PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
HE'S COMING
(Lightning flashes, Xena is running)
Gabrielle: I'm carrying a child?
BRINGING FORTH A NEW WORLD ORDER
(Gabrielle tries to attack a she-demon type thing)
Man: What's inside her must die.
(Gabrielle runs from a group of people.)
(Xena pulls a sword on the same she-demon.)
BATTLE ON, XENA
TV GUIDE PROMO
Gabrielle gives birth to the evil daughter of Dahak.
Xena: Warrior Princess pays homage to 'Rosemary's Baby as
Gabrielle gives birth to the child of a satanic spirit. The
series is set in 'Britannia' at the time of Caesar, but that
doesn't stop the producers from borrowing from 'Frankestein' and
'The Ten Commandments' as well.
Gabrielle gives birth to the 'Daughter of Darkness.' The
warrior's fiery encounter with Dahak, the 'Force of Darkness',
left her more than shaken - it left her naseous. Before long
three evil Banshees materialize, worshipping Gabrielle and
calling her 'The Source'. Both she and Xena suspect something
strange is going on, and sure enough, Gabrielle's belly begins
to grow at a rapid rate. The birth of a beautiful baby girl soon
follows, and Gabrielle names her Hope, hoping for the best. But
when Xena looks at the child all she sees is despair - which
doesn't bode well for the friendship of the two warriors.
Gabrielle is left shaken -- and queasy -- by her fiery
encounter with the evil spirit Dahak, and soon gives birth to the
daughter of darkness. She names her Hope and hopes for the
best.
Gabrielle must make a difficult decision regarding her allegiance to Xena after she gives birth to the daughter of Dahak, the Evil One.
AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
1st RELEASE: 10-27-97
An AA average of 6.2
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) X-FILES 6th with 7.8
(2) XENA 8th with 6.2
(3) HERCULES 9th with 6.1
(4) STAR TREK DS9 11th with 6.0
(5) WALKER 17th with 4.6
(6) EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT 23rd with 4.3
(7) NYPD BLUE 25th wit 4.1
2nd RELEASE: 03-23-98
An AA average of 4.7
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) X-FILES 7th at 6.7
(2) HERCULES 12th at 4.9
(3) XENA 14TH AT 4.7
(4) STAR TREK DS9 18th at 4.2
SYNOPSIS 1:
This synopsis is by Bluesong.
The show opens with Gabrielle dreaming
about killing Meridian (the woman she stabbed in THE DELIVERER).
Xena holds her when she wakes and tries to calm her. They gather
their things and begin walking through the woods. Gabrielle is
feeling very ill and leans on Xena. Suddenly three winged women
come swooping down and attack Xena. She cannot fight them off
because they hit hard and then become like air. But they do not
attack Gabrielle. They say they want to worship Gabrielle because
she is the chosen one.
Xena and Gabrielle arrive at a village,
and Xena leaves Gabrielle at a tavern while she goes to see about
finding a boat to take them back to Greece. Gabrielle suddenly
regains her appetite and eats chicken livers, sheep guts, etc.
The villagers surround the tavern and set it on fire, calling
Gabrielle a witch. Gabrielle pole-vaults out of the building.
Xena, meanwhile, had found passage to Greece, but had been set
upon by several knights with swords. She fought them off and
then ran after Gabrielle, who by this time is fleeing through the
woods with the town chasing her. Xena jumps in front of the
villagers and stops them. Gabrielle disappears.
Xena follows her into the woods and
finds the banshees worshiping her. They tell Gabrielle she is
going to have a child. Xena gets Gabrielle away from the
banshees and they flee to a castle. The banshees cannot enter
the castle unless they're invited. Xena takes Gabrielle to the
stable and lays her down. Her pregnancy has progressed quickly;
she's in her 4th or 5th month when Xena sets out to find the
knights of the castle (think Arthurian legends here). She
listens as the knights argue about Gabrielle. One says she
"beams innocence" while another claims that what is inside of her
is evil incarnate.
