PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
THIS IS PARADISE--
(Gabrielle sniffs a flower.)
Gabrielle (to Xena): Where are we?
OR IS IT?
Gabrielle: No!
AN ALL NEW--
(Xena tries to use her neck pinch on Aiden.)
Gabrielle: Xena, no!
(Xena raises up a hammer.)
XENA!
ON AN ALL NEW XENA--
(Gabrielle sniffs a flower.)
Gabrielle (to Xena): Where are we?
THIS IS PARADISE--
Aiden (to Xena and Gabrielle): Welcome to my home.
A MAGICAL EDEN, WHERE YOU CAN CLEAR YOUR MIND, AND HEAL YOUR BODY.
(Xena and Gabrielle perform meditation exercises separately.)
Gabrielle: Gods, this is bliss.
A HEAVEN ON EARTH.
Xena (to Gar): What is this place?
(Aiden turns around.)
OR IS IT?
Gabrielle: No!
AN ALL NEW--
Gabrielle: Xena, no!
(Xena raises up a hammer.)
XENA!
TV GUIDE PROMO
Though Gabrielle finds peace, Xena finds violence on an idyllic estate
inhabited only by its proprietor and crazy caretaker.
In a seemingly idyllic land, Gab finds peace and calm as Xena is beset by
visions of violence.
Gabrielle finds inner calm, but Xena is plagued by violent images in a land ruled by a man who claims to know the true path to peace.
When Xena and Gabrielle fall down a cave on a holy
mountain, they find a bucolic world of seeming peace, inhabited solely by
the peaceful Aidan and his crazy caretaker.
But as Gabrielle begins to find intense inner peace, Xena finds a darker
force emerging from inside her. Will she give over to her dark side again,
undoing all the good of her recent past? [From Mania.com]
It's "Xena in Wonderland," as the warrior princess and her
companion, Gabrielle, fall through a hole to a surreal land
with white rabbits and blue statues. There a New Agey guru, Aiden, teaches Gab about inner peace-and learns from Xena about going to pieces. Oh, and there's a scene where Xena and Gabrielle bathe together, and Xena gets up naked (discreetly), and another scene where Xena gives Gab a massage and...well, it all sounds less like Alice in Wonderland than the Playboy Channel. Must be Sweeps month. [From GistTV.com]
AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
1st RELEASE: 02-01-99
An AA average of 4.1
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) (11) XFiles 5.7
(2) (13) Star Trek DS9 4.6
(3) (15) Hercules/ER 4.3
(4) (19) Xena 4.1
2nd RELEASE: 04-12-99
An AA average of ?
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) (11) XFiles 4.9
(2) (14) Star Trek DS9 4.1
(3) (15) ER 3.9
(4) (22) Walker Texas Ranger 3.4
SYNOPSIS 1:
This synopsis is by Bluesong.
Xena and Gabrielle take refuge from a storm in a cave. Xena has a large gash
in her leg from a fight, which requires sewing. Through conversation we learn
that they are on their way to India and were sidetracked by spiritual
mountains. The dynamic duo argue over why Xena was fighting the bad men, and
Gabrielle says maybe Xena only fights for good so she can beat people up.
Xena has a vision of the cross scene while she's sewing her leg back together.
Gabrielle and Xena hear a noise. Gabrielle goes to investigate and
disappears. Xena limps along behind and discovers a really deep hole. Xena
jumps down the hole after Gabrielle. They wake up in paradise and find that
Xena's leg has been mysteriously healed. The place reminds them both of
Illusia without the music. They meet the servant, and then they meet Adin,
the spiritual ruler of the place. He convinces them to stay the night.
Xena and Gabrielle take a bath together. The servant appears at the door,
which Xena answers a-la-natural, causing the man to fall to the floor.
Gabrielle takes breathing lessons from Adin while Xena goes in the garden and
does Tai Chi. Gabrielle remembers Hope while she's doing her breathing.
Xena's Tai Chi turns violent and she attacks a bunch of blue statues.
Gabrielle trains with Adin, doing a lot of physical movement and breathing.
Xena watches them as Gabrielle remembers lying to Xena about Hope's death, and
Gabrielle starts to cry. Xena flees.
Xena and Gabrielle talk, and Xena agrees to stay another day. In the
moonlight, the gash in Xena's leg appears and disappears. Gabrielle talks to
Adin about Xena, because her dark side seems to be asserting itself.
Gabrielle goes to check on Xena, who begins to have hallucinations about
hurting Gabrielle. She imagines grabbing Gabrielle's hand and squeezing until
Gabrielle cries out in pain.
Xena goes to Adin, who tells her the atmosphere is forcing her darkness to the
surface and she must leave before she hurts Gabrielle. Xena writes a note but
her nose keeps bleeding. Gabrielle comes in and Xena gives her a rub down.
Xena's nose keeps bleeding. Xena remembers her cross vision. Gabrielle goes
to sleep. Xena tells her goodbye. As she's leaving, she examines one of the
blue statues, and then hunts down the servant. The servant says Adin
"leeches" off of goodness, and the people he's sucking dry turn into blue
statues.
Adin, meanwhile, puts Gabrielle into a deep trance. Xena gives over
everything to her dark side so Adin won't be able to suck any goodness from
her while she's saving Gabrielle. She confronts Adin and gets tossed around
by his brain waves. Gabrielle starts turning blue. Xena picks up the servant
man and Gabrielle comes out of her trance to stop Xena from hurting the man.
Xena grabs up her sword and kills Adin. When Adin dies, the paradise
disappears, and Xena, Gabrielle, and the servant end up the cave. The servant
leaves to go find his wife and kids. Xena and Gabrielle continue toward
India.
SYNOPSIS 2:
This synopsis is by Missy Good.
This was an interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes funny unintentionally
ep. (g)
We start off in a cave. A nice, firelit, particularily fanfic'y kind of
cave, where X and G are resting up following a battle with some thugs. Xena
is stating going to India is a great idea, but why did they have to go the
long route? Gab says these moutains are supposed to be very spiritual.
Besides, she says, Xena had fun beating up the baddies.
Xena protests. Gabrielle insists.. she says she thinks Xena likes fighting. (Hello,
Gabrielle? After four years you are just now realizing this? Score a 10 on
the DUH meter, kiddo..) I have to assume they're stating that for story
setup purposes, because certainly, Gabrielle as a character, has realized
her beloved partner does indeed enjoy hacking and slashing, if only from the
joyful laughter that tends to ring out over the battlefield.
I digress.
Anyway, Xena got a cut on the leg, and it needs stitching.
Oh.. did I mention Gabrielle was buck naked during all this? And wet. It's
raining outside the cave. Curiously, Xena appears dry, however. Surreal.
Anyway, she's in a fur cape or something (Gabrielle I mean) and starts to
sew up the gash, and they talk about Xena's dark side. This disturbs Xena,
and she tells Gab to stop stitching.. that she has hands of a sailor. Gab
gives up and takes her robe off, standing with her back to Xena as they
discuss the situation, and she puts her bsbg on. (Tangent - ROC has a nice
back)
Xena has a flashback to the vision. Gabrielle tells her to forget it, that
Xena has always told her they control their own destiny. Then they hear a
noise. Xena jumps up to investigate, but Gabrielle stops her, and tells her
to sit tight, and not pull her stiches out. She takes a torch and goes off
to see what's up.
Xena's "omigosh Gabirelle's in trouble' patented alert system goes off, and
she grabs her sword to go see what happened. She finds no bard, but a large,
twisting, winding, suspiciously looking like the lava pit from Sacrifice
except cold and dark kind of hole.
So, of course, she jumps into it.
End of teaser.
They wake up in a garden, complete with canaries and bunny rabbits. And a
turtle. It's got that overly colorful look that real gardens never have, and
Xena is immediately suspicious. Maybe it's because she's found her leg
healed. Illusia is brought up, but elicits no particular reaction from
either woman, other than Xena commenting that the only songs she's heard is
birdsong.
tangent - for something that must have affected both of them on such a deep,
significant level, Illusia is treated rather shabbily, here..you almost get
the impression that Xena, at least, doesnt' have much respect for it.
/tangent.
They find a dude. He's your typical babbling, half armored, sort of grubby
thuggy type and he tells them if they want to know what's goign on, they
have to find Aidan, who's up at the 'house', and who owns 'the estate'.
So they do.. and the estate reminds me very much of a music video.
Specifically, the one with Tom Petty in it, and Alice in Wonderland. Maybe
you all will remember it.. but I got that feeling a lot during the ep. (G)
Maybe it was the constant shots of the tortoise and the hare they kept
interjecting, underlying our knowledge of the differences between X and G.
(thought we'd miss that little allusion, didn'tcha, guys???) I keep
wondering about the sudden appearance of rabbits in recent Xenas. Anyway.
They meet Aidan. He's nice, in a creepy sort of way, like the guys you meet
in airport lobbies, and in cult villages. Xena takes a dislike to him... I
think her cootie meter went off. Gab is intrigued. (there's a change) and
wants to hang around, to find out about the 'inner peace' he's advertising.
(there's another change)
They decide to stay the night, and of course, immediately have to take a hot
bath. (giggle) And it's a nice one, Gabrielle is appreciating it thoroughly,
but her grumpy partner is twitching. She pulls Xena into the water and gives
her a back rub, which sort of works, but you can see Xena's paranoia sensors
are going off full tilt. I half expected Gabrielle to pull a 'will you chill
out already?' here. The dude from outside shows up with some new clothes for
Gabrielle.. she's going to be taught Aidan's breathing method, which he says
Xena's mind is 'too active' to attempt.
So, he teaches Gab how to breathe. She's enjoying it. Xena's off in the
bushes practicing mantis stances.
That goes on for a long while. Gabrielle is getting more peaceful, and
Xena's getting twitchier. Xena comes in while Aidan's working wtih
Gabrielle, and Xena watchs her break into tears, as she confesses some of
her inner pain as Aidan comforts her. Xena's taking a lot of guilt from
this, and she starts tearing up too, then leaves them alone.
They meet up that night, and Gab tells Xena how wonderful she feels. Xena's
busy doing situps.She questions Gab, accusing her of 'liking Aidan' (rather
a jealous accusation at that, in fact) and says "I should have known."
Gab doesn't take offense, she kind of just smiles, and dismisses that with a
"No.. it's not that." She seems a little amused (flattered?) at the comment,
then says that Aidan has allowed her to come to terrms with some painful
stuff, like her failure as a mother. Xena tells her she had no choice in
what she did, and Gab doesn't disagree, but she says she's always borne the
guilt from that, and Aidan has taught her to accept it, and let it go. She
says she feels very light, and wonderful, and would like Xena to feel that
way too.
You see conflict in Xena's eyes, her wanting Gab to have peace, and her
cootie meter which is now off the scale fighting each other. She agrees to
stay another day.
Next day, Gab goes back for more lessons, and Xena starts to go a little
bananas, having flashbacks, and hallucinations of things. Aidan tells Gab
that Xena could be in trouble..that this place brings out the bad in people,
but that Xena has Gab to help her overcome it. Gab trots off to find Xena,
who is taking a warm bath. She offers to help Xena, and warns her of what
Aidan said. She wants to teach Xena what she herself learned, but Xena has a
hallucationation of herself hurting Gab, and she tells her she'll be fine.
Gab seems troubled, and doubtful, and she keeps asking Xena if she's okay.
Finally, she gives up and leaves.
Xena confronts Aidan, and is told if she stays, it's possible her emerging
dark side will hurt Gabrielle, or worse. This is the worst (maybe best)
thing to hit Xena with, because she knows how true it can be, and she
decides to leave. She's writing a note in their room when Gab comes in
(wonder what it said?) complaining of a backache.
tangent - just once, I'd like Xena to sit Gab down, and let her be part of
this "i'm leaving you for your own good' decisionmaking process. This is
twice now that she's made the decision herself. /end tangent
Xena finds a knot in Gab's back, and tells her to lie down. She procedes to
fix the problem, then give Gab a full body workover, that puts the bard out
like a light. (pull your minds out of the gutter, please...it's a massage.)
however, Xena keeps having flashes of her hurting Gab, including her being
the one to drive nails in Gab's hands at the crucifixion scene, and she also
keeps getting nosebleeds. It's kind of surreal. She keeps a running dialog
on how good Gabrielle is, and how no one should hurt her, and finishes up by
telling her goodbye.
