THE BITTER SUITE
Season 3,
Episode 12 15 August, 1998
Reviewed by SLK
slk@ausxip.com
RATING: 9.5 chakrams.
SCRIBES & SCROLLS:
Written by Steven Sears and Chris Manheim;
Edited by Robert Field;
Directed by Oley Sassone;
Lyrics by Joseph LoDuca, Pamela Phillips Oland, Dennis Spiegel; Musical Staging by Jeff
Calhoun;
Supervising Music Editor Philip Tallman.
PASSING PARADE:
Callisto (Hudson Leick);
Ted Raimi (Joxer);
Kevin Smith (Ares);
David Taylor (Solan);
Ephiny (Danielle Cormack);
Karl Urban (Julius Caesar); Marton Csokas (Khrafstar); Willa O’Neill (Lila); Daniel
Sing (Ming Tien).
STORY SO FAR: Gabrielle and Xena blame each other for their
pain. An enraged Xena seeks revenge by dragging the bard behind a horse and trying to hurl
her off a cliff. They both fall and enter the world of Illusia. In this musical world,
they are faced with their pain and guilt and have to work out their feelings, acknowledge
their mistakes and seek forgiveness to emerge through the other side.
DISCLAIMER: The musical genre was not harmed during the production of this motion picture. In fact the producers sincerely hope you were A-MUSE-D by this episode.
REWIND FOR: Did we just see Xena whipping Argo?? -
she must be cross; Remember that
happily deranged look
on Xena’s face after M’Lila died in Destiny/Quest and she promised Hades a bumpy
ride? Well check out her giving it to Gabrielle after she kills the phantom bard in
Illusia - very different from her cold rage on the mountain; During the purification
ritual Gabrielle screams “YES”, yet outside the hut Joxer and Ephiny hear
“NO”; Gabrielle’s magic modesty skirts are at it again - after being pulled
along behind a horse, Gabrielle’s toga should have been up around her ears, but look
at where the hem is when Xena reigns in the horse - pristinely tucked around her ankles!;
Check out Xena’s fabulous lip curl in the Amazon village just after she asks
“Where’s Gabrielle” - you just know she’s not asking for the
bard’s health; spot the Entertainment Tonight co-host playing extra - I’ll give
you a hint, she has the biggest hair in Poteidaia; Joxer does some pretty incredibly
things with his lyre given he doesn’t changes his fingering; Xena’s got an
unusual view of the world it seems - check out the bit with the army chanting
“Xena” - the set is dark and foreboding, yet when the pair get sent to their
next scene Xena comments that the new place is to frighten them because the old place was
“bright” and colourful. (Hmm - I do not want to know what she thinks is dark.)
Finally, in the penultimate scene, was this the birth of acid rain?
QUOTABLE:
“This whole atonement kick you’ve been on lately is not you - you’re full
of fire, bending the world to your will, full of rage, revenge. Accept it Xena, embrace
it.” Ares with his usual chatup line to Xena.
“Because of Xena you had a daughter: her hatred for Caesar took you to Britannia,
straight to Dahak, where she deserted you,” ‘Callisto’ to Gabrielle, and
who is taking such a long bow I feel obliged to point out it was really Hercules who
killed Solan - for if he hadn’t turned Xena to good, she wouldn’t have been
wandering aimlessly around Poteidaia one day, in time to discover a certain bard who, by
travelling in Xena’s exotic circles, would end up in the family way, producing a
child who would kill Solan. Soooo - I trust we will see Herc in the Amazon pain hut soon?
Hmm?
“The Elysian Fields! Only heroes wind up here. Dead heroes. Dead naked heroes.”
Gabrielle to the bush - and you’d think by now both she and Xena would be getting
used to winding up naked...Sheesh, I’ve lost count.
“You’ve not lived till you’ve been gored by Xena” - a groupie from
Xena’s army.
“Did that fill you with glee to kill your little friend; did that ease your suffering
or bring it to an end?” Callisto - who would more than anyone else know the answer to
that one.
“Nothing more need be said. Ding dong the bitch is dead.” Ares, a sore winner.
“I hurt inside... don’t you?” Gabrielle to Xena... wow, now that’s a
line.
SLK’S REVIEW: I never thought I’d come across a Xena episode as good as
The Debt/s but this one is right up there. Okay, hands up everyone who cringed when they
heard the Xena bods had done a musical. Yeah, me too. But when they raise the bar they
certainly go for broke. Not only wasn’t this a cringe ep with cheese on top, it was
downright gripping. The budget for this episode was 50 per cent more than usual, they
probably *did* kill a few frock tarts this time round by the look of those stunning
costumes, and the music - well - two songs got an Emmy nomination, so that says something.