Xena bursts in and asks for
explanations. Gabrielle screams. She has gone into labor. Xena
races to her friend, locks the knights out of the stable and
delivers the baby. It is a girl. The knights bash in the door
and two of them side with Xena in protecting Gabrielle and the
baby. Within a day's time the child is crawling. Gabrielle
names her Hope. Xena worries that the child is evil. Gabrielle
warns Xena not to come between her and her daughter.
One of the two soldiers makes a deal
with the banshees to let them in; Xena catches him. When she
returns to a sleeping Gabrielle, the other knight, and the baby,
she finds the knight dead. The baby is playing with a trinket
that belonged to the knight. Xena raises her sword to kill the
baby and Gabrielle wakes up. The banshees burst in and Gabrielle
tells them to attack Xena. Gabrielle runs off, and Xena chases
her. Xena finally catches up to her as Gabrielle climbs a rocky
hill. She yells up at Gabrielle pleading with her to stop the
evil by killing the baby. Then Gabrielle screams "Xena" and Xena
runs up the hill. Gabrielle says the child turned on her and
tried to strangle her and Gabrielle threw her over a cliff.
There is a cave close by and Xena does not believe Gabrielle at
first. She apologizes when she sees there is no baby hidden in
the cave.
The camera cuts to a shot of a basket
with a baby in it floating down the river below the hill.
Gabrielle and Xena have made camp and Xena is asleep. Gabrielle
leaves and talks to the winds, to her daughter, saying she knows
she'll be ok and for her to be good.
SYNOPSIS 2:
This synopsis is by Sarah Thompson .
This was an indepth look into evil and
goodness, friendship and betrayal. Ally or foe.
The episode starts with Gabrielle
having a nightmare about killing Meridan. She wakes to find Xena
holding her and then she throws up. Nice. They are trying to get
off the island, but Banshees are trying to stop them. They say
they are Gab's protectors. Xena on the other hand wants to take
them on.
They head to town and while Gabrielle
is enjoying a feast of livers and cherries, Xena is being
attacked while trying to gain passage off the island. The men are
there to distract her as a horde of angry villagers attack
Gabrielle, who gets trapped in a raging inferno. She escapes, by
using Xenaesque abilities, and leaping from the building to
water. The fire is out. But then she is on the run, with the
villagers after her and Xena after them. Xena stops them in time.
The banshees reappear and tell Xena and
Gabrielle that they will not let them leave the forest. A
villager says that the warriors told them that Gabrielle was
carrying evil that would destroy all goodness. Xena and Gab make
a run for it. Gabrielle's tummy is getting bigger, and to keep us
distracted she is covered in an ugly grey cloth by the Banshees,
who tell her that she is carrying a child.
In the castle of the warriors Xena
places Gabrielle in a stable and is her tummy bigger. Xena hears
the 'knights' discussing Gabrielle and attacks them when they say
that the child must die and maybe Gabrielle with it. The pinch is
then placed on one of the men who in turn tells Xena of Dahak and
the darkness that the baby is.
Xena keeps them from the stable, while
Gabrielle gives birth to a beautiful baby girl named HOPE! Xena
is unsure but protects the child from the warriors, a couple of
whom join Gabrielle and Xena. They lock themselves in room and
rest, and Gabrielle is herself again. They sleep, but one of the
allies goes to the front door of the castle to let the banshees
in: they have to be invited -- sort of like Vampires. Xena stops
him, but on return she notices that the other man is killed, and
the baby is the only one Xena sees as suspect. She draws her
sword to kill Hope, but Gabrielle awakes to see her best friend
with a sword on her child.
Gabrielle takes Hope and runs. Xena
chases her relentlessly. Eventually she catches up, but not after
Gabrielle rides a horse and trades the horse for a boat. Xena
tries to explain herself, but Gabrielle won't listen. Gabrielle
then yells for Xena and says that the child tried to kill her so
she threw her over the cliff. Xena hears something from a cave
and does not believe Gabrielle. She goes to the cave only to find
rats. They hug and Xena apologizes for not believing Gabrielle.
As they are sleeping, Gabrielle awakes,
looks at Xena, then goes to pray. We discover she let the child
live and sent it down stream. She hopes the child is good. WHO
KNOWS??
Watch this one just for the dialogue
between the two ladies, it is very compelling.
Next week. XENA IN CHINA. The dark Xena
returns as we learn more of her past, and her alliance with a
Chinese woman. LOOKS even better than DESTINY if that is
possible.
COMMENTARY 1:
This commentary is by
Beth Gaynor.
Thus the Rift begins in earnest. Yikes.
One of the things frequently praised about XWP is that it
features two strong, intelligent, independent women. Now we get
one of the problems in that: what happens when those two strong
wills end up at direct loggerheads with each other? Time for
irresistible forces to meet immovable objects.
Gabrielle deceives Xena in a big, big
way. She even plots a diversion to allow for her inability to
convince Xena, putting Hope in the river and then taking off up
the hill to draw Xena away before she tries lying to her. Darned
devious. Gab refuses to consider that Hope could be evil, and she
doesn't have much chance of convincing Xena otherwise, so she
picks the worst possible solution: set that kid loose,
unsupervised, unwatched, and uncared for, into the world. And
then flat-out lie to Xena about it. NOT Gabrielle's finest
moment.
But lest anyone think I'm going to let
Xena off unscathed, she's got a few problems of her own in this.
She was preparing to slaughter that little tyke, right next to
mommy, without so much as a by-your-leave. Now that's COLD. Once
Xena made her decision that Hope was an evil critter, she
reverted to commander mode and wasn't concerned with convincing
anyone else - most importantly, Gabrielle - about it. She finally
gave it a shot, much later, as Gabrielle climbed the cliffside
and Hope was already down the river. A day late and a dinar
short, Xena.
Gabrielle rides a horse. Voluntarily.
For a few hours at a stretch. After being given it by a banshee.
After siccing said banshees on Xena. Well, there's a whole STRING
of things I never expected to see.
Gabrielle's (very spooky! - I loved it)
dream had a telling moment in it: Meridian, the priestess, is
sweet, loving, and innocent in the dream. Gab has completely
forgotten the wee fact that Meridian deliberately set herself up
to be killed in order to summon the evil god she worshipped.
Gab's tendency to see the best in people is adding loads to her
grief over her first kill.
Gabrielle gives the sackcloth look a
try, presumably to cover the effects of the fire on her clothes,
and, perhaps, to hide her swelling stomach. It also conveniently
prevents any necessity for tricky prosthetics to try to make
those killer abs look pregnant. Smart thinking, XenaStaff! Bad
fashion choice, but smart thinking.
Up until the point when Xena and
Gabrielle discuss Hope in those two chairs (did anyone else see
the image of two rulers in their thrones discussing the kingdom
toddling about their feet?), Xena was in as major a supportive
mode as we've ever seen her. Her usual reserve was on complete
standby over her concern for Gab. Through the woods, the banshee
attacks, the tavern, and the birth, Xena gave every ounce of
attentive support that she could. (My personal favorite was two
seconds after the birth, when Gabrielle asks Xena not to let them
take her baby, and quick as you can say 'break out the siege
towers,' Xena is an impenetrable wall that NO one is getting
past.) But the debate over Hope's nature ends the requests for
Xena's support, and by the time Xena finds Hope's first kill, the
warrior mode has slammed back into place full time.
Through all that support work, though,
BOY is Xena spoiling for a fight. I thought she was going to turn
backflips when those banshees showed up, and she goes after the
knights with gusto. Best friend is in pain? Nothing like getting
a chance to pummel something senseless to blow off some steam.
The humor moments were sparse in this
episode, but they were deft: Gabrielle's cravings in the tavern
(yyeeeeeuck! WHO is Renee cheesing off in the production staff
that they keep making her eat all this nasty stuff?) and Xena
drawing Excalibur, to the priceless reactions of the knights
(turns out Uther Pendragon was a Johnny-Come-Lately. Once again,
there is no mythos that Xena can't mess with!).
Nice pole-vault, Gabrielle! The Warrior
Princess is rubbing off on you. I liked how Gab's leap was
THIIIIIIS close to what you'd expect from Xena - it had the
height (with a little pole help) and the aim - but with a
panicked scream and no control whatsoever. You're getting closer,
Bard, keep at it. You'll be doing 30-foot vertical jumps within
another couple of years.
Just in case we missed all the Christ
symbologies in Hope's birth, the knights tell us that both the
child of darkness and the child of light will "come in a similar
way." We have an unseen god as father, and a young, innocent
woman as mother. We have two travelers far from home. We have
spirit beings announcing the upcoming birth. We have birth in a
stable. I think we got the comparison. Except that in the case of
Christ, his birth was full of normalcy and mundaneness that
belied his divinity. In the case of Hope, her birth was full of
innocence and sweetness that belied her evil. Appropriately
Halloween-y creepy.
At the end, Gabrielle seems to finally
be worrying just a bit about Hope. She asks Hope who she is
before she sets her loose on the river, and in the end begs her
to be good. Of course, that begging is done in a kneeled prayer
to "my love, my Hope." Woo, somebody bestow a clue on this lady.
If she starts offering to sing the song of Hope, the baby she
knew, the kid she loved, I'm gonna throw the remote at the
screen.
Xena doesn't once call the baby Hope.
In fact, Gabrielle's the only one who uses her name. The rest
refer to the baby as "the baby" or "her" when they're happy about
it - or "it" when they're not.
Gabrielle has a real problem with going
to extremes (ahhh, youth). She talks about her dreams of being a
peacemaker, of ending hatred, but thinks that all of that can be
destroyed by one act, one killing. She gives up on being a
peacemaker, on seeking solutions and finding the good. Instead of
proposing that the knights care for Hope as the perfect guardians
and watchers of her progress, she retreats into her new role as
mother and doesn't let her concern push one inch beyond caring
for Hope. Greater good? What greater good?
The Birth Scene. One word: ow.
Emotional ow, physical ow. Childbirth scenes are tough, tough,
tough for actresses. They are SO easy to overact and tumble right
into the ridiculous. But Renee did a heck of a job, and Lucy's
reactions are excellent, too. The writer and director pulled out
all the emotional stops for this scene. Every single one - I
don't think there was a trick left in the book. The sun turns
black, a storm whips out of nowhere, the music, the noise, and
the voices get deafening. All the animals are panicky - except
the goat, which is sometimes used as a demonic symbol, who is
calm and watchful. Nice touch. The heart-rending moment to me was
when Gabrielle cried to Xena that she was afraid. Ow, again. The
scene was well-done, and I hope never to see that kind of thing
inflicted again on a character I like so much. Kind of like how I
expect to feel about the whole Rift. In the end of it all, Xena
is in tears, apologetic, and emotional. Gabrielle is dry-eyed and
reserved. How's THAT for a switch?
COMMENTARY 2:
This commentary is by
Carmen Carter.
FIRST LOOK.
There are so many aspects of
GABRIELLE'S HOPE that deserve attention that after two viewings
I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of what this episode
offers. However, I'll start with the crux of the episode: the
baby.
Is the baby evil or good? That question
is never answered in this episode. In fact, Hope's true nature is
carefully left balanced on a knife edge of doubt. The result is a
sort of Rorshack test of the soul, a mirror that reflects back
what the viewer expects to see.
Xena, the blood-stained warrior, sees
Evil. And she reacts instinctively to reach out and destroy that
Evil, both as a protector of Gabrielle and of the general good.
Although there are other answers, other explanations for the
events swirling around the child, Xena gives weight only to those
that confirm her own pragmatic, wary, dark view of life.
Gabrielle sees Good, just as Gabrielle
has *always* seen good in those around her. Despite all the
darkness that is in Xena, Gabrielle alone has always recognized
her capacity for redemption. The Gabrielle in GH is the same
woman who stepped forward to keep the villagers of Amphipolis
from stoning the warrior princess, who threw herself over Terreis
and David to save them from death, who found that she couldn't
kill Callisto, her kill husband's murderer. This Gabrielle is no
glassy-eyed idealist; she recognizes the possibility that her
child is tainted by its father, but she also believes there is a
part of *her* in the child that could guide it away from evil.
Xena proclaims the child a murderer
because she is already prepared to believe in its guilt.
Gabrielle declares the child innocent until proven otherwise. She
takes a leap of faith that gives her the strength not to kill.
Khraftstar lied about his encounter with faith, but it's a
shattered Gabrielle who finds faith and is restored by it.
Since the evidence against the child is
purely circumstantial, there is no clearcut right or wrong answer
in this situation. Instead, we have two people of conscience with
diametrically opposed philosophies who come into conflict when
those perspectives are put to the test. And they are both willing
to risk everything -- from their friendship to their lives -- to
uphold their own principles. This is not some petty clash of
self-righteous indignation; this is a fundamental conflict over
issues so crucial that they overshadow sentiment and personal
regard.
Perhaps Xena is right and the child is
Evil incarnate, its very presence a threat to the world. Or, just
perhaps, it is Xena's rage -- so admired by Dahok -- that is the
true threat, and the action of killing an innocent would unleash
Evil. By outwitting Xena, Gabrielle may have sheltered Mankind's
doom, or she may have broken the cycle of killing and vengeance
and saved Mankind's hope. The "real" answer is less important at
this stage than exploring the price each woman will pay to
maintain their integrity.
What is most striking to me is that
during this struggle, neither Xena nor Gabrielle loses sight of
the very real and deep love that they have for each other. Their
interaction is tender and compassionate, shifting toward sadness
as they move farther and farther apart. Gabrielle tricks Xena
because she *has* to, but there is no spite or bitterness in that
action. Just as Xena is deeply grieved by her own actions against
Gabrielle's child. This isn't a fight with each other so much as
a fight with the larger forces of Good and Evil.
This is also the final chapter in
Gabrielle's coming of age story. As symbolized by her escape from
the tavern fire, Gabrielle is no longer dependent on Xena for
salvation; she is fully capable of taking control of her own
life. This sets the stage for her conflict with Xena, one in
which Gabrielle disagrees with Xena's condemnation of Hope and
follows her own instincts in deciding to save the child. After a
long apprenticeship, the young bard from Poteidaia is a true
match for Xena in the ensuing battle of wits and will. What we
see by the end of GH are two women of immense courage and
personal conviction who are forced by circumstance to walk away
from each other, no matter how reluctantly. The irony is that
they are now better suited for each other than they ever have
been before.
SECOND LOOK.
It's with considerable amusement that
I've read so many messages that assume, without argument, that
Gabrielle's child is evil. Because for me, the major flaw of
GABRIELLE'S HOPE was that Xena's basis for this judgment seemed
incredibly weak and unconvincing. Yet, if we as viewers disagree
so strongly on the issue of the child's guilt, then it's not so
surprising that Xena and Gabrielle have also expressed
conflicting opinions.
There is little question that
Gabrielle's daughter came *from* Evil, the palpable evil that is
Dahok. However, Gabrielle was not some passive vessel for
carrying the demon's seed. She immediately laid claim to the
mortal half of *her* child, and thus bequeathed to Hope a
heritage of Good as well as Evil. Thus Gabrielle argued that the
child had the capacity for *both* Good and Evil, and the freedom
to choose between the two moral orders.
When Xena found the body of the dead
knight, she assumed the worst: Gabrielle's daughter had murdered
him, proving the inevitability of her evil nature. And according
to Xena's warrior philosophy, Evil had to be fought by any means
possible, even if that meant killing her best friend's child.
However, when Gabrielle learned of the
knight's death, she assumed the best: an intruder could have
entered the room (remember all those secret passageways) and
murdered the knight. Until proven otherwise, the child was
innocent; its true nature was still unknown. According to
Gabrielle's philosopy of peace, Evil had to be fought by *not*
killing her child, by not killing *anyone*, because as long as a
person is alive there is always the hope that they will choose
Good. No person -- whether it be Hope or Xena or even Callisto --
is beyond redemption.
One could argue that Gabrielle is
terminally naive about the harsh realities of the world. However,
one could also argue that Xena is jaded and cynical, that she has
lost the capacity for faith and hope. At the conclusion of
DESTINY, Xena remembered the point in her past when she made a
conscious choice in favor of Evil. That self-knowledge and guilt
almost killed her, and it was only Gabrielle's belief in Xena's
renewed capacity for goodness, her belief that the world *needs*
Xena, that called the warrior back to life. But Xena borrowed
that faith from Gabrielle; it was not her own. So when faced with
the threat of Dahok's ascension to power, Xena could see only
darkness around her. She was incapable of making the leap of
faith that carried Gabrielle into the light, a light which
insists that every child -- no matter what its origins --
symbolizes the hope of mankind born anew.
In the end, Xena and Gabrielle both
made assumptions based on their personal convictions, and both
were compelled to act in accordance with their beliefs. Xena
fought to destroy the child, certain that she was saving humanity
from Evil; Gabrielle fought to save the child, equally convinced
that killing Hope was wrong.
The fate of the world now hangs in the
balance, and the importance of their struggle transcends personal
loyalties and personal cost. If Xena had succeeded in killing
Hope, that act would have destroyed Gabrielle; in turn, the price
for saving Hope was that Gabrielle had to lie to Xena. There was
no happy solution to their moral conflict. Some betrayals are
inevitable, inescapable, *necessary*. Despite his love for Xena,
Borias betrayed and opposed her when he turned to Good before she
did. Gabrielle is forced to echo that betrayal because she sees
Good when Xena is blind to it.
My money is on Gabrielle. I think Xena
has been tricked by the forces of Dahok into believing the child
is evil. I suspect the murdered knight, who shared Gabrielle's
faith, actually died trying to protect the child. If Xena had
succeeded in killing Hope -- if her suspicion and rage and
violence had spilled the blood of a spritually innocent child --
Dahok's gateway would have opened. But everyone from Dahok to
Xena underestimated Gabrielle's faith, determination and
resourcefulness. Against all odds, Gabrielle succeeded in saving
the child, in preserving the life of the sacrificial innocent,
and so the gateway remains closed...for now.
What I feared most in THE DELIVERER was
that the rape of Gabrielle would reduce her problems to the
narrow province of gender-based dilemmas. Instead, in GABRIELLE'S
HOPE, Gabrielle's personal struggles have grown to encompass
fundamental human issues of spiritual faith and free-will. It is
a breath-taking scope for the ongoing narrative that is XWP.
COMMENTARY 3:
This commentary is by
Brette4635.
Gabrielle clearly felt, as seen through the dream sequence, that she did not
kill instinctively, but knowingly and with conviction. This perhaps is the
catalyst for the behavior she subsequently displays. The Banshees gave
credence to her belief that she was evil because she had killed. When she
spoke to Xena about her soul, I don't believe she knew about the pregnancy,
but referred to an evil within brought about by the murder. I did see a
contradiction in what Xena had told her about "her core of goodness." This
contradicts Xena's notion that a child born of goodness, who then commits an
evil act, can overcome it and be redeemed. This suggests that a child born
of evil, yet nurtured through goodness, will follow a path of evil.
When on the cross (Destiny) Xena said she chose evil. She knows it very
well. But she made a clear distinction between choosing evil and being born
of evil. This, then,
was the definitive point through which Xena made the decision that
Gabrielle's child must die.
I saw very clear parallels between Solan and Hope. Xena gave up Solan to
free him from the hate that followed Xena, and thereby put his life in
jeopardy. Gabrielle did the same thing with Hope. Gabrielle had no choice.
As she said to Xena: "No matter what she is, she is still my child."
Clearly, Gabrielle would have nurtured that child on the path of goodness.
I also saw parallels between the birth of Hope and the birth of Christ. Both
born in a stable; one surrounded by peaceful animals; the other surrounded by
animals in a frenzy. One born under the bright star of love; the other born
during a foreboding darkness. One surrounded by angel's voices; the other
born through a grotesque exchange of howling. In the end, both born
innocent with one choosing the path of goodness, and the other...well, we are
not sure, are we?
