Fallen Angel

Ahhh, new season. And what better way to kick off a new season than by showing cold bodies on crosses and prying them off with hammers? Ewwwwww. What a job.

Xena either has great spidey-sense or is the ultimate pessimist. A dozen angels, Gabrielle, getting toted off to heaven, and she's the only one looking down and worrying. Of course, she turned out to be RIGHT, but just because everyone's out to get her doesn't mean she's not paranoid.

Heaven - oops, sorry - Paradise - seems to have a hierarchy going. There are people (like Xena, Gabrielle, and Callisto when they arrive, and like Callisto's folks), there are angels (Callisto becomes one mid-task to help Eli), and there are arch-angels (Xena and Gab must be those since they're the stars). No such levels in Hell, it seems. What do all these people do for all eternity? Heaven - oops, sorry - Paradise and Hell are all just a bunch of rocks. The only difference is that Hell gets catering.

And while we're comparing: in order to become a demon, you have to munch a little fruit. In order to become an angel, another angel has to give himself up. The bad way's always easier, isn't it?

Xena doesn't think twice about taking a swan dive into Hell for Gabrielle - wow. Now THAT'S dedication. Loved Xena's line "So either you set me up with a pair of wings or I take another dive."

Hudson Leick once again put me on the floor laughing with the relish she took to being a demon. I'm STILL laughing at her "Morning honey!" line curled up next to Gabrielle, and my best laugh in the episode was Callisto's "Yes!" and finger-waving to encourage Gab to eat. I nearly fell off my couch.

But as an angel - I never thought I'd say it - Callisto was boooooring. I didn't have any need to see Callisto be redeemed. I appreciated the irony that Xena's sacrifice, and Callisto's actions, eventually saved both Xena and Gabrielle. But after that family reunion business, I need some water to get this syrupy taste out of my mouth.

As usual, Joxer takes off the goofy cap when it's time for him to get remotely serious. In this episode, he takes it off when it's time to pull down the bodies from the crosses and it stays off for the rest of the episode.

Speaking of Joxer, has he become a tragic figure instead of comic?

"< ring ring >"
"Hello, casting."
"This is the writers. We need a new comic relief character. We went through another one."
"AGAIN??"

Gabrielle finally, finally, finally gets to harass Callisto with a little payback for all she's been through. Not a bad tradeoff for five minutes as a demon. But what was up with changing her voice? Nobody else's voice was fiddled with when they became demons.

Feet blooper: Callisto has cloven hooves, but during the distance shot of her and Angel-Xena fighting, she has feet. (Theoretically, ALL the demons have hooves, but during the battles most of 'em seem to have feet.)

Demon Xena is quite the scary-looking bugger, but she gives good speeches! Her pep talk to the demons sounded like it could have come straight from Paradise Lost, and her attempt to persuade Gabrielle to join her was almost touching, even from a nasty ol' demon.

Every telegraphed line seemed to scream that Xena would give her angel light to Gabrielle. I liked the surprise when she gave it to Callisto instead. Ooo, fitting.

Gabrielle is having problems forgiving Callisto because of PERDICUS? I thought she got over that way back in Necessary Evil. If Gab wants to be pissed, how about "You helped Hope to murder Solan"? How about "You murdered me and Xena"??

I was expecting an angel-light game of ping-pong between Xena and Gabrielle. "Take my light. < zap >< snarl! >" "No, take mine. < zap >< snarl! >" Instead, Gabrielle was quick to shrug her shoulders and say "OK, cut 'er up." What was up with that? And what was up with their lure of Xena into a "situation"? The only thing that situation seemed to be set up for was to let Xena kick a lot of angel hinder.

Gabrielle makes a goofy-looking demon, but a spiffy archangel. Xena was kind of standard as an archangel but went to the nines as a demon. Guess we know where the wardrobe and makeup folks spent their overtime.

Xena's "GABWIELLLE!" as she chased her into the clouds sounded exactly like her rabid rabbit yell in Paradise Found.

What was with Michael's wings at the end of the big battle? It looked like they were gone. (And he sure fell as if they were.)

WHAT an image at the end: the demon Xena about to take the angel Gabrielle down to Hell with her. Both of them seemed to be fighting mixed feelings about the whole business, too. And that amazing moment is obviously the image that's glued to the back of Xena's eyes when she comes back.

It took me a couple of replays to figure out whose hand grasps whose when Xena and Gabrielle are brought back. Xena's left hand takes Gab's right, before Xena pops up and does that painful-sounding squeaky breathing like her lungs haven't been used in a day or two.

OK, I'm going to say this one more time - this religion hodge-podge stuff is silly. Xena's an archangel, but can't be an archangel because she's going to be reborn? Callisto's mom is in Paradise, even though we've seen her visiting Tartarus? Gabrielle saw Elysium, then was slated for the Amazon Land of the Dead, ends up in Paradise, AND is supposed to be reborn. My head hurts. Can we please pick an afterlife and stick with it?

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