Path of Vengeance Part 2
Xena walks out into a field, and calls out Ares' name twice..."Come out!" He doesn't show
himself...he just whispers "Xena" over the breeze. Xena draws her sword. She whirls around,
trying to find him, "Ares, why are you doing this to me?" Her voice sounds genuinely hurt. He
calls out her name and she whirls again. Ares wants to know if Xena knows the story of the
scorpion and the swan. Xena doesn't care about that, "Haven't you got the guts to face me?"
Pull up a chair now, folks, and picture yourself on Xena's grandma's front porch, because it's
time for a little story. Xena is still trying to locate where Ares' voice is coming from as he tells
his tale. The scorpion needs to cross the river, and asks the swan for help. The swan figures
it's safe, because he'd be helping out the scorpion...Xena's face forms a half-smile, "My
daughter's about to die, and you're feeding me fairy tales?" "Bare with me...it's worth the
wait," Ares' voice replies patiently. "Halfway across the river, the scorpion stings the swan."
Uh...something's wrong with Xena...as Ares continues to tell his story, her eyes close and her
head throws back in the "Bacchae Gabrielle just bit me" orgasmic look, and her hand comes
up to touch her open mouth, then down over her breastplate and to her stomach which is
glowing bright red. That's a little disconcerting to see! For a minute, I thought Xena was about
to immaculately conceive again! Ares continues..."As they're both being swept to their death,
the swan asks the scorpion, 'I was helping you...why did you sting me?' And the scorpion
answers..." Xena's hand is on top of another hand on her stomach, a hand that she caresses as
she moves with it up her body. The camera closes in on her and Ares, standing behind her, as
Xena finishes the story with a gasp, "It's what I do..."
"Yeah," he whispers. It's what I do. As this scene continues, Ares is caressing her collarbone
and her arm, smelling her hair...and she's not resisting a bit. He tells her lost a lot of followers
when he was mortal and needs to make a major comeback. "Like the biggest war in centuries,"
Xena supplies. "In history," he corrects. "Those crazy Amazons...those ruthless Romans..."
He's very happy with having them fight each other, with him on both sides. "I"m the god of
war, and that's what I do." Xena's had enough and jerks away from him. "You're a son of a
bitch" she growls. "You think I'm gonna let you kill my daughter?" Ares says she wasn't part
of the plan, but showed up on her own. "She got involved of her own free will." Xena pauses
for a second, then tells him that she may not be able to kill gods, "but I'm not gonna let this
happen without a fight." "I believe you," he says before vanishing, leaving Xena to think hard
about the situation.
Make no doubts about it...Ares is back to his true form. The things that Xena and Gabrielle did
for him in the last few episodes seem to have skipped his mind...either that or he figures that
they're even for his saving Gabs and Eve in Motherhood and it's time to start over. He's back
to his old taunting menacing self. Good deal!
Back in the cave, Varia declares the council is finished, and it's time for her to declare the
sentence. Gabrielle doesn't look too happy, as she shakes her head, covering it with her hand
as she sits down heavily on her chair. Xena walks in the entrance of the cave, but is stopped
by a couple of guards who cross spears before her. Varia begins the sentence, but Gabrielle
stands up..."Wait!" Cyane tells Gabs that Varia is queen and delivers the sentence, but
Gabrielle takes the decorated staff (is it a talking stick?) from Varia's hand. Xena's eyes perk
up at that one! Gabrielle calls out, "I use my right of challenge!" and breaks the stick over her
knee. Whoo hoo! You go, Gabbers! The council murmurs during this, but Gabs continues,
"You are not queen, Varia, until you defeat me!" Xena watches all this, her mouth twitching a
bit, and when Varia states, "You had a better chance with words, Gabrielle," Xena takes off
out of the cave like a shot.