I’ll begin at the beginning which I thought was one of the lamest scenes in the show
- I mean I don’t care if you are getting whipped for three days -do it with palm
fronds and they’re still just palm fronds - it seemed pretty silly. It would have had
more impact (and been more logical) if Gabrielle had locked herself away for days and
wouldn’t see a soul, even to eat or drink. Still Renee managed to keep a straight
face and the tear slipping down her nose was sad.
Interesting that Gabrielle should conjure up an image of Callisto to manifest and breathe life into her darkest thoughts - as though these are thoughts so dark she wouldn’t dare believe they had come from her, let alone be expressed by her. Now that’s suppression on a grand scale. (You can’t imagine Xena conjuring up Callisto’s image just to think a really bad thought.) But back to her choice of images: perhaps Callisto to Gabrielle does personify darkness more than anyone else she knows - husband killer that she is and all. So she would be the perfect choice to help focus all of Gabrielle’s guilt and pain and blame it on someone else - Xena (just as Callisto did). As an aside, I note the warmth of the colours in the hut and the fact Gabrielle was getting her butt whipped (literally) means we are meant to feel heat - a nice contrast for the cold rage Xena was trying and failing to swallow on an icy white mountain top. Ares serves the same purpose as Callisto - to give Xena a focus for her pain - thereby also ridding himself of an annoyance in his plans to reclaim Xena - Gabrielle. Less said about the horse drag scene the better and I have little doubt Australian viewers saw one tenth of what American viewers did. But for the record - that bard got dragged through wood and rock, fire, air and water - all the elements. Literally.
That “vengeance”; “I hate you” nose to nose bit was the most chilling scene of the show. Made the hairs on my arm stand on end. I do believe Xena’s going to have a hard time explaining this one later: Heck, here Xena is deliberately about to hurl her best friend off a cliff - this is no intervention from the gods; no dream. She is just... angry. We always knew she had it in her but we never *really* dreamed she would do such a thing. Now we know. Xena co-executive producer Steven Sears says that when Gabrielle screams “I hate you” that is her equivalent point of hitting “rock bottom” to Xena’s rock bottom (the horse drag etc)... I guess it’s all a matter of interpretation but even though the good bard Gabrielle would never scream: “I hate you” at anyone ordinarily, so it *is* undoubtedly a huge thing for her - I think there’s a grave difference in rock bottoms between the two women’s behaviours. They hardly seem comparable. I suppose herein lies the intrinsic difference between the two women.
Another aside: Steven Sears tell us the reason Xena wasn’t on Argo was that Argo wouldn’t have dragged Gabrielle. How comforting. Still on the explanations, you’re probably wondering where the heck Illusia came from. Me too. Sears tells us it was created by Solan who wanted Xena and Gabrielle back together. Something to do with the power of love. Uh huh. Okay. I won’t comment on the fact half the population of Ancient Greece should theoretically be spending most of their lives in Illusia for every time someone dies and wants to fix the unfinished business for the sake of love. But perhaps Solan was special?
I don’t really mind where Illusia came from, it certainly livened things up in the Xenaverse. The entry via water - a cleansing substance - was inspired; the lack of clothing to signify they have been stripped of all that they were and are ready to start anew, equally thoughtful. I dug Callisto’s opening voiceover and, in fact her whole getup as a tarot card character guide. Her lithe dancer like movements were perfect for this part. But her quote of the day was to Xena: “You’re wrong not to trust one who knows you so well...” It’s true. Xena is currently as bent out of shape as Callisto ever was and thus knows precisely all the roiling anger and hatred coursing through Xena’s veins. Furthermore, Callisto spent her life studying Xena - she would know her better than anyone. Later, when Xena has killed the phantom Gabrielle, Callisto proves that her earlier line was very truthful indeed: “Did it fill you with glee to kill your little friend; did that ease your suffering or bring it to an end?” Oh yeah, Callisto’s been there too - in last week’s show and her moment of awful realisation (alas cut by Channel 10) that taking revenge on the person she perceived caused her pain (Xena) did absolutely nothing whatsoever. This is exactly where Xena is at now. Callisto is indeed Xena’s ideal guide. Of course that left them in a quandary for Gabrielle. Who is her ideal guide? Someone who reflects who she is as much as Callisto reflects Xena. And they came up with... Joxer. If I was Renee, I’d sue. Seriously though, Joxer does apparently have a heart of gold so he’s close enough. But the other reason for Joxer is that he is the light element to contrast the dark going on in Xena’s army world. I thought Ted Raimi did a pretty good job - this time he pulled back on the ham just enough to not overpower everything. I laughed at the dead naked heroes line; and the special effects department earns a nod for their grass dress.
It’s fascinating looking at Xena and Gabrielle’s respective true “homes”. Xena’s home is an army, people chanting her name (of course); power, might, strength and people to lead. Gabrielle’s home is Poteidaia - a place where people love her unconditionally and see things in the same way she does. For instance, Lila’s line is most telling: “If your child had lived we would have made her welcome too”. That was one of Gabrielle’s biggest beefs with Xena - that she couldn’t see the joy Hope represented for her; only the evil she was. But her family and friends would have known - or rather seen Hope the way Gabrielle wanted Xena to see her. But it is also a bitter sweet (sorry) reminder for Gabrielle of the downside: “Hesitate until you die”; sing the folks; “Nothing changes but the tide, we don’t even change our minds”. It’s friendly, it’s bright and yet, she observes with confusion, dull, unchanging. Small note on Willa O’Neill (Lila), because she was surrounded by professional singers, she came off sounding worse than she probably was. I think they could have done Willa a favor and dubbed her as they did Renee and Hudson Leick (Callisto). And speaking of the pros - whoohoo - has Lucy got a set of lungs on her or what???
And Kevin Smith (Ares), what a surprise! No wonder so many fans are going gooey for him. Funnily enough I hear he’s quite shy about his singing voice - heaven’s knows why when you can resonate a sensuous rumble like that. And speaking of sensuous, his dance with Xena was beautiful to watch - it was hard to tell where his body ended and hers began. Kevin, again modestly, apparently does not dance and took many lessons before this scene. Well it obviously paid off. Kudos also for Lucy for making that scene an absolute winner - from the moment of her mad excitement and adrenalin surge for having finally done what she set out to do - kill Gabrielle - to her confusion at what she has done, to the horror as the realisation sinks in and finally - and we don’t see this look very often Xenites, her *fear* when an angry and very much alive Gabrielle confronts her. She looks frightened and guilty that Gabrielle has caught her doing something so unspeakable, that she knows she’s in very deep water. I also liked the scene for one other reason - Gabrielle is now on the front foot again and no longer fearful of Xena. Actually she’s beside herself with anger and incredulousness. The point is, they have moved beyond the self preservation (such as the cliff battle) and we know they’re on their way to the start of some very serious patching up. On that note, the turning point of the show is Gabrielle’s answer to Xena’s question - “How do you feel right now, nothing about the past, right now.” “I hurt inside... don’t you?” she asks tremulously. Heck - that hits the spot. The rest is fairly straightforward - they confront their demons one by one. For Gabrielle it is Dahak and her first kill; for Xena it is Caesar et al. The song Hate is the Star is the only one I didn’t really think too much of - especially coming after such a powerful one. I noticed to my pleasant surprise that during this redemption phase not once but twice Xena moves to try and protect Gabrielle - once when Gabrielle is being pulled into the flames; and the next time to scream a warning when evil Xena tries to stab Gabrielle on the altar. Interestingly, Gabrielle did not try to call out to Xena to warn her about her legs being imminently crunched. Ah well - old habits maybe? Xena always was more the protector, and Gabrielle more often on the receiving end to pain.
The closing scene with Solan was just a joy to watch - the lighting, the final cleansing water - which Gabrielle goes through, changing her clothing, her hair, but Xena, still dishevelled, can not. What a great way to tie up a loose end with Ming Tien from The Debt. Fantastic. And Xena down on her knees begging for forgiveness from Gabrielle and Solan. I ask you: who could say no to that? Certainly Gabrielle caved and forgave her very quickly, but in all honesty, who can blame her?! It was heartfelt and touching. The hug was sweet, but this rolling around in the water business as they both laughed in relief seemed silly. Xena will be plucking sand out of her wet leathers for awhile yet... but oh well, I’m a softie - all’s well that ends well. They even had the setting sun. Awww. Let’s hope Xena does indeed take home those two Emmys for that stunning, surprising effort. And may the rift, finally, end here. Forever. Amen.