Altared States -7

Ties That Bind -7.5

More diversity scores as i try to remember the diversity of these eps.

"Destiny"

Injured Xena remembers her meeting Caesar.

Best: M'Lila; Learning the pinch; Xena seduces Caesar and likewise; Xena revisists Cira; the mystery girl at the beginning with the pendant that M'Lila had; Nicklio- great character who should have been in the show more

Worst: Gabrielle's naive statement on Xena's atonement at the very begiining- she just doesn't get the redemption issue

Redemption score: 4- not a lot but it was there more so than recent

X&G ying/yang score: 8- Gabrielle was mostly hauling Xena to get help though

Greater good comment: In the present, Xena saved the slave girls & Gabrielle; in the past, she didn't do anything good!

Diversity score: 6

Rating: 10

"Destiny"

Ok, first we got X&G visiting what;s left of Cirra. Gabrielle becomes an idiot by saying, “I don’t think you should keep punishing yourself for what happened.” Really? Don't punish yerself for the deaths of hundreds, thousands? What a moron! Of course, she will become a killer bitch someday so we can see the roots of that here.

When Xena rides into Cirra, she flashbacks or imagines seeing Callisto as a young girl. But doesn't Callisto already look bad, evil, sick? i think so. Maybe she started the fire or helped it along.

Gabrielle is gone by the time Xena rides back. Captured by some barbarians who worship the moon. How did she allow that or was she surprised? Are the barabarians from Greece or passing through? Not much is said about them now or later. But they sure had time to set up the battering ram thing that whacked Xena.

More later...

"Destiny"

The barbarians had captured a girl with a pendant that had a design that resembled Xena's chest-plate design. M'Lila wore the same design on her pendant & shirt. TPTB never went into it, explaining it or who the captured girl was. She must've been from somewhere in Gaul, same place Caesar thought M'Lila was from.

i'd rather seen more on the girl & Xena's background that a visit to Cirra but oh well.

More later...

"Destiny"

i never liked that Xena went to battle towns so that they wouldn't attack Amphipolis. It wasn't a town that initially raided it & killed her brother. It was a warlord. If anything, she should have attacked warlords & left the innocents alone. But instead she seemed to befriend various warlords along the way! The ppl in the towns she attacked more than likely had no intention on attacking her home village- a place she never set foot in til she reformed. Plus by advertising her intentions she would have brought otherwise undue attention to Amphipolis. It's surprising that while she was bad- and esp. away from Greece- that a warlord or city didn't attack her village outta spite.

But i guess if she had attacked warlords then she would be more of a good person & the show would have a different twist. But still i could see her going evil eventually. It just would've made more sense had they done it the other way.

more later...

"Destiny"

M'Lila and Nicklio were definitely interesting characters that needed to be drawn out more in depth. They killed off the former much too soon and the latter just faded to never return. Yet we get Joxer & Ares way too many times imo.

i used to think Karl Urban was too young to play Caesar but now i think differently. Maybe they could have aged him more but no problem with his portrayal. Too many ppl played Brutus tho.

Should Xena have seen the betrayal comin like M'Lila seemed to? i think so but she at least learned a valuable lesson the hard way.

more later...

"Destiny"

All in all a great ep.

They could have easily made this a 2 hr ep before making the 2nd half an Amazon story. If they ever make a new Xena show with new writers & new cast i hope stretch stories out in depth. i'd easily like to see more "Destiny" like eps and less "Here She Comes..." eps & i bet ppl would agree with me.

"The Quest"

Gabrielle & Autolycus try to reunite Xena with her body.

Best: scantily clad Amazons; Velasca was hot; It was a clever thing with Auto, the dagger of Helios & the ambrosia

Worst: no continuance of M'Lila & Nicklio; a lotta trouble begins because Xena wants to live again- why no ambrosia for others who could've used it along the way?; i know Xena was "in" her body at the time but Gabrielle should have felt remorse for being partially responsible for Velasca's death

Redemption score: 0, nothing here

X&G ying/yang score: 6.5, not much Xena here til the end

Greater good comment: Stopping Velasca was about it

Diversity score: 6.5

Rating: 8

"The Quest"

Hmmmm i still think they should've started off with M'Lila & Nicklio or allude to them but no. ok.

