Haunting of Amphipolis
Our tale opens with Angel Michael talking to his little dark haired buddy about the task that lay ahead for Xena as she makes her way home through Amphipolis. If Xena fails, Hell on earth will ensue. As Xena, Gabby and Eve come into town they talk about Cyrene and how she stood up against Athena. Xena tells Eve she’ll love Amphipolis because it’s so full of life. The place however is deserted. The tavern is pretty dumpy and Eve asks, "Mother grew up here?". Gabby said it never looked like this.
Xena goes up stairs while Gabby checks the back. Eve, like most eps, is just wandering around. (BG) Xena walks down the hallway and hears screams and her mother being tugged along but nothing is there when she rounds the corner. Eve is downstairs with Gabby and Eve sees a man yelling ‘Light the fire!’ as another man drags Cyrene down the stairs. They head straight ‘through’ Eve and she can sense it’s her grandmother’s ghost. Xena asks if Eve is sure and Eve is certain. Gabby points out that Eve’s never SEEN Cyrene. How could she know? (Hey!! Someone thought about some ‘continuality’ here!!) Eve says she knows it was her essence. Her grandmother is not at rest. And of course this bothers Xena to no end since her mom is trapped in the dump of a tavern.
Xena sets off to the local crept. Gabby asks if she wants them to come. Xena pretty much says thanks but no thanks and Gabby and Eve stay behind. Xena finds her mother’s bones and they look a bit crispy. She’s all upset and weepy as warrior princess’ get when it comes to their dead mothers. Of course Xena feels guilty but she swears she’ll find her mommy and make it right.
Eve and Gabby are in the tavern, eating fruit. Eve looks down and sees a bunch of maggots in it. She asks Gabby if she ate any of it yet. Gabby looks at the piece she just bit out of to find maggots. She runs away gagging. Eve throws the fruit outside saying ‘By the love of Eli, I cast the evil out’ or words to that effect. Gabby is out back washing up in a water basin when she notices something under her skin. She claws at her hands to get it out and it’s soon a bloody mess. She starts to cry and freak out and when she raises her hands it’s just bloody bones. She’s spazed at this point. Eve is still talking to the maggots telling the evil critters to go away. After a final chant the maggots disappear and Gabrielle’s hands go back to normal.
At the crept Xena finds a man lurking and gets the lowdown on what happened. Seems a bunch of evil spirits took over Cyrene’s tavern a long time ago and she fought them off as best she could but went crazy in the end until the burned her at the stake for being a witch. Xena’s not pleased by the news to say the least and she rushes back to the tavern because the evil spirits are still there. Back at the house some strange faces start to appear on the ground. Eve sees them and so does Gabrielle. Gabby tries to get a better look and a hand pops out and brings her through the floor. She ends up in a poll of water while demons keep her down. Eve and Xena start to search the house for her. A voice calls out that the blood of the messenger must be spilled. And Gabby ain’t the messenger. Xena hears Gabby yell through the floor and reaches down into the floor to find Gabby’s arm. She pulls Gabby up and she’s covered in goo that burns. The three of them take Gabby to a shower and get off the icky stuff where they get the dirt on what’s happening from Xena and Gabby tells them about the ‘messenger’ stuff. Xena says the king of hell has picked the wrong battle with her. She leaves the room and finds a vision of her, her dead brother Lyceus and her mother. Her mother condemns her for getting Lyceus killed and the real Xena relives the pain of her brother’s death again.
Eve is sitting in the house when blood starts to drip all over the place. Gabby is still in the shower and the water now turns to blood and it’s all over her body. She starts to wig out again and howl. Eve starts to pray again over and over but the blood keeps coming. Next we see naked Gabby who’s now possessed. Eve gets more worried and prays quicker. Xena comes into the shower room calling for Gabrielle. She finds her – upside down and naked from the rafters. Xena’s got the "Oh Sh*t!" look on her face and before she can do anything naked Gabby leaps on top of her. Yes I’ve wanted to see a naked bard roll around the floor with a warrior princess (and we do get a nice butt shot of Gabby here (BG) ) but this isn’t quite what I had in mind.
Xena manages to snare a potato sack or something and wrap up Gabby’s nakedness. The king of Hell, Metosphclease(sp?), speaks through Gabby. Since Xena has killed the Olympus order it’s now his turn to inherit the earth. Eve runs in and starts do the exorcist thing on Gabby. Of course ‘Gabby’ tries to distract Xena by taunting her about her mothers death – showing her being burned at the stake. Eve keeps doing the prayer thing on Gabby and finally the evil dude takes off and out of Gabrielle. However in doing so it makes Eve very weak. They cuddle Gabby afterward (Ahhh…how sweet(BG)) and Xena says that she wants Gabby to get out because he’s using her. Gabby refuses to leave. Eve says she doesn’t have to worry – Gabrielle can’t be taken again because she’s been cleansed.
They start to leave and Xena and Gabby start to argue again about Gabby staying. Gabby grabs Xena’s arm to make her point and they are suddenly joined together. Next their legs get locked together as the evil spirits throw knives, chandeliers and anything else they can. The special effects in this scene were pretty cool and watching Xena and Gabby having to work and move as one body was pretty good. Seems the warrior and the bard are very in tune with each other’s body movements (insert subtext snicker here (BG)).
They run out to Eve and she does the prayer thing and pulls them apart. But all is not safe yet. Far from it. The King says Eve can’t sustain this battle and he’ll win. The king says he doesn’t need Eve to die, just a few drops of blood will do but Xena’s not gonna do that. She won’t release him. She decides to fight him on his turf and shows Gabby how to do the pinch on her and bring her back. Gabby is reluctant to say the least. "Why are you showing me this now?" she asked. Xena says they have to do this. Gabby asks, "Here." And Xena moves her fingers up a fraction of an inch and says, "No that will stop my heart. Here," she says. Gabby rolls her eyes. Xena says she has faith in Gabrielle and tells her to bring her back. Gabby agrees to do it. Xena arrives in Hell to find her mother walking around with an ax, crying over killing her husband. Xena takes on the king but she can’t harm him in his realm. She says she’ll let him out into her world and kill him there. He says if she kills him then she has to take over Hell.
Gabby is looking over Xena with the bleeding nose while Eve goes to get water to try to wake her up. As she gets the water she sees the figure of a man she decapitated…more and more Livia victims come out to taunt her. Meanwhile Xena battles in hell while Gabby tries repeated to take off the pinch but failing. Gabby starts to worry (it’s a very stress for episode for Gabby) when she can’t make the pinch work. She loves her warrior. And I love Gabby. