Xena Reviews: Season 3, Episode 22

Sacrifice II – Director: Rick Jacobson/Writer: Paul Robert Coyle

This one continues right on from last episode, with Hope emerging from her cocoon looking like an exact duplicate of Gabi. Xena tries to kill her, but Hope uses her telekinesis to keep Xena away. Callisto jumps in and Xena buries her under some rock again. Hope flings weapons at Xena and Xena dodges them, managing to wound Hope with her chakram. That weakens her hold on Seraphin momentarily, but Hope heals right away and the brainwashing kicks in again. Gabi tries to talk to Hope but she knocks her away and sends more weapons (they’re in the Halls of War, so the walls are festooned with weaponry) at Gabi and Xena. Xena drops a big shield from the ceiling as Callisto digs out of the rubble. Xena’s ready to go after Hope again, but Gabi holds her back, which gives Callisto time to get Hope out of there. Xena’s not happy that Gabi kept her from avenging Solan’s death.

Outside, Gabi tells Xena about Ares’ deal with the Fates and that she’ll die if she kills Hope. Xena says she’ll gladly give her life to end Hope’s evil. Callisto gives Hope a makeover, getting rid of the mucous and making her look just like Gabi, right down to the clothes and staff. Hope tells Callisto that people will flock to follow Dahok now and that they will serve as sacrifices to bring him back. Ares talks to Dahok and seems to be regretting joining him, but can’t really back out now. As Dahok’s priests forcibly gather sacrifices from a village, Xena shows up to pound them. Ares arrives to remind Gabi of their deal and that letting Xena kill Hope will guarantee Xena’s death. Ares goes to see Hope and Callisto isn’t happy that he’s working with them now. Ares is still pissed off about Callisto killing Strife and they start fighting, but Hope breaks it up. Callisto wants the Hind’s Blood Dagger, but Hope won’t tell her where it is since she doesn’t want Callisto using it to kill herself and gain the oblivion she now seeks. Hope puts the moves on Ares and Callisto decides to take off. While looking for Hope, Seraphin jumps off a cliff to keep from being used as a pawn against Hope and Dahok. Xena jumps after her, but when she looks to Gabi to pull her up, she sees Callisto standing there instead.

Gabi distracts Callisto long enough for Xena to get back up with Seraphin, who takes off. Xena doesn’t care, since Seraphin will be dead anyway if Dahok wins. Callisto tells Xena about Ares banging Hope and offers to switch sides if Xena will use the Hind’s Blood to kill her. Xena refuses, saying Callisto has to live with her pain like everyone else. Hope goes to the temple where Hercules hid the Hind’s Blood Dagger, but it’s gone. Joxer confronts the cultists and gets knocked out by Seraphin, who rejoins the other followers of Dahok. Callisto keeps nagging Xena and Gabi finally talks Xena into letting Callisto help them against Hope, probably figuring it’s one less opponent to worry about. Hope finds Joxer and gets information from him about Gabi and Xena (because Joxer assumes she’s Gabi). In another village, Xena pounds the cultists who are kidnapping more sacrifices, “helped” by Callisto (who starts blasting cultists to relieve her boredom and ends up trashing half the village). Hope shows up pretending to be Gabi and Xena decides to send her for the Hind’s Blood Dagger.

Xena figures out Hope’s ruse and Ares shows up to spirit her away again. As they head for Dahok’s shrine, Xena gets pissed off at Joxer’s clumsiness, insulting him, punching him, and telling him to get lost. As they head for the shrine and the priests continue gathering sacrificial victims, Joxer wanders around and gets picked up by the cultists. That night, we get an abbreviated campfire scene with Xena and Callisto, but Xena senses Ares and goes to talk to him. He asks her to join him one more time and she refuses. She mentions his dalliance with Hope and asks if he knocked her up. He admits it, saying their child will be the first of six Destroyers that will lay waste to the world and kill the gods. Gabi overhears and is horrified.

