Once again, I've spent the weekend at work, and I have a cold on top of it, so after much delay, here's my review of "The Abyss." I had seen there was to be some sort of "secret" revealed about Gabrielle, but I had avoided the actual secret itself, so I was really primed to see this one.

P.S. Kudos again to Shana and John for giving excellent reviews. Shana, being first usually, gives us a great story summary (loved the references to the different warrior skills) while John again gave us an almost poetic reading of the events. No, they aren't paying me off to say that! I guess I'm in the middle. I don't retell the story, assuming you've seen it already, but I try to find the points that interest me and find something insightful to say about each. Review on!

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The opening sequences were quite good. Reminded me a lot of "classic" Xena. First we have the dramatic elements introduced (cannibals chowing down on the good guys), then we get the contrast with Xena and Gabrielle relaxing with a nice river trip. I was surprised huntress Gabrielle missed the deer with her arrow. Surely she has the skill by now--perhaps she has second thoughts about killing an innocent deer? A bit of foreshadowing here. Xena gets off a good one about not knowing which wine goes best with bark. Touché! And cutie-pie Gabs once again looks good enough to eat in her hunting outfit (ironic: soon, the hunter becomes the hunted!), but I'm getting ahead of the action....

Again, I'm seeing lots of movie references in this episode. The beginning, on the still river, reminded me of "Deliverance" to a degree. The characters are expecting a smooth trip, mirroring the smooth water surface, but dark things are lurking just beneath (literally!).

Virgil follows his friend to the cannibals' camp, and finds him being barbecued. I've seen a lot of people write about this scene. Why the tube in the mouth? What was he encased in? Well, if you want to see where they got this from, go rent (or see it on late night TV where I saw it) the 1966 movie "The Naked Prey" written, directed by and starring Cornel Wilde. An excellent movie in and of itself, it also provides the chilling imagery we see here. In the movie, a man, Wilde, is hired to lead a couple of English traders through the heart of Africa. When the traders, against Wilde's expert advice, refuse to pay tribute to a local cannibal tribe whose land they cross, the cannibals scare off their local help, capture the three Englishmen, and proceed to try to kill them.

I forget what they were going to do to Wilde, but he escapes, and the bulk of the movie involves his being chased across the wilderness by a persistent cannibal. No dialogue, past the opening couple of minutes, but what a great chase!

The second man is staked, stomach down, in front of a sack of poisonous snakes. When the snakes are released, they are agitated and bite the guy repeatedly in the face until he's dead.

The third guy ends up like Virgil's friend. These cannibals weren't just fixing dinner--their tribute hadn't been paid, they'd lost face, and they were going to make these three guys pay for it as an example. So, like in Xena, they tied the guy to a pole, and then they encased him in mud, which dried into a hard shell. Like using a frying pan, it distributes the heat for even cooking. Meanwhile, they want the guy to suffer fully for his transgression, so they give him an air tube to breathe through. This way, he won't suffocate, and he'll be alive to feel himself heating up and cooking, but he'll be totally unable to move while he spins around getting dizzy no doubt. Believe me, I never forgot that scene. It was chilling in the movie, and it loses nothing here. When I think of ways I'd like to die, this is near the bottom of the list. (Also, in answer to a couple of other things--no, they probably wouldn't have left Gabrielle's clothing on when they try to cook her, but this is TV [considering the nudity this season already, maybe they should have stripped her down!]--and I assume the goop they spread on her is probably a basting sauce over which they will cover her with the mud.)

So, the titles come on, and I'm left with an intense feeling of dread. From the previews and the fact they were copying "The Naked Prey", I figured we'd have a pretty simple plot: run into cannibals--run away from cannibals. Simple, yet highly effective. This episode, however, provided many more layers of plot than that--and that was a good thing here. I couldn't help but think the cannibals looked a lot like the Horde did. In a certain respect, I almost expected Gabrielle to find their "humanity" and forge a bridge of understanding like she did with...the Horde! She does seem more peaceful now. Boy, was I wrong on that one!

I think Xena's warrior instincts slipped up. They'd just seen that Virgil had to high tail it out of camp in fear of his life. The woods could be infested with evil dudes with deadly arrows or something. Surely, the best course of action isn't to follow the shoreline closely, sticking upright in a canoe, yelling "Virgil!" at the top of your lungs? But who am I to second-guess Xena?

The first added layer of plot comes as we see that Gabrielle still harbors doubts about her killing in the last episode. What if she's confronted with a cannibal? Yes, this could be interesting.

I also can't figure out why Xena heads to shore after they're attacked by the cannibals in the water. Wouldn't you want to head away from your enemies, across the water, and regroup? Sneak back up on them? So of course they are immediately surrounded and a costly battle ensues. It speeds up the action, which was probably the intent, but doesn't make much logical sense.

