episode 57 season 3 #11 "Maternal Instincts"
Official trailer:
Maternal Instincts interviews:
Oh my.
How long has it been since the season 2 premiere, when we first met Solon, and Xena broke our hearts when she walked away without telling him who she was?
Xena: “One year, two months, and twelve days-- but who’s counting?”
And in that time, Xena was reintroduced to Solon, saw what Gabrielle & her brother's life would be like if she was never a warrior princess, killed Goliath, defeated the Bacchae while getting a serious Vampire kiss/bite on the neck From Gabrielle, ended the Trojan War, married her bestfriend off as she kissed Gabrielle goodbye, then watched her husband be murdered, watched her best friend descend into temporary madness over her grief, tracked and killed the murderer, met yet another "wrong side of the tracks" version of herself, was trapped first in Tarturas and then in Callisto's body, restored Ares' Godhood (is THAT what the kids are calling it now a days?) , restored the solstice holiday, won the first "Miss Known Universe" pageant, died, kissed Gabrielle on an astral plain, was brought back to life with ambrosia after she and Gabrielle shared the same body for a fight, trapped 2 immortals in a lava pit, met Minya and avenged the murder of Goliath's family, saved an innocent warrior from execution, saved Gabrielle from cremation, saved Ithaca's King, defeated Poseidon's curse and freed a Mariner and his crew, beat the Horde's chieftan, beat Baby Bliss's arrows, defeated the Furies while saving her Mother, purportedly received a hickey from Gabrielle before saving two young lovers from their timelooping tragedy, defeated Ares' newest warlord wannabe, traveled to Gaul and then Britannia to fight Caesar, Saw Gabrielle lose her blood innocence and destroyed Dahok's temple, saw a shattered Gabrielle become pregnant, delivered Gabrielle's daughter, then tried to kill Gabrielle's child before Gabrielle SEEMED to do it herself, then traveled to Greece and ultimately the land of Ch'in, where she was Betrayed by Gabrielle and consigned to a watery prison. In that prison she finally stopped hating, stopped desiring, stopped wanting, and so she was able to make up with Gabrielle and make even Green Dragons small, finally heard Gabrielle say she loved her and saw Xena say the same to her before traveling back to Greece so Xena could save Cleopatra and meets yet another version of herself before she restored the Godhoods of BOTH Ares and Aphrodite (I guess the kids really are calling it that now a days) .
(I'll be BACK to finish this tonight.
/// I'm Back! 
)
(Their final fight in the Ixion Cavern)
Callisto: “You’ll trap us both! That’s your plan, to trap me here while my pain keeps growing and growing and you die...
Xena: (Snear, her hands about Callisto's throat) “You’re wrong, Callisto. You let your pain kill you years ago. I’m gonna live with mine.”
What a shocking ep.
And you thought it was a big deal when Gabrielle betrayed Xena's plan to Ming Tien, and Xena landed on death row. I suspect that "Xena", like Lao Ma before her, would have accepted execution if she thought her absence would have kept Dahok from targeting Solon.
That line from Xena.... "I'm going to live with mine!" was a cry of such defiance, of such challenge to the evil known as Dahok... it was her only way to signal to him that no matter who he killed he would not succeed.
Recall, earlier in the ep... Hope and Callisto are reviewing Xena's response to a clue Hope had dropped.
Hope: “You’ll get your chance. Why do you think I freed you?”
Calllisto: “To make her suffer.”
Hope: “To make her stop. My father’s kingdom is at hand, the age of darkness, when Dahok will snuff out the people Xena loves, till he’s crushed her very soul and as she goes, so goes the world.”
But scream as loud as she might, Xena can only bluff so long. Kaleipus is murdered, Solon is too. And Gabrielle? She is as dead to Xena as Solon.
I shivered the first time I saw this, when I watched the scene where Gabrielle picks up the poison and tips it back to drink.
Would Gabrielle do it?
Would Xena arrive on the scene and send her trusty Chakram flying through the air to knock it from Gabrielle's hands, so that Xena could accuse her of taking the "easy way" out by avoiding the pain and remorse that she so "richly" deserved?
