From the More section of Fandom.com - September 16, 2000
http://www.fandom.com/Xena/More.asp?action=page&obj_id=250739

Here`s What I Think About....Season 6 so far......

A review of the first batch of episodes

While I liked Season Five a lot, and got pretty fed up of people griping about it, there were undeniably weaknesses in some individual episodes and the direction of the show at times. Season Six was always going to be an important year, even before it was announced that it was to be the last year. Producer Rob Tapert and Lucy Lawless had both commented on their dissatisfaction with some aspects of Season Five. Some fans had become increasingly vocal with their complaints, and ratings were on the slide. Would Xena go out with a bang or a whimper?

One of the most notable changes for Season Six was in the writing team. Head writer RJ Stewart was back full time after his stint on Cleopatra 2525, and a completely new writing team was hired. RJ himself was the only writer who had worked on the show who was

Xena and Gabrielle with Ares from S6`s Coming Home. © Universal

still there. For fans, the recruitment of fanfiction goddess Melissa Good was a cause for optimism. However, the reaction to her first episode (but second script), Coming Home, was a little mixed. While I enjoyed it, I do think it was the weakest of the episodes of the nine we have seen so far. One potential problem that is already evident in Season Six is the character of Eve. Adrienne Wilkinson captivated many of us UK fans at a recent convention, and was extremely chatty and friendly. However, Eve has been a bit of a drag, frankly, so far. Xena`s path of redemption is fairly clear, and Gabrielle travels with her and helps in her own special way! Eve has been mainly tagging along so far, and has yet to really have her own future role established. In Coming Home, we saw Eve`s treatment of the Amazons in her past come up, a storyline that is likely to be revisited. It was also a sort of resolution for Xena and Ares, after the shenanigans of Season Five. For many fans, one of the chief complaints of Season Five was the Chakram hit on Gabrielle

"Give us a twirl.." Gabrielle shows off her talents in Who`s Gurkhan © Universal

in Motherhood. It was quite shocking to see Xena almost take Gabrielle`s head off... Coming Home was talked of as seeing an explanation/apology for this. Well, the scene was a bit of a let down to be honest. A throwaway few lines that didn`t really explain it, or have Xena apologising.

However, it brings me to something that I have noticed about the nine episodes so far. It seems to me that the writers/producers are attempting to placate disgruntled fans by adding things especially for them. For instance, people annoyed by the Gab Chak Attack got their apology, subtext fans have been given quite a few scenes in quite a lot of episodes – and a Xena/Gabrielle kiss. People who felt Xena never apologised for trying to kill Hope got a scene in The Abyss. I have lost count of the number of times Xena and Gabrielle have got wet this year, not to mention naked! Even the Gabrielle long-hair fans got the blonde tresses back in Return of the Valkyrie! I am wondering whether we will get an apology for the Gabdrag and an explanation of how Gabrielle survived the lava pit in

Xena and Gabrielle in S6`s Legacy © Melissa Good/AUSXIP

Sacrifice 2 in the next lot of episodes! I hope this *is* just coincidence. Making episodes, or even just adding things in order to please fans, is a bit of a dangerous thing to do I think. Of course the makers of TV shows want their hardcore fans to enjoy things, but tailoring something to please one group of viewers could mean alienating others. On the other hand, they may look at it that with this being the final year, they are unlikely to pick up new viewers, so why not please the old fans who have been with the show all the way….Hmm…

I liked Haunting of Amphipolis a lot, although as a big Cyrene fan, I found it quite upsetting that the poor old gal had such a painful death. Eve’s role as The Exorcist in this episode was a bit tedious, but at least she had a purpose. Renee O’Connor’s body double got to wear that body stocking for the first time as Gabrielle gets naked AND wet in the same episode (but not at the same time.) I liked the cool and spooky atmosphere of this episode, and the fast moving

Xena and Gabrielle work things out in S6`s The Abyss © Universal/Creation

plot. And I loved those dissolving hands of Gabrielle’s!

