Season Three (cont.) - 1997/98
One Against An Army
Gabrielle is determined to learn for herself the secret of Xena's amazing flips and sets out to practice them. When she decides to attempt it without a bar for the first time, she falls ackwardly and sprains her ankle. As Xena is bathing it at a nearby well, a frightened man runs past and tells them of an approaching army. Realising that this is a serious invasion Xena sets out to do her best to stop it; while heading towards the advancing forces Xena and Gabrielle meet a man who claims to be a fleeing Spartan. While Xena secretly suspects that he is a spy, Gabrielle takes him at face value and when they meet the advancing forces tries to "save" him, only to get hit by a poison arrow. When Xena's attempts to find the antidote to the poison fail, she must choose between saving Gabrielle's life or stopping an invasion of Greece by a marauding army from the East. Holed up in a barn where Xena once kept a cache of weapons, she prepares for battle with the army while Gabrielle's health deteriorates rapidly.
Episode: 3.13, US airdate: 7 Feb 98.
Forgiven
When an obnoxious young teenage girl with a lot of attitude picks a fight with Gabrielle, she finds herself taking a severe beating until Xena comes back and breaks it up. When the girl, Tara, explains that she intends to replace Gabrielle as Xena's sidekick, neither of them are particularly impressed. Despite Xena's saying no, Tara follows them and eventually Xena takes pity on her, much to Gabrielle's chagrin. It turns out that Tara knows something about a gang that has kidnapped an important relic from a local temple, and as a result Xena decides that she may be some help in their mission of recovering the relic. As time progresses however Tara's impetulance lands both her and Gabrielle in deadly trouble at the hands of the gang. When she once again starts a catfight with Gabrielle, Gabrielle gets sufficently angry to really fight back against her natural better nature. After Tara recieves a bad beating at Gabrielle's hands, the tension between them deminishes and they continue on their mission to recover the artifact. However Tara suddenly seems to switch sides and soon Xena and Gabrielle find themselves in a trap carefully set by the gang.
Episode: 3.14, US airdate: 14 Feb 98.
Guest Star: Shiri Appleby (Tara).
King Con
When Joxer wins a large amount of money in a casino, he is conned out of his winnings by a pair of con men. Things get worse when the henchmen of the casino catch up with him and attempt to get back his winnings - only to start beating him senseless when he says he doesn't have it any more. Fortunately for Joxer, Xena is nearby and hears the disturbance and manages to drive off the henchmen. Having taken Joxer to a nearby temple where he can receive care and attention, Xena goes into the town. Spotting one of the con men carrying Joxer's sword, she forces them to tell her what happened and on hearing the story decides to enlist their help (under some duress) in bringing down the owner of the casino who's henchmen beat up Joxer. As Xena puts her plans into place to bring down the casino owner, things go a little awry and one of the con men betrays them... When the other is killed, Xena has to rely on her skills with playing cards to avenge both Joxer's beating and the murder of the con man who was helping her.
Episode: 3.15, US airdate: 21 Feb 98.
When In Rome...
When Julias Caesar captures Vercinix, a freedom fighter from Gaul, Xena receives a plea from his wife to rescue him from Rome. Xena in turn captures one of Caesar's leading lieutants, Crassus, and makes her way to Rome in a bid to trade his life for Vercinix's. After arriving in Rome and discovering more about the power struggle within the triumbrivate, Xena comes to realise that Caesar needs the public relations coup of capturing Vercinix and excuting him in public to further his political ambitions within Rome. Realising that Caesar will not make a deal, she and Gabrielle proceed to plan a bate and switch of Vercinix and Crassus within the prison cells in Rome. Along the way Gabrielle has to decide whether Crassus should be given the chance to escape or if he must be lead out to almost certain slaughter at Caesars hands. While Xena is captured and forced to battle two Gladiators in the ring, Gabrielle carries out the bate and switch in the prison cells.
Episode: 3.16, US airdate: 1 Mar 98.
