The first...when the Guardian Angels descended from the sky they
formed a *Star Of David*...a six sided star. I found this interesting since it appeared that Xena and Gabrielle met Mary and Joseph in A Solstice Carol. Since Jesus was born of Jewish parents and was himself considered a Jew, was this supposed to symbolize the origin of the Star Of David in Judiasim?
The second...the concept of how one gets to either Heaven or Hell
was confused. The Guardian Angels began to lift Xena and Gabrielle
presumably to Heaven and then Gabrielle was knocked down into
Hell by the now demon Callisto and other demons. (I just gotta say this that whole
scene of those demons flying reminded me a whole lot of the flying
monkeys in *The Wizard Of OZ*, LOL). Anyway, The angels coming
to take Xena and Gab to Heaven, smiling angelically as they were,
made it appear that they would proceed to Heaven without
judgement. Now as far as I know most religions teach that in order
to get to Heaven you have to go through some kind of judgement
process whereby your life's events are examined and you are either
deemed worthy to enter the Pearly Gates or you are condemned to
Hell.
So were X & G being taken to Heaven for judgement or were they
simply being admitted without that step? OR is where you end up
just a case of who gets to you first...the angels or the devils
As for judgement, I tend to think they were being admitted to
Heaven without it since Michael permitted Xena to enter Heaven and
then to become an Archangel after she successfully walked through
the fire of purification. And was that test....the choice...her means of
judgement?
And was Gabrielle's forgiveness of Callisto *her* means of
judgement?
In any event I found the SFX vividly colorful and quite stunning. Callisto made a wonderful demon but I think Xena overacted just a tad. Although I must say that when Archangel Xena gave her "light" to the demon Callisto in order to save her it was quite a touching scene.
On the otherhand, I can't buy an angelic Callisto. To me she will always be the evil bad girl and so I kind of winced at the new and improved angelic version when she appeared.
The beginning of this episode was heartwrenching. Joxer's devastation and determination, Americe's courage and Eli's steadfastness as the three of them freed Xena and Gabrielle from the crosses they were nailed to.
Ahhh now on to the controversy....Archangel Gabrielle and Demon Xena fight. Gabrielle is wounded and Xena scoops her up meaning to take her to Hell so they can be together for all of eternity. Michael gimpily (is that a word? LOL) runs towards them and tackles Xena from behind thus sending all three of them over the edge. Huh? Why? Oh....maybe he thought he would sprout his wings and fly Gabrielle back up to Heaven's Gate? Hmmmm...in any event....
Meantime...back on Earth...Eli has been visited by Angel Callisto and told that "love is the way". He then goes to the tomb where the bodies of Xena and Gabrielle are being laid out and puts his hands on each of them. Angel Callisto appears behind him and reaching through him (angels can do that ya know) joins her hands with him and sends a bit of her light to X & G.
They awaken with a start....apparently having no memory of being in Heaven and Hell or of Callisto or Michael or anything else that happened while they were dead. Then, Callisto turns to Michael who nods his head. She smiles and goes over and touches Xena sending "something" to her. Then finally Callisto is reunited with her parents (that kinda brought tears to my eyes...poor Calli waited so long for that) and the now sitting Gabrielle puts her head on the now sitting Xena's shoulder. Fade to black.
So much speculation was discussed regarding that "touch" given by Callisto. As the season progressed we found out who was right and who was wrong in guessing the reason...but it proved to be something many of us had never heard of or even expected....something that some of us didn't really want to see happen. It proved to be the beginning of much confusion and unexplained plot twists some of which were never resolved and some which made absolutely no sense at all and did not advance the story of Xena: Warrior Princess. I didn't know it at the time but it was the beginning...for me...of the disillusionment of a show I once loved.......
Some Questions & Thoughts To Ponder
There were two things that I noticed that kind of unsettled me in this
ep (which other than that I thought was outstanding by the way)...
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