We see the poison drink slowly be poured out onto the ground, and then Gabrielle senses she's not alone. She looks over to see Xena watching... no chakram in hand... no compassion for her "best friend" who just put her own child to death.
Lucy mentions in the interviews for this one, that one of the hardest things is for a parent to "give up" a child... and how its even harder to then get the child back only to lose them again.
That happened to both women.
Gabby gave birth recently, "gave up" that child in Britannia with no expectation of ever seeing her again. Suddenly she appears, and Gabrielle feels the Greek Gods must have provided for her? Did Aphrodite look into her heart and grant her that one secret wish she dared not speak aloud?
But what the fates give with one hand, they take away with another. Not only must she lose "Hope", she must kill the child herself to atone for the horror inflicted on that other great love in Gabrielle's life.
Xena: “Solon, I don’t think... ”
Solon: “Please. My uncle always said, if anything happened to him, you’d be there for me.”
Xena: “And he was right. But all your ties are here. Don’t you wanna be with someone that you know-- someone that you care about?”
Solon: “Yes, you. You said we were friends and real friends are like family, right?”
Xena: “Like family.”
Solon: “Then take me with you-- please? Don’t leave me.”
That other great love in Xena's life stood before her with those big blue eyes and begged her to love him enough to take him with her.
It was everything she could have hoped for, could have prayed for, everything she could of dreamed... But this is the Xenaverse... and we know that NOTHING is ever that easy, right Perdicus?
This next scene, its like a knife through my heart in its simplicity, in how quiet Xena is until Gabrielle refuses to heed her...
Xena: “Solon? Solon? Hey-- hey, Solon. Solon.”
Gabrielle: “Xena? No. No. No.”
Xena: (Whispers) "Get out".
Gabrielle: “Xena-- ”
Xena: (Whips about) “GO!"
(Gabrielle listens and runs away)
Xena: (Quietly, gently) "Solon. Solon... please. I’m here, now. Your mom is here now... just like you always wanted.”
[Xena lays her head back and Screams until Callisto can hear it deep in her lair]
As deeply searing as Xena's pain is, Gabrielle's is not to be ignored.
I held my breath as Ephiny quickly saw through Gabrielle and sent the children away to play so the women could "talk".
Ephiny: “Gabrielle, what is it? What’s wrong?”....
Gabrielle: “I can’t believe it’s only been a couple of months. It feels like a lifetime since Xena and I were in Britannia.”
Ephiny: “Word was Xena helped Boadicea defeat Caesar.”
Gabrielle: “That’s true. While we were there-- I, uh-- I got into a... a very bad situation.”
Ephiny: “What do you mean? What happened?”
Gabrielle: “I had a child. And, sh... she died. I named her Hope. That’s what she was. She was my hope that, um... despite everything that had happened... this child was... was worth it all.”
Amazing, how she phrased that.
"I" got into... not "I was tricked, not "I" was despoiled/violated by an evil entity intent on destroying the world.
I wonder "what" was Ephiny thinking right then? Rape? Date rape? Fell in with the wrong crowd/ fell in love with a "bad boy" who then deserted her? Or maybe "Where" in Tarturas was XENA when this was happening?!"
What we know, is that Ephiny, Queen and Mother reached out with compassion to her fellow Amazon.
Ephiny: “You can’t blame yourself for her death. Only the Fates know why sleep steals a child’s life. I’m so sorry.”
And then the child who's custody you have given up, walks back into your life. And the woman you are, the woman you've been for the last three years takes center stage. Not the warrior, not the bard, but the woman willing to give her heart to anyone willing to love her back.
Gabrielle: “That is a lie. You are not evil. Never believe that.”
Hope/Fayla: “My mother thought so. She tried to drown me in a basket. She wanted me dead.”
Gabrielle: “She wasn’t trying to drown you. She was trying to save your life.”
Hope/Fayla: “You weren’t there! You don’t know!”