Forget Me Not
Something is troubling Gabrielle very deeply and as she and Joxer wait to meet up with Xena, Gabrielle decides to visit the temple of the goddess of memory, Nemisine, to see if they can help her find the truth she cannot face. The priestess starts Gabrielle on a dreamscape journey, while Joxer who has become very worried attempts to get Gabrielle out of the temple. When Joxer finally gets in he "rescues" Gabrielle only to find that she has no idea who she is, and has lost all her memories. As her spirit continues on it's journey, Joxer tries to teach her memoryless self of who she is. As he reads to her from her scrolls, he starts to alter the stories to avoid the bad and unpleasant things that have happened to her. As time progresses he gets a little carried away and ends up convincing the naiive and innocent Gabrielle that she loves him. Meanwhile in the dreamscape, Gabrielle's spirit encounters the figure of Ares and works her way through three rivers each of which torments her with visions of her past actions. Soon she comes to realise that Ares is the key to her nightmares, but when she discovers the terrible secret at the end she must decide whether to keep her memories or to dispose of them and remain the innocent, clueless girl listening to Joxer's stories outside the temple.
Episode: 3.17, US airdate: 8 Mar 98.
Fins, Femmes, and Gems
Aphrodite arranges for some thugs to steal a valuable and precious diamond from a temple, which is in reality the power behind the North Star, so that she can start her own new constellation in the night sky. Xena and her posse (well, Gabrielle and Joxer) are close on the tails of her gang and determined to return the diamond to it's rightful place. In order to stop them, Aphrodite uses a magic potion to make the three of them obessed by whatever they were looking at at the time. For Joxer, it is the story of Apis the ape man; for Gabrielle it is her own reflection in a mirror and for Xena it is a fish she was holding at the time. Xena then leads them down to the shore of a lake (actually filmed at Lake Wainamu in Bethells Valley) where she proceeds to go fishing while Gabrielle preens herself incessantly and Joxer acts like an overgrown monkey (ok, so this is an improvement for Joxer... :-)). Despite her obsession with fishing, Xena manages to convince Gabrielle that she should own the beautiful diamond - which leads Gabrielle to go off and grab it from Aphrodite's thugs. However they pursue her and end up loosing Xena her prized catch - something that makes her very angry indeed.
Episode: 3.18, US airdate: 12 Apr 98.
Guest Stars: Ted Raimi (Joxer), Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite).
Tsunami
Gabrielle visits a fortune teller who tells her that is about to go on a long voyage with a tall dark hansome man - Xena pours scorn on the idea since they were only visiting the fishing village for supplies. However when Gabrielle suddenly spots that Autolycus is part of a chain gang of slave being dragged onto a ship in the dock, she tries to talk to him. When the slave drivers attempt to stop her, a fight ensues on the deck of the ship and it starts to set sail. As she's about to get caught, she manages to attract Xena's attention who soon joins Gabrielle on the deck of the departing ship. As they try to find out what is going on, they discover that the slaves are bound for a diamond mine on an island and that Autolycus had meant to get captured. Things take an unexpected turn when Xena notices that Mount Etna has erupted and realises that a tidal wave is about to strike them. The ships captain attempts to change direction but it is too late and the ship is caught in the wave and is capsized. When they come too, they realise that the ship is upside down and sinking fast and Xena has to try and come up with a plan to escape before it becomes their watery tomb.
Episode: 3.19, US airdate: 19 Apr 98.
Vanishing Act
Gabrielle travels on ahead to attend the opening of an annual celebration of peace at a small coastal village. The following morning the villagers are shocked to discover that their precious statue of Pax, the god of peace has been stolen. Surveying the situation Xena spots a shifty figure by the dock and reveals it to be none other than Autolycus, The King of Thieves. However Autolycus swears blind that he didn't steal the statue and enlists Xena and Gabrielle's help in finding out who did steal it with the aim of stealing it back. The only problem is that Autolycus insists on doing it his way, which involves endless disguises and silly voices. Along the way they discover who is responsible - the man who killed Autolycus' brother and soon the mission takes on a different complexion as Autolycus continues his quest for revenge. Xena is desperate to stop Autolycus from killing him because she fears for what Autolycus will become a deadly but soulless assasin if he manages to carry out his plans. There is also the small problem of returning the massive statue to the villagers.