I don't know where she went, but when Gabrielle walks out of the cave, wrapping a long dark
strip around her hand, the other one is already covered, Xena runs back up, telling her she
doesn't want Gabs to do this. "Let me fight Varia." Gabrielle responds with, "Xena, it doesn't
work that way. I challenged Varia; it's my fight." Now, someone correct me if I'm wrong, and
they always do if I am, but wasn't it established in Hooves and Harlots that if Amazon royalty
invoked the queen's challenge, she could choose a champion to duke it out for her? Isn't that
what let Xena fight Melosa? Why won't that work now? Is Gabs just in the mood for a good
tussle? She tries to make Xena promise that she won't interfere. If Gabs can become queen,
she can pardon Eve. Xena's struggling with this. "You know it's the right thing to do!"
Gabrielle tells her. "Promise me!" I wonder if Renee ever gets a stiff neck looking up at Lucy?
Xena hesitates for long seconds, and then clenches her jaw. "All right." Gabrielle looks at her
one last time and walks off. Xena walks off in another direction.
The ring is set up...where did the Amazons get a brightly colored tarpaulin? Anyway, all
around the round tarp stand noisy Amazons, holding staffs horizontally to keep the battlers in
bounds. The Amazons are screaming out encouragements to Varia...fickle fickle. Gabs moves
into the ring, and the kickboxing match is on. It occurs to me that I haven't seen Gabrielle deal
in a whole lot of unarmed hand-to-hand combat, but she holds her own for a long time, giving
as many punches and kicks as she takes. Xena is watching from outside the ring, wincing
when Gabs takes a bad punch. This fight is feral, and Gabs gets Varia in an armlock, telling
her she shouldn't be fighting Gabs...it should be Ares. Varia breaks free and pins Gabs,
pounding away. She's opened a cut above Gabs left eye. I don't know what it is about this
fight scene, but it actually gave me a sick feeling in my stomach from it's savageness. Gabrielle
tries again to convince Varia that Ares is going to destroy the Amazons. Varia opens up a
barrage on Gabrielle, claiming Ares taught her the moves, and she really begins to bloody poor
Gabs up. She pins her against one of the staffs, pressing a knee hard into her spine. Xena has
to stare down into Gabrielle's brutalized (and I mean it's bad, especially seeing it on Gabrielle)
face, and do...nothing. She promised, remember? Varia delivers one more kick to the head,
and Gabrielle is bent backward, her teeth a bloody mess, her eyes closed. She is defeated. She
slowly straightens up, long enough to pitch forward, and then lands on her back in the center
of the ring. Xena is through the staffs and at her side in an instant, cupping Gabs head in her
hands. She lifts Gabrielle up to hold her, with a heartbroken "Oh, Gabrielle," and it's time for a
commercial.
Whew! I needed a break after watching that extremely painful scene! After the break, Varia is
leading Eve away from the ring (there's not a trace of a mark on Varia which doesn't seem
right...Gabrielle did some serious butt kicking), and the council follows single file, without
Gabrielle, of course. Xena glances back at them, but resumes her ministrations to Gabs whom
she has already cleaned up a lot. She caresses Gabs' face, softly whispering her name, and her
face lights up with joy when Gabbers opens her eyes. What's the first thing Gabs says? "Xena,
I'm sorry." And what's the first thing Xena says? "No, I'm sorry." The looks on their
faces...well...you can picture it without my awkward wording. Xena says, "You did all that
you could to save Eve...now I have to do what I have to do." Why does Gabs always look
younger when she's hurt? She gives Xena a slight nod and smile, "Go...it's okay." Xena leaves
her to head back to the field.
"Ares...come out, I can smell you!" Xena knows just where he is this time, and he materializes
before her, sniffing his underarm. He's just there to lend moral support. "No, you're just here
to gloat! Now that you've got your godhood back, you've got everything you always wanted,
haven't you?" she retorts, slamming both hands into both his shoulders, so she can stalk past
him. Ares is like an enthusiastic dog, practically wagging his tail as he prances around her,
"Well, not exactly everything but hey, Que Sera!" Hmmm...wonder what he meant by that?
