Dangerous Prey Part 2
Xena and Varia are staked out on a hillside, watching his camp. From its position, Xena tells
Varia they would be spotted coming a mile away. They need to go through the back door. As
Xena walks off, Varia sees a crossbow in a tree, and calls Xena's name. As Xena turns, Varia
trips a line and an arrow is shot directly into Varia's ankle. "I thought it was going to hit you,"
Varia tells her. Xena answers, "I can take care of myself, thank you." It's said gently, as she
knows Varia really was trying to help her out. Varia is a reformed person."If this had happened
earlier today, I'd bet you would have just left me here." Xena smiles, "Don't get too cocky" as
she yanks the arrow out, "I still might." She gives a full-fledged grin to Varia, who returns it,
then says, "I think I'm starting to grow on you." Xena gets all serious now. "Varia, Marga had
a lot of faith in you....I'm beginning to see why." She looks up then, spooked again, and sees a
couple of deer take off running and a flock of birds fly away. She sees smoke and tells Varia
that Morloch is trying to flush them out with a forest fire. She helps Varia to her feet, and
supporting her, they take off.
Two of Morloch's men are busy pouring more keg contents on the brush around them.
Morloch and Raczar are watching from a distance and Raczar calls out for the men to stop,
they're going to light it. When he realizes the men can't hear him, Morloch tells Raczar to light
it anyway. "They're right in the middle of it, " Razcar tells him. "Ah, that's a shame;" is the
response. So much for Morloch not being a killer, not that I believe him anyway! He yells at
Razcar to do it, and his second, after much hesitation fires a flaming arrow into a tree, setting
off a massive fire. The men try to run, but are consumed by the flames to Morloch's
amusement.
Smoke is covering the hillside. The animals are fleeing. Xena is half-dragging, half-supporting
Varia, but tells her the fire is moving faster. She tells Varia that Morloch has created lines of fire on
either side of them which will force them down to his camp. Varia tells her that she is slowing
Xena down (well, duh), and she could never make it, but Xena could. "My sisters need
you...just...Go". I like the tone of Varia's voice. She's scared half out of her wits, but has
finally put her concern for her people ahead of all else, including her thirst for vengeance. "Not
a chance!" Xena answers. She puts a hand on Varia's shoulder. "Varia, saving you is saving
the Amazon people. You just gotta have a little faith." Xena moves to a hanging vine, and
begins pulling with all her might, lowering the branch its attached to toward the ground. I had
this vision in my head as to what she's was doing, but it was too farfetched. The background
music is the same music from the scene in The Abyss, where Xena played Home Alone
lumberjack. Xena wraps the vine around a tree, and continues to pull the branch till it was
almost on the ground. "Varia...I want you to get on." "Get on?" "Come on!" Okay...so maybe
it wasn't as farfetched as I thought...Xena was turning the tree into a catapult for humans!
Varia grabs onto the branch as Xena tells her there's a marsh on the other side of the fireline.
She's to wait for Xena there while she deals with Morloch. I like Varia's question. "What am I
supposed to do about landing?" I like Xena's response even more. "Tuck and roll!" Xena
draws her sword and cuts through the vine, sending Varia soaring into the air. Morloch is far
smarter than I gave him credit for if he actually anticipated that move, but he yells "Now" as
he sees Varia flying through the air. His men fire a loaded catapult and a net flies into the air
from their side. Xena sees the net snag her temporary partner and yells out "Varia!", as the
scene fades to the final commercial break.
Just in case we've forgotten, we see the net close in on Varia one more time and hear Xena's
scream. Varia drops like a stone...she forgot to tuck and roll. Morloch looks to Raczar who
takes the remaining men to retrieve her. Insert some very cool shots of Xena running through
the forest fire, dodging fallen trees and calling out Varia's name. If Renee hadn't been directing,
it could have just as easily been Gabrielle she was screaming for...it has that kind of tone.
They haul Varia, still netted, to Morloch, who orders his men to take her to the arena. Raczar
objects, saying she's half dead and no good to them, but Morloch tells him to obey. Raczar
doesn't want to do it, but he does. Now, this is really technical, and it tells me I watch these
episodes WAY too closely, but earlier on, Raczar told Morloch there were only four men left.
Two of them died in the fire, so that would leave two. But the two men shown in the catapult
scene are different from the two men in this scene! Either Morloch recruited some more men
rather quickly, or Raczar couldn't count! Raczar disappears from this point anyway, and the
disclaimer says something about him gaining a new identity...he must have read the end of the
script!