So how did Xena's "spirit" get free of her body & travel around & get in Auto? No one else in the show up til then had done this. i think this means Xena might be daughter of Ares or Hades. Gotta be more than simply having many skills!

Xena's desire to live again means ambrosia but no such luck for her ex-fiancee several eps back or for Marcus or anyone else she might have cared about. Of course no show if Xena stays dead but still we get a glimpse of her selfishness.

The ambrosia thing unleashes Velasca as a goddess which means getting Callisto back (tho that could have been avoided) which leads to Callisto's next downfall which leads to her escape & Solan's demise. All cuz Xena wanted to live again.

more later...

"The Quest"

Yeah i know Xena was "in" Gabrielle's body at the time, but still Velasca's "death" should count against Gabrielle. They should have had her show remorse or something. Definitely out of character and no, i don't consider it an accident.

more later...

Ack, so busy hadn't had time to post more.

Best thing about "The Quest" for me was Velasca who was not only hot but a different kind of Amazon. But once again i think TPTB blew it by going overboard on her and not giving her a chance.

Here she was presented as a nutcase but she was obviously a leader who had some opposing ideas to Ephiny. Too bad they couldn't have downplayed her opposition to Gabrielle and made her tough but her own person.

"A Necessary Evil"

Xena unleashes Callisto to go against Velasca.

Best: Melinda Clarke as Velasca; Xena's speech about Cirra; Velasca at Artemis' temple; the lava river fight sequence

Worst: Cartoonish making of Velasca; bringing back Callisto; Xena as a strategist

Redemption score: 5 -for the Cirra speech

X&G ying/yang score: 8 -back up to normal

Greater good comment: Xena saves Ephiny & probably some other Amazons; Xena rids Gabrielle of Velasca & Callisto (at least for a short time)

Diversity score: 5 -things didn't stray much this time

Rating: 8

"A Necessary Evil"

Why does taking ambrosia, turning into a god, make one's eyes go bright white? Why does it make a person look & act cartoonish?

i didn't like how they portrayed Velasca that way. It would have been better if she's been smart and ambitious instead of what- getting revenge on Gabrielle? i don't get someone with her powers worrying about Gabrielle. If it weren't for Gabrielle, she wouldn't be a god! Why not have her go on to do whatever she wanted to accomplish. But i guess the writers weren't ambitious enuff to see passed that pettiness and of course, they had to drag Callisto back in as they couldn't come up with an ending otherwise.

more later...

"A Necessary Evil"

Usually Xena's pretty good strategist but i think here she wasn't too sharp. Release Callisto (cause she's an immortal) to fight Velasca, offer her ambrosia, then try to kill off Callisto while she fights Velasca at a lava river place thing.

Maybe if she would have got Ares or some other god after Velasca. Or especially Artemis, after she demolished her temple. Then we could have had Artemis in the show & not have to be subjected to more Callisto.

Upping Callisto from immortal was too risky & it's only because of the writers that both Callisto & Velasca were stoopid enuff to fight on that flimsy bridge over the river lava! More than likely they would have seen the danger & fought on land & Xena's plan would have gone phooey. But writer's illogic prevails every time.

"A Necessary Evil"

So if Callisto made Xena confess in public her crimes against Cirra, how come Xena didn't make Callisto confess in public her crimes against innocents for no reason other than getting revenge on Xena?

We're introduced to some fine new Amazons over the past couple eps but sadly we don't see much of them from hereon-in. More missed opportunities from TPTB.

"A Day In the Life"

Xena lite story as she & Gabrielle help Minya & Hower as their village faces a giant & a warlord.

