From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V9 #50 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 Wednesday, July 14 2010 Volume 09 : Number 050 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] Soul Possession [cr ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:18:30 +1300 From: cr Subject: [chakram-refugees] Soul Possession Soul Possession starts at almost the same place the previous episode ends - on top of the cliffs north of O'Neill Bay. (It's a great walk along the cliffside path in fine weather, by the way). Obviously it isn't Xena (or a double) diving off Raetahinga Point - the flat wave-level rock shelf at the bottom makes sure of that! Soul Possession is a comedy much more to my taste than MHR was - it has much weightier themes (and Ares!). More of a comedy-drama, I suppose. Also, it sets out to repair a long-standing YAXI (or maybe just a glaring omission) - how Gabrielle got out of the hole in Sacrifice 2. Unfortunately it screws up in that respect. As a long-standing member of the Chakram list, I love that the fannish organisation is called C.H.A.K.R.A.M. I also love it when TPTB start taking pot-shots at fans - partly from a feeling of fairness (after all, many of the fans had been taking pot-shots at TPTB like, forever) and partly because I find TPTB's satirisation of fannish habits very funny. The press conference and the reporters' comment "We've got tomorrow's front page" isn't so far off reality, at that - my longstanding attempt to remain 'unspoiled' until I could view Friend in Need on tape for myself was foiled by the New Zealand Herald (NZ's largest daily, no less) with a newsagent's billboard headline that said "Xena loses her head"! IIRC, there were some fans who were most upset at the suggestion that Xena might ever marry Ares, even under duress; and there were some fans who were upset at the suggestion that fans might object to this plot development. Whatever TPTB did, they were sure to offend one segment or another. Drunk Joxer was very funny ("Denial ain't just a river in Europe". Xena: The Nile's in Africa. Jox: "It's that long?") There is, of course, the episode's own famous YAXI of the old chakram. (Which I must admit I'd never have noticed if 500 fans hadn't pointed it out...) On the other hand, Ares' hair is the right length for the period. TPTB were quite happy to take potshots at themselves, too - Annie Day: "Joxer was no fool. The guy that got to play him was a goofball, that's all, he was the producer's brother for cryin' out loud!" The dialogue is good too - Ares: "I'm just concerned that you're still holding out hope - oops, guess that was a poor choice of words". And the Ares-Xena courtship fight was very nicely choreographed. And, Ares: Just imagine - Zeus and Hera are going to be your in-laws. Xena: Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. Meg has a very nice figure, I have to say. Anyway, Xena agrees to marry Ares if he will help find Gabrielle who is presumed to be still alive. But at the wedding ceremony, in front of the Fates, at Dahak's temple where Gabs fell down the hole, Xena decides she can't go through with it and runs off. Ares: "Well, this is embarrasing". (Kevin Smith's expressions are classic comedy acting all through this episode). Xena throws herself down the lava tube, banking on Ares saving her - which he does. And Xena deduces from this that Ares similarly saved Hope (who was carrying his child) and Gabrielle as a bargaining chip with Xena. I find that a bit unsatisfactory - it seems very high-risk, and the deduction is by no means certain. But we'll let that pass. So far, so good. But then, Ares ruins it by saying Gabs made a deal with him; in exchange for saving Hope's life, she offered him her soul. This is the *big* YAXI - why would Gabs, who had just gone to great lengths to kill Hope, want to save her life? This does not compute. Only rational explanation is that Ares is lying. But surely Xena wouldn't buy it - though she seems to. (According to Melissa Blake's interview, her (and presumably Rob's) rationalisation was that Gabs' maternal instinct took over. I find that unconvincing). Anyway, though Ares now has a much more powerful bargaining chip than just a promise to find Gabby, he weakens his demand from Xena marrying him now, to Xena marrying him in her next life. Which she agrees with her thumbprint on the marriage scroll. Ares asks, just for curiosity, what if he'd just been asking for her hand in marriage, no strings attached. Xena kisses him (great kiss!) and says 'Guess you'll never know'. I *love* that. Back at the press conference, the Xena expert waves the scroll around, and Ares bursts through the door on his bike. (Assistant: "Did we schedule any celebrity appearances?" Dr Delaney (love the name!): "Well we contacted Bruce Campbell but he was too much money". TPTB are taking potshots all round in this ep!) I like that Ares swaps Xena's soul into Annie Day and Joxer's into Harry. Much more fitting. So then Xena manages to get Ares hurling fireballs, one of which hits the scroll she waves in front of it - thus destroying it in the only way possible. Neat. I really like this ep - and it holds up well on re-watching. The present-day part of it is, of course, a follow-on from Deja Vu All Over Again. Directed by Josh Becker, who IMO made the best of the material - he left the slapstick solely to Ted Raimi, who does it well. Written by Melissa Blake - this is the only ep she wrote. Pity, I would have liked to see more of her work. Thinking back, Melissa Blake was of course Rob Tapert's PA - as memorably portrayed by Lisa Chappell in Yes Virginia and For Those of You Just Joining Us. Curiously, though all the motivation for the ep is Gabrielle (just like Sin Trades), she isn't actually in it (just like Sin Trades). Other than flashbacks and Mattie. cr ========================================================= 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 V9 #50 *************************************