Now, what's with the cannibals trying to eat Xena and Gabrielle during the battle? Surely, they have enough experience killing and eating things they should know you kill it first, then eat it. It's much easier when your dinner isn't socking you in the face! And they couldn't be that hungry--they had just eaten Virgil's friend.

Then, as I anticipated, Gabrielle hesitates killing a cannibal. There's a long enough pause, you think she might get away with it, and a tentative bond will form between them, but, no, he just stabs her leg. At this point, Gabrielle comes to her warrior senses and lets the guy have it! Go, Gabrielle! But will she lose sleep over another death? Gotta keep watching. However, she's badly wounded and soon succumbs to the onslaught.

I can't quite figure out the motivation for the cannibal who throws Gabrielle in the river. Don't they want to eat her? If they threw her away because she was "damaged," why did they retrieve her later on and let her heal before eating her? They could have done that this time. Perhaps the cannibal was sick of fighting this feisty little girl and simply took advantage of his first opportunity to get rid of her. But she was wounded and about ripe for the plucking. When the surviving cannibals got back to their village, they probably gave this guy a hard time for doing something so boneheaded (no pun intended) and costing them a good meal or two.

This leads to another classic Xena-saves-Gabrielle scene, with Gabs calling out "Xena! Xena!" and Xena calling out "Gabrielle! Gabrielle!" as they are carried closer and closer to a waterfall. Again, simple but effective. We know Gabrielle won't die (...and even if she does...) but I still had my heart in my mouth watching our beloved bard nearly drowned.

Xena rescues Gabrielle, and we see another plot wrinkle develop. Now, Xena has to fight to save Gabrielle's life, along with Virgil (and his friend, who I believe they still think is alive), and being holed up in a cold, wet cave isn't going to help.

Suddenly, the station carrying Xena goes white-screen for two minutes twenty seven seconds!!! Arrrrgggg! I just knew the "secret" of the episode was being revealed! This drives me nuts! Now I've gotta wait until when? for the repeat! However, after reading the other reviews, I don't think anything crucial happened, so I'll just get on with it.

I assume the big "secret" came in the next scene. Xena and Gabrielle are huddled in the cave, Gabrielle delirious with fever. She mistakes Xena for her long lost daughter, Hope, and begins talking to her, telling her how much she loves her and would never hurt her. These are the kinds of tender things she normally reserves for Xena, and you can see that Xena doesn't know what to think about all this. She's concerned about Gabrielle, but surprised that she still carries such a deep love for her admittedly evil daughter. Another plot layer. We thought Gabrielle was over the whole Hope thing, but this Eve business has stirred up her maternal instincts. A whole additional layer of questions rears its head (again): what if Xena had spent as much energy making Hope good as she had with Livia/Eve? Was part of Hope's evil due to lack of parenting on Gab's part? Perhaps Gabrielle didn't love Hope enough? Was Gabrielle justified in poisoning Hope? Oh, poor, poor Gabrielle! And here she is telling "Hope" to get away from Xena before she's harmed. And you know when Xena says she "understands," you know she means it. She's thinking about how close she came to losing Eve, just as Gabrielle lost Hope. I was practically in tears during this scene. Another classic XWP "comfort" scene.

I loved the Rubio character. This was about as close to humor as this episode got after the opening. He diets and exercises so he's too lean to eat! What a funny idea--kind of like the slave girl in "Who's Gurkhan?" who thinks slavery is a step up from marrying some crude homeboy! Someday, the cannibals will be a little short on food, and decide a stringy meal's better than no meal, but until then, he's the master of his domain. Another very good plot element.

Then, we have another "secret" revealed, of a sort. Gabrielle requests that Xena bury her in Amphipolis next to Xena's own plot. She doesn't want to be with the Amazons or her family. "I'm a part of you, and I want it to be like that forever. I love you." Well, you kind of figured it would turn out that way, but it was heartbreaking to hear the words come from Gabrielle's lips. Her parents already disapprove of her relationship with Xena. What would they think? But I guess the point is, they simply don't get it. Xena apologizes for setting Gabrielle on the wrong path, but Gabrielle says any path is okay as long as they are together. Pass the tissues, please! And you can see Xena melting into a ball of choked up emotion. Of course, when that happens, she becomes very determined to get her way, so she leaps into action before Gabrielle has a chance to slip away for good. The fans longed for more heart-to-hearts between the stars, and this show has two of the best scenes ever.

So Xena pulls Gabrielle to the top of the cliff, only to be surrounded by the cannibals. Not being able to spirit Gabrielle away to safety, nor being able to provide shelter and medical help, she decides to let them capture Gabrielle, figuring they will fix her up and provide her with a roof during the storm. Having just eaten, she probably knew they wouldn't kill her right away anyway. By then, she'd find a way to get her and the others to safety. A dangerous, daring, very Xena-like solution. And the lightning flashing as she defiantly gives her war cry to draw the cannibals really made for an exciting scene. Xena looks determined, but just the least bit unsure of her chosen course of action. And Gabrielle's cries for help, not knowing what's going on, were heart wrenching for Xena (and us).