Gabrielle: “I do. The basket is all there was. I... I had to put you in it or, I had to watch you be killed. Now, I had no choice. I loved you.”
Hope: “You? You loved me?”
Gabrielle: “I... I prayed that the gods would protect you... and they did. They brought you home.”
The scene where Xena realizes "Fayla" is Hope is supercharged as Gabrielle is railing against Xena's prejudice against Fayla. Xena's face when she's trying to understand this protective stance of Gabrielle is masterful, going from confusion to dawning realization and frightening certitude.
Xena: “Maybe it’s not too late. She’s young. Poison’ll kill her if her powers aren’t mature.”
Gabrielle: “Poison? Xena, she is my child!”
Xena: “She is not a child! She is a body-- a vessel-- an
instrument for evil. That is all!”
My heart ached when Ephiny came to get Xena, and the Warrior sent her away. Then my heart cried when Xenon came in. The boy Xena delivered from Ephiny's womb just 18 months ago. One of only two boys in that camp that Xena had delivered.
One was dead, and beyond her assistance.
But one was still very much alive, and he needed her.
The scenes between Xena and Callisto were beyond feeling.
Callisto: [Gets arrow through heart, courtesy of Xena] “Hurts, doesn’t it? Losing your family... rips out your heart, your guts... your feelings. All that’s left is the pain, right? Welcome to the club.”
What Callisto never realized, is that Xena: Warrior Princess has always been a charter member of THAT particular club!
Xena: “You got that right. It all ends here with me.”
Callisto: “You don’t seem to get it, do you? You’ve won. All these years I’ve spent living to destroy you? Thinking that only if I could give you the same pain that you gave me, I’d be rid of it, and life would go on. And then I do and nothing changes. I don’t feel better, just empty. So you let me go, Xena. You can’t win this battle. And you’ve already won the war.” (She tries to walk by Xena)
Xena: “Oh, it’s not that simple. I won’t let it be.” [Attacks Callisto]
Callisto: “I’m warning you Xena, you’re nothing to me, now.”
Xena: “You’re breakin’ my heart.”
Callisto: (Gutteral) “Walk away.”
Xena: “Go to Tartarus.”
The funeral was surreal. Was it for Solon and Kaleipus or Solon and Hope?
Two pyres, two people standing guard at the head of each.
And one, one who lives with her heart on her sleeve, turns (like we've seen her do at too many other funerals)... turns to look up at the woman who has always been her strength, her protector, her friend, and admits...
Gabrielle: “If, if I had just done what you said when you told me to do it, then they would still be alive, Kaleipus and Solon.”
Xena: (With deadly quietude) “No. Don’t you even speak his name.”
Is this the woman who leapt from the tip of a tree at the top of a cliff, to vault herself onto a cursed ship just to be with Gabrielle?
Gabrielle: (Pleads) “Xena.”
Xena: “No. No, you lied to me. I trusted you, and you lied to me. And now Solon is dead. My son is dead because of you.”
Is this the woman who was willing to give up her sight for Gabrielle?
Who was willing to risk becoming a Bacchae forever because of Gabrielle?
Who was willing to lose her humanity to deliver Gabrielle from the Horde, who fought Dahok's demon to save Gabrielle from his altar, who stood up to a Titan to save Gabrielle, who allowed her dignity as a WARRIOR slip before a fellow WARRIOR as Xena pounded the small body and breathed into the unfeeling mouth of the friend slipping into death until she forced her to turn around and come home.
Gabrielle: (Still looking up at the woman she's known for so long, who's face has been turned away from her.) “I love you, Xena.”
Xena doesn't respond.
Xena won't look at the woman who's heart is breaking next to her, and so Gabrielle slowly turns and walks away as Xena lets her tears loose until she too must walk away... in the opposite direction.
Xena and Solon When You're gone:
My Sweet Solon:
Xena & Gabrielle Apologize:
Official trailer:
Maternal Instincts interviews:
Oh my.
How long has it been since the season 2 premiere, when we first met Solon, and Xena broke our hearts when she walked away without telling him who she was?
