weapon at her throat, but still does not kill her, per
Xena’s previous orders on the bark.
Gabby now changes back into Xena and Mav grabs the sai and they fight again.
Xena knocks the weapon into the fire and they continue the fight. Xena says
Mav’s flaw is her destiny…like Caesar’s…but HER destiny is to be forgotten,
even if Mav kills Xena, nobody will ever know. Xena causes a cave-in so that
neither can escape. Even if they could get out, where would they go? They
are in an other-world.
Now the two women fight on the “vines” over a deep pit. This reminds me of
when Xena fought Najara in Convert and when Xena, in Gabby’s body, fought
Velasca in Quest. Mavigan now calls on Ares for help. He arrives and sends Xena/Gabby back to the real world. Mav said that Ares told her she could call on him for help. In his usual manner, Ares says “I said you could-I never said that you
should.” Bad pun: he leaves Mavigan hanging (from the vine).
Note: Ares pulled this stunt on Gabby in Forget-Me-Not when he says he would
be HERE to help Gabby…not in the water, but HERE on the land, away from her.
At the end, Ares says to Xena that she won and that he must be more careful
with his riddles. Gabby asks Xena, “Do you really know me?” Xena assures her she does and promises Gabby to save some bad guys for her in the next fight.
Note: The woman playing Mavigan was a worthy opponent for Xena and it was
too bad they never used her again. I thought it unusual that Gabby was able to best Mavigan three times when Xena couldn’t do it at first. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
The opening scene in this episode reminds me of Xena and Borias in Sin
Trade. Here, we have Ares and his new girlfriend, Mavigan, under the covers
in the throes of passion….Ares admits that Mav is quite good at her craft.
Mav, trying at pillow-talk, tries to get Ares to let her be Xena’s
successor, join with Ares, and rule the world thru force.