Given the overall violence and gore quotient this season, I was a bit surprised that Gabrielle's leg wound wasn't nastier or more infected-looking when the cannibals had their medicine man look her over.

To paraphrase Shana, I loved watching Xena: Warrior Beaver as she makes the dam. Good use of the sword and chakram, and the way Xena chops those trees, you know she's gotta have some muscles!

Good thing for Xena Virgil shouts out Gabrielle's name when she's carried off to the barbecue. She's so busy admiring her dam handiwork, she almost misses out on saving the bard. The plan, Xena, remember the plan....

At this point, Xena begins slaughtering cannibals pretty much at will, showing that she has no qualms about killing to protect Gabrielle and Virgil. Must be nice to be at peace with your Way of the Warrior. Just kick ass!

We also get to see Gabrielle being prepared for cooking. As I said before, this really disturbs me, and seeing it happening to our beloved Gabrielle almost made me sick. Stick a pipe down her throat? I'll take you down, you stupid cannibals! Let me at 'em!!! Oh, this made me so mad! While I've often referred to Gabrielle/Renee as "delicious," "yummy," and "positively edible," this was not what I had in mind.

And we still have stupid cannibals trying to eat first and kill second. (Shakes head in wonder....)

Then, Xena breaks things up and rescues the gang. The ensuing fight is pure XWP: Gabrielle at work with a make-shift staff while Xena's chakram is tearing up the place with a mind of its own! Xena even gets into blowing fire and burning down the village! Hell hath no fury like a warrior princess scorned (or did John say that already?)! Kinda surprised that Gabrielle knocks down the jail door so easily. Then surely Virgil could've broken out himself earlier?

Just a rhetorical thought: why is it that when Xena travels to some foreign, non-Greek speaking land (England, Egypt, China) they can understand the locals' speech, but with the cannibals (and the Horde), it just sounds like grunting?

From here on out, it's pretty much one long blood bath. They slice and dice cannibals, then run off. Xena leads the cannibals down into the dry river bed, and Gabrielle and Virgil wait to break up the dam and drop the water on the cannibals. Sounds good, but the cannibals are so vicious and numerous, they nearly overwhelm everybody. Xena's left trapped against a wall in the valley while Gabrielle and Virgil are too busy defending themselves to help Xena with the dam. Very dramatic!

Here, we see Gabrielle reflecting on her recent brush with killing. Can she do it here? She raises her eyes, and that cold look tells you that she won't let anyone make an entree out of her! And sure enough, first chance she gets, she shows a cannibal how to use the pointy end of her sais. And Virgil gets a few kills to avenge his dead friend.

And as the last hand of the last cannibal reaches out of the flood waters and is washed away, we go to a nice little closing sequence. Of course, Rubio is finally chowing down! And we have Xena checking on Gabrielle's mental state. "I feel better. Xena, I did what I had to do," Gabrielle says. "I will learn to live with my mistakes, no matter how terrible they may be. But that's the way." No Yoga Karma Stupid Girl here. She hasn't lost her love for life and peace, but she's finally learning to find a balance with the life she experiences through Xena. But I notice Xena didn't mention Hope. Could this be a subject for a future talk between the two? Surely the writers aren't going to let that one go.

A marvelous ending to a real nail-biter of an episode. I found the story very scary, and much more so than the "Haunting of Amphipolis," which pales in comparison. The cannibals were really good villains, and that whole eating people thing was just so totally revolting, it really put an edge on this episode. There was certainly lots of Gabrielle in this one, and I for one applaud that. But where the heck is Eve? Surely they could at least mention her? I figured by this point in the season, we'd be pretty intimate with the character, but she was such a chameleon at first, and now she's MIA. From what I understand, she may only be in one more episode (?), so I'm curious just what they'll make of her. Next time we see her, she'll probably be a big time prophet or something. But that's not this episode, and this one gets a good solid five chakrams out of a possible five. There really wasn't anything I didn't like about this one, and I give it my best-episode-of-the-year-so-far award. (Actually, I was a bit disappointed in the "secret." I figured they would announce Gabrielle is a man or something more dramatic--imagine what the subtext fans would make of that!) I can't wait to see how much more the ghost of Hope affects the duo's relationship. The season really rocks so far, and finishing on such a high note will make it only that much more painful to see it end next year. But until then, I'm enjoying every minute of it. Have I mentioned how much I love this show?
Rick(Gabriologist since the late 20th Century)
Visit my web site at ricks-studio.com for Episode Reviews,
Humorous Quotes, and other Xena-themed writing!

"Xena, help! They're basting me in barbecue sauce!" --Gabrielle, sidekick du jour
"By the gods! Everyone knows you taste better with Tabasco!" --Xena