Best: Xena invents kites; Xena gets revenge on Gareth for Goliath; the humor; Minya is introduced; nice slice of life ep early in the series

Worst: Maybe Xena is too relaxed & nonchalant for a mass murderess seeking redemption

Redemption score: 0, nothing here

X&G ying/yang score: 6.5, i think Xena wasn't her true self enuff in this ep

Greater good comment: Xena saves the villages from the giant & the warlord; Xena gets revenge for Goliath; Xena gets Hower back to Minya

Diversity score: 5, no gods, no redemption

Rating: 10 (i'm being nice but it's a great lite ep)

"A Day In the Life"

Not much to comment on that hasn't been said already. Lotta great lines that get repeated in fandom. Great lite ep that fortunately didn't have Joxer to bring it down to a clownish, slapstick level.

more later? maybe

"A Day In the Life"

Was Xena too sugary in this ep? Maybe. i dunno if she should be so relaxed for a mass murderess seeking redemption.

Or is it not sugary-ness, is it her feelings for Gabrielle showing? i'm not against the subtext thing, i just don't care for romantic love in this show. Xena/Gabrielle, Xena/Ares, Joxer/Gabrielle, Joxer/Meg- i don't care for any of it! Bah humbug! i think it detracts from the redemption issue and the yin/yang of the friendship. But that just me.

more later...

Forgot the diversity score thingies...

The Greater Good- 6
Callisto- 6.5

More diversity scores-

Death Mask- 6
Is There a Doctor in the House? -7

"For Him the Bell Tolls"

Gabrielle & Joxer help/hinder a royal wedding.

Best: Gabrielle on her own adventure; the bickering between Aphrodite & Cupid; Princess Ileandra & a couple of her maidens were quite hot

Worst: Not much Xena; too much Joxer

Redemption score: 0, hardly any Xena

X&G ying/yang score: 5, hardly any Xema

Greater good comment: Gabrielle fought off bad guys at beginning with help from Joxer (or is it the other way around?); Gabrielle saved Joxer from getting beheaded (i guess that's for the greater good)

Diversity score: 5, would have been more had Xena been in it more

Rating: 7

"For Him the Bell Tolls"

It was inspired by a Danny Kaye film, "The Court Jester". Ah i remember Sailor Xena (SX-chan) is a major Danny Kaye fan.

This is probably the best use of Joxer in a comedy ep though they ran it in the ground too often as TPTB tended to do things. Joxer themed eps tended to take away from the redemption & yin/yang issues and that was something i didn't like about the Joxer eps. Then again, so did the Eve/Twilight of the Gods nonsense.

Too bad this ep didn't end with Joxer in warrior mode and leave him like that. Might've made for something interesting down the road.

more later...

"For Him the Bell Tolls"

Gabrielle proved herself worthy -mostly- of protecting the princess & prince. i wish she would have used some bard skills during this ep.

i liked how she figured out that something different must've happened to Joxer (ie Aphrodite) and how she convinced the goddess to take the spell off Joxer.

If Xena had been in the ep more it wouldn't have been so good for Gabrielle. She probably would have been victim of Joxer's nonsense or else just a tag along to him or Xena. It seemed hard in the series for the writers to come up with 3 distinct personalities for Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer at all times. Except maybe in season 4.

more later...

"For Him the Bell Tolls"

Not much else to say here.

i thought it odd tho that Joxer- when not in the warrior mode- didn't wonder why his outfit was different.

"The Execution"

Xena and Gabrielle try to save Meleager the Mighty from being executed.

Best: Gabrielle in defiance of Xena; Judge Arbus not what he seems; nice subplot with squirrely guy who was afraid of assassins

Worst: That Xena killed Kalaman- too silly, too lazy a way to get Meleager off the hook

Redemption score: 3.5, referred to by Arbus to Xena

X&G ying/yang score: 9, more defined here

Greater good comment: Xena & Gabrielle both help save Meleager; Xena gets Arbus in prison; Xena saves Gabrielle from angry mob

Diversity score: 5, not much but that was okay given the story

Rating: 9