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Um, everything went horribly wrong.

Or right.

The jury is still out. I think. I’ll need to watch part two before I can make any further assessments about whether or not we’re in deep.

Because I think we’re for sure wading into some shit here. My goodness. What the heck was that?

Hope is back! Callisto wants oblivion. Ares is on Dahak’s side. Hercules was doing something on his own show. Don’t care enough to actually look any of that up.

Ares calls in his debt with Gabrielle to keep Hope alive. He’s asked the fates to kill Xena should she kill Hope. Which Gabrielle does manage to stop her from doing at the end of the episode.

I’m sure that will go over well.

It’s not like Hope didn’t help start the rift at the beginning of the freaking season. I’m sure that Xena will be completely calm and rational about the fact that Gabrielle just seemingly saved Hope’s life. Again.

My goodness.

Please someone let Xena hear Gabrielle out that she didn’t want her to die. However, I’m sure much like Gabrielle who offered to die to keep Hope from being unleashed on the world, Xena will feel the same.

Um, I think Gabrielle’s childhood friend is gonezo.

Like completely gone.

I did love that we used her to find Hope in the first place. Also, if I were the Priest of the Whatever, I’d be really annoyed that Xena managed to interrupt my sacrifice three freaking times. Especially after the second attempt when he declared there will be no further interruptions.

Only for him to be interrupted at every turn.

Yeesh.

Then we had the childhood friend smear blood on the horrible sack thing that made the world’s most awful squelching noises. And yes, squelching! Because we watched with the captions on and that’s the world it used every time the sound effect happened.

Ugh!

It was a terrible sound. If the foley expert was hoping to make the audience gag with disgust every time the sound happened, congratulations you freaking nailed it!

Ugh.

Oh my goodness.

Aside from all of that, I want to talk about Xena and Gabrielle in this episode.

Because this episode is freaking difficult. After all, we soon discover that this cult has nothing to do with Callisto. She’s merely using the cult to bring Hope back so Hope can give her oblivion.

Quick side note, this is one of the reasons I love Callisto as a villain. Everyone thought she was here for power, even Ares. But surprise! She’s not. She just wants it all to stop. All the noise. Sound. Guilt. Boredom. Whatever is going on in that head of hers to just stop. And finally, be at peace.

It’s an interesting choice and I freaking love it! Very on brand for Callisto.

Meanwhile, Xena and Gabrielle discover that it’s actually Hope that they want to bring back. Which is super annoying because I thought we dealt with this BS already. Like it wasn’t hard enough on them the first time around.

Especially Gabrielle who after risking so much to protect her daughter was forced to admit she was evil and take matters into her own hands, killing her.

Here, we’re dealing with some crazy nut who can communicate with Hope. Which I at first thought was crazy until the Priest of Whatever knew what Callisto wanted. I thought he was making it up to save his own ass. Nope, he’s actually got a line on the evil goddess and somehow that’s worse that he’s not crazy.

I wish he were crazy.

Which means Gabrielle’s friend has some sort of line to her as well. Which is why they know all these strange details about Hope, where she’s being kept, her father, her plan for the world, and her mother. The Betrayer.

Yikes.

Not the type of name you ever want.

Let alone gifted to you by your child.

It’s clear Gabrielle is struggling with the news of Hope’s return and listening to her friend spout nonsense that she so desperately wishes she could believe. Except, she’s seen firsthand the cruelty and evil that Hope has to offer the world.

While Solan may not be Gabrielle’s child, she did love him deeply and was also hugely crushed upon his death. She was even thrilled to see that he helped her and Xena get back together.

She protected Solan with her life more than once and shared a unique point of view with him since neither of them ever really wanted to kill anyone. They both carried staffs. They were family.

His death devastated her as well, leading to her finally realizing there was no saving Hope, and killing her.

I think this is the back of Gabrielle’s mind the entire time she’s listening to the other woman. She’d like what she was saying to be true. She’d like to think there must be some good in Hope because she’s her daughter, except she knows the truth.

Gabrielle would never hurt someone like Solan. And the fact that Hope could so casually means she’s her father’s daughter, not her mother’s.

Which is why as an audience member it feels so strange to see her and Xena on opposite sides. Because you’re standing there like we’re past this. We know Hope is evil. Gabrielle why are you still questioning it? While also understanding that Hope is still her daughter.

Even Xena doesn’t get super mad. She simply reminds her of Solan and leaves.

Except, it’s all a lie. Xena mentions that Gabrielle nearly convinced her. But I think that’s only because Gabrielle wishes it could be true. She knows it’s not. It never will be.

Doesn’t mean she doesn’t wish things could be different.

However, with what she knows now and her newfound strength in her relationship with Xena. She can admit those things. Wish it were true and still do the right thing without Xena losing her shit. Because she understands. How painful it is. She doesn’t press it or worry about whether or not they’re on the same page.

Merely states a fact and she and Gabrielle move on with their plan.

They express their pain instead of hiding it.

That Xena is still hurt over losing her son. That Gabrielle is hurt because Hope is nothing like her.

I really love how far they’ve come because they’re not pretending this doesn’t suck. They’re not pretending that doing the right thing isn’t painful. They’re simply doing it while also suffering together. Knowing they’re on the same side even though this side of things sucks.

They have come so far from where they started the season.

Their relationship forged in a fire that nothing will ever break it again. Not even the return of Hope. And I know I said at the start that Hope was the start of the rift before and oh no. But this is a fine time for the writers to show what stunning skills they have. Because here, I would present the characters with the same situation as before and what will make it interesting, is that now, they will choose something else.

Knowing what they know now, Xena will more than likely hear Gabrielle out.

And understand that Gabrielle wasn’t saving Hope. She wanted to save Xena. She doesn’t want to live in a world without her. That’s the choice they made after the rift and the one they’re sticking to.

It’s a fun thing to do as a writer when a character has growth. To put them in the same position they were before and see how things change. It’s also a lovely way to demonstrate growth.

I’m really excited to see how this plays out.

Oh, and if Callisto will ever understand that Xena is prepared for everything, all the time.

Also! I do not like that Hope has Gabrielle’s face. No. Just no. We’re watching my DVDs and I noticed that in the finale they were face to face. I was like oh, Gabrielle has a doppelganger like Xena does.

Nope. Just. F*CK! I wish it was a doppelganger.

This is worse. I’m not happy. My girlfriend is thrilled with herself though. She loves the angst and my suffering.

Onto the next episode. Am I going to survive? I’m scared.

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