From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V8 #51 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Saturday, October 24 2009 Volume 08 : Number 051 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] Revelations, Be Deviled and Fallen Angel [cr Subject: [chakram-refugees] Revelations, Be Deviled and Fallen Angel Revelations (which could have been better titled Armageddon or Judgement Day if those names hadn't already been used) was the final Herc episode of Season 5, contemporaneous with Ides of March. Mainly of interest for introducing (Archangel) Michael, as the chief servant of 'The Light' (this is presumably a different 'light' from whack-job Najara's 'light'. Makes one wonder what this all-powerful 'light' character was doing while Dahak was threatening to take over the world). Michael has been sent to destroy mankind, using the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and a more arrogant evil bastard you couldn't wish to see. Charles Mesure played it perfectly. However, by the end of the episode, the Light is sufficiently impressed by Hercules and Iolaus efforts to save mankind that he (it?) reconsiders, gives humanity a reprieve, and Michael becomes an arrogant but moderately benevolent bastard. And by the end of Fallen Angel, he'd turned into a genuinely nice caring guy. Too bad power corrupted him later and he turned back into an arrogant evil bastard, prompting Xena to try and kill him. The season Six starter for Hercules, Be Deviled, is IMO one of their best episodes. It features Sam Sorbo as 'Sin', the top dog in a place we'll call Hell ('Tartarus is too good for some people. When Hades finds a special case he sends them to me') - which might account for Callisto's presence in Hell in Ides of March. The excellent Jeremy Roberts guests as Xerxos, a demon who has escaped from Hell. (We know it's the same Hell as in Ides, as it shares some of the same clips). Sam Sorbo/'Sin' is, presumably, Mephistopheles or the devil, though he/she/it has chosen to appear as Serena, Herc's ex-wife. Sam does a beautiful job of appearing seductive, provocative yet sinister, and inwardly amused by Herc's reaction. The most she gets in the way of make-up - and all she needs - is to turn her eyes momentarily red at one point. I think this is far more effective than the cheesy-looking Mephistopheles in Haunting of Amphipolis, or the bad-teeth Xena in Paradise Found. And Jeremy Roberts does a nice job as a ruthless killer so evil he was sentenced to Hell, and has escaped to stop his sister from going the same way, eventually sacrificing himself to save her (Sin to Xerxos: 'Well, at least I still have you'). It's Herc who gets the bad-makeup curse in this ep, with a huge jaw and long ears - he was far more believable with his regular face as the evil Sovereign. And Jeremy Roberts at one point grows wings (a pair left over from Fallen Angel?) and zooms around the like a mediaeval cruise missile. It seems that every now and then, TPTB forget that in the evil-double stakes, less is more. The episode starts in a jail scene remarkably similar to Return of Callisto, and interestingly, Paul Coyle notes that originally it was to have been a Callisto episode, with Callisto as the escaping demon, until it was decided that Callisto would feature in Fallen Angel instead. (This conjures up visions of the writers fighting over characters - 'Callisto's mine, you can't have her'. 'Okay, I'll swap you Aphrodite and Strife for Ares and a couple of Amazons'...) Zeus and Hera's reconciliation, her recovery of memory, revenge on Zeus, and her remorse and reviving him so they could bring Evander back - that would have made a satisfying Fallen Angel - I did like the 'terrestrial' scenes where Amarice, Joxer and Eli rescued the bodies. These scenes tend to get overshadowed by the 'angels and demons' scenes, but I thought the 'terrestrial' scenes were very well and sensitively shot. They were all blue-tinted to look like moonlight and differentiate them from 'heaven and hell'. I noticed that Eli managed to restrain his pacifism adequately while Amarice dealt efficiently with the two Romans guarding the bodies. Amarice had a lovely little soliloquy to Xena: "Xena, they say the dead can hear the thoughts of the living, so hear this. Ibm picking up where you left off. I may never be as good a warrior as you and I know Ibll never be as wise, but I promise, with all my heart and soul to honor the memory of the Warrior Princess." Then she tore a savage strip off Eli for his part in getting Xena and Gabs captured, I felt with some justification. If Gabs had shown the fighting abilities in Ides that she showed in Chakram, more than likely she wouldn't have been captured by the Romans in the first place, or they could have fought their way out of the fort before Callisto chackied Xena. But then I had much sympathy for Amarice, being given the thankless task of trying to look after Gabrielle. I would have much preferred it if TPTB had managed to resolve the ending of Ides without resorting to angels-and-demons. That, to me, is almost cheating, a bit like using the Reset button. Although I did like the plot point that Xena saved Callisto from Hell, and Callisto returned the favour by bringing Xena and Gabs back to life. I suppose, having got used to it, it's a pleasant and satisfying end to Callisto's story, though when I first saw it I was much distressed at the way it neutralised my favourite villain. Interestingly enough, in the DVD interviews (which are excellent for this episode) Hudson says almost exactly the same thing - that she liked the premise that Callisto could be redeemed, and Xena saving her was a beautiful moment, but playing the angel was much more difficult, playing Callisto was fun, but the angel had to be perfect and how do you play perfect? ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V8 #51 *************************************