I disagree with those who have claimed that Xena was cold. I think she, a
woman who is always in control, had to deal with a situation which was so out
of control. In the scene where she tried to calm Gabrielle into a restful
sleep, a contraction occurs and Xena seems on the verge of tears, yet she
holds on. In The Furies, even though she was insane, she did manage to
outwit Ares. Control.
And now the web of deceit. Gabrielle carefully manipulated Xena into
thinking the child was dead. This act of manipulation began in TD, and
continued through GH. Starting with Crafstar planting the seed about Caesar;
Xena once again using Bodicea; Crafstar infusing Gabrielle with thoughts of
love and goodness; Ares hinting to Xena about the temple; the banshees
adoration of Gabrielle; the knights telling the townspeople about Gabrielle
being a witch, then convincing Xena that the child is evil; on and on.
What is so interesting to me is the way in which we see Gabrielle slowly
descend into this web. Believing she is evil; by committing an evil act;
justifying the Banshees worship of her; seeing this pregnancy as punishment
for that act; believing that the birth of the child is just due for her said
act; being compelled to lie to Xena in order to stop an even greater act of
violence, reinforced in Gabrielle her belief that the birth was her
punishment, and that her destiny as peacemaker was now a pipe dream. We now
see a Gabrielle who is no longer part of the light, but is exuding shades of
gray. This is not criticism of Gabrielle's actions; but a possible answer to
them.
In the end, Gabrielle asks the child: "Who are you?" And ends in a prayer
which pleads for the child to "be good." If in fact, the child does turn out
to be evil; Gabrielle will bear the burden. If the child is not; it will be
Xena who will suffer the agony of being the catalyst who caused the
separation of a mother from her child. How ironic. Two women, each with a
child, and both of whom let them go for the sake of the child's safety.
So my question remains: Does a child born of evil necessarily become evil?
EDITS/CUTS ON THE USA/SCI-FI CHANNELS
03-11-00. From KSZoneW. Xena calling the Banshees b*tch*s was edited; might have cut out part of the pregnancy scene but I need to recheck the syndicated version and the usa/scifi version.
WHIMPERS, MURMURS, AND A LOVE GONE TOO
FAR
12-21-98. From R.J. Stewart's (the executive producer of XWP) RealHollywood 12-15-98 chat:
Truthseeker asks "The Dahak episodes of both Xena and Hercules are
among my favorites. How did the idea of Dahak come up and can you
give us any hints of any future plans for Dahak?"
R.J.Stewart says "Okay. Um .... That whole storyline of G's baby etc.
etc. .... G's hope .. is something that Rob and I beat out in this
room a few years ago in the broadest sense .. the basic direction of
where we wanted to go. We asked Steve Sears to come up with the setup
for that particular thing .. how is G impregnated with Hope. And,
then he started researching Zaroastrianism [sic]. And, it would be a
question probably addressed to Steve .. but that was the framework
in which he came up with it."
10-06-97. British mag SFX (issue
unknown): "Gabrielle returns to her Amazon sisters after being
forced to kill in self-defense - and giving birth to a demon
child!" So! Gabrielle is a busy chick...she gets impregnanted,
finally gets around to killing someone, delivers au naturale, and
then has to deal with Xena's freaking out about her demon off-
spring, but she still finds time to summer (or is it winter) with
the Amazons. Gabrielle apparently is going after a lot of badges
in this trilogy. No wonder the whole she-bang takes 6 episodes.
Gabrielle will need three more episodes just to calm down from
the previous three.
Purportedly this is the 2nd episode of
the "Rift" trilogy which seems to also include Gabrielle giving
birth to...something. What was cast was a 10 year old girl. Yup.
With THE FURIES opening the season
(with its three stooges influences) and then the Rift Trilogy
following a comedy, the theme of the year seems set: more wild
and unpredictable genre manipulations. We always come down to the
same question: What is XWP? Is it a comedy, drama, tragedy, or
action/fantasy show? It is all of the above! As time in the
Xenaverse is anachronistic, the genre the play is acted out in is
ana-genre-istic!
07-15-97. All I know at this point is
that it was filmed June 8 - 16, 1997 and it was overcast for most
if not all of the shoot. This does not have Callisto in it,
because Callisto is in MATERNAL INSTINCTS.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Highlights by
Beth Gaynor.
