Kindred Spirits

By the end of this episode, I felt like a dog that had been chasing its tail for 45 minutes. I liked that, I didn't like that, ooo I *loved* that, OK that sucked... I'm exhausted.

This episode suffered from extraordinarily bad timing. This huge conflict about following amazon tradition came the week after the episode when we found out that their traditions are all wrong. HUH?

On the other hand (see what I mean about exhausted chasing the tail?), they sure set up the next episode with large blazing letters, talking about sending messages to Cleopatra and taking cruises down the Nile.

I sometimes like Joxer, I really do. When he's an ineffective but well-meaning doofy good guy with a heart of gold, I like him. But this episode assassinated him. The moment he showed up, he was a mouth-breathing peeping tom, and he went downhill from there, calling amazons "sweetie," Xena his "best pal," bragging about killing people to hit on more amazons, and generally acting like a jerk frat boy on the loose at a kegger. One interesting plot note - his infatuation with Gabrielle does seem to be laid to rest... and now he's mostly ignoring her. Ohhhkay.

Fickle weather those amazons have. In the opening bathing scene, it's raining on the close-ups of Cyane, Eris, and Rhea, but in all the long shots, it's clear and sunny.

Whewwwwww, Rhea needs to think less about getting a baby and more about improving her attendance at Amazon acting lessons. She gets better as the episode goes on, but her and Eris's lines in the bathing pool are almost painful.

The subtext meter in this episode is schizophrenic. On the one hand, we have Xena and Gabrielle talking about settling down together, setting up house, and living in domestic bliss with baby Eve (when they're not worried about "breaking up"). On the other, we have an entire sweat lodge of amazons talking about what it's like to sleep with the boys. This episode wasn't a game of "spot the subtext," it was a game of "nail that little sucker to the floor before it gets away again."

I liked the delivery on Xena and Gabrielle's conflicting opinions about gentle and kind lovers. Both are totally lost in their own worlds until they realize they just directly contradicted each other.

I've always said that, while I don't like bodily function humor, I don't mind it when it has some subtlety to it. So I'm not ashamed to admit that I had to pause the tape because I was laughing too hard after the ram's horn blew and Gabrielle asked "Was that YOU?" Still makes me laugh to think about it.

Also contending for the Line of the Episode crown was"Not tonight..." from the half-asleep Gabrielle. HA! Since both are GabLines, I'll just give Gabrielle the title for the show and not worry about which line it's for.

I liked Xena's reactions in that ram's-horn scene, from her simple amusement at how silly it sounded, to her "I could listen to that for days" line to Eve. A great Xena character moment.

When Eve goes crawling through the log, I think that's the same fake baby butt they used in Key to the Kingdom. Had the same wiggle to it.

Good triumph for Joxer when he manages to kick the poo at the tormenting kids.

My jaw hit the floor at the line "Now, we take off your clothes." Holy cow, the amazon rituals just took a very unexpected turn. I started wondering if Gabrielle was going to get her own version of the mud leotard that Xena wore at the end of The Debt, but apparently the amazons don't have that much style.

High point of the episode, by a head and shoulders: Xena finally reads Gabrielle's scrolls. And it's to read them to Eve. That was beautiful on a whole TON of levels. I've been hoping to see that moment ever since we found out in Ides of March that she's never read the scrolls. I loved seeing it, I loved how it finally happened, and I love that it helped heal up their argument. Fantastic.

Low point of the episode, by six feet underfoot: the Amazon Wrestling Federation. I hate wrestling. I have no desire to see Xena do her best gorilla impersonation to imitate it, I don't *care* if they prefaced it with a line to show that Xena was trying to give the amazons a good show. I nearly crawled under my couch cushions.

That said, I *did* like it when Joxer managed to land a few punches. And promptly feared for his life after he did.

Loved the delivery when Eris helpfully raised her hand to offer "I can still see him breathing" when they're trying to decide if Joxer is dead. If Rhea was close by, I hope she kicked her friend in the shins.

So after an entire episode of angsting about following amazon tradition, they finally decide... to change the tradition. That's IT? Why didn't they just do that at the beginning of the episode? Or last episode, after they found out they were remembering them all wrong? Silly shaggy dog setup for the episode's plot.

The last scene was incredibly cute and warm-fuzzyish. Loved Xena's doll and toy war cry as Eve shook her doll from Eris. I liked the Bedroll War Council as Gabrielle curled around Eve to discuss their plans with Xena... while Joxer snored it up at the other end. Nice ending. Now I just need to rest after all this tail-chasing.

Return to the Wool-Gatherings.

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