Rick's Studio

GOD FEARING CHILD

Without further ado, my commentary on "God Fearing Child":

Well, well, well. Finally, the big event happens. Only, the big event is Zeus dying, not Xena's baby being born. The episode we were led to believe would be the penultimate episode of the Xena season turns out to be over shadowed by the series ending episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. This was a Herc lite (no Iolaus) episode that felt much more like the conclusion of his series than his own final episode did. Xena was the co-star, having a baby in the background! However, if Xena's going to relinquish screen time to someone, it was great to see Herc back in action and as, well, spunky as ever. I've seen several e-mails where people wondered why Zeus' death didn't bring the instant annihilation of the gods. My thought is, the Twilight doesn't have to be instantaneous. The birth/death has merely set in motion a whole series of events whose ultimate conclusion will be their downfall at some time in the foreseeable future. But what of the episode itself? Ooh la la!

First, I really don't trust Hera. For some reason, a good Callisto I can buy, but, I don't know. Seems like it wouldn't take much for her to crack, despite what she does in this episode. She just looks evil! Even Hercules still says there's nobody he trusts less.

Gabrielle dreams of helping give birth to Xena's child. Boy, if I were a psychiatrist, I could mine this imagery for a few bon mots. It sounds like a set up for the lesbian viewers, but then Xena turns it into a joke about sharing labor pains. I love watching the writers as they skirt about the edges without falling off!

Iolaus the Hydra? When is Creation going to start stocking those cute things?

How can anyone say Xena's not like it used to be after seeing this? We're just back from the first commercial break, and already we've had The Fates, Zeus, Hera, Hercules, Proxidikai (sp? a new demon), Rib of Kronos (yet another way to kill a god), Tartarus, and we know from the opening credits that Ares is coming soon. I mean, this is classic Xenaverse stuff!

I think Zeus seals his own fate when he tells Hercules that his place in Zeus' heart can "just as easily be filled by your loving memory." Although Herc doesn't say much at this point, his face says, "OK, if this is how this guys feels, it won't be much of a loss to get rid of the guy." Prior to him hearing that, I don't think peaceful ol' Herc could've killed him. Then he says he'll never call Zeus "father" any more.

Seems like the gods are stuck between a rock and a hard place. You can resist the coming changes and be blown away as Zeus is here, or you can play turncoat and help the humans at the loss of your own godhood. Did anybody see the movie "The Last Emperor"? I can picture Ares like the old deposed Chinese emperor, living in some dingy cubicle someplace, working some dead end job just to survive. Will Ares become a "homeless god" and live under a bridge, selling pencils from a cup on the street corner? It could happen!

Nicely down-played scene: Zeus affirms Ares offer to kill Hercules with a mere flip of his hand. I expected him to say "Engage!"

When Ares finally attacks Herc, I don't think Hercules had much to fear. Ares get a big old fireball going, and launches it at Herc with ominous whooshing sounds, but when Herc ducks, the fireball hits a very small tree, and the tree just burns a little bit. C'mon Ares, you're more potent than that, at least for now!

Cool! When you go to Tartarus, it's like watching reruns on Nick at Night! Not too shabby, but that lack of sun seems to have a bad effect! I was surprised to see a new Solan actor, however. Sure, Zeus changes every couple years, but Solan had a grip on that role. I still can't figure out how two swarthy people like Borias and Xena, both with American accents, give birth to a blonde haired, fair-skinned kid with a Kiwi accent. The gods work in mysterious ways. At least the kid looked enough like the original actor you had to look twice.

Is it just me? When Solan explains why he's found in Tartarus in a cocoon, don't you just want to slap him upside the head? Yeah, yeah, it was heart warming, but sheesh! Someday, Xena will die, from old age if nothing else. Just tell the kid you'll see him in a few years, so relax and enjoy yourself. And while I'm on the subject, they keep telling us that the dead can hear our thoughts, but now they imply there's no sharing of information. Which is it?

Like many of you, I found Xena calling Solan her "vision of hope" to be highly ironic. In this series, I have to think the writers phrased it that way on purpose. The new child is being born with the hope for a new order. Are all these children connected in some spiritual way, beyond the biological connections? I keep mulling this line over, but I don't know what to make of it.

By the Gods! A new Hades as well. The actors are really turning over this time! This was another actor I thought would die with his boots on, so to speak, but bring in the next guy!

Way to go, Gabrielle! Or should we call her Grabrielle? Our bard, always thinking, grabs the helmet of invisibility and levels the playing field. She even looks cute when invisible! What talent! Seems like Hades might have wanted to keep it locked up somewhere, not just sitting out in the open, but he's never been a real bright guy anyway, always losing people from Tartarus and so on.

It was interesting hearing Hera talk about mankind being the one thing she's proud to have created. Very clever dialogue to explain a very radical change in characterization.

Another killer scene we've all been waiting for: Ares makes a move on Xena! We haven't seen sparks like this since The Reckoning between these two! But Ares has no powers in Tartarus? Since when? But when Xena replies, "Good, now I can really wipe the floor with you," well, I just had to laugh. When Ares admits to having a thing for Xena, she adds, "For me and my friend." Apparently, Ares' little flirtations with Gabrielle the last season or so haven't gone unnoticed!

When Ares claims to be having "urges I'm not very proud of," it kind of made my skin crawl. Xena couldn't look any more disgusted! But then Ares offers to abandon his god powers for her, and I was rather touched actually, but with Ares, you know it's just some plan to gain more time. I guess Xena knows that as well, since she totally blows him off here. Then, two great parting shots, from Xena: "I'm pregnant, not brain damaged," and from Ares: "I love you, Xena." More! I want more! Great stuff!

A quick aside: when the gang kill off the Proxidikai, the demons die and the bodies disappear. This happens a lot on this show, where there are no bodies left. Even Hera and Zeus do this, just kind of disappearing. Buffy usually does this, and many other fantasy type shows. What is the problem with having dead bodies lying around after a battle? Occasionally, it's cool, but it's so overdone!

Zeus commits a tactical error. When fighting Hercules during Xena's birth scene, Zeus spends all his lightning bolts throwing them at Herc. All he had to do was whip one over Xena's direction, and, blam! No more baby, Xena, or Gab, and he and his son are still alive.

So we come to the end. Several people have wondered what Herc wanted to tell Gabrielle when he motions her off at the end. I agree with the person who said he was just trying to give Xena time with her baby. After all they'd been through that day, I'm sure even a warrior princess would need rest.

As you might guess, I loved this episode very much. Another five-star outing. All that was missing was Callisto, played by a new actress, of course! And now that Xena's had the baby, will she get back to her old warrior outfit, or will she don something new? Personally, I'd like to see the old look back--you change a hero's costume, and it's just not the same! Of course, I'd love Xena no matter what she wore, but my standee looks so out-of-date!!! But the coming scenes for next week look like a cinched-up version of her current threads. And now that Herc and Xena have traveled the world a bit and seen other gods in other lands, do they also fall, or is it just the Olympian order? Seems like the peasants will just cash in one set of gods for another. Stay tuned!

Rick

(Gabriologist since the late 20th Century)

Visit my web site at ricks-studio.com.

"Zeus, Zeus, Zeus!!! I'm havin' a baby over here!" --Xena