Again, I wish she'd have the guts to say that to Gabrielle while she's awake
and aware of what's going on . Maybe she's just scared that Gabrielle might
agree that it's the best thing for her to do. That would kind of hurt, I
guess.
Xena leaves, but finds helper dude (sorry.. bad on names) talking to the
statues. She figures out that the statues were once men, and helper dude
tells her that Aidan sucks the good out of people and turns them into
statues. Presto - we now see why Xena's cootie meter went off. (didn't we
have this plot already this year? Crusader, wasn't it?) Anyway, helper dude
tells her that Aidan will grab what good there is in her and use it against
her, and Xena decides to let her dark side out, but makes a plan with helper
dude.
Enter, Xena, Warrior Rabbit.
What's with the teeth? I laughed myself sick over that, though I'm sure it
wasn't intended to be funny. It would have been lots more effective if Lucy
had merely ducked her head and looked up at us with those eyes, and given us
one of those evil Xena smiles. That gets across her dark side just fine for
me, thanks.. I don't need wooden prosthetics and cats eye contacts.
Anyway. She goes bonkers, and heads off to Aidan's palace, where he's busy
turning Gab into stone. (blue is not her color, mind you.. and the blue
stuff looks a lot like the foot rot only it's blue, and not green) He and
Xena fight, and Xena's getting her butt kicked (a seasonal theme this year)
until helper dude shows up, and she body presses him over her head, then
flips her sword up to impale him on.
Gabirelle, who has been in a trance the whole time, feeding Aidan's power,
realizes her 'light' to Xena's 'darkness' is really, really needed, and
breaks out of the trance, shedding her blue stone and yelling at Xena to
stop. This also deprives Aidan of his power, and Xena spits him like a dog
with her sword.
Then Xena goes over and butts heads with her, relieved. The world dissolves
back into the cave, where Gab finds herself buck naked again. Helper dude is
there, and she scoots behind Xena, as Xena explains she knew her attack on
helper dude would break Gabrielle out of her trance.
Gab seems surprised at this.
Xena tells her she knew no matter what, that Gabrielle wouldn't allow her to
take an innocent life, and helper dude states he was sure glad she was
right.
Helper dude leaves. to returnt ot his wife and kids. Gabrielle thinks, then
says "You know, I talk about your dark side like it's some kind of disease..
but if it weren't for that, we both woudn't be here. Ironic, huh?" (my vote
for the single most goofy thing Gabirelle has ever said)
Xena agrees.
"Do I really have hands like a sailor?" Gabrielle then asks, having
retrieved her fur cape.
Xena just smirks.
COMMENTARY 1:
02-08-99. Commentary by Beth Gaynor.
WOW. OK, this was trippy and had some problems, but... wow.
I really liked this episode, and how it handled its plot.
But jeeeee-miney, haven't we been through this territory
before? How many times is Gabrielle going to follow
whole-heartedly some spiritual guru who peeves Xena (but she
falls for too), ends up threatening Gab, and Xena gets to
pummel? We saw this same thing five episodes ago in Crusader
(including Xena's "this is for your own good" attempt to
leave). How about ol' Dahak's cronies in Deliverer? Fool
Xena and Gab once, shame on you. Fool them twice, shame on
them. Fool them three times, kick the writers in the butt,
they're stuck. Since baddies can't hold a knife to
Gabrielle's throat any more, they have to dupe our heroes.
Gabrielle gets the "I took the long way around to a clue"
award for noting that maybe Xena enjoys fighting because she
smiled when she battled some ruffians. Hello, Gab? Have you
missed all the laughing and grinning she's been going for
four seasons now? (OK, snarky comment aside, I think that
was actually a setup for those of you just joining our show.
But that was still a silly way to do it.)
Xena's never afraid to pitch herself - literally, in this
case - into a decision. She sees a hole in the middle of a
huge cave, decides "What is it with you and holes, huh?",
and throws herself headlong down it. Now THAT'S dedication
to an idea - and to Gab.
Xena and Gabrielle fall down a hole, end up in a colorful
garden, and a twitchy guy shows up. I expected him to cry
about being late for a very important date, or for Aiden to
scream "off with her head!"
Gabrielle really leaps at that chance for a hot bath!
Usually it's Xena who's the hot tub magnet, but I think
Gabrielle has been sold on the merits of a good, long
soak... took ya long enough!
Why did Gar bring clothes to Gabrielle? If he's been
fighting Aiden all this time, why run an errand for him?
What IS his gig around the estate? And for the payoff of the
hysterical "sir" comment, Xena's "Do YOU see a 'sir' around
here?" reaction, and Gabrielle's "nope, none that I see"
look, who cares?
Aiden lays it out pretty flat for Gabrielle, although of
course it doesn't really sound like it at first: "This place
can help draw the goodness from you." Apparently, though,
Aiden can only draw that goodness from someone being still
and peaceful. Aiden can't get anything from twitchy Xena
until she's been knocked unconscious - or fakes it, anyway.
"Here you become what you really are deep down inside.
Everyone does." This doesn't really turn out to be
complimentary for anyone. Gar is a twitchy, cowardly
lunatic. Gabrielle is stoned. All right, bad joke:
Gabrielle's good and peaceful, but naive and
still-too-trusting. Xena gets the worst treatment of all, as
she goes totally feral. After all this time, is this episode
telling us that Xena really IS evil at heart, and her
battles to be good are just fighting her true instincts?
One other very interesting note about Xena and Gabrielle's
"core self, the real you": they're still integrally linked
to each other. Feral Xena still wants to rescue Gabrielle,
stone-d Gabrielle wants to do the same for Xena, and both
will ditch their true selves for that cause.
Cool montage of Gabrielle and Aiden's yoga exercises against
Xena's solitude. And while we're talking about people
finally getting a clue after four seasons, XenaStaff seems
to have fallen in love with Gabrielle's back in the past
couple of episodes. Took y'all long enough.
I loved the phantom battle scene. Tai-Chi is a very calm
meditation, but its movements are still based on fighting,
which makes it oh-so-appropriate for Xena to use. And as the
delusions and loss of control begin to set in, the movements
become less and less meditational and more and more
combative. VERY neat. And in the midst of the whole fight,
and Xena's anger at the birdies and bunnies (and their later
execution), the turtle stays safe and keeps plowing along.
Is the turtle a symbolic Gabrielle?
Touching scene when Xena watches Gabrielle break down. She
stops herself from going to Gabrielle to comfort her. Is
some serious guilt kicking in, there?
The scene when Xena meditates, brings her wound back, and
then it disappears again, is still confusing me. Xena seems
to be looking around for Aiden. Did Xena manage to
manipulate the reality in Aiden's estate? If so, why didn't
she keep working to exploit that? Did the wound disappear
again because Xena couldn't hold it, or because Aiden WAS
watching and fighting it? Why?
The hamster-toothed Xena was... well, ridiculous-looking. It
made me laugh when I think I was supposed to be horrified.
And dammit, WHY did they do it? The dark Xena in the
bathtub, growling that she's "Perrrfect" after Gabrielle's
retreating back, sent chills down my spine. When you have an
actress that projects dark menace that well, why use a
ridiculous makeup job to torpedo it?
Why are all of Xena's delusions about hurting Gabrielle? Is
that her true desire? The desire of her darkest side, maybe
because it knows Gabrielle is the worst threat to it? The
worst thing to do that she can conceive of? Her deepest
fear? Her guilt run amuck? Her discussion with Aiden about
it is interesting. At first, she tries to deny the visions,
starting into "I don't believe..." before she breaks, can't
finish the sentence, and pleads for something to do about
it. She does try to protest once: "I would never hurt
Gabrielle," but Aiden jumps right in with "You say that, and
you even believe it. [She DOES?] But if the darkness in you
wins, no one is safe." Remind you of any bard-draggings
across half of Greece, Warrior Princess?
Aiden's attempt to send Xena away is the first sign that all
is not well. Aiden claims to bring inner peace to everyone,
and that even he had demons as terrible as Xena's, but then
he tells Xena to leave and abandon the place and Gabrielle.
Whoop! Whoop! We HAVE a mismatch, ladies and gentlemen.
Gab wins the "out like a light" award: I expected her to at
least pop her head up at the end of the backrub scene with
"Wait a minute - GOODBYE?" Narcoleptic much, Gabrielle?
Xena's plan kind of lost me. She said she was going to let
go of all goodness to keep Aiden from getting it. OK, but
then isn't the goodness still... gone? Is it really
something you can just put down and pick back up again like
a sack of groceries? Maybe Aiden's death made it easy to
restore: as soon as he was gutted, Gabrielle's blue was gone
and Xena was still mussed, but looked more normal again.
(Side note: sweet head-touching and hand-holding after Aiden
was skewered - awww.)
Was everyone in Gar's platoon good and pure at heart like
Gabrielle? No one was dark and nasty like Xena? Out of a
group of soldiers? What were these guys, Greenpeace?
Interesting comment on Gabrielle, too, when Aiden says that
after Gabrielle gets in touch with her stillness (and Aiden
gets to suck up all her good-n-lightness), "they'll" change
the world. An entire platoon didn't give him that kind of
power. Says something for Gabrielle that her spirit alone
has more kick than a dozen or so other people put together.
I liked the weird melting effect of Aiden's world-shaping
disappearing. What WAS Aiden, anyway? And why did Xena and
Gabrielle end up back at their campsite in the cave, instead
of in that other part of it?
Lesson of the episode: when you're in some strange guru's
estate, don't wear his clothes. Keep your own. Otherwise, if
it all turns out to be his mind power, you're nekkid. Right,
Gab?
Great ending! "Do I really have hands like a sailor?" Xena
smirks, Gabrielle pouts. Ha!
HIGHLIGHTS
THE most sock-knocking image of the season so far: Gabrielle
in white on the white side of the yin-yang symbol, with
Xena's place on the black beside her, empty, as the
darkly-dressed Xena does frantic sit-ups on Gabrielle's side
of the yin-yang. A few pages could be written about the
symbolism in that shot alone.
Xena captures the Line of the Episode with "Yeah, in that
yucky 'I'm in paradise' kind of way." What cynicism!
The backrub scene was astounding. Xena's frantic attempts to
hide the blood evidence of her turmoil made a stark contrast
to her soothing of Gabrielle (no hands like a sailor here!).
Xena tells Gabrielle that she's taught her about
"Kindness... and mercy... and love," but the word "love" is
almost drowned out by the next drop of blood.
COMMENTARY 2:
01-18-99. Commentary by Deb E McGhee.
SOUNDBYTE SUMMARY. Just when you thought it was safe to plunge into the dark pit of
despair, XWP comes back with an all-around winner. Need a refresher
course on what the series and characters are all about? You'll find
it in Paradise.
Overall Rating: 4.0 quills (out of 5).
ANALYSIS-REVIEW. Gabrielle of Poteidaia is a clueless idiot. She is arrogant,
self-involved, self-righteous, insensitive, unpredictably moralistic,
blindly impetuous, emotionally and cognitively ill-equipped to recognise
her own flaws, and perniciously naive. Indeed, I believe the only
reason Gabrielle hooked up with Xena and stays with her is because she is a
p-whipping, glory-seeking hypocrite with a messiah complex, who is so
intent on finding status and keeping Xena under her thumb that she would
endure even attempted murder and the lingering threat of further physical
harm, so long as she eventually gets what she wants.
Xena of Amphipolis, on the other hand, could give Jesus of Nazareth a
run for his money as Saviour of the World. She is deeply
introspective, exceedingly just and fair, humble yet accepting of her
talents, recognises and owns her mistakes, and has an ability to judge
character that borders on prescient. Moreover, she is so in touch
with herself that she is able to tap into all facets of her psyche -- dark
and light -- as the situation requires. Xena's one real weakness is
that she is often plagued with self-doubt (common with heroic persons) to
such an extent that she irrationally gives Gabrielle a position of status.