Xena's still playing Smokey the Bear and yelling...I guess she's not worried about Morloch or
his men hearing her. She enters a clearing and hears Varia call her name. Varia is staked on top
of a big pile of giant Lincoln Logs (I'm serious!), her hands secured behind her back. Xena
draws her chakram, but as it slices through the air, Morloch's triangle intercepts it and sends it
ricocheting solidly into a log. I hate it when that happens. Xena draws her sword and the big
fight starts. After a couple of slick moves on both their parts, Morloch begins to taunt Xena
about rescuing Varia. "Why don't you go and get her?" "Why don't you come and get some of
this?" Xena counters, and they begin fighting in earnest. They're fairly evenly matched, and at
one point Morloch has Xena on the defensive. He presses down hard on her own sword,
which cuts into her...would you like to guess where? Hee hee...yep that darn old upper right
arm again! I swear she needs to move those arm guards up a few inches! The first cut was a
small one, but this one is bleeding pretty heavily. "Oooo, I nicked you," Morloch grins. Xena's
ever-confident response..."Where'd ya get that? (indicating Morloch's cheek)..."Shaving?" I
didn't even see him get cut, but his cheek is bleeding. Morloch is unhappy. "No one ever drew
my blood before." Xena's answer is perfect..."There's plenty more where that came from!"
They continue to fight and use similar moves. They both do a flying, helicopter move, and end
up on different sides of the four-sided Lincoln Log stack. Varia is perched up at the top of it,
and is missing a good deal of the action below.
Now I'd love to give a play-by-play description of this fight, but it would be impossible. The
camera angles, the moving logs, the helicopter jumps....there are just too many and they are
too complicated to try to do justice to. Just picture Xena involved in the world's biggest game
of Jenga. That's what I kept thinking when one of them would kick a log out and the whole
pile would start to fall. Even better yet, picture Xena and Morloch in tutus playing Jenga,
because they were both doing twirls and pirouettes that would make any ballerina instructor
proud! The music that plays over this dizzying scene is the music that plays whenever Xena
fights Callisto... most appropriate. The scene is highly reminescent of the ladder scene from
Callisto anyway.
Finally, Morloch knocks a log away that will end the whole Jenga game, but Xena pulls a
Hercules on him, and wedges her body into the missing piece's slot. She is now forced to hold
up the structure, or send Varia to a tumbling death. That's gotta suck! Morloch scrambles to
the top of the pile, and cuts the bindings on Varia's stake, so the pole is barely secured....it will
fall over any second. "I enjoyed watching your friend beg for mercy," Morlock growls to
Varia. Huh? Boy, this guy really has delusions of grandeur. Xena never begged for anything!
"Even more fun, I get to watch you die." "You're the one that's going to die," Varia sneers
back. Morloch creeps to the edge, putting even more weight on Xena's shoulders, but she
senses him, and manages to raise her sword arm. She blocks his thrusts, and manages to push
him back away from her onto the platform, then pulls some quick maneuver which slides a log
back into place to support the pile one more time. Morloch jumps to the side, and there is
more serious sword play...okay, I'm momentarily distracted yet again, by Xena's darkened
eyebrows. They are apparent in some scenes, and not in others. It's driving me crazy!
Xena pushes Morloch away and flips to the top of the pile. Finally! She cuts Varia free, makes
sure she's all right, and searches for Morloch who has disappeared. "Okay, Varia, take off!"
"Not until he's dead!" Varia answers. Xena whirls back toward her. "Varia, don't fight me on
this one, not this time!" The tone in her voice leaves absolutely no arguement, and Varia
abandons pile in a hurry. Xena watches her land (she forgot to tuck and roll), and just as a
shock of blonde hair appears behind Xena, she turns again, sword up. Morloch is still full of
fight, informing her she's his match on every level. They could go on like this all night, but he
will eventually get the upper hand. Does she want to know why? "Tell me" she snarls back.
It's because this fight is the fight he's been searching for his entire life. Something in Xena's
expression changes as she hears him. "You're right," she says, and withdraws her sword from
his. "So why would I give it to you?" She turns away from him, deliberately, and somersalts to
the ground.
This makes Morloch angry. "You will fight me!" he bellows, as Xena retrieves her chakram
from the log. Xena continues to walk away slowly, and Morloch, a pouty look on his face,
kicks the post Varia had been staked to toward the ground. "Watch it!" Varia shouts, and Xena
sidesteps the post as it hits behind her. "You will fight me!" comes the bellow again. Xena
looks from the post to Morloch with one her best warrior sneers. Morloch jumps from the
pile, and Xena nonchalantly puts her foot on the post, which is levered over a smaller post and
is now angled directly beneath Morloch's trajectory. He is dead instantly, impaled. Nice shot of
Xena's boot, holding the post in place! Xena lifts Morloch's head by the hair. "You lose", she
whispers in that savage voice of hers.
Xena and Varia starts to walk off, and Varia puts an arm on Xena's shoulder. Xena helps
support her again as they leave the arena. Varia speaks, "This whole time all I could think of
was avenging Marga's death. But I'm here, he's gone...I guess that's revenge." "That's right,"
Xena answers, as they walk off screen. "That's right."