Ares gloats over his impending triumph (since Xena can’t kill Hope without dying herself) and leaves. At the temple, Callisto looks all over but can’t find the Hind’s Blood, so she goes back to join Xena and Gabi. Gabi hears Hope calling her from the woods and goes to talk to her. Hope asks Gabi to join her, but Gabi says she wishes the poison had killed her. The sacrifices (including Joxer) are herded into the temple to prepare for the ritual. Gabi refuses to stay behind and Xena says goodbye to her before they head inside. They start kicking ass on the cultists and Xena caps Dahok’s pillar of fire, which releases Seraphin and the others from his influence. As the fight gets more intense, it turns out Joxer has the Hind’s Blood; the whole thing with Xena getting mad at him and driving him away was a fake-out so he could go get it. Xena uses the Hind’s Blood to get Ares to back off and Callisto helps by blasting him, hoping Xena will kill her once she’s done with Hope. (Which sounds like Callisto doesn’t know about Ares’ deal with the Fates.) Xena goes after Hope, who holds her back telekinetically. But Xena’s will is so strong, she pushes Hope back toward a lava pit and advances on her with the Hind’s Blood. As Gabi watches Xena get closer to killing Hope, she realizes she can’t let Xena die, so she charges up to the platform, grabs Hope, and falls with her into the pit, leaving Xena and Joxer to watch in horror. Ares vanishes and Callisto starts laughing her ass off, saying Gabi’s death has brought back her appreciation for living. That doesn’t last long, as Xena kills her with the Hind’s Blood (for which Callisto does look rather grateful). So Xena has partly avenged Solan, but can’t enjoy it since Gabi is gone too.

This is a really good episode (#42 on my all-time list) and I like it better than Part I. As I said in that review, Part I was mostly set-up for this episode and we get the pay off here. Ares’ double-dealing gets him nothing in the end, Callisto’s death wish is fulfilled (although we’ll see in future episodes that she didn’t quite get the oblivion she was looking for), and Dahok and Hope’s scheme is thwarted thanks to Gabi making the ultimate sacrifice. I also liked how Xena used Joxer to retrieve the Dagger; she obviously thought nobody would suspect him of carrying something so important and she was right. It’s also interesting how everyone is after the Hind’s Blood, but for different reasons: Hope wants to use it against the gods; Ares wants it so no one can use it against him; Callisto wants it to kill herself; and Xena wants it as leverage to make sure Ares can’t stop her from killing Hope.

The whole thing with Callisto wanting death and Xena not giving it to her is interesting. When Callisto was craving oblivion, Xena refused to grant it, thinking she’d be doing her a favour. But as soon as Callisto decides she wants to live again, Xena does kill her. Some of that might’ve been Xena’s anger at losing Gabi, but I think a lot of it was just her being contrary … doing the exact opposite of what Callisto wanted. Fans are divided on whether Callisto really changed her mind and wanted to live in the end (and everyone in the cast and crew has a different opinion too, kinda like Blade Runner), but Hudson said she thought Callisto was being sincere at the end, and I tend to agree.

In fact, I usually defer to the actors when it comes to matters of character interpretation, since they obviously know the characters best, but I do disagree with something in this episode. Renee said she didn’t think Gabi meant to kill Hope at the end, but I have to disagree with that. Gabi already tried to poison Hope (and told her she wished the poison had killed her), and she knows Hope has to die to prevent the Destroyer from being born and Dahok from returning. But Gabi also knows Xena can’t be the one to kill Hope, or she’ll die too. Xena might be willing to make that sacrifice, but Gabi isn’t. So I think she knew it would be up to her to stop Hope somehow and when she saw Xena about to give up her life, she just acted. Obviously she didn’t know about the lava pit ahead of time, but she had to know it was her responsibility stop Hope, especially since her earlier attempt didn’t work (and her refusal to let Xena kill Hope in the first place led to Solan’s death). I wonder how early Gabi knew it might come to that? Maybe that’s why she talked Xena into bringing Callisto along. Anyway, that last look she gives Xena says it all: I’m sorry but I couldn’t let you die, and … I love you.

Noticeable Things:

• Callisto mentions Xena turning her back on Gabi; that could refer to The Deliverer or Bitter Suite.
• When Hope sends weapons flying at them in the Halls of War, Xena and Gabi run behind a giant rolling shield, which reminds me of that scene in the Shanghai nightclub in Temple of Doom.
• It’s interesting that even after everything, Hope still wants Gabi’s love. We’ll see more of that next season. (Yes, Hope’s coming back.)

Favourite Quotes:

• “It’s strange. The one I love most in all the world and the one I hate … look exactly the same.” Xena pointing out the irony of Hope having Gabi’s face … and confirming the depths of her feelings for Gabi in the process.
• “You are so not like your mother.” Ares statement as Hope starts putting the moves on him.
• “I want you to know that I still think you are the best thing that ever happened to me. You give my life meaning and joy and you’ll be a part of me forever.” Xena’s heartfelt goodbye to Gabi before they enter Dahok’s temple.