Melissa Good`s second episode Legacy, was a much more universally admired episode, and one of my personal favourites. The word was that there would be no all out comedy episodes this year, and after Season Five`s Married With Fishsticks, Punchlines, Little Problems, Kindred Spirits and Lyre Lyre, Hearts on Fire being not that well received (although I still think Lyre Lyre was wonderful!) that looked like being a wise decision. Legacy had humour, in the style of some season one and two episodes and was very well written. It also had another bathtub scene - pleasing those fans again! Were the nude scenes harmless teasing or gratuitous attempts to pander to the fans? Legacy also continued the plotline concerning Gabrielle and her attitude to killing. Again, one of the complaints from a few people about Season Five, was Gabrielle as being too aggressive. (No pleasing some people!) In the context of Season Five, this was understandable. With Xena pregnant, Gabrielle had to take a more active role. However, she has drifted a long, long way from the peaceloving bard of the early days. I was

Evil Xena in The Rheingold © Universal

glad to see her attitude to killing addressed.Who`s Gurkhan? saw her pursue the man who killed her parents. I liked that we saw Gabrielle act as irrationally as she ever has. It is her fault that Xena is beaten up, as she dives in wanting to kill Gurkhan - something Xena knows is not in her make up. Who`s Gurkhan? was another eye candy episode - all that dancing, and Lucy showing that she has totally regained her pre-pregnancy figure.

A video clip of the dance from Heart of Darkness on MaryDs Xena page caused quite a stir this year. Seen out of context of the episode, it was an extremely heavy subtext moment, although the episode itself managed to please both sides of the subtext debate. Xena and Gabrielle both have man-friends, yet also were very intimate with each other in that sizzling dance. The main problem for most people was trying to spot those seven deadly sins that poor old Lucifer was supposed to have committed. Alex Mendoza and William Gregory Lee were that rare thing, male eye candy that ISN’T Kevin Smith!

Many fans rated The Abyss as their favourite in a

Valkyrie Xena in S6`s The Rheingold © Universal

recent poll on this site, and it was certainly an all action episode, with a nice little bit of fanfiction style hurt/comfort too. A touching little scene between a feverish Gabrielle and a concerned Xena was enjoyed by most.

Then there was the Norse trilogy of episodes. I was blown away by these episodes. To me, it was like a return to the ambition and scale of episodes like The Debt. It blended the always-fascinating subject of Xena`s past, with mythology and magic. With the Olympians nearly all gone, the "time of ancient Gods" was looking a bit god-less. Odin was the only Norse god we met, but we had the magical flying horses and the Valkyries - and didn`t Lucy look great as a Valkyrie! I am a huge fan of Lucy`s acting, and once again, she was wonderful in these three episodes. We have seen quite a bit of bad old Xena, and yet Lucy managed to bring something new to the pre-Hercules and Gabrielle Xena. Less twitchy and raw that in The Debt or Sin Trade, this was a more subtle and conniving bad Xena. Then she also had to play

Xena takes a stroll on the beach in Return of the Valkyrie © Universal

Wealthea, the amnesiac Xena. How do you play your character when she has lost memory of who she is? Lucy kept it fairly simple, showing a rather bemused woman with something not quite complete about her, but wanting to do good for the people.

Then there was That Kiss..

The subject of Xena and Gabrielle`s relationship is probably the biggest area of scrutiny for a lot of fans. The alleged distance between them in Season Five was noticed by them, and was clearly going to be examined in Season Six. The Norse trilogy of episode should hopefully appease all the complainers. In these three outstandingly good episodes, subtext did indeed come extremely close to becoming maintext - some people think it WAS maintext. What am I on about? Well, you decide for yourself. Did you think the emphasis on Xena and Gabrielle as soulmates, and Gabrielle`s total rejections and - indeed indifference to - Brunnhilda`s declarations of love meant that she thought of Xena as her partner in THAT way? For myself, I thought that once again, it was left open to how you wanted to see it. Portraying Xena and Gabrielle as inseparable, and two

Lucy Lawless displays her mighty abs in S6`s Dangerous Prey © Creation/Universal

people who clearly love each other is hardly new. The question always is, are they being portrayed as lovers? What certainly *was* new, was that Brunnhilda clearly was being portrayed as `in love` with Gabrielle. That was quite explicitly stated, and quite a daring thing. Whether you took the next step and said that meant that Xena and Gabrielle were obviously being shown as lovers too, was down to interpretation still I think. A Xena/Gabrielle kiss had been something some fans were keen to see. In the end, it was little more than a Sleeping Beauty kiss..ok, so Xena was the handsome prince, but it was not a kiss of passion really.

I think this final season is shaping up to be as good as anything they have done before, and that is thanks to some terrific story telling, good scripts and tautly directed episodes. The themes have been developed over a number of episodes – like Gabrielle’s attitude to killing. The disjointedness that was sometimes apparent in Season Five is thankfully absent, although they do need to sort out what they are going to do with Eve.

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