Cast
Peter Feeney (Caswallawn)
Mark Clare (Eochaid)
Robert Harte (Goewin)
Michelle Huirama (Banshee #1)
Nicola Brown (Banshee #2)
Catherine Boniface (Meridian)
Summer Proben (Hope, toddler)
Hannah Carr (Hope, 10 Months)
Alyssa Carr (Hope, 10 Months)

CREDITS
Written by R. J. Stewart
Edited by Jim Prior
Directed by Charles Siebert and Andrew Merrifield

Wishin' and Hopin'

Gabrielle has stopped to smell the flowers in a beautiful, picturesque field. Meridian approaches and Gabrielle slowly embraces her in a great, big hug (I don't even give these kinds of hugs to mom...), but a knife appears and hovers over Meridian's shoulder. Gabrielle grabs the knife, looks at it for a moment and begins to stab her repeatedly. Meridian collapses to the ground and Gabrielle looks at the knife. Cut to Gabrielle rolling around in the bedroll. Xena gently wakes her friend up and Xena comforts her. "Your body and mind are just reacting to your first kill." Gabrielle believes she is being punished for shedding blood. Xena reminds her friend "one day you'll have hope again. You'll realize there is so much good to be done." They are going to be leaving Brittiania and Dahak behind...or so they think. As they walk through the woods, three supernatural women known as Banshees (think back to the 80s...big hair and weird clothes) begin to attack Xena. Xena has no way of fighting back because they turn into air when threatened, but they refuse to attack Gabrielle (finally, villains with a code!). They begin to call Gabrielle "the chosen one" and they want to honor and worship her (well, you know like most ROC fans...nothing new or suprising here...can I worship...ah, never mind).

Xena and Gabrielle enter a seemingly normal village. Gabrielle begins to reveal how much her encounter with the dark one has really affected her.

"Xena, I thought that Khrafstar was leading me to the salvation of the world through peace and light and instead I discovered the heart of darkness and I became apart of that. I think that that's what the Banshees were talking about. That maybe there's an evil inside me and that they want to worship that."
"Now, you stop that. Gabrielle what you're talking about now is nonsense. What happened in that temple cannot destroy the core of your goodness. It only give it a greater challenge. You're going to rise above it, I know you will."

(I've wondered if Gabrielle's core comes in creamy caramel and chocolate favors, but I digress...)While Xena tries to arrange for passage back to Greece, Gabrielle is overwhelmed by the sudden urge to eat chicken livers, cherry and sheep lard ("oh, just like mom used to make...mmmm...mmmm...good!"). Meanwhile, an angry mob gathers outside the tavern calling for Gabrielle's blood (angry mobs due tend to do that). Gabrielle realizes too late that she is in way over her head. Over at the docks, Xena is attacked by warriors wearing pierced hearts. She defeats them easily (like they ever had a chance) and runs after Gabrielle who has managed to escape using a nice pole vault techinque (shame women weren't allowed to compete in the Olympics in those days) and is now running through the woods. Xena follows suit, but losing Gabrielle. She manages to get a hold of one of the angry mob and he tells her that Gabrielle will bring an end to "goodness."

Xena finds Gabrielle being taken care of by the Banshees. They give her a new outfit to wear (damn, Renee can make any outfit look good) and break the news to her..."you carry within you the child that will bring a new order to the world, the child of darkness" ("congrads, Gabby...mother's day has come early this year!"). Gabrielle is disbelieving at first and runs to Xena's said saying that the Banshees are crazy. Gabrielle just wants to leave, but Xena is confident she can can these women on and simply utters, "Oh, we don't have to run. I'm going to slap these bitches silly" ("ixnay on the btcha...kids are watching!"). They manage to fool the banshees and head for a castle. The banshees cannot enter a home unless they are invited (must be some sort of supernatural rule or something....vampires must be part of the same union). Gabrielle still disbelieves her stasis as mother-to-be, "Xena I am not pregnant!" Xena believes Gabrielle is already in her fourth month. Gabrielle becomes a believer when the child begins to move inside of her. Xena takes her to the stable and lays her down telling her to relax. Xena hears the approaching voices of the knights she took on the docks. She quietly listens as the knights argue about Gabrielle. Xena burst into the room and she wants explanations and she wants them now. She puts in the pinch on one of the knights and he says that he will tell her everything, "when you're friend was on the altar in the temple of Dahak, he planted his seed within her." Gabrielle screams and Xena takes off toward the stable. The warriors follow suit. Gabrielle is ready to give birth. She is scared and frightened. Xena numbs the sensation using pressure points and tells Gabrielle to push. The knights are trying to break down the door when finally Gabrielle's child is born. Xena utters, "it's a girl." The knights burst in and Gabrielle whispers, "don't let them kill my baby."

Two of the knights are not certain if the child is of the darkness or the light, "we can't punish it for the sins of its father." They help Xena get Gabrielle out of harm's way. Gabrielle feels great as she holds her daughter in her arms.

"You were right."
"Right, about what?"
"You said that one day I would find hope again. Here it is. I think that's what I'll to call her, Hope."

Flashforward a few hours and Hope has grown into a six month child. The knights are amazed at her growth and her perfection. They are sure she is a "child of the light." Xena isn't convinced of her innocence and she makes her concerns known.