Xena: “One year, two months, and twelve days-- but who’s counting?”
And in that time, Xena was reintroduced to Solon, saw what Gabrielle & her brother's life would be like if she was never a warrior princess, killed Goliath, defeated the Bacchae while getting a serious Vampire kiss/bite on the neck From Gabrielle, ended the Trojan War, married her bestfriend off as she kissed Gabrielle goodbye, then watched her husband be murdered, watched her best friend descend into temporary madness over her grief, tracked and killed the murderer, met yet another "wrong side of the tracks" version of herself, was trapped first in Tarturas and then in Callisto's body, restored Ares' Godhood (is THAT what the kids are calling it now a days?) , restored the solstice holiday, won the first "Miss Known Universe" pageant, died, kissed Gabrielle on an astral plain, was brought back to life with ambrosia after she and Gabrielle shared the same body for a fight, trapped 2 immortals in a lava pit, met Minya and avenged the murder of Goliath's family, saved an innocent warrior from execution, saved Gabrielle from cremation, saved Ithaca's King, defeated Poseidon's curse and freed a Mariner and his crew, beat the Horde's chieftan, beat Baby Bliss's arrows, defeated the Furies while saving her Mother, purportedly received a hickey from Gabrielle before saving two young lovers from their timelooping tragedy, defeated Ares' newest warlord wannabe, traveled to Gaul and then Britannia to fight Caesar, Saw Gabrielle lose her blood innocence and destroyed Dahok's temple, saw a shattered Gabrielle become pregnant, delivered Gabrielle's daughter, then tried to kill Gabrielle's child before Gabrielle SEEMED to do it herself, then traveled to Greece and ultimately the land of Ch'in, where she was Betrayed by Gabrielle and consigned to a watery prison. In that prison she finally stopped hating, stopped desiring, stopped wanting, and so she was able to make up with Gabrielle and make even Green Dragons small, finally heard Gabrielle say she loved her and saw Xena say the same to her before traveling back to Greece so Xena could save Cleopatra and meets yet another version of herself before she restored the Godhoods of BOTH Ares and Aphrodite (I guess the kids really are calling it that now a days) .
(I'll be BACK to finish this tonight.
/// I'm Back! )(Their final fight in the Ixion Cavern)
Callisto: “You’ll trap us both! That’s your plan, to trap me here while my pain keeps growing and growing and you die...
Xena: (Snear, her hands about Callisto's throat) “You’re wrong, Callisto. You let your pain kill you years ago. I’m gonna live with mine.”
What a shocking ep.
And you thought it was a big deal when Gabrielle betrayed Xena's plan to Ming Tien, and Xena landed on death row. I suspect that "Xena", like Lao Ma before her, would have accepted execution if she thought her absence would have kept Dahok from targeting Solon.
That line from Xena.... "I'm going to live with mine!" was a cry of such defiance, of such challenge to the evil known as Dahok... it was her only way to signal to him that no matter who he killed he would not succeed.
Recall, earlier in the ep... Hope and Callisto are reviewing Xena's response to a clue Hope had dropped.
Hope: “You’ll get your chance. Why do you think I freed you?”
Calllisto: “To make her suffer.”
Hope: “To make her stop. My father’s kingdom is at hand, the age of darkness, when Dahok will snuff out the people Xena loves, till he’s crushed her very soul and as she goes, so goes the world.”
But scream as loud as she might, Xena can only bluff so long. Kaleipus is murdered, Solon is too. And Gabrielle? She is as dead to Xena as Solon.
I shivered the first time I saw this, when I watched the scene where Gabrielle picks up the poison and tips it back to drink.
Would Gabrielle do it?
Would Xena arrive on the scene and send her trusty Chakram flying through the air to knock it from Gabrielle's hands, so that Xena could accuse her of taking the "easy way" out by avoiding the pain and remorse that she so "richly" deserved?
We see the poison drink slowly be poured out onto the ground, and then Gabrielle senses she's not alone. She looks over to see Xena watching... no chakram in hand... no compassion for her "best friend" who just put her own child to death.