One moment in particular I loved in
the Birth Scene: Xena's shock at being able to simply say "It's a
girl." It's a normal, regular-looking baby girl. After all that
weirdness, all that panic, all that nastiness, no monster here.
(Har.)
Favorite humor break: Xena's line "I'm
gonna slap these bitches silly." I couldn't believe that I could
laugh in the middle of all that nastiness going on, but that one
made me roar.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT
FOR
10-07-98. From Mitch. The rat that appears in "The Bitter Suite" (58/312) [when they are showing the castle that Xena enters where all the warriors are, there is a rat scampering along the wall at the front of the scene], "Royal Couple of Thieves" (17/117) [same rat, same wall, different background - this time it's the seaport we're looking at], and HTJL: "Once A Hero" (H27/214) [same rat, same wall, different background again - now it's the town where the 'party' is being held], is in "Gabrielle's Hope" as well!
10-07-98. From Nicholas Nayko. There is a tarot card which depicts 3 swords piecing a heart. Perhaps this is the origin of the warriors of the pierced heart in "Gabrielle's Hope".
10-07-98. From KSZoneW.
Those lightning flashes used during the birth of Hope in "Gabrielles Hope" were also used in the HTLJ's episode "Atantis".
From Vicki. The knight's
round table in GABRIELLE'S HOPE, makes an appearance on the wall of Lao Ma's house in THE DEBT II.
Got to love those prop people.
From Beth: Shall we mention the obvious? The
return of Hope! That was very ominous music they played to her
exit downstream.
From Beth: Blooper alert #1: Listen to the dialog
when Xena and the ship captain dicker for passage to Greece.
Sounds like they still needed to do some discussing:
Xena: "50 Mycenean dinars, paid when
we've arrived in Athens."
Captain: "Agreed. Your hand on it.
Payment due
before we set sail tomorrow."
From Beth: We never actually see the captain talk
on-screen. His voice was probably
dubbed in later, which would make it a good deal easier for two
people
to end up saying contradictory things one right after the other.
From Beth: Blooper #2: Xena's sword once again
pulls the disappearing/reappearing
act. She loses the sword in the fight in the castle with the
banshees; a
banshee kicks it and it flies across the room. Xena leaves the
room
without picking it up. But when she leaps outside the walls of
the
castle, it's back in its scabbard. "Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a
sword
out of my hat!" "Not AGAIN!"
11-10-97. Epaulet alert! In the scene
where Xena is running along the ridge by the ocean, she has
neither epaulets (shoulder armor) or upper arm bands on? Shots
from the title sequence? The only scenes shown thus far with Xena
wearing no upper arm bands or epaulets are in that sequence, and
she is on the ridge overlooking the sea. (For the truly nitpicky,
she is wearing a belt and the breastplate is pointed not rounded
in the center...and yes you have to look very closely on slo-mo
to see this...we're just too obsessed!). Apparently those
breastplates are cinched tight enough for them to stay up without
support even when she's running. No wonder Lawless commented on
them making the costume more comfortable as time went on -- it
might be a little tough to breath at times otherwise.
11-10-97. Gabrielle's baby, Hope, is
playing with the toy Gabby got in SOLSTICE CAROL -- like the one
she played with when she was little.
11-10-97. In the castle, when the
banshees break in and attack Xena they knock her sword from her
hands and it lands on the floor behind her. Xena never stopped
to pick the sword back up after she bested them. She ran straight
out the door to try to catch Gabrielle, but when she got outside
guess where the sword was? Right there on her back where it
belongs!
TRANSCRIPT
Click here to read a transcript of GABRIELLE'S HOPE.
DISCLAIMER:
Despite witnessing the bizarre and
somewhat disturbing birth of Gabrielle's Hope, no farm animals
were harmed or traumatized during the production of this motion
picture.
FAN SUGGESTED
DISCLAIMER:
However, one WHOOSH! staffer and
Rate-a-Xena webmaster was severely traumatized and is off to
stick her head in a bucket of
ice water. (from Beth
Gaynor)