Psych! I don't really believe either of the above
paragraphs, but when I watch episodes like Paradise Found and others of its
ilk (e.g., The Titans, The Execution, the "Hope" series, The Debt,
Crusader) -- despite all other evidence to the contrary -- I have to wonder
if that's not what xenastaff is trying to tell me. Sure, I see all of
those qualities to some extent in the respective characters, but I also
know that Gabrielle is supposed to be -- on the balance -- the "Light
Bringer" and Xena is supposed to be the "Psycho-Hero" (my apologies, but
"anti-hero" no longer captures the character for me). I also know that the
writing staff claim that the series has shifted to focus on Gabrielle's
heroic quest. So what's going on here that it takes so little effort
to come to a reading of the characters (such as the one above) that is
so at odds with the fundamental premises of the series as-a-whole
and of specific episodes?
It all boils down, it seems to me, to a problem of plots conflicting
with the story they desire to tell. That problem, in turn, arises out
of the constraints of the action-adventure genre, and the trickiness of
developing a two-hero narrative when: (a) there is technically only
supposed to be one hero and (b) the heroes have fundamentally different
worldviews.
Let me step back for a moment and explain what I mean by plot vs. story.
The plot is the series of events that make up the narrative. A handy
example for differentiating the two is the episode "If the Shoe Fits...".
Gabrielle, Joxer, and Xena all tell the story of a young
person who has a troubled home life from which she (or he) tries and
eventually breaks free; however, they all plot the story a little
differently. Gab's Tyrella conducts psychological intervention with
her wicked steprelatives, Joxer's Tyro is rescued by the lovely fairy
godsmother, and Xena's heroine bashes heads. Because the plotting is
different, the take-home messages vary slightly, as does -- and this is
critical -- what we learn about the principal characters (See also the
three versions of _La Femme Nikita_ -- French, U.S., and television.).
What has happened in episodes like Paradise Found, episodes where Xena's
and Gabrielle's beliefs clash and each character is supposed to be shown to
have points both for and against her point of view, is that the plot has
always been set up so that Gabrielle sides with the antagonist and the
antagonist almost invariably turns out to be "bad". Thus, when it comes
right down to it, a facile (yet fallacious) case can be made for the
interpretation that Xena is right and wise and Gabrielle is wrong and
naive.
It is just too easy to fall into the fallacy that "if my prediction
comes true, then my initial reasoning must have been correct".
If the point of episodes like Paradise is character study -- rather than
fault-finding -- then the obligatory "bad guy" that Xena must invariably
defeat because of her title-hero status should be a fourth party
(i.e., a secondary antagonist) who is independent of the relationship
conflict.
One might argue that fault-finding is the goal, and that
xenastaff really do, in their hearts-of-hearts, see G and X in much the way
I have described above. The dialogue of Paradise Found does not
support such a reading, however. Indeed, it is the focus on dialogue
which most differentiates Paradise from earlier episodes.
First and foremost, Manheim uses most every bit of dialogue in
Act I scene 1 (X&G arrive at Aiden's estate) to highlight X and G's
fundamentally different reactions to the estate and, by implication, life
in general. The quintessential exchange is:
Gabrielle: It's beautiful.
Xena: Yeah, in that yucky 'I'm in paradise' kind of way.
This is very much reminiscent of their respective reactions upon first
meeting Najara, but the critical difference is that the estate IS beautiful
(the writer, director, set designer, John Hilton, and Maxfield Parrish all
agree, I'm sure). That is, Xena's summary judgement of it as 'yucky' is a
function of her own cynicism and distrust, and not previous experience with
yucky paradises or false prophets; whereas Gabrielle's labelling it
'beautiful' cannot be chalked up to her being a
rose-coloured-glasses-wearing fluffhead. Gabrielle might do well to
be a bit more suspicious of paradises that appear at the end of rabbit
holes, and Xena could still use some work on enjoying the scenery of life
(cf. "Ulysses").
Furthermore, in contrast to the oh-so-slippery points of Deliverer that
Gabrielle goes off with Khrafstar: (a) because 99.9% of the time she is
assigned to protecting the non-fighters, (b) because she is also intrigued
by his spirituality, and (c) because Xena is in her own little "get Caesar"
world, in Paradise, Xena repeatedly expresses support for Gabrielle's quest
and G explicitly describes why she wants to learn from Aiden.
Moreover, G says on at least four occasions that she would like to
share the yogic techniques with others: This is not a wholly
self-centered mission Gabrielle is on, though Xena's begrudging attitude
once they actually reach a specific place of learning, as well as
the bemusing plot-point that Gabrielle only came out of trance for Gar but
not when Xena was getting bounced about, points up how difficult
negotiating this journey is and will be for the two of them.
In contrast to the aborted argument between X&G in Gabrielle's Hope
regarding the possible nature of G's daughter, Manheim allows G to give
rational and explicit reasons on more than one occasion for why she thinks
the yoga practise is a worthwhile one, as well as express hesitancy about
Aiden ("He is a bit odd."). Xena, on the other hand, has "been
breathing on her own just fine" (but notice that she goes off and practises
her forms anyway).
In contrast to The Debt I, where it was open to interpretation whether
Xena never got to the critical part of her story of Lao Ma because
Gabrielle was being difficult or Xena was being reluctant to divulge (or
both), in Paradise we see X very definitely withhold information from
Gabrielle about the pain she is experiencing -- not once but three times,
and on one of those occasions G has explicitly come to her to make sure X
is okay. Open communication can work wonders!
In contrast to Crusader, where Xena comes to a decision about Najara's
trustworthiness through the weakly plotted point of trusting the word of a
known criminal, Xena's suspicions about Aiden gain support from direct,
empirical evidence (the illusion of the healed wound; more on this later,
however) -- evidence that she fails to share with Gab. However, like the
nebulous jinn of Crusader, the characterisation of Aiden's power suffers
from some logical inconsistencies. It would seem that Aiden's power
would have to be real (and, thus, it would be unreasonable and durn
Xena-cynical to dismiss it out-of-hand), but I'm having trouble grasping
why Xena's wound could be "unhealed".
Finally, and though there were definite weak spots, everyone from writer
to director to the actors was on the same page in terms of character
motivation. Tapert paid a lot of attention to the actors' faces and
body language (as opposed to long or scenic shots at critical moments of
dialogue), and neither ROC or LL seemed to be experiencing the discomfort
with motivations that has plagued past performances (cf. Gabrielle's Hope,
The Debts). The places where I thought things could have been
tightened up included:
(a) Xena's comment about "what inner peace did for
Lao Ma; Aiden's way seems so numbing" (was she saying Lao Ma's way was
better or that inner peace/ passivity got Lao Ma killed? Hard to tell
from context.),
(b) the first bath scene (perhaps it's just me, but
trying to listen to the dialogue -- which was very important dialogue --
while distracted by nekkidness and those floating candles was rather
difficult),
(c) the logic of Xena discovering Aiden's secret by
"unhealing" her wound as well as the use of the word "delusion" ("urges"
would have been a better choice; these both worked against the idea that
Aiden had real power, which then seriously undermines the logic of
the entire story),
(d) the direction of the fight scene (yes, I
understood the point of Xena devolving, but really! and that bouncing was
just too much!),
(e) the logic of how X defeated Aiden (if Xena
attacked Gar "on purpose" with the intent of breaking Gab out of her
trance, then she was NOT letting herself be completely evil; I suppose she
didn't have to be but the logic still felt too loose for my liking), and
(f) that Gabrielle remained in trance until Gar --
but not Xena -- was threatened (very troubling: Is Xena really so
objectified in Gab's mind? How does that fit with the "great bond" theme of
the show?!)
To summarise, then, the major issue that XWP faces is how to tell the
story of the bard's spiritual quest: (1) when this quest conflicts with the
warrior & title character's worldview, and (2) in the context of an
action-adventure show where the audience is already primed for accepting or
preferring action-focussed means -- without turning the bard into a
"bad guy" herself. Gabrielle continues to be a chronically open and
optimistic seeker (the same traits that led her to befriend Xena), while
Xena remains suspicious and guarded. Gabrielle has gotten to a place
where her seeking is not so self-centered as it may once have been, but she
has also grown so that her refusal to back down from doing what she needs
does not come from a place of youthful bullheadedness (notice how firm she
is even in her stillness during the bedroom scene). Still, though
Gabrielle is sensitive and caring, and though it is not her responsibility
to be Xena's eternally longsuffering emotional caretaker, sh
e may need to watch her tendency to slight Xena's feelings. As for
Xena, though she is supportive of G's quest, she does not allow Gabrielle
"in" all the way regarding how Gabrielle's worldview and quest impact Xena,
and X continues to make unilateral decisions in the name of protecting
Gabrielle. X is making this harder on herself than need be by being
so closed off. Finally, the opening dialogue about Xena's motives for
fighting (enjoying one's strength and taking pleasure in defeating the
world's baddies is NOT the same as enjoying beating the crap out of people
because you can), Gabrielle's guilt over her experiences with Hope (THANK
YOU, Xenastaff, for allowing G her pain), and Xena's vehement denial of
ever hurting Gabrielle all point to a continuing problem of Xena
intermittently repressing or denying her faults and Gabrielle tending
toward self-blame. It strikes me that Gabrielle is becoming more
independent and (actively) open, while Xena is becoming more dependent and
closed. What X&G are lacking, obviously, is balance.
And this brings me to the main symbols used throughout the episode.
First are the tortoise and the hare, which Tapert spends far too much
time on for them to be unmeaningful. It would seem that they
represent Gabrielle and Xena, but who is who? Xena is certainly
twitching like the rabbit all through the episode, while Gabrielle is slow
like the tortoise, and in the end, Xena kills the rabbit even as she
becomes one. But don't rabbits have normal eyes? ah! Were those
turtle eyes Xena grew?! What's more, Xena "uses" the tortoise in
order to destroy the birds and the rabbit. Does this symbolise that
Gabrielle will ultimately help her to defeat Aiden and Xena's own dark
self? Besides the reptilian eyes that Xena grows, Xena resembles the
tortoise in another way: brownish plate of armour (note the moment when
Xena does a high, twisting jump and comes down with her legs on either side
of the tortoise). So too, I'm guessing that the RGB colour codes for
the rabbi
t's fur and Gabrielle's hair are very close indeed (best place to see this
is when they first wake up on the estate). What does this mean?
Neither Xena nor Gabrielle are "completely" one thing or another --
each contains elements of the "opposite" (note also that Gar is dressed
like the turtle (esp. with that helmet) but twitches like the rabbit: he
proves to be the binding key in the final showdown).
This idea of complements containing one another, providing balance, and
forming an ever-developing, ever-changing whole is the basic philosophy
represented by the tai-ch'i (or taeguk or yin/yang) symbol. (Note: the
tai-ch'i is of Chinese origin, but I figured since X&G were in the
Himalayas and either in or very close to China, I could cut staff some
slack.). We see this symbol displayed most prominently with the bed
upon which Gabrielle lies. The white part of the symbol represents
the 'yin', and can be interpreted as male, heaven, sun, day, expansion,
goodness, and any of a number of other things. The black part is the
'yang' and represents female, earth, moon, night, constriction,
negativeness, etc. Note that each side contains a bit of the other.
I find it interesting that Gabrielle lies on the white part
considering how often it is said that Gabrielle is the more 'feminine' of
the pair, though I suppose they could have been appealing to the most
obvious interpretation o
f the symbol. What is even more interesting is the fact that Xena
never lies on the bed at all. And notice that there is a gap between
the two sides! I found myself wanting to yell at X&G to push the
sides together and get Xena into bed (hey! get yer mind outta da gutter!
this is symbology, here!), but I suppose that would have solved all their
problems too quickly and might not have made it past The Suits. In
any case, seeing the tai-ch'i FINALLY associated on the show with X&G made
me do a happy dance, and this episode -- the start of their spiritual quest
-- was a most fitting place for it.
All in all, despite the very odd final scenes, I found this to be a
solid episode, especially as far as character studies go. I certainly
didn't miss the usual 2-3 more fight scenes, and they probably would have
weakened the story in much the same way other eps with similar goals have
been weakened. Manheim's dialogue was superb, the principals did
wonderful work, and Tapert was remarkably restrained and balanced for the
bulk of the episode. Now that XWP has gotten these character points
down that they've been trying to make for 1.5+ seasons, let's see where
they go from here.
VARIOUS AND SUNDRY
- It sounded like the first few lines of dialogue were looped in. I don't
know why, but somehow that often sounds "off" or fake to my ears: the
emotions don't seem authentic and I feel as if I'm being lectured to.
- Two words: ROC's back. Two more words: Bare feet.
- I was pleasantly surprised to see Jeremy "Aiden" Roberts. He is
definitely one of my favourite xenaversian actors. His style is so
subtle, nuanced, and natural.
- Idiom check: It's "don't stand a chance" or "don't have a prayer", but
is there really such an idiom as "don't stand a prayer"?
- Was it my imagination or did Gar's excema disappear from one cheek?
- I really, really, really wish they would find other terms for "your
spiritual quest" and "your darkside". Ugh, stilted! People do
not talk like that!
- Stunt and Effect of the Year goes to Aiden leaping onto and standing on
Gabrielle's upturned feet. Holy Hatha Yoga, how did they do that?!
Speaking of which: Does ROC practise yogic postures? Damn, she was
good!
- Didn't say this earlier but now I'm too tired to gracefully weave it
into the main text: Xena's delusions of hurting Gabrielle caused me
serious pain. I nearly cried for Xena, and I definitely wasn't having
fun the first time through the massage because I was too fearful for the
both of them. Ow.
QUOTE-A-RAMA!
|
"How can you get very far, If you don't know Who You Are?" -- Pooh;
Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh
***
What fear I then, rather what know to fear
Under this ignorance of good and evil,
Of God or death, of law or penalty?
Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine,
Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,
Of virtue to make wise: what hinders then
To reach, and feed at once both body and mind?
John Milton, Paradise Lost (IX, 773-79)
***
Your reason for living's
Your reason for leaving.
Don't ask me what it means!
ABC, "The Look of Love"
***
"Kill the wabbit!" -- Elmer Fudd
***
Part of my Soul I seek thee, and thee claim
My other half: with that thy gentle hand
Seized mine, I yielded....
John Milton, Paradise Lost (IV,
487-89)
***
Through working in harmony with life's circumstances, Taoist
understanding changes what others may perceive as negative into something
positive.
Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh
|
|
COMMENTARY 3:
This commentary is by Missy Good.
Interesting episode. Moral is - A little dark side is not always a bad thing, and if something's too good to be true, it usually is.I think it
points out just how much more honest the two of them have become with each
other - enough for Gabrielle to openly question Xena's motives, and for Xena
to show jealousy at Gab's becoming involved with someone else. It pointed
out Xena's unwavering faith in Gab's essential goodness, and in Gab's
continued conflict over Xena's dark side.
It once again had Gabrielle diving into a philosphy that promises peace, and
once again proved Xena's instincts to be right on the money in being
suspicious of that. And it once more showed that Xena is willing to give Gab
up to insure her happiness, even if that's not such a smart idea, and
without really finding out if Gab would agree that the trade off is worth
it.
We got not one, but two backrubs, a hot tub scene, lots of bare skin, and a
view of a new emotional initimacy between the two of them that was really
quite interesting.
COMMENTARY 4:
Commentary Xorys.
I have mixed feelings about Paradise Found - or perhaps it might be more
accurate to describe my feelings as not so much mixed as layered... I
really liked the first two thirds or so of the ep, the part with all the
questions and issues (and some fine atmosphere and acting too), but I
didn't care at all for the last third, where the questions were all
answered or dismissed, and a clumsy, jumbled, unconvincing and ugly
resolution was effected. I shall content myself with mumbling about the
issues as we wander through the ep...
So, we got an "official announcement" that the India trip is under way...
Xena and Gab are travelling eastwards in pursuit of Gabrielle's "spiritual
quest". Actually, I should have thought this would be a pretty odd thing
for ancient Greeks to do... but then when have folks on the show ever
behaved credibly like ancient Greeks?
And it certainly seems that Gab is setting the agenda these days - she
feels "spiritually troubled", so they're wandering off several thousand
miles to an almost entirely unknown sub-continent. I'm not entirely sure
what Gab even means by "spiritual"... but it doesn't seem to have anything
much to do with the various gods and other supernatural beings they're
always tangling with (not that there's anything necessarily wrong with this
- does spirituality have to have anything to do with gods?)
And they took "the scenic route" through mountains said by "local legends"
to be "a holy place" - the Himalayas, I guess. They're most definitely
scenic - crossing the Himalayas was probably the most heart-stoppingly
spectacular thing I've ever experienced! But if you want to get to overland
India from the west, the only alternative to the Himalayas is the
Baluchistan desert, which I gather isn't much fun. Going south and then
taking a boat might have been the easiest "non-scenic" way - but then we
know how Gab feels about boats!
"Well I'd apologise - again. But the truth is, I think you enjoyed it."
That "again" is interesting... Gab is getting pretty snippy these days.
It's also fascinating that Xena and Gab are finally having this
conversation - after all, we've been aware all along, haven't we, that Xena
enjoys fighting... so is this still "dark", even if she's fighting for
good? Definitely a question to be addressed, especially by Gab, who seems
so concerned about violence... (although I still remember Gab leaping into
the fray and bashing heads with her staff in A Tale Of Two Muses, yelling
"Save some for me!")
And this is the first time we've seen Xena need stitches, isn't it? I can
remember her stitching other people in various eps, but not herself (of
course there was the arrow in Chariots Of War, but I don't recall any
stitching there, and then various broken bones, etc. in Destiny...) I can't
imagine this is the first time Xena's received a gash that needed closing,
though - and she must do a *really* neat job with the needle too, since she
appears to have no visible scars (perhaps someone more experienced than me
could say - Xena said her gash took 12 stitches, but I should have thought
a wound like that would have taken something closer to 30 if you wanted to
close it neatly and avoid scarring...)
Actually I loved the dialogue in this little scene - it's so nice to see
Xena and Gab apparently relaxed and open with each other, but also actually
talking about things that matter and that divide them.
I liked Xena's "Give me that - you've got hands like a sailor!" Xena can't
cook, but she's apparently the better surgeon (I guess her early training
in embroidery must have come in handy...)
"I just wonder if maybe your fighting for good has more to do with the
fighting part than the good part." "Ya think my fighting for good is a
cover for something darker...? I dunno!" Well I can't believe it's taken
Gab three and half years to get around to this... but better late than
never, I suppose. I did just enjoy this scene - there was a comfortableness
about it, despite the subject of the conversation... Gab getting dressed,
whilst Xena sews up her leg.
And BTW, talking of getting dressed, the BGSB was back in perfect shape...
in fact we got a particularly detailed look at that little flowered pattern
on the back of it. So does this mean its being cut up for rope and a gag
last week is just to be disregarded... or is this another case of them not
bothering to show the eps in an order that would make sense?!
I am frankly getting plumb sick and tired of that darned crucifixion
scene... to me it has become something overdone, that doesn't enhance the
show. But then I generally hate "foreshadowing" in novels and movies... it
has always seemed to me a cheap and irritating narrative technique.
So.... what? Gabrielle fell down that big hole without uttering a sound? -
Doesn't seem too likely. And then missing Gab, for a minute or so, and
finding a big hole in the ground, Xena just flings herself into the hole?
Exqueeze me! This *really* doesn't appear an effective strategy! "My
partner's wandered off for a couple of minutes. I haven't heard anything...
Hmm, guess I'll just fling myself into this bottomless pit..." Come on!
Even Alice had the excuse that she was following the white rabbit...
First Xena says that the "estate" (odd choice of word, really....) reminds
her of Illusia... then we get the "entering Illusia" music as they walk to
the house! There wasn't really any particular connection between Aiden's
estate and Illusia was there, though - other than that they were both sort
of "imaginary realms", created by the power of the mind.
"It's beautiful! Don't you think?" "Yeah... in that yucky, island paradise
kinda way!" - So what gives here? Has Xena had a bad experience with a
package holiday, or something?
A lot of Indian instruments and techniques showed up in the music for this
ep, and I can't forebear to comment on them a bit, since I'm particularly
fond of Indian classical music, and even play some of the instruments a bit
myself. The instrument that we hear when Aiden first appears is the santur
- a kind of multi-stringed zither (the name actually means "100 strings"),
which is played by striking the strings with small sticks held in the hands...
I loved the way Gab asked about a warm bath, and then whacked Xena in the
ass! But at this point I guess we're wondering (and meant to be) - why is
Xena so keen to get out of this place as fast as she can? The place seems
pleasant, Aiden seems plausible... but Xena never seems drawn in. It's
interesting that this time, unlike with Najara, Xena seems to trust her own
instincts, and is never majorly distracted or thrown off by issues of
jealousy or thoughts of what might be best for Gab (not that both issues
don't come up again - but they just don't seem to get to Xena the way they
did in Crusader...) Xena let's herself be pressured by Gab into staying...
but she never really acquiesces or lets down her guard.
Now of course the *really* interesting question in this ep (for me, at
least) is who's right and who's wrong... not just in terms of the narrow
circumstances of this ep, but in principle. On the one hand, much of what
Aiden says or implies is certainly true - to find peace and harmony in our
lives we need to come to terms with our demons and get beyond our egos. And
the techniques he shows, which are clearly based on yoga, certainly can
help. The thing that's shown with Gab breaking down and crying as she
connects with the psychic pain within herself whilst practising the yogic
breathing and posture techniques is absolutely based on fact, as many
people who've practised yoga can attest. But on the other hand, getting
beyond the ego and finding inner peace is all very good - but should you
always trust someone who proposes to be a "teacher", especially when you
know almost nothing about them? So is Xena's way narrow and suspicious and
egotistical, forever shutting her out from the possibility of getting
beyond herself and finding peace? Or is Gab being impossibly naive, chasing
willow-the-wisps and putting herself into the power of knaves, exposing
them both to danger? The interesting thing, for me, is that to a certain
extent they're both right. You *do* have to get beyond the ego - if you
place yourself as paramount, and never trust anything or anybody... then
you may be hard to fool, but you may have completely fooled yourself
already. But, OTOH, if you let go, resign your will, have faith in
something... how do you know you're not being tricked or manipulated - or
just fooling yourself again? These are obviously central philosophical and
religious questions for all of us, and as long as it kept it's treatment of
these questions open and in balance, I found this ep fascinating...
Back to the Indian music for a moment - the instrument we hear when Gab and
Xena are bathing is the bansuri, or Indian bamboo flute (in fact often made
of cane rather than bamboo), which is my particularly favourite Indian
instrument, and the one I make most effort to play. It was lovely to hear
it on XWP!
"You know I'm surprised at you, Xena!" "Why?" "For someone who's seen what
Lao Ma and Alti can do, it's strange you're not curious about Aiden!" "I've
seen enough to know that most people can't handle spiritual powers. And
Aiden is *no* Lao Ma!" So - does Xena just have a blanket suspicion of
spiritual people? Is she afraid of something? Rightly or wrongly? And is
she right that "most people can't handle spiritual powers"? Many would
disagree with her, and suggest that anyone can successfully follow the
spiritual path. - Gab says, sarcastically, "That's mighty big of you,
Xena!" *Is* Xena being small..?
Notice on the door of the bathroom the yin / yang symbol, which also, more
obviously, forms the bed Gab is later seen reclining on... It's almost a
little odd that they chose to associate this with Aiden, since so far as I
know it originates from China, and is more commonly associated with Taoism,
the way of Lao Ma (it's also known as the "symbol of the Tao").
"Lieutenant Garr reporting as ordered with clothes, sir!" "Sir?!" Hmmm...
when a guy looks right up into your naked crotch and calls you sir... er...
well either you've got a problem, or he has!
So what was Xena practising in the garden with all the birds and bunnies?
It looked rather like Tai Chi - did she learn that when she was in Chin?
And that's the bansuri playing again at the beginning of this scene, and
then a voice comes in, singing in the Indian classical style (North Indian
classical, to be specific...) I absolutely *adore* Indian classical vocal
music now (and incidentally, the voice here was clearly that of a highly
trained Indian classical singer - it takes years, and immense dedication,
to learn to sing like that)... however, I remember well that when I was
first exposed to Indian classical singing I thought it was *very* strange -
and in general I find westerners don't take very readily to it. So I'm sort
of curious as to how other Xenites felt about the singing in this ep. BTW,
what was being sung was just the two words "tere nain" over and over, which
means "your eyes".
Did Aiden remind anyone else of T. Lobsang Rampa - especially with that
"third eye" glued in the middle of his forehead? For those not familiar,
TLR was a supposed "ancient Tibetan spiritual master" (I think, practically
speaking, he actually came from Milwaukee, or Dulwich, or somewhere like
that) whose books you used to see all over at one time. He (or those
subscribing to his teachings) also used to advertise in magazines, about
realizing your powers and opening your third eye. His photo was usually
featured prominently, bearded, with an unworldly-looking, penetrating gaze...
I liked Gab's "Can I teach this to others?" Heck, she only started learning
yesterday, and already she wants to be a teacher! Is this woman ambitious
or what?! (Of course, you could say it's just her desire to help others,
especially Xena...)
A neat display of flower killing and tortoise threatening by Xena there...
and I wasn't sure whether she was actually yelling "Shut up!" at the birds
or not - so I put on the CC, and sure enough "SHU-U-T U-U-U-UP! [SILENCE]"
So... Xena watches Aiden "teaching" Gab... and what? She looks moved. Does
she decide that even though she (Xena) is wigging out *maybe* this really
is helping Gabrielle?? If she did decide that, it didn't seem to last long.
Maybe it was just Gab's pain about Hope that was affecting Xena...
And then we get Gab laying on that yin / yang bed (rather impressive I
thought - kudos to the visual designer here) whilst Xena does sit ups at a
ferocious rate. Someone commented that Gab was on the yang side of the
bed... they mentioned that this seemed strange since yang is associated
with the "masculine" and yin with the "feminine", and therefore they
thought that Xena would have been yang to Gabrielle's yin. And in some
senses, that might well be so. However in this case I think whoever set up
this shot was simply going for the more obvious association where yang is
the "light" and yin the "darkness" - hence Xena=dark=yin,
Gabrielle=light=yang...
And Xena is *still* pushing to get the *heck* out! She toys with the idea
of Gab being attracted to Aiden (not really that seriously, it seemed to
me), and then she complains that "Aiden's way seems so numbing!" Is this a
valid criticism as this point? I can't say that I really thought it was...
I mean, I understand that it's *meant* to be true, in the context of the
plot, but I didn't really feel that what we'd seen up to this point
actually supported this assertion at all - although I can see that it might
be a valid point against some "spiritual" paths.
I was interested that Gab said she felt "so clear" - I wonderer whether
that was a deliberate reference to Scientology or just a coincidence...
well, even the disciples of Ron couldn't sue anyone on the basis of that!
"I wish you could see how right this feels for me..." Now I started to get
a really strong sense of deja vu here (not to say that I was oblivious to
it before)... Does Gab *never* notice these things herself? I mean is she
*utterly* unaware of the patterns she keeps repeating? Doesn't she ever say
"Hey, wait a minute... haven't we been through all this before?" You'd
figure there'd have to be something a bit pathological going on for her to
be truly totally oblivious...
What was with Xena's wound coming back and going away again? Xena seemed
pleased to see it - so was she sort of meditating, trying to overcome
Aiden's powers?
And then Gab's being lectured by someone else about Xena's dark side, and
flattered about her own goodness... Hello, Gab! This is definitely starting
to feel BTDT - not to say that Jeremy Roberts as Aiden didn't do it quite
well.
I thought glowering Xena in the bath looked superb! Just as well really,
considering what they did to her in the rest of the ep!
I'm not so sure about that technique of showing us something happening, and
then backing off to "no, that was just a delusion"... I suppose if you're
deluded, it feels real at the time - but I'm not entirely comfortable with
the camera arbitrarily becoming someone's deluded subjective view...
There's a pretty thin line between this sort of thing and the "this whole
thing was just a dream" school of story telling.
So then Aiden spins a line and tries to convince Xena to leave Gab behind.
And she seems almost convinced - which I thought was kind of odd, given how
sceptical she'd been throughout the entire ep, and given the fact that, to
me, Aiden seemed most *un*convincing here, basically tipping his hand...
Well, we definitely got an answer here to a debate that cropped up on one
of the lists recently - Xena clearly *can* write! And what was she writing
- a farewell note?
And what about the massage / nosebleed thing? Interesting. In a way it was
an effective device... playing the conflict out symbolically in blood and
flesh like that was a powerful idea. Unfortunately the execution wasn't
100% successful, so far as I was concerned - I think mainly because the
exaggerated CGI nature of the blood drops was just too distracting... they
looked sort of like animated tadpoles, or sperm in a sex-ed film, and they
spoiled the mood of the scene, for me.
The pattern that was clearly shown on Gab's hand when she was being tied to
the cross looked like the kind of hand painting with henna that is common
in India... whatever that may mean. Hands are decorated with henna for
weddings, for example, and for other festivals - but this actually looked a
bit restrained for that kind of decoration, which usually twines over the
whole hand. I suppose it could also be a tattoo (of which Aiden seemed to
have plenty...)
And we finally get to another "Goodbye, Gabrielle." This one didn't make me
cry (unlike the one in Crusader)... I didn't really believe in it that
much, because it wasn't so much a question of Xena struggling with herself
and making a bad decision (as in Crusader), as just Xena being tricked and
bamboozled, which I never really believed would hold her for long.
And it was basically from this point that the ep went rapidly downhill for
me. As soon as Xena looked at that statue and said "A service medallion!"
That in itself felt pretty hokey - heck, they're thousands of miles from
home, but Xena instantly deduces from this piece of jewellery round a
statue's neck that it used to be a soldier! What - soldiers in Tibet wore
"service medallions" instantly recognisable to Greeks? And anyway, if the
rest of the soldiers' clothing etc. got "converted" when they became
statues, why did the medallion survive? And given that you recognised
something round a statue's neck as a military insignia of some sort, would
that really make you immediately assume that the statue was a soldier who
had been turned to stone?
But nits like that don't actually bother me that much (just as well,
really...) The reason the ep lost me from this point on was that it
abandoned all its interesting questions in favour of one rather boring
answer, and became a straight "get the villain" exercise, and not a very
engaging, convincing or attractive one at that.
The whole "Aiden feeds on goodness" thing seemed a bit half-baked to me...
there's a sort of vague stab at some sort of, perhaps Taoist, logic with
the "goodness in a perfect place going to waste without evil to keep it
alive and fighting" line... but basically this was just waffle - it
reminded me rather of a bad Startrek TOS ep (I could just imagine Captain
Kirk wandering in, declaiming "Aiden feeds on goodness...")
And the "Xena becoming totally bad so she can defeat Aiden" thing made *no*
sense, either. How do you suddenly eliminate all the goodness from
yourself? And anyhow, clearly Xena *didn't*, since she still pursued a plan
designed to achieve a good end purposefully, rather than just "behaving
badly".
And I know I said it last week, but I just *have* to say it again - what
*is* it with these people and TEETH?!! They seem to inflexibly follow the
equation that if your teeth look bad you're either moronic or evil! Are
they under the spell of an evil conspiracy of orthodontists or something??
And the ultimate proof of Xena's absolute badness is that she kills the
bunny wabbit? Puh-lease!
But gods, they certainly made Xena *look* bad!!
BTW, we got another Indian instrument during the fight scene - that
buzzing, nasal wind instrument is called a Shehnai... it's a double-reed
pipe, most closely related to the oboe, amongst modern western instruments,
and it's commonly associated, in India, with celebrations, especially
weddings. We've heard it on X:WP before - it was part of "Najara's music"
in Crusader.
All that business of Aiden nodding and throwing "Ugly Xena" around made for
a pretty unsatisfactory fight scene really... and there was no particular
explanation of why Xena was suddenly able to beat him.
And then "The Plan" - Xena would try to kill Garr and this would be sure to
snap Gab out of her trance, even if she *was* half turned to stone... well
"tenuous" and "reaching" don't really cover it, do they?
And then Xena just kicks her sword into Aiden's stomach, and that's it?
Hmm... I was underwhelmed, I'm afraid.
Why was Gab naked at the end? (Apart from the fact that she often is...)
Were her clothes a figment of Aiden's imagination that vanished when he died?
"I sometimes talk about your darkness like it's some kind of disease - but
without it, neither one of us would be here. It's kind of ironic." The
problem I have with this.... well, it's quite true that they probably
wouldn't be there if it wasn't for Xena's darkness - this was acknowledged
as far back as Dreamworker, where Xena realised that *using* her dark self
was "the key". In this ep, though, the point is specious - if you
arbitrarily invent a trap that only a person who isn't "good" can escape
from, then clearly having a person who isn't "good" around is useful....
but since the invention and definition of the trap was indeed *utterly*
arbitrary, there's hardly much of a life lesson to be learned here... And
whilst we're on the subject - I do *not* think that rain on your wedding
day is "ironic"!
"Do I really have hands like a sailor?"
COMMENTARY 5:
Commentary Videntur.
Very interesting episode and one in which we have back
a relaxing atmosphere between the two stars.
In the opening scene we have Xena needing stitches for
a wound in her leg. I found myself becoming irritated
that Xena is sitting there with this wound and Gabrielle
comes out with the crack: “you smiled” (repeated by her a
number of times) - of course referring to Xena smiling when
she was fighting off the men who attacked them. First of all,
Xena always smiles when she’s fighting - its part of her
personality. I for one think it throws the people she is fighting
off guard. If you were getting ready to stab someone and
they smiled at you - wouldn’t you become a little confused?
Let’s face it, its a great weapon. Also, I think it was thoughtless
of Gabrielle to suggest that Xena’s fighting for good is to cover
up something darker. Instead of making that crack - she
should have paid more attention to stitching up Xena’s leg.
It seems we are going in search of Gabrielle’s spiritual side -
personally I’m pretty sick of Gabrielle’s spiritual side. I won’t
hide the fact that I’m getting pretty sick and tired of seeing
Gabrielle remain nice and clean during these episodes while
Xena’s make-up man seems to have gone on a drug overdose.
Both ladies are EQUALLY nice looking and it seems to me
that the play is stressing not only on Gabrielle’s spiritual side,
but on her body and beauty as well. Meanwhile for our hero,
we portray her as so evil that her beauty is made hideous
before the show is over. Enough is enough. Also, the
crucifixion scene - Gabrielle is not the only one being nailed
to a cross. Xena is also being nailed to one, but again, the
stress is on Gabrielle. I don’t know about anyone else, but personally
I feel just as bad if either one gets nailed to the cross- not just
Gabrielle. I’ve digressed a little -so let’s get back to our analysis
of the episode itself.
Aiden - certainly a believable character and so nice that “butter
would melt in his mouth.” Aiden definitely had an answer for
everything, including the healing of Xena’s leg. The place he had
created is known to draw the “true you” out. I wonder if it is
the true you or the true source of one’s strength. Certainly,
Gabrielle’s strength would be her goodness and Xena’s strength
does come from her “dark side” (which even a “good person” has).
If this is the case, then maybe the reason Xena became “darker”
was because as Aiden made a person like Gabrielle release all “dark”
thoughts, this would increase the energy of the darkness that would
have no where to go, thus increasing Xena’s darkside and adding
to her strength. This would mean that its not the fact that Xena
is intrinsically evil but that the evil being released by Aiden from
Gabrielle and from others in the past was there with no where to
go until someone with the strength of Xena came along.
Gabrielle was very gullible. Xena warned Gabrielle a number of times
that you basically can not trust what you see, as always Gabrielle
didn’t listen - however, as I said before, Aiden was a very believable
character. Xena on the other hand, trusted her instincts. It was
surprising to see Xena lose her confidence when she was talking to
Aiden and asked: “Are you saying these delusions that I’m having are part
of some kind of war going on inside of me?” “What do I do?”
She (Xena) shouldn’t be asking the person who is causing the delusions
how to solve the delusions because most likely he is not going to
tell the truth. Great acting on Lucy Lawless’s part when she was
in the tub and Gabrielle came to see if she was okay - Xena looked
like she was the devil itself (and notice - you didn’t need
“drug overdose” make up to get across the point that Xena’s
“dark side” was increasing in power).
Garr made a very interesting point when he stated: “...goodness in
a perfect place going to waste without evil to keep it alive and
fighting.” This quote definitely suggest that if evil did not exist -
goodness would not have a cause to exist and thus become like the statues
that Aiden had created. It was Gabrielle’s need to stop the strength of
Xena’s darkside from taking a life that gave her (Gabrielle’s)goodness
a meaning and brought her back from non-existence. Even Gabrielle
had to admit at the end that “...without it (speaking of Xena’s darkside)
neither one of us would be here.”
Despite some of my gripes in previous paragraphs, I did love the
episode; although, I don’t know if I would have jumped in a hole
after Gabrielle until I was pretty darn sure that she had indeed
fallen inside. Nevertheless, the episode had some pretty funny
moments. The first time was when Gabrielle woke up after falling
down the hole with Xena beside her and said to Xena: “What
happened - Xena -I fell down a hole.” To which Xena replied:
“Yea -what is it with you and holes?” Another time was when
Gabrielle wanted to take Aiden up on his hospitality and whacked
Xena on the back to let her know not to refuse. A third time was
when they were taking a bath and Gabrielle pokes her head out
of the water looking stress-free and relaxed and we see Xena’s
hand impatiently moving its fingers wanting to leave. I also liked
the scene when Gabrielle stopped Xena from killing Garr and the
two placed their heads together thus showing that they indeed
help each other to survive. I felt the acting in the episode as always
was excellent on both the part of Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor;
however, I still stress the fact that Xena should worry just as much about
herself being crucified from a cross as much as she worries about
Gabrielle - I for one don’t like the idea of either our hero (Xena) or
her sidekick (Gabrielle) being nailed to a cross; although, in all
fairness to the writers, Xena rarely does show concern for her
own health.
COMMENTARY 6:
Commentary Jill Hayhurst.
I dunno
why, but I keep trying to type PARADISE BOUND and it's not like I don't know the Milton
bits weren't titled "LOST" and "REGAINED", so I guess it's just one of those little mysteries of the human psyche that I *really* would druther not have analysed, thankyouverymuch.
Tonight's little gem opens with Sturm und Drang, which makes it danged
hard to see the full moon, so you kind of have to just take it on faith
that the moon *is* full, it's the Xenaverse, of course it is. Pan over
to A Cave, past the rockslide where Callisto was buried, and into a
nice, warm, cozy, yet surprisingly spacious and clean cave, with way
good ventilation and possibly a hot spring in the back, no wonder the
local legends say the place is holy; looks furkin' sanctified from where
I sit.
The blessedness of it all is fully revealed with the sight of a damp
bard dressed in drying furs concentrating on threading a needle by
firelight. (hey, you try it-- takes serious effort and can make ya
cross-eyed) and talking to Xena about a little set-to they'd had earlier
with a band of thugs. Gabrielle approaches Xena with her threaded needle
and commences sewing up a rip in the Warrior Princess' hose, across her
left thigh. For a change, in this and subsequent scenes, they've
actually got a paid continuity person who makes sure that it's always
the left thigh that was hurted and not a little ping-pong coin-flip
thing, depending solely on which thigh is most photogenic for a given
scene.
Am I being tacky? Likely. Blame it on this nasty knife wound I've
recently sustained in the act of subduing a vicious pork chop a couple
evenings ago, and now I can't hardly type and lord! it's irritating.
Just another push, and I'd start dissing my mama, that's how irritating
it is.
Where was I? Okay, so Gab's stitching up this wound of Xena's (it's
gross, too) and tweaking her about her attitude toward fighting (she
likes it. so do we. keeps the ratings up, bard-- don't scare the cash
cow, here.) and looking JUST LIKE HOPE when she does it. I had chills, I
did. Goosebumps. Thought for a second Gab was possessed by sparkly
things and Hope would take over and leap on Xena, wielding a lethal
needle with Daddy dancing in the flames of their campfire.
Instead, we get a sensitive chat, cos it wasn't Hope after all. Just a
trick of the firelight. Gab hints rather broadly that Xena has a *real
good time* offing people and maybe the Greater Good isn't ALWAYS her
focus in the heat of battle, this is, like, a huge revelation, right,
sure... well, it is to Xena, who hasn't quite grasped that altruism is
something to strive for, however impossible it is to attain, and she
cops to the charge, sort of. You can tell cos she snatches the needle
from Gab and finishes the job herself.
Then, while Gab's sloooowly getting dressed, she utters the plot
synopsis line of the ep: "Instead of reaching out, maybe we should be
looking in." Cue thunder... ready flashback... cue flashback. Maybe it's
just me, but I think Xena might just be a tad obsessed with this whole
BEING NAILED TO CROSSES BY ROMAN SCUM vision thing, I mean, if it were
me, having been shown my impending NASTY, BRUTAL DEATH, I might find it
hard to concentrate on the here and now (HALF-NEKKID BARD), but sheesh!
Xena's got to the point of a puppy salivating at the ringing of a bell--
all ya gotta do is say something pithy and thoughtful about the Meaning
of Life and the Universe, and off she goes to the land of snow and
ethereal music and soldiers with whopping big mallets.
Apparently, Gab feels the same way I do about this whole psychic glitch
of Xena's, she's the one on the spiritual journey here, dammit, and Xena
doesn't even *blink* during her strip-tease routine, this relationship
needs work, but before we can get to the really sensitive part of the
sensitive chat sequence, where Gab kisses Xena's owwie and surrounding
bits and the fire dies down slowly and Missy types '**********', Xena
hears a noise. At least, she acts like she does and Gab plays along with
her and goes off to investigate, since Xena's got a bum leg. (might have
to be shot in the morning if it don't get better) A whole two seconds
elapse before Xena becomes seriously concerned about Gab's well-being
and limps after her. Right at the point where Gab went off-screen, Xena
finds a big ol' bard-sized BOTTOMLESS PIT just opened up, twenty feet to
the north and it would've swallowed them and their bedrolls and maybe
even Argo, wherever Argo is, and she knows right off, cos heros are
smart, that Gab didn't walk around the pit and down to the corner 7-11
for a six-pack and some smokes. So Xena tosses her torch down the pit to
see if she sees anything bard-like clinging to the side, at least, I
hope that's why she does it. Did I say heros were smart? Oh, well.
Anyway, to show there's no hard feelings about the torch thing, Xena
jumps into the pit her own self.
Next thing we know, someone's upped the primary colour quotient of the
scenery and added a lot of chirping birds and budding trees and lots of
happy little woodland creatures... okay, it's just a tortoise and a
bunny rabbit. But you know, their very singularity (ain't that a
high-toned phrase?) imbues them to the Plimsoll line with meaning and
symbolism and all kinds of stuff like that there. ('Sides, the bunny
rabbit's a blonde. And the tortoise is armored. Hm.) We can tell right
off that this is gonna be one of the brainier X:WP eps, but there'll
still be some butt-kicking, don't worry.
Xena's sitting up on the greensward, beside Gab, who's still groggy, (I
think the torch missed her) and notices that her wound's gone, not even
a scar, and this just ain't natural, it takes more than a few minutes
and a dive into a bottomless pit to heal these things, I know cos of my
recent epic struggle with that killer pork chop, not that I dived down
any pits or anything, there's none around here. I did jump off a curb,
though. Okay, it was more of a hop. Didn't help.
They get up and look around, Gab wondering, Xena suspicious (lookit,
Ma-- character summaries in one word apiece!) and remark on how it looks
like Illusia (to bring the point home, Lo Duca mixes in a few phrases
from BT), except without the singing and Rushing Waters and lip-locking
with Callie and naked Gab (maybe that's why Xena was so indifferent in
the cave earlier; you know, for a nice, well-brought up girl, that
bard's been shucking her duds every opportunity she's had for the last
few eps. Maybe it's that shrinking BGSB. Maybe it *is* enchanted.)
While Gab sniffs flowers and tries to learn the language of the birdies,
Xena pulls her sword and flushes a mad hatter out of the brush. This
guy's a real nutcase, but he does know where they are and directs them
to the main building on the campus, where if they hurry they can
register for night courses. Once they get inside, they find the main
hall's been decorated by the kind of statuary you know was selected by
an art committee, after much wrangling and back-biting and the forced
resignation of two of the members. Their advisor, Aiden, comes in while
they're looking at the statues (they're blue. and faceless. more
symbolism. butt-kicking, anyone?) and he's dressed funny and
talks funny and Xena isn't happy at all with him, but the courses are
free so she simmers down a bit while he goes on about inner peace and
beauty and harmony. And, of course, hot tub privileges.
Gab eats it all up, and signs on immediately for the full program--
Breathing 101, Meditation 103A, Babbling 301 (she placed out of the
first year), anything, just lead her to the baths, it's time to get
naked and wet again, must've been what? 20 minutes since her last
shower? Faced with a bard pining for warm scented pools, Xena can't do
anything but root through saddlebags for the soap, and the result is the
hottest bathing scene ever.
Gab luxurates and Xena crabs, then Gab pulls her grumpy old warrior over
to where she can rub the kinks out of her shoulders. There's actually
some dialogue in here, but I do confess it took several run-throughs for
me to follow any of it. Seems that, despite her earlier gung-ho
attitude, the bard doesn't trust Aiden entirely, but she is intrigued by
what he's apparently accomplished, esp. the part where Xena's leg was
healed, and wants to learn how he does what he does.
Xena's still skeptical, but she gets into the shoulder thing. At least,
until there's a noise at the door (a huge yin/yang round thing, can't
get enough symbols this ep). Xena opens it, wearing only a few drops of
water, and the little guy from the bushes (Gar) falls to the floor. He's
brought clothes for Gab, since he knows about the BGSB enchantment and
wants her to try to stay dressed for the rest of the ep.
You can tell, from the way he doesn't look at Xena, that he wishes he'd
brought a second set.
After that, the training stuff really gets started, with Gab and Aiden
in the main hall, in front of a round window looking out to distant
mountains, and the whole room's apparently built on top of a turntable,
since the camera continuously swings slowly around and around and back
and forth and around and I got quite seasick and was really glad for
those cut-aways to Xena doing her own
getting-in-touch-with-her-inner-warrior stuff in the garden. There's
more blue statues out there, she's surrounded by them, maybe there was a
sale at K-Mart. The birdies and the bunny and the tortoise hang around
too, cos they don't want Xena to get lonely. Even when Xena goes a bit
nutso and starts fighting the statues and jump-kicking the
tree-blossoms, the birds merely twitter irritatedly. And the wilder Xena
gets, the more that tortoise tries to snuggle up to her tootsies. Hm.
(Must say, I do hope that hot tub's open 24/7, cos Xena's inner warrior
bears a strong resemblance to a Kentucky coal miner.)
The weary hours drag on, Gabrielle gets deeper and deeper into serenity,
Xena fights harder and harder against it. That night, as Gab, filled
with inner peace, lies on a yin/yang bed (first the door, now the bed.
I'm gonna take a wild guess here, and say that 'opposites' are a pivotal
theme tonight), Xena does frantic sit-ups beside her on the floor-- oh,
Gab sleeps on the white side, with her head pillowed on the black
centre. Our bard is clad in a yummy white brocade sleeping gown that
also serves as a cover for those chillier nights in Paradise when your
warrior wants to stay up till all hours, exercising, meditating,
learning to beat the forces of evil at their own game...
Xena actually breaks Aiden's illusion for a minute, though she doesn't
know she's done it. Aiden knows, though. He's a bad guy. (Well, heck,
there's only Xena, Gabrielle, Gar and Aiden. *Someone's* got to be the
bad guy, and Gar's just a clown and Gab's turn ain't till next ep.)
Next day finds Aiden and Gabrielle strolling and chatting in the main
hall (hey, it was an expensive set piece, gotta make the most of it) and
I know Xena's mental work in the wee hours has gotten to him, the
bastard, cos he tells Gab that Xena's dark side is gonna overwhelm her
with delusions and blood and stuff, when that's really him attacking
her. And Gab finds Xena later (in the tub, surprise!) and tries to warn
her and get her to try the yoga thing or else she's gonna start to wig
out, and Xena does, right there in the hot tub. (Gab's still dressed and
off to one side, guess the clothes change worked.) And Gab starts to
leave but she asks Xena if she's all right, and Xena says she weren't
never better and right then she looks just like Assassin Xena in Chin,
without the mud, it's really scary and boy, was I glad they went to
commercial.
Xena gets dressed and seeks out Aiden to demand an explanation, cos she
doesn't know yet that he's the source of all her delusions and stuff and
so she believes him when he hits her "Keep Gabrielle Safe" button by
telling her that if she don't leave, the dark fantasies of blood and
pain and landscapes dotted with Wal-Marts as far as the eye can see will
become real and the Gabster will take the long count.
So, once again Xena sets down to write a Dear Gabrielle letter,
but her nose starts bleeding and just then Gab comes into their room
with a knotted back muscle which the Warrior Princess can (of course she
can! wahoo!) massage right back into suppleness. So now, on top of the
hot tub scene of scenes, we get Xena rubbing Gabrielle's bare back...
and arms, and legs and feet... my heavens. Mixed in with all this are
more (new! thank the gods!) scenes from the penultimate vision, the
Gabster's apparently sat still for having her palms tatooed, you know
that hurts like the devil, and all the while Xena's trying to work the
knots out, she's being distracted by these visions and the blood
dripping from her nose and she *still* manages to put Gabrielle to
sleep.
And once again, it's 'bu-bye, bard!' as Xena tries to sneak off for the
Greater Good. In the garden, on her way to the train station, she is
arrested by the sight of a medallion on one of the statues. She touches
it-- it's a service medallion, and looks just like the one she saw on
Gar's neck the first time she met him, hm, next thing you know, she's
chasing Gar down in the bushes. (For some reason, the little scene of
her touching the medallion repeats, out of sequence, and all I can think
is that this is a real, live glitch on the part of the film editor, who
apparently expected a commercial break right after the first 'touch the
medal' showing.) Anyway, Xena's made one of those intuitive leaps of
logic that drive those around her to such distraction, where she's
trying to knife demons and all's the rest of her pals can see are
innocent babies.
She finds Gar and he spills the beans. Aiden sucks goodness out of
everyone around him, and what's left over is... blue painted concrete?
Well, let that be a lesson for the kidlings, then. Anyway, she forms a
plan, she's gonna divest herself of all her own goodness and attack
Aiden with what's left, and Gar had better do what he's told or they'll
all die.
Cut to a close-up of Aiden bending over Gabrielle, she'd deep in a
trance and he's finally looking just as wicked as we all knew he was,
smirking in a wash of blue light. Cut back to the garden, Elvira's
rising up, wearing Xena's leathers... wait, it *is* Xena, only her
hair's back in the lice stage and ye gods and little fishes, her teeth
are...
That's one hell of a plan Xena's come up with, Aiden will never expect
her to show up on his doorstep as a bunny rabbit. A chakram-wielding
bunny rabbit. Hey, I think we've finally come to the butt-kicking part!
And the first thing she does, is a little chakram practise in the
garden-- one pass, and scratch one birdie, bounce off the tortoise
(symbolism alert!), through another birdie, off the tortoise again (in
case you didn't get it the first time), then home *through* the blonde
bunny. Ooog, and to think Xena once complained of Gab getting eel guts
on the thing...
SYMBOLISM TANGENT ALERT: I know I should leave this kind of thing to the
brainy hardcore nutballs, but I just can't help myself. Cos there was
that whole yin/yang thing, traditionally shown as black and white, which
has some connotations in Western culture where light=good and dark=Jerry
Springer, but that's not the whole story here, and when xenastaff
brought in the tortoise and the hare motif, by golly, that was way cool,
since those are also representative of opposites, but without the
good/bad baggage dark&light carry. So Xena, in order to take on Aiden,
becomes *what she was not*. She was the tortoise, she becomes the
rabbit-- and to complete the transformation, she kills the existing
rabbit.
Okay, she does the birds, too, but that's just icing.
Enough of that crap-- on with the butt-kicking! Xena faces off against
Aiden in the hall, where Gab is already beginning the transformation to
garden gnome. Without getting into a blow by blow description (what-- do
I *look* like John Madden?), it seems when Xena tries a frontal assault,
she gets knocked back and around (and bounced off floors and walls) by
the power of Aiden's mind-- he sits serenely behind Gabrielle. Only when
he approaches her in an attempt to take whatever good may be left from
her (t'ain't none, fatal mistake, lotus-boy) she is able to land her
first telling blows. Physically away from Gabrielle now, he loses his
edge, and hastens back to feed from her directly. Then Xena taunts him
to approach her again, and while he's some distance from the bard, she
actually contemplates killing Gabrielle before Aiden can draw from her
again. That's when Gar steps in, that's his part of the plan, to stop
her before she can hurt the Gabster. She instead turns on Gar, which is
enough to shock Gabrielle out of the trance (can't let Xena kill the
innocent, nuh-uh), which in turn shocks Aiden just long enough for Xena
to kick her sword through his gut.
After that's a really nice sequence of images where Paradise melts away
all around them as Aiden's body melts to nothingness and a touching
reunion tween bard and warrior and then they're back in the cave. Except
Gab's new clothes melted, too, and she huddles behind Xena to keep out
of Gar's line of sight. There's the final wrap-up, Gar goes his way to
once again experience the joys of freedom, since he was crazy only
because of seeing what all Aiden did, and a lot of chat about Evil being
a necessary force in the universe, since without it Good can't be
experienced, sounds like the kind of stuff I used to hear at cast
parties in the eighties after about six joints had been passed around (I
hung out on the porch and drank beer, thank you), there was also a lot
of talk about how Bobby Jones was a furkin' genius, but that was all
true, so maybe this good/evil dichotomy is too.
So, anyway, way cool ep. The whole thing on opposites needing each other
to exist is an excellent grounding for the coming India sequences, since
it validates both Xena's and Gabrielle's varying patterns and emerging
philosophies. On the surface, it looks like another "Gabrielle's
trusting nature is AGAIN decieved by an evil teacher", but I don't think
it is, at heart. Gabrielle is on a real, honest spiritual journey, and
she will seek to learn from anyone and anything that seems to offer some
insight on any aspect of the inner workings of the mind. If she gets in
too deep, well, Xena's there, with her innate skepticism, to bail her
out. That's her purpose. Gabrielle is the Seeker and Xena's the
Guardian.
Works for me. (g)
WHIMPERS, MURMURS, AND A LOVE GONE TOO
FAR
03-18-00. In the June 1999 issue of Chakram (the Official Xena Fan Club newsletter), fan club president Sharon Delaney wrote:
I [Sharon] asked her [Renee] about what kind of guidance a director gives an
actor during a scene. For instance, in "Paradise Found", when Gabrielle
breaks down in Aiden's arms and Xena is watching from a distance.
"You know what Rob said?" Renee started laughing. "He said, 'Lucy, she's in
another man's arms!' And Lucy went, '*Another* man's arms!!'" Renee was
laughing even harder. "It was hilarious because it was quite a serious scene
and Lucy couldn't hold it in. She just started laughing. For the next take,
Rob stood near Lucy and talked her through the rest of the scene. It was
quite moving. But that was a hilarious line. One of those classic moments."
02-10-99. In an interview in CHAKRAM #12, Chris Manheim stated that PARADISE FOUND was "a very small episode. It really is almost a cerebral story, which may or may not work. I don't know what the fans are going to think. But it was a very difficult show to write and I think Rob [Tapert, who directed the episode] did a wonerful job."
11-24-98. PARADISE FOUND is apparently the Alice In Wonderland episode. Xena and Gabrielle are travelling in the mountains (somewhere) and Xena is wounded fighting bad guys. They find a cave and Gab treats the wounds. She must do a pretty good job, 'cause they both go out looking for firewood. They fall down a hole into some sort of cavern/wierd place where there's a Holy Man named
Aidan. While Gab increasingly finds inner peace, Xena is more and more falls victim to her darks side. It's supposedly a hugely trippy episode that makes BITTER SUITE look like linear narrative. There are only four in the cast, including some GateKeeper
character.
08-21-98. One of the themes for the 4th season will be the further development and exploration of Gabrielle's spiritual side. She will meet and interact with purported spiritually inspired people in several episodes, most notibly in PARADISE FOUND and CRUSADER. In PARADISE FOUND, Gabrielle finds that her paradise might be Xena's hell while in CRUSADER, she receives a lesson in the difference between zealousness and devotion.
THERAPY TRANSCRIPTS
Turns out that Xena and Gabrielle have started to go to a couples counselor and we have been leaked some of report written up by the therapist. Read at your own risk. Thanks to Susan Mullarky for her connections!
Second Session, Part A PARADISE FOUND
Report on Assignment
Gabrielle:
Gabrielle was able to recall ten swear words for the first two days. On the
third day, she had to ask for Xena's help. Gabrielle also found just standing
and screaming out the words was awkward for her and made the task harder.
Xena helped her figure out a way to do it easily. She had Gabrielle beat the
tree with her staff as she screamed out each swear word. Gabrielle blushed as
she related to me that, on a few occasions, she had gone over her limit.
Since she had not written down the different swear words, she admitted she
might have repeated a few. They had to resort to foreign words and that had
taken coaching from Xena. At this point in Gabrielle's report, they looked at
each other and giggled.
Xena:
Xena initially had real difficulty remembering that she had helped anyone.
Gabrielle had to coax the memories out of her. They finally decided to change
the rules a bit and include animals as Xena spent a lot of time with horses.
I asked Xena to give a couple of examples. Xena related three stories. She
had beaten up a man who was whipping his horse. She'd beaten up an older boy
who was bullying her little brother. And she had on one occasion, got a horse
out of the mud where it had been left to die. Xena reported that once she got
to hang of it, she easily completed her assignment. They giggled about the
four extra swear words Gabrielle had to say for giving Xena help. I gently
tried to lure them into telling me why they giggled but Gabrielle blushed and
both refused to comment as they giggled some more. There was no therapeutic
value to the question. I was simply curious.
For Gabrielle, there were several themes that intertwined throughout this
session. One theme was empowerment of self. Gabrielle had met a man, Aidan,
who introduced her to yoga. This approach to finding physical and spiritual
well-being resonated with Gabrielle. (For each of us there is a way to deal
with pain and suffering. Some do it with movement, some with yelling, some
with introspection, some by feeling their pain.) For her, this technique
allowed her "self" to become strong enough to reach within to find a place
of emotional calm to begin the final steps of dealing with her guilt,
horror, and shame. She will have to deal with these issues all her life but
if she can begin to talk about these issues, they will not rule her life. As
time passes, they will impact on her less and less. From this starting point,
she was and will continue to be able to deal with her rape by Dahak, the
birth and death of Hope, Solon's death and the loss of her blood innocence.
Gabrielle became very agitated as she related her story starting with being
tricked by Khrafstar and the loss of her blood innocence by killing Meridian.
Xena finally could not stand Gabrielle's discomfort any longer and got up,
went over to Gabrielle and carefully scooped her up. She sat back down
holding Gabrielle in her lap with her head tucked under her chin. Xena shot
daggers at me. I explained that it was crucial for Gabrielle to tell Xena all
about these horrifying experiences. She could look daggers at me but it did
not change what was needed to be done. I explained that it was very important
for Xena to listen as Gabrielle talked so they both could understand all
this. It was also important for Xena to demonstrate that she could be there
for Gabrielle in this way For a while, Gabrielle sobbed into Xena's chest,
then she gathered herself and continued to pour out every detail that had
haunted her about her rape. Gabrielle felt she deserved to be raped, to give
birth to Hope, to lose Hope and ultimately to have to kill Hope because she
had killed Meridian. She felt in killing Meridian she had killed her light,
her faith, and her "self." She felt she deserved to be punished and she had
to bear the consequences. She also told Xena she was angry at her because she
was so caught up in trying to kill Caesar that she missed the fact that
Khrafstar was evil. Gabrielle grabbed Xena at this point and shook her,
crying that it was HER job to notice evil. Xena was the expert in that
department and Gabrielle needed that from her. She said she was afraid to
talk to Xena because she was afraid that her wrong doing would cause Xena to
leave her.
She felt that Xena expected her to work through her pain on her own. She
feared Xena would see her as a wimp for not being able to put it all behind
her. Not knowing what to do to deal with the pain in her, allowed the pain to
keep growing and growing. It made her feel she was a monster and no positive
use to the world, to herself or to her beloved Xena.
This is the SECOND theme: who am I in relation to you? Gabrielle felt
overwhelmed by all the events and her decision to keep Hope alive was in part
to keep her hope alive that she was not evil. She saw Hope as a lifeline to
her blood innocence Perhaps this child could be what she no longer was. When
Hope killed Solon, Gabrielle's tenuous hold of being of value to her self and
Xena evaporated. In her profound despair she wanted to die. She berated
her self for not being strong enough to commit suicide to rid the world of
this useless being. Again she sobbed. Xena held her tight this time and
just let her cry.
At one point, I had to get up and go over to Xena and softly tell her that
she was strong enough to hear this and to let Gabrielle tell her all of it.
Xena was subtly trying to stop Gabrielle by telling her it was okay, or
telling her "shhh," or getting restless or looking away. Gabrielle needed to
know at this point that Xena could bear her pain or Gabrielle would not get
past the guilt, horror, and shame. Gabrielle is not in therapy to tell me
this stuff but to share it with Xena. Part of the reason for the wide gulf
between them is this fear of hurting each other.
Xena needs to learn to tolerate Gabrielle's pain and not cut her off. They
must deal with the pain to try to fix the problem. They have to demonstrate
this over and over and over to each other. Each has to convey to the other
that they will be there no matter what the circumstance.
This was as far as the session got. It is only one little hour and enough
work had been done. I will see them both in a couple of days to finish the
session, as I had yet to hear from Xena. I told Xena that I knew it was
difficult to hear Gabrielle's story but Xena needed to give that gift of love
to Gabrielle and not leave her.
There was no homework assignment as I felt the session was not complete.I
will wait until the end of the next session to assign any homework.
End of session report.
Session 2 Part B PARADISE FOUND
When there are no homework assignments, I asked my clients to give a little
summary of their time between sessions.
Gabrielle: She reported she was glad to have learned some yoga techniques and
would continue practicing. She learned that Aidan was really a horrible man.
She asked Xena to tell me about what had happened. Gabrielle was distressed
that painful memories continued to surface. She indicated that she was
beginning to share more of her confusing, pain-filled memories with Xena. She
reached over and took Xena's hand as she said this and Xena did not move
away.
Xena: She reported she had to kill Aidan to prevent him from hurting
Gabrielle. "I knew he was big trouble from the moment we met. Gabrielle
seemed to like him and was interested in learning some techniques he had
mentioned that would help her feel more peaceful. I felt confused, not
knowing if my negative feelings were justified. I then learned from Gar that
Aidan had captured the minds of his soldiers, took their goodness and then
killed them. In the end, Aidan and I fought. I killed him. When he died his
power died too and we returned to our shelter in the mountains."
NOTE: I reasoned that getting Xena to talk was going to be difficult judging
from her very succinct summary of events. She had hardly said a word in the
first session. So I had to create a way for Xena to feel comfortable in
expressing herself. It would also start to establish a pattern for them to
have safe talks. At this point, I believed Xena would not talk to me at all.
This was okay but she did need to talk to Gabrielle. I was concerned that
Gabrielle not talk for her. (By remaining silent Xena could put Gabrielle in
the position where she felt she had to speak for her partner.) So I decided
to try two things. First, I would enlist Gabrielle's help because I knew she
knew how to get Xena to talk. Second, I would attempt to enlist the help of
the "Xena" who very successfully led an army. In order to do that, she had to
be articulate and she had to understand her men and her enemies. She must
have been able to judge men very quickly in order to maximize their talents
and abilities. She knew how to plan to reach her objective. She knew how to
successfully implement that plan. She was physically and mentally razor
sharp. This is a very strong part of Xena and I wanted to get her to use
these strengths to help their relationship.
Xena
I asked Xena how she knew someone was bad or evil. I got a shrug and she said
that she just knew it. So I asked her to explain how she just knew. This time
she growled that she just knew. I said I would not accept that answer. She
was a warrior who was a leader of men and women. How did she make those
decisions about whom to keep, whom to leave behind and whom to kill? This
time her eyes defocused indicating she was looking inward to find an answer.
She refocused on me and shrugged.
I looked at Gabrielle and asked her if Xena ever talked to her. She replied
that she did. I asked if they talked about important stuff. Gabrielle said
that they talked about important stuff more in the past than now.
I asked Gabrielle when Xena would tell her important stuff. When was Xena
most likely to talk? Gabrielle looked confused so I made some suggestions:
after dinner, or when they were walking along, or when they cuddled.
Gabrielle said that it was most likely in the evenings shortly before they
went to bed or shortly after they went to bed.
I told Gabrielle that I had a strange request. Would she mind going over and
sitting comfortably on Xena's lap? She looked at Xena and Xena smiled so she
went and got all settled in. Then I asked Gabrielle to ask Xena how she knew
Aidan was evil by telling all her thoughts and feelings from the beginning.
Gabrielle did as I requested.
Xena sat still for a while, absently stroking Gabrielle's hair as Gabrielle
snuggled into her shoulder. She said that when she jumped into the pit and
landed on the grass beside Gabrielle, in what appeared to be a little slice
of heaven, all her alarm bells went off. It was too good to be true. She knew
that some gods or magic must be influencing them. When she noticed her wound
had healed, she knew for sure something was not right. But she did not know
what was wrong, where they were, or how to get away. They walked to the
palace that they could see nearby. There they met oily Aidan.
"Right away he focused on Gabrielle and I felt him pushing me away. Dividing
us," Xena noted. She said that Gabrielle clearly wanted to stay and she could
not come up with a valid reason to leave right away. She kept mentioning that
the longer they stayed the more Aidan tried to separate them.
Xena realized too, he played on Gabrielle's desire to have peace, to help
others and on her own fears of violence and hurting Gabrielle again. She was
able to see the more calm Gabrielle became the more angry and out of control
she became. As Xena became more confused, Aidan became more powerful. Xena
was practicing Tai Chi, an old Chinese martial art, when she realized the
very strengths she needed to protect Gabrielle were the ones Aidan had helped
her doubt by accurately pinpointing her fears. Xena explained that she knew
she would have to fight him and most likely kill him or she would lose
Gabrielle.
"To fight you have to draw on a different type of energy than to be
peaceful(still). If all Gabrielle had was stillness she would not be able to
defend herself. She was like that bunny, unable to see or defend herself
against evil. I reached down under the shell where the wolf lives and I let
her loose," Xena confessed. "I knew I would need all the cunning, all the
power I had to kill the beast." She began to cry as she talked. Gabrielle
hugged her tightly and told Xena she was her warrior and she needed her and
loved her.
Xena told Gabrielle that she knew she did not like her violence and yet once
again she had been forced to draw on that very capability to save them. Each
time she did so, she feared she would drive Gabrielle away. This was driving
her crazy with worry. She told Gabrielle, she (Xena) did not kill for the
sport of it. Killing no longer made her feel good. That looking back, she
realized, it had never made her feel good. She told Gabrielle that she did
love a good fight because when you put all that you are on the line it was
exhilarating. She loved the challenge and thrill of fighting to the limit of
her capabilities. She was after all, a warrior. Gabrielle told Xena that she
really knew that in her heart, but because she was torn apart, she tended to
attack Xena and blame her for everything.
At that point, I thanked Xena for talking to Gabrielle and vice versa. Enough
had been said. It was time to stop the session. If too much is said, the
client loses face and will not come back. Xena had said enough to let a lot
of light in and helped Gabrielle begin to understand her warrior better.
The two themes that I worked on in this session with Xena were: Who am I in
relation to you and who am I?
I then gave a homework assignment. Everyday, Gabrielle was to brush Xena's
hair and everyday, Xena was to make something for Gabrielle.
End of session.
WHERE HAVE I SEEN YOU BEFORE?
By Xorys.
So who was who in Paradise Found?
Not exactly a cast of thousands - in fact the smallest ensemble of any HTLJ or XWP ep to date I believe... only four actors appeared on screen in this ep, except for the background figures in the various "visions".
Did you wonder why Aiden looked familiar, perhaps feel that somehow he
wasn't to be trusted right from the start? Not surprising really, given
that the previous incarnation in the Xenaverse of Jeremy Roberts, the actor
who played Aiden, was Thersites, the vicious, weaselly assassin in A
Fistful of Dinars! He was also featured as Derk in the HTLJ ep Mercenary.
Jeremy has quite an extensive resum=E9, including roles in the movies Money
Train (Guard), Stuart Saves His Family (Brad Skoog), The Mask (Bobby, the
bouncer), Sister Act (a biker), The People Under The Stairs (Spenser),
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Lt. Dimitri Valtane), and The
Marrying Man (Gus). He has also appeared on *many* TV series, including
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (playing Kakistos in the ep Faith, Hope & Trick),
Sliders (playing Bane, in the ep: California Reich), Millennium (playing
Richard Alan Hance in the ep The Thin White Line), Silk Stalkings (playing
Harrison Peak in the ep: Peak Experience), Star Trek: Voyager (playing Lt.
Dimitri Valtane in the ep: Flashback), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (playing
Meso'Clan in the episode Hippocratic Oath), Weird Science (playing Officer
Friendly in the ep: Sex Ed), The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (playing
Bill Swill in the eps: Mail Order Brides and No Man's Land), Roseanne (in
the eps: War And Peace and Crime And Punishment), and Seinfeld (playing the
Chauffeur in the ep: The Limo). Wow! What a busy guy... no wonder he looks
familiar!
And what about Garr? Did you feel there was perhaps something holy about
him? Mervyn Smith was last seen forgiving our sins as the Priest Of Apollo
in Forgiven. He can also be seen as a Village Elder in one of Xena's
original outings on HTLJ, Unchained Heart. He also appeared in the HTLJ ep
Love Takes A Holiday, as Iagos.
The ep was written by Chris Manheim, whose previous writing credits on XWP
are for The Prodigal, Altared States, Remember Nothing (with Steven Sears),
A Solstice Carol, Here She Comes...Miss Amphipolis, The Quest (with Steven
Sears and R. J. Stewart), A Comedy Of Eros, Maternal Instincts, The Bitter
Suite (with Steven Sears), King Con, Tsunami, and A Family Affair (with Liz
Friedman).
The ep was director by the big guy himself, Rob Tapert, whose only previous
outing as a director on XWP was Destiny. He also directed the HTLJ ep Once
A Hero.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
These things are by Beth Gaynor.
Important question #1 resolved: the BGSB survived its
mistreatment in If The Shoe Fits! Like the whip from Day in
the Life, replacements are apparently readily available in
local markets.
Listen carefully when Xena's standing in the cave as
Gabrielle checks out the noise (role reversal alert!) -
there's an almost-gasp and a swoosh at the moment Gab must
have fallen, and that's Xena gets worried and starts
calling.
MORE THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
01-06-01. From Jan. Notice the "rotating scar" on Gar's face. It tends to switch sides throughout the episode, depending on camera angle. The cheek facing the camera tends to be where the scar appears.
11-13-00. From Katie Moncelsi. The black make up stuff used on xena's hands and nails that start in the scene where you first see her as a bunny. Come and go as if it has a
mind of its own during the entire scene from when she turns up where Aiden is til she becomes herself again.
TRANSCRIPT
Click here to read a transcript of PARADISE FOUND.
DISCLAIMER:
Paradise was found but not necessarily embraced during the production of
this motion picture.
LINKS:
Jeremy Roberts Official Site