It's night time...Marga is laid out on the pyre that Gabrielle lights. Yay! Gabbers is back! A
low, mournful tune is playing...I'd have to check, but it may be the one Ephiny used in
Maternal Instincts. Xena walks to Varia and holds up the necklace Marga entrusted her with,
telling Varia that Marga wanted her to have it. "She chose you as the rite of caste," Gabrielle tells
her, a very proud smile on her face. "You're the new leader of the Amazons." "I still have a lot
to learn to honor Queen Marga's memory," Varia tells her, to which Gabs smiles again. Varia
turns to Xena. "I will always be in your debt." Xena pulls her to her for a hug. "You don't owe
me anything," she tells Varia. Varia turns to the pyre. "I will make you proud, Marga." The
camera slowly pans out on Xena, Gabrielle, Varia, and the rest of the Amazons as they stare
solemnly at the pyre, the sad music still playing.
And so ends another episode of Xena. Gabrielle fans will probably be disappointed in the lack
of screen time for the Bard, but there is good reason for it. The episode was an excursion in
Xena's training skills, as a whole, and I think Xena and Gabrielle can leave this group of
Amazons confident that their new queen will be a wise leader. It took Varia a while to catch
on, but once she did, she realized her limitations and let someone more capable of the situation
handle it.
PREVIEW SPOILER ALERT...Next week is the Caligula episode, and if the previews are any
indication, this one is going to be HOT! Michael, the archangel is there, Caligula is there, Xena
is there in an even more revealing costume than the Amazon one, rubbing noses with Caligula.
And Gabrielle is there too, shown briefly, in an abbreviated costume of her own. Yep, it's
gonna be a long week!
And how did Gary feel about it?
This episode,directed ably by Renee O'Connor ,was mostly an action-packed thriller,leaving little in the way of anything meaningful,as,say,One Against An Army.
But,it held my interest all the way thru.
Prince Morlock,and about eight henchmen,are hunting Amazons for sport. He wants a truly worthy opponent....enter Xena. Varia is left in charge after her queen is killed by Morlock,and Xena has to convince her to not rush headlong into revenge.Varia fights Xena in the beginning,but agrees to try better after Xena saves her life.
Mostly,the action is centered around sword and Chakram fights. Morlock has a triangular-type "Chakram"....a bit different from the one in The Dirty Half-Dozen.He is quick and cunning,and he fights Xena in the cave,and finally at the end.
Varia reminds me of a combination between Amarice and Livia....even looks a bit like Eve/Livia.She fights well,and is a good opponent for Xena,who wins anyway.
There is a fire started by the bad guys to force the women thru the canyon to Morlock's camp.Varia is hit in the leg by an arrow from a trap,and is sent skyward by a bent tree that Xena uses as sort of a slingshot. How Morlock anticipates that she is going to be wounded and will be thrown high into the air is anybody's guess. He has a huge catapult,more like a trebuchet,which they dragged up the hill to launch a net to snag Varia. She falls a big distance to the ground and is miraculously unhurt,tho the bad guys say she is almost dead.
The final scene is almost like in Season One's CALLISTO,where Gabby is hanging high in the air from a burning rope,and Xena and Cal fight on ladders.
In this episode,there is a pile of what I call "Lincoln Logs",
which are piled loosely with Varia tied to a post at the top. Xena and Morlock fight,climbing and holding on,just like the ladder fight in CALLISTO.
He goes to the top and cuts the sharpened log,and then fights Xena again.Xena releases Varia,who jumps down,on her wounded leg,again,apparently unhurt.Morlock says he loves this fight ----the one he wanted his whole life.Xena says she will deny him what he wants.She jumps down....then Morlock jumps,and as in Paradise Found,where Xena kicks her sword into Aiden,she steps on the log and Morlock impales himself on it.He is alive enough for Xena to say "You lose."
The final scene is the typical Amazon funeral,with the same
music...very appropriate.
This episode was interesting,and I was a bit disappointed that the fight ended so abruptly. Xena should have let him live,even if she had to wound him,to deny him a fight to the death.It would have made for a sequel later in the season,but he dies.Too bad,because he was interesting,and could anticipate almost everything. He should have seen that when you have Xena near a sharp,pointy thing,stay away,as Gab says.
I missed Gabby in this...she was directing the show and was hardly seen,and was sent to keep the Amazons away from the action.I think that if she directed all the scenes,such as the second unit (outside action),she did a great job....her second direction of a show.
I give this episode a "B",mainly because of the lack of the usual rapport between Gabby and Xena,and the really outlandish flying thru the air scene,which was unbelievable,even for a XENA episode. Dialogue was sparce other than snarling by Morlock and Xena's constant threats.
Any comments?
Dangerous Prey Part 1
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