Lucy mentions in the interviews for this one, that one of the hardest things is for a parent to "give up" a child... and how its even harder to then get the child back only to lose them again.
That happened to both women.
Gabby gave birth recently, "gave up" that child in Britannia with no expectation of ever seeing her again. Suddenly she appears, and Gabrielle feels the Greek Gods must have provided for her? Did Aphrodite look into her heart and grant her that one secret wish she dared not speak aloud?
But what the fates give with one hand, they take away with another. Not only must she lose "Hope", she must kill the child herself to atone for the horror inflicted on that other great love in Gabrielle's life.
Xena: “Solon, I don’t think... ”
Solon: “Please. My uncle always said, if anything happened to him, you’d be there for me.”
Xena: “And he was right. But all your ties are here. Don’t you wanna be with someone that you know-- someone that you care about?”
Solon: “Yes, you. You said we were friends and real friends are like family, right?”
Xena: “Like family.”
Solon: “Then take me with you-- please? Don’t leave me.”
That other great love in Xena's life stood before her with those big blue eyes and begged her to love him enough to take him with her.
It was everything she could have hoped for, could have prayed for, everything she could of dreamed... But this is the Xenaverse... and we know that NOTHING is ever that easy, right Perdicus?
This next scene, its like a knife through my heart in its simplicity, in how quiet Xena is until Gabrielle refuses to heed her...
Xena: “Solon? Solon? Hey-- hey, Solon. Solon.”
Gabrielle: “Xena? No. No. No.”
Xena: (Whispers) "Get out".
Gabrielle: “Xena-- ”
Xena: (Whips about) “GO!"
(Gabrielle listens and runs away)
Xena: (Quietly, gently) "Solon. Solon... please. I’m here, now. Your mom is here now... just like you always wanted.”
[Xena lays her head back and Screams until Callisto can hear it deep in her lair]
As deeply searing as Xena's pain is, Gabrielle's is not to be ignored.
I held my breath as Ephiny quickly saw through Gabrielle and sent the children away to play so the women could "talk".
Ephiny: “Gabrielle, what is it? What’s wrong?”....
Gabrielle: “I can’t believe it’s only been a couple of months. It feels like a lifetime since Xena and I were in Britannia.”
Ephiny: “Word was Xena helped Boadicea defeat Caesar.”
Gabrielle: “That’s true. While we were there-- I, uh-- I got into a... a very bad situation.”
Ephiny: “What do you mean? What happened?”
Gabrielle: “I had a child. And, sh... she died. I named her Hope. That’s what she was. She was my hope that, um... despite everything that had happened... this child was... was worth it all.”
Amazing, how she phrased that.
"I" got into... not "I was tricked, not "I" was despoiled/violated by an evil entity intent on destroying the world.
I wonder "what" was Ephiny thinking right then? Rape? Date rape? Fell in with the wrong crowd/ fell in love with a "bad boy" who then deserted her? Or maybe "Where" in Tarturas was XENA when this was happening?!"
What we know, is that Ephiny, Queen and Mother reached out with compassion to her fellow Amazon.
Ephiny: “You can’t blame yourself for her death. Only the Fates know why sleep steals a child’s life. I’m so sorry.”
And then the child who's custody you have given up, walks back into your life. And the woman you are, the woman you've been for the last three years takes center stage. Not the warrior, not the bard, but the woman willing to give her heart to anyone willing to love her back.
Gabrielle: “That is a lie. You are not evil. Never believe that.”
Hope/Fayla: “My mother thought so. She tried to drown me in a basket. She wanted me dead.”
Gabrielle: “She wasn’t trying to drown you. She was trying to save your life.”
Hope/Fayla: “You weren’t there! You don’t know!”
Gabrielle: “I do. The basket is all there was. I... I had to put you in it or, I had to watch you be killed. Now, I had no choice. I loved you.”
Hope: “You? You loved me?”
Gabrielle: “I... I prayed that the gods would protect you... and they did. They brought you home.”
