The Deliverer

Wow. This episode had me so stunned that I was sitting at the computer 20 minutes after it finished and decided that I needed to refill my water cup. I walked all the way downstairs and into the kitchen before I looked down at my hand and wondered why I had just carried a piece of paper through the house. Took me a few seconds to even remember why I was down there. Now THAT'S distracted.

Where Morpheus failed in Dreamworker, some unknown rookie of a god named Dahak succeeds. This isn't just the end of Gabrielle's blood innocence, it's the end of a lot of her innocence about people, too. She usually has a way of reading folks, of spotting their best qualities and bringing them out (or just avoiding the heck out of the ones who have no good points to be found). But these priests played her like a lyre, especially Crastar, the head priest, and Gabrielle never had a clue. Before now, she could always rely on her instincts to trust people, and in the long run, the loss of that may be more devastating than the fact that she's now taken a life.

Speaking of being played like a lyre, so were all of us by this episode - in some very nice story-telling strokes. The story is set up as being about Xena's pell-mell quest to find Boadicea and wreak her vengeance on Caesar at last. Gabrielle's shove into the background, and taking up with the happy-go-lightly priests, meanders in the background as a side story. Until the moment she's taken to that altar. Suddenly, the tables are completely turned, and what we thought was a background tale becomes the focus of the episode and a crux of two seasons of character development. Boadicea and Caesar are dropped like hot potatoes, and in spite of what a great tale they had been, they suddenly pale in comparison. Excellent, excellent work by Steven Sears!

I just love being played by a good story. Throw around a few "one god" phrases and talk of happy love lights, and we think "Oh, Judeo-Christian followers. Like Altared States, like Royal Couple of Thieves, like Giant Killer. Seen it. Know where we're going." The story uses our assumptions the same way the Dahak followers used Gabrielle and Xena's. Xena's just one of us when she finally realizes "This is NOT the one god of the Israelites!"

And speaking of which, for once, Ares was on the level! Wow, whaddya know? Ares' assignment for this episode is to read the tale about a boy who cried wolf.

For all the usual Xenaverse historical liberties, that was some perfect portrayals of Roman fighting tactics. Got a problem? Make like a turtle and box up!

Just as heart-rending as the pain Gabrielle will be going through in the episodes to come is going to be Xena's guilt. That Deliverer guy was dead-on when he skewered Xena and told her that this was all her fault. Xena peremptorily declared that she was going to fight Caesar, brought Gabrielle along for the ride, and shoved her to the back of the line with barely a glance, and no attention to Crastar other than a glare or two (she didn't even remember his name in the camp). Even after Gabrielle had been put on the cross, Xena barely took the time to get her down and check that she was OK before going back to taunting Caesar. The bard even tries to apologize for getting captured (yeesh!) and Xena brushes it off with a grilling about what Caesar was up to. Xena is now living Is There a Doctor In the House all over again, when she was scared that her pride had killed Gabrielle. This time, it put Gabrielle through crucifixion, murder, torture, and betrayal. Ouch. Xena will not be letting herself live this down for quite some time.

One moment in Xena's defense: once she saw the trouble at the temple, we didn't see her hesitate for a moment. Caesar was finally forgotten, and Gabrielle became priority #1 again. Better late than never.

Xena's sword is back! Dirty Half Dozen? What Dirty Half Dozen? And while we're on the topic of swords, Ares was sure loving his new toy, wasn't he? He mentioned spreading it around to a few folks: wonder if we'll be seeing it again?

And speaking of "what Dirty Half Dozen?", we really didn't need to see the exact same exploding castle footage from Dozen again one week later, especially since that castle is a different structure than the temple. Baaaad timing, placing those two in back-to-back weeks.

The acting work from both Lucy and Renee from the moment Gabrielle stabs the priestess-wench until the fireworks start at the altar are just astounding. Watch Gabrielle's reaction as she begins to fully understand what she's just done and how well she's been played. Watch the size of Xena's eyes as Gabrielle tells her that she killed the woman on the altar. Anyone want to help me create a "Give the Emmy Nominators a Clue" fund?

Gabrielle's words at the end of the episode, "Everything's changed... everything" are exact duplicates of what Xena told her waaayyy back in Dreamworker.

Xena: "And the moment you kill..."
Gabrielle: "The moment you kill... what?"
Xena: "Everything changes. Everything."

Weakest moment and line in the episode: Xena's taunting of the Deliverer-dude and his "You can't talk to Dahak like that!" response. A bit too cheesy and way too flip, especially with Gabrielle still dangling by fire above an evil god's altar.

Blooper alert! During Crastar's explanation to Gabrielle about faith (which becomes creepy once you know where he's really coming from), watch Crastar's arms. They change positions depending on the camera angle.

Interesting side note: I wondered whether this episode would have nearly the impact for the casual watcher that it does for the hard-core nutballs like me. As it turned out, a friend at work watched it, and although she didn't get all the themes, she still found the episode stunning, and between it and my tape of Been There Done That, which she watched immediately afterward (balm for the wounds), she's declared herself officially hooked. Score up another member of Xena's army!

Return to the Wool-Gatherings.

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