Hee hee. He can't wait to see Xena get in there and kick in some Amazon heads to get her kid
back. Before the big battle?, Xena wants to know, and she's right, Ares is there to gloat. He
can't help that he's the "malevolent genius" that brought all this about. He asks Xena,
"Remember what the scorpion said?" Xena remembers, but she has a parting shot which shuts
him up for once. "Ares..." she says before running off..."The scorpion drowned!"
Good point!
Never let it be said that this show doesn't give us inventive ways of killing people! Eve is being
led along a wooden bridge, which ends abruptly above some bubbling pits of...something tan
colored. From another interupted bridge on the opposite side of the pits, Xena sounds her
warcry and somersaults across the significant gap to land in front of Varia and Eve. Varia
draws her sword."I don't want to fight you, Xena." Xena draws her own. "You got that right!"
Varia already has a gleam of doubt in her eyes, telling Xena she followed all the laws and is
doing this for her sisters. One of the council defends Varia (oh yeah, they are there too), and
Xena tells them that Varia is acting out of guilt. She didn't save her sisters by killing Livia while
she had the chance. She's blaming herself. Varia takes it personally and the fight is on.
Varia apparently felt no damage after her bout with Gabrielle because she's moving at full
steam here. She keeps Xena on the defensive quite a bit, and even knocks Xena's sword from
her hand first. She slams Xena backward into a pole, knocking a skull into the ooze below, and
now we know it's acid, as the skull dissolves. Xena quickly rids Varia of her sword and begins
the pummeling in earnst.
This is a very, very long fight sequence with several new moves, and it's way too detailed to
explain. There are lots of acrobatics and the upper hand changes several times. At one point
they both flip across the gap to the far side of the bridge. Varia grabs a stick from the bridge
and Xena does the same, so they've gone from swords to staffs. Xena seems impressed with a
lot of Varia's tactics...I'm sure she recognized them as Ares', and even though she landed on
her warrior butt more than Varia did, I still had the feeling that she was just toying with Varia
the whole time. She doesn't smile a lot, until she puts her staff behind her head and delivers a
pool cue move (you'll know it when you see it) and jabs her staff into Varia, then delivers a
kick which breaks Varia's staff in half. Varia continues to fight...she has two staffs now...and
disarms Xena again, knocking her over the edge of the bridge until Xena is hanging above the
bubbles by her fingertips. Xena flips upward and Varia is quickly disarmed. I suddenly got the
impression that Xena was drawing out this fight for some reason...she could have finished
Varia off long ago.
Varia hasn't caught on though, and continues after Xena, knocking her once again very near to
falling into the acid. But Xena manages to grab onto some monkey bars (once again, when you
see it, you'll know it!) and hand-to-hand, foot-to-foot's it across to the other side where the
council is. The whole time, Varia is jabbing her with another staff she's picked up, but when
Xena is close enough the the edge, she kicks one of the monkey bars out from under Varia and
scrambles to safety. She picks up Varia by the face, and with one extremely frightening
grimace throws Varia several feet away from her. If I were Varia and I had been that
thick-headed up to that point, I KNOW I would have finally caught on and given up. Xena
does a...uh no handed flip (you'll know it when you see it...heh heh), and lands at Varia's feet.
Varia's sword is right by the owner's head, and she looks like she's going to grab it, but Xena
kicks her own sword up into her hand first and levels it at Varia. Xena tells Varia if she gives in
to Ares, she'll become everything she hates. Varia's hand inches toward her sword, and Xena
looks disappointed. "You don't believe me? You already have!" Then Xena, who has easily
won, resheathes her sword. She tells Varia, "You want vengeance, Varia, you start with me."