The scene where Xena realizes "Fayla" is Hope is supercharged as Gabrielle is railing against Xena's prejudice against Fayla. Xena's face when she's trying to understand this protective stance of Gabrielle is masterful, going from confusion to dawning realization and frightening certitude.
Xena: “Maybe it’s not too late. She’s young. Poison’ll kill her if her powers aren’t mature.”
Gabrielle: “Poison? Xena, she is my child!”
Xena: “She is not a child! She is a body-- a vessel-- an
instrument for evil. That is all!”
My heart ached when Ephiny came to get Xena, and the Warrior sent her away. Then my heart cried when Xenon came in. The boy Xena delivered from Ephiny's womb just 18 months ago. One of only two boys in that camp that Xena had delivered.
One was dead, and beyond her assistance.
But one was still very much alive, and he needed her.
The scenes between Xena and Callisto were beyond feeling.
Callisto: [Gets arrow through heart, courtesy of Xena] “Hurts, doesn’t it? Losing your family... rips out your heart, your guts... your feelings. All that’s left is the pain, right? Welcome to the club.”
What Callisto never realized, is that Xena: Warrior Princess has always been a charter member of THAT particular club!
Xena: “You got that right. It all ends here with me.”
Callisto: “You don’t seem to get it, do you? You’ve won. All these years I’ve spent living to destroy you? Thinking that only if I could give you the same pain that you gave me, I’d be rid of it, and life would go on. And then I do and nothing changes. I don’t feel better, just empty. So you let me go, Xena. You can’t win this battle. And you’ve already won the war.” (She tries to walk by Xena)
Xena: “Oh, it’s not that simple. I won’t let it be.” [Attacks Callisto]
Callisto: “I’m warning you Xena, you’re nothing to me, now.”
Xena: “You’re breakin’ my heart.”
Callisto: (Gutteral) “Walk away.”
Xena: “Go to Tartarus.”
The funeral was surreal. Was it for Solon and Kaleipus or Solon and Hope?
Two pyres, two people standing guard at the head of each.
And one, one who lives with her heart on her sleeve, turns (like we've seen her do at too many other funerals)... turns to look up at the woman who has always been her strength, her protector, her friend, and admits...
Gabrielle: “If, if I had just done what you said when you told me to do it, then they would still be alive, Kaleipus and Solon.”
Xena: (With deadly quietude) “No. Don’t you even speak his name.”
Is this the woman who leapt from the tip of a tree at the top of a cliff, to vault herself onto a cursed ship just to be with Gabrielle?
Gabrielle: (Pleads) “Xena.”
Xena: “No. No, you lied to me. I trusted you, and you lied to me. And now Solon is dead. My son is dead because of you.”
Is this the woman who was willing to give up her sight for Gabrielle?
Who was willing to risk becoming a Bacchae forever because of Gabrielle?
Who was willing to lose her humanity to deliver Gabrielle from the Horde, who fought Dahok's demon to save Gabrielle from his altar, who stood up to a Titan to save Gabrielle, who allowed her dignity as a WARRIOR slip before a fellow WARRIOR as Xena pounded the small body and breathed into the unfeeling mouth of the friend slipping into death until she forced her to turn around and come home.
Gabrielle: (Still looking up at the woman she's known for so long, who's face has been turned away from her.) “I love you, Xena.”
Xena doesn't respond.
Xena won't look at the woman who's heart is breaking next to her, and so Gabrielle slowly turns and walks away as Xena lets her tears loose until she too must walk away... in the opposite direction.
Xena and Solon When You're gone:
My Sweet Solon:
Xena & Gabrielle Apologize:
Last edited:
If you have tears prepare to shed them now. In a set of wonderful performances I have to single out Hudson, when Callisto hears Xena's agony and has her moment of triumph only to realise that her ultimate revenge STILL doesn't give her any joy, it's literally soul destroying. Her telling Xena that is powerful and porcupine-arrow Callisto is also brilliant. Also rather like the scenes where Callisto almost acts like Hope's mother, you wonder did she have a little sister?
)
Xena we are talking about, NOT 