Episode: 3.21, US airdate: 3 May 98.
Sacrifice, Part 1
Callisto emerges through a hole she has created from the vortex where she was trapped with the Sovreign. Meanwhile, Xena and Gabrielle watch a demonic cult prepare for a human sacrifice - Gabrielle's childhood friend Seraphin. True to form Xena uses her Chakram to halt the proceedings and managed to get Seraphin only to discover she was a very willing participant. Callisto kidnaps one of the priests and takes him to a cave where Hope is growing in a cocoon and is about to hatch. When Seraphin tells them of the Godess, Xena and Gabrielle assume it's Callisto, but as Xena tries to stop yet another human sacrifice, she suddenly realises that it is Hope rather than Callisto that they are up against. Ares further muddies the waters by calling in his debt and telling Gabrielle that if Xena kills Hope, then Gabrielle must cut Xena's life thread kept by the Fates, killing Xena. Gabrielle tries to talk to Seraphin, only to disclose to her that she is Hope's mother - the Betrayer as Seraphin calls her. Xena then decides to let Seraphin go and she and Gabrielle follow Seraphin to where Hope's cocoon is now placed. In a struggle, Xena tries to stop Seraphin getting sacrificed again but Seraphin does get a flesh wound in the process; as the fight continues Seraphin crawls towards Hope's cocoon and smeers her own blood onto it, causing Hope to hatch.
Episode: 3.9, US airdate: 12 Jan 98.
Guest Stars: Hudson Leick (Callisto), Jodie Rimmer (Seraphin), Kevin Smith (Ares).
Sacrifice, Part 2
As Hope hatches, it turns out that she looks exactly like her mother, Gabrielle. Things turn distinctly cold between Xena and Gabrielle because of Gabrielle's intervention which stopped Xena killing Hope - Gabrielle tries to explain but Xena won't listen. Tending to Seraphin's wound, they head off to try to find where Hope now is. Meanwhile Hope insists on Callisto making her look just like her mother and tries to pursuade Callisto to join her army of darkness rather than seek the oblivion she so desperately wants. Hope also talks to Joxer while posing as Gabrielle in order to find out why everyone loves her mother, and why she appears to have no love for her own child. In the meantime, Hope and Ares start getting rather amorous and Hope becomes more dismissive of Callisto's insistance that she fulfill their pact, causing Callisto to turn to Xena for help - offering her assistance in exchange for Xena killing her with the Hind's Blood dagger which they now know Xena knows the whereabouts of. Although Xena is totally dismissive at first, Gabrielle pursuades her to accept Callisto's help. As they continue their quest for Hope, they see more and more innocent villagers being rounded up by the cult as sacrifices. Xena decides to try to save them and starts a fight during which time Gabrielle slips away and Hope tries impersonating her mother. Xena begins to guess what is going on and catches Hope out just as she's rescued by Ares. Ares then explains to Xena that she can't win and what he has forced Gabrielle to agree to to repay her debt. Xena of course continues anyway and the confrontation comes as Hope and Ares start the sacrifice. Thanks to Joxer smuggling in the Hind's blood dagger, Xena is able to come close to killing Hope but at the last minute, Gabrielle decides to save Xena's life by killing herself and Hope with a plunge into the fiery abyss in Hope's temple. Xena is heartbroken, and turns the dagger on Callisto as she laughs about Gabrielle's death. Ares, somewhat stunned, leaves the temple having seen Hope, Gabrielle and Callisto die and fearing he may easily be the next in line.
Episode: 3.22, US airdate: 10 May 98.
Guest Stars: Hudson Leick (Callisto), Jodie Rimmer (Seraphin), Kevin Smith (Ares), Ted Raimi (Joxer).