Varia uses the best move, the same flipping mood she used on Livia, and Xena lands with her
face in the dirt. She doesn't even bother to get up completely, she just crouches on one knee
and looks up at Varia with soulful eyes. Varia raises her sword to stike her, then suddenly sees
Toura instead of Xena for a brief instant. She looks at the council, then Eve, who all look back
at her very somberly, then drops to her own knees in tears. Xena puts a comforting hand on
her head, then stands and after drawing her sword, cuts the chains holding Eve. Eve
immediately, and I mean immediately goes to Varia's side to embrace and offer her solace. It
was really very touching.
Xena, her work done, turns to the council and tells them with her sword pointing in Varia's
direction, "This is the pain if you continue to follow Ares' path." Varia composes herself, and
stands, with Eve standing behind her, still hanging on to her. "Amazons," Varia sniffs, "Xena is
our friend. We have to talk." Xena goes to stand by Eve and they watch the council slowly
walk away. Behind Xena and Eve, from the other side of the pit, Ares is giving a slow clap.
You know, it just occured to me that he didn't take his shirt off once in this episode! "You had
this planned all along," he says to Xena. She just gives him that smug "of course I did" kind of
smile, to which Ares laughs heartily. Xena shakes her head slightly, still smiling. "You are SO
good!" Ares declares...yep, it is really good to have him back! "It's what I do," Xena tells him
in a soft voice. "And I wouldn't have it any other way," he concludes before disappearing.
Xena puts a hand to Eve's head and pulls it to her cheek as the scene fades back to the
Amazon council.
Varia is standing beside Eve. She says this woman has pleaded guilty to her crimes and admits
she can never do enough to make up for it. But she's willing to keep trying. Then she puts on
her queen voice, "As queen of the Amazon nation, I hereby sentence Livia, killer of the
Amazons to death." Xena and Gabs are watching this and Xena looks to Gabs with a look like,
"Huh? do we have to start all over again?" but Varia continues, "So that Eve, the messenger of
peace, may live." Eve whirls to face her astonished, as the rest of the council stands up. "You
are free to go," Cyane tells Eve. Eve beams, and gives Varia's hand a squeeze, before moving
to Xena and Gabrielle. She takes her mother's hand for a moment, then moves to Gabbers
who grabs a hand. Eve kisses Gabs cheek, and Gabs hugs Eve, kissing her back on the
cheek....perhaps Eve didn't get the chance to thank Gabrielle for challenging Varia earlier.
Xena's eyes are narrowed...could she be trying to avoid getting emotional as she says, "Thank
you, Varia."? Varia tells her Xena was willing to be killed, just to show she was headed down
the wrong path. But Xena knew the truth was inside her..."You just needed the chance to
decide what was right." They give each other a brief, but warm hug, and this time it is Varia
that says, "Thank you." Varia moves to stand with the rest of the council, and they give our
three heroines the Amazon salute. Gabrielle and Xena return it, looking pleased and proud.
Eve just smiles. The three turn to go, Xena's arm around Eve.
The final scene of this episode got to me a lot more than I ever believed it would. Xena and
Gabs and Eve are walking away from the camp. "They've forgiven you, Eve," Xena says.
"Maybe you should think about forgiving yourself." "Have you...forgiven yourself, Mother?"