"who do you think she is?"
"She's my daughter."
"Doesn't it bother you that she obviously isn't moral?"
(Snipage)
"Gabrielle, she is the daughter of Dahak."
"I have thought about that. Xena maybe she is. Look if that is true, I will help her fight against her dark side just like I help you fight against yours.
"What if that's not possible?"
Xena, if you are truly my friend, you'll stop looking at her as some symbol of an evil god, see her for what she truly is, a beautiful innocent baby."
"Alright, but I'll be watching her development very carefully."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that I'm not so convinced of her innocence."
"Let's get one thing clear Xena, no matter what she is, she is my daughter. Don't come between us."

As everyone is sleeping one of the knights goes to the front door and makes a deal with the banshees. Just as he is granting them permission to enter, Xena shows up and begins to kick some butt. Xena returns to the room to find the other knight dead, choaked to death with is own chain. The baby is now playing with the pierced heart. Xena takes out her sword to kill the child when Gabrielle wakes up (nice timing). She asks Xena what she is doing ("ah, Gabrielle, she's standing over your child with her sword drawn, chance are she isn't playing peek-a-boo"). Xena tells her that Hope killed the knight. "Have you lost your mind? Look at her, she's baby." Xena response, "that is not a baby, that is a thing in the form of a baby, a dark, wicked thing that must be destroyed." Just then, the banshees burst in. Gabrielle tells them to attack while she makes her escape. Xena is finally able to defeat the supernatural freaks (mean that in the nicest possible way) and run after Gabrielle. Gabrielle knows she must save her child, but she also knows that Xena will not stop until Hope is dead.

"Oh, Hope. Please don't cry. I won't let her hurt you, I promise I won't. I'll die first. Are you tired? Me too. We can't rest. Xena won't. I know her."
Gabrielle looks at Hope and wonders aloud.
"Who are you? Who are you?"
Xena is heard in the background.
"See what I mean, she's releteless."

Gabrielle starts to trek up a hill when Xena finally catches up to her. She pleads with Gabrielle to kill the baby she is carrying for the good of everyone. Gabrielle screams "Xena" and she runs up the hill. Gabrielle says the child turned into a monster, tried to strangle her so she thew her over a cliff. As Xena comforts Gabrielle, she hears a sound from a nearby cave. Gabrielle doesn't believe that Xena doesn't believe her, but Xena's fears are calmed when she finds no baby in the cave.

The scene cuts to a baby floating up river, it is Hope. Gabrielle has fooled the Warrior Princess. Gabrielle and Xena have made camp and as Xena sleeps, Gabrielle makes her way out into the woods. She drops to her knees and begins a prayer for her daughter:

"I know you're out there. Somewhere. My love, my Hope, please, be good."

Parental Guidance or Points-o-Interest

• Notice that there are two directors for this episode. One director got sick halfway through the shoot and had to be replaced by another one. The entire birth scene was re-shot because Rob Tapert did not believe it was scary enough.
• If you look closely, the roundtable the warrior gather around is the same prop used in The Debt I and II, and it is also a prop used in Lucy's TV Guide photo shoot.
• Wooden Lamb Alert...speaking of recycling props, Hope is playing with the wooden lamb Xena gave Gabrielle last Solistice. Of course, this prop also plays a significant role in Maternal Instincts.
• Another Solistice Carol connection, it seems the "child of the light" has already been born. If you take a look at the end of A Solistice Carol, Gabrielle gives Tobias to Mary, Joseph and the child of the light himself, Jesus.
• Amend the history books, Xena, it seems, was suppose to be the true ruler of Brittaina by removing Excalibur from its stone before King Arthur.
• YAXI Alert...when Xena is fighting the Banshees in the final sequence, she loses her sword. She runs out the door without picking it up, but when she is outside *POOF* the sword is back in the scabbard. Well, she does have many skills...
• Just in case you were keeping track...Gabrielle had, in order, chicken broth, cherries, beef jerky, pork liver really bloody, cheese, goat's cream, and chicken gizzards fried in sheep lard. I'm getting a little bit hunger just thinkin' about it...home cookin' just like ma used to make.
• Whoops Alert...when Gabrielle is in the stable and starting to have contraction, she rips her shift open a little too far, and you can see the pregnancy padding she has underneath.
• Light moments please....(1) Gabrielle asking for her wild cravings. (2) The look of amazment and shock when Xena pulls Exclaibur from the stone. (3) The knights trying to remove the sword from the stone themselves. (4) The Banshees...although I think we were meant to take them seriously, but with lines like "We love you, we worship you..." come on!
• Best Line of Episode: "We don't have to run, I'm going to slap these bitches silly."
  Runner-up: "My love, my Hope, please, be good."
  Oh-So-Cheesiest Line: "It is not a baby, it's the thing in the form of a baby, a dark, wicked thing that must be destroyed."

The Devil in Disguise or Detailed Analysis and My Warped Theories

Coming Soon....

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Image Links

• Tom's Gabrielle's Hope Images
• MaryD's Gabrielle's Hope Montage
• Michelle's Gabrielle's Hope Gallery

Hope's Links...(Follow them at your own risk!)

• LaLa's Gabrielle's Hope Episode Review
• Whoosh's Gabrielle's Hope Episode Review
Review

DISCLAIMER:
Despite witnessing the bizarre and somewhat disturbing birth of Gabrielle's Hope, no farm animals were harmed or traumatized during the production of this motion picture.