Between The Lines

Well, THAT ruled. :)

I knew I was going to love this one - I haven't been so anxiously awaiting an episode of X:WP since last summer. And of course, since my in-laws were visiting I had to tape it and then wait for them to FINALLY trundle off to bed so I could watch it. I was dying ... but it was worth the wait.

I do have two questions, though:

WHY did Gabrielle get the Dharma 'do at the end??? Xena's chakram only gave her a shoulder-length bob, and that would've looked just fine. There was no reason whatsoever for her to go the rest of the way and chop it all off. Unless she said "well, it was like this in the vision, why not?", which I seriously doubt. Or did my local station drop some key dialogue again? I'm confused. Still, though, I think ROC looks pretty good with the short hair, though I can't get over the similarities to Jenna Elfman. It's almost too much.

Does this mean Mel Pappas has a chakram/woman-symbol tattoo on her foot? "Ah don't know whah I got this, but it just felt raht at the time." <<g>>

Regarding the custom of the wife joining her husband on the pyre: I knew instantly what was going on from, of all things, the movie Gandhi. There's a pretty moving scene involving that in the film, which made a big impression on me when I saw it back in junior high. When Xena and Gabrielle went running forward to save the woman I said "No, no, no! Big cultural faux-pas here!!!" I was actually amazed that Naima was grateful - not that she ever said "thank you", mind, but I'm guessing she wouldn't have helped Xena if she hadn't appreciated the favor.

I am a bit confused by exactly who -or what - Naima was. Just what is a "darsham", anyway?

(begin analytical moment)
People have commented that Naima kind of pulled a fast one on Xena and Gabrielle by telling them they had to bring Alti back into the present day, where Alti had all of her spiritual powers and was able to clean the clocks of both of them. One line in particular really jumped out at me upon second viewing, which I think sheds light on this.

When Naima is about to send Gabrielle back to join Xena, she tells her something like, "Tell Xena she has to bring the evil back to the present day, where she is strong again." What is the antecedent of the second "she" in that statement? At the time we assume it's Xena, because we've already seen that Xena is trapped in the body of an old woman in the future, so of course she won't be able to defeat Alti unless she's back at her full warrior strength. But when they bring Alti back later, it's clear that Naima actually meant Alti. If Xena defeats Alti when Alti is at her strongest, then Xena wins the upper hand to be able to defeat Alti in all of their future incarnations. So Naima really did explain that Alti was also going to be strong again ... but neither Xena nor Gabrielle could have known that without the benefit of hindsight.
(end analytical moment)

I love Xena's new clothes, but her hair and that thing she had on her head were horrible. Great scene between our two heroes when Xena was trying the stuff on. <<butthead voice>> Heh heh heh. Gabrielle called Xena sexy. Heh heh heh. <</butthead voice>>

But would Xena really voluntarily walk around without her sword??? Or did she have that magically spirited away in the same folds as her chakram? (I shudder to think just where she was keeping that - in the same place Autolycus keeps his rope? :)

Loved Gabrielle slicing-and-dicing as Shakti. But was she swinging her sword like a staff because ROC doesn't know how to fight any other way, or because Gabrielle-as-Shakti didn't want to kill anyone? I couldn't tell.

And when Gabrielle went after Alti to save Xena during the penultimate fight, I was cheering. This is the Gabrielle I was wondering if we'd ever see again! Yeah sure, she got nowhere, but Xena wasn't doing too well either, and at least she tried. You go, grrl.

I was surprised that there wasn't a line of dialogue at the end somewhere along the lines of, "You never told me you were dying in that vision too." It's obvious Xena hadn't told her that part, by her reaction when Alti gave the vision to Gabrielle. Or did Gabrielle just assume that all along? Either way, Gabrielle's seeing the vision doesn't seem to have altered her view that it's probably all a mess of bullpuckey. (I wonder if she heard that weird background music in her vision too? ;)

Nice little touches:

Kudos to Ngila Dickson - I knew instantly that Shakti was Gabrielle's reincarnation from his clothes, but it wasn't so blatant as to be silly.

I was screaming "VISION! VISION!" when Xena first noticed her old-woman reflection in the shield. Great parallel, there.

I noticed the mehndi box was hidden behind the woman symbol on only the second viewing -- I'm proud of myself. :)

The entire body-painting scene. Mmmmh, yes. I wonder if this is what Tyldus was supposedly alluding to when he said that Rob Tapert had added something to his script "that the fans are going to love"? I'm sure it wasn't Gab's haircut. ;)

All in all, this was just a great ep. Engrossing completely from beginning to end (commercials have never been such torture - even to fast-forward through), thought-provoking, and tons of "awwww" factor. The idea that Xena and Gabrielle are karmically entwined forever isn't all that original, and has been treated in fanfic for a long time ... but it's nice to see it portrayed onscreen. I think that answers the question of "how could Janice and Mel be descendants if both of X&G's kids are dead?" quite nicely. In my mind they're not physical descendants, but karmic ones. That's how Xena was able to come back into Mel's body so easily. Just my theory.

Episode Rating: 9

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