Eve counters. Xena smiles and makes an "Ah" sound, and adds "Good point." Eve turns to
face them and says she knows what she has to do. She has to go east to Chin and the land of
Indis, to spread Eli's message there. Didn't Eli already visit Indis? Oh well! Xena looks
shocked. "Now?" she asks. Eve nods. "You mean now?" Xena repeats, sounding incredibly
surprised...and hurt. Eve nods, looking a little pained herself, then turns to Gabrielle. "Thank
you...for saving my mother, for bringing her such happiness...I'm forever in your debt." Gabs
glances at Xena with a warm smile, but when Eve embraces her, she hugs her back with one
of those sweet Gabrielle expressions, saying, "You don't owe me anything." And then Eve
looks up at her mother. "And thank you...for giving me life...so many times." Their embrace is
so heartfelt...it's one of the warmest moments I've seen on Xena in...well, I've ever seen on
Xena. Eve tells Xena, "I love you," and Xena whispers back, "Love you too." Both of them
have tears in their eyes when they finally separate and face each other again. Xena guestures at
Gabs and says, "Why don't we walk with you a ways." "Yeah," Gabrielle agrees, but Eve
shakes her head. "No, I need to do this on my own." She forms a brave smile and tells them
"Goodbye." Xena looks devastated as she walks away, but Gabs smiles a little...not because
she's happy....I think it's more because she knows Eve is on the right path. The camera slowly
pulls up above Xena and Gabrielle as Gabs rubs a hand on Xena's shoulder. "Stay out of
trouble," Xena calls, but as the camera continues to pan out, she puts a hand to her face to
cover it...the scene moves to slow motion (I hate it when they do that...it has too much of a
note of finality to it!), and Gabs smile broadens as they fade out.
The disclaimer is "the disclaimer for this episode was harmed during the making of this motion
picture." Is it just me, or are some of these disclaimers getting more and more cryptic?
I don't know if it's the last we'll see of Eve, but I do know, that this is one of Adrienne
Wilkinson's finest performances...if not THE finest performance she's turned in. She actually
didn't have that many lines in the episode...but her sincerity shone through in all scenes. The
final goodbye scene was bittersuite...Xena finally had to let go, and reacted like a typical
heartbroken mother...but I think Eve is going to be okay.
And Varia? Well, she's in the previews for next week's episode, so perhaps we'll get the
chance to see if she has truly had a change of heart this time. Nothing is really resolved with
Ares, although I think he knows the Amazons will never trust him again, and now that he has
lost Eve, has he lost the Romans too? I dunno. He certainly didn't get the war he was wanting!
And Xena and Gabrielle? What I really liked about their relationship in this one was the trust
Xena was willing to put in Gabs...even though she really wanted to get in there and use her
typical Warrior Princess style to end the conflict. Gabrielle acted on her own, not letting Xena
know what she was going to do, but Xena didn't overreact when it appeared Gabs might not
be doing the right thing. There were a lot of tender moments between them, even if they
weren't always working on the same plan.
One more thing stands out to me about this episode...and that is the musical score. Joseph Lo
Duca's choices for this episode were SUPERB...whether it be a fight scene, a courtroom
scene, or the final emotional scenes. Some of the score was familiar, while other parts were
new, and it perfectly accentuated this fine episode
And how did Gary feel about this one?
This episode was really action-packed.It had five
fight scenes and didn't really have much meaningful
dialogue except for the fact that revenge is bad.
The first fight scene was when the Romans are attacked
by the Amazons,whom Varia has united under Ares'
suggestion.There were about 20 Romans,maybe less,and
they were surrounded by hundreds of Amazons. The
battle that takes place was way too long for such a
lopsided contest,and a lot of the show was just
fighting,which is fine in an action show,but as in
movies today,they rely on action to save on actual
meaningful dialogue.
One Roman escapes (how?) and was ordered to tell a
commander about what happened. The Roman tells Xena
instead.They were supposed to protect Eve,despite her
protestations.The remaining Romans are executed by
Varia's warriors...arrows in the back.We saw arrows in
the ground and in some Romans during the battle,but
saw nobody ever shooting any arrows.
Gabby and Xena are in the village and can't find an
inn to sleep at....whatever happened to the camping
outside habit? Are they getting too old for that?
I miss the campfire scenes where they usually work out
the problem of the episode.
There is a new Cyane queen,played by the same woman
who was in Kindred Spirits,who wanted to go with Xena
when Gab wanted to stay with the Amazons in the
North.Eve was a baby then.
When Xena and Gab go to see the battlefield,and an
arrow was shot at their feet,whatever happened to the
universal Amazon peace sign they made in Hooves and
Harlots...with their arms in a triangle over their
heads?We also never see the typical Amazon sword we
have seen for over five years with the woman symbol on
the hilt.
Now we see a clenched fist everybody seems to know
with it being placed over their left shoulders.
How is Gabby still a queen? Hasn't she given it up on
numerous occasions?
We see a backstory about the Romans under Livia
kidnapping Amazons as slaves...Varia's sister is
killed by Livia,hence Varia's hatred for Eve.
Another battle was fought there.
There was death or banishment for Eve the last time
she was at the Amazon village,but now she is slated to
die.
Why does Varia hate Xena so much that she fights her?
She was her pal a couple episodes ago in Dangerous
Prey.Xena saved her life...now we see that Ares taught
her some new moves that Xena knew.There was supposed
to be an hour for Xena to come up with a defense,but
it was only a few minutes of a fight with Varia...what
was it...a time compression?
Ares and Xena meet in a field a couple times. He says
that he likes being worshipped by the Amazons and the
Romans.He mentioned Gurkhan,who we saw earlier this
season. The Amazon slaves were not for him because
they are too spirited,and he knew Varia would be
furious when he tossed the Amazon captives
overboard.This sets up Varia's Path of Vengeance.
Gab votes for Eve's death,because as a queen,she gets
a say in the matter.Xena is ticked off at her.Gab says
it was the only way to plead future cases...does this
mean she is going to stay at that Amazon village? No.
Ares tells Xena a story about a scorpion and
swan...Xena knows the story...'It's what I do".
Gab issues her right to challenge Varia for the
queenship.We have seen this before in Hooves and
Harlots where Gab challenges Queen Melosa...to the
death.BUT,in that episode,she chooses Xena as her
champion.Why not now? What happened to Amazon Law?
This next fight scene was well-done...kickboxing with
Gab and Varia.We see that Renee really knows this
fighting style...she does it in real life,so it looked
realistic.Varia pounds her really well,and there is a
lot of blood from Gab.She looked bad,but after being
cleaned up by Xena,she only had a cut over her left
eyebrow.There was the same music from Ides of March
crucifixion scene.
Xena then challenges Varia and there is yet ANOTHER
fight at the boiling mud pit.Varia says she followed
Amazon Laws.Xena says Varia feels guilty because she
could not kill Livia/Eve when she had a chance as a
young Amazon.
The fight was similar to the staff fight on the
scaffold in Sins of the Past.First,Xena and Varia
fight with swords,then staffs,the broken staff becomes
clubs(chobos?),then they use their bare hands,then a
stick again,fists,and finally swords again.At one
point,Varia could have pushed Xena off the scaffold if
she moved quicker....Xena was hanging by her fingers.
After that big fight,neither woman is even scratched.
Xena offers to let Varia kill her to stop her quest
for
revenge...it would have led all the Amazons down the
same path to ruin.
Ares appears not to mind that his plan was foiled...he
laughs and gives Xena credit by saying she was "so
good."
At the end,Varia gives Livia the death penalty,but
allows Eve her life as a peace messenger....good twist
of events.
The final scene is Eve leaving Xena and Gabby...she is
going east to Chin.Xena knows that they will never see
her again,so why not a motherly kiss for her daughter?
Instead,they all hug.Xena tells her to stay out of
trouble,and then places her hand over her face as if
crying...meanwhile Gabby smiles...a disjointed scene
which could have been done a lot better.
We must remember that Eve/Livia is REALLY CALLISTO,who
was reborn into Eve's body.I wish RenPics mentioned
that even once since it happened when Xena was
pregnant.This is important,and much was made about
"who
is the father?",then forgotten.
I give this episode an "A" because of the fine fight
scenes and RenPic's attempt to get back on track with
the show and its characters.
Any comments?
Path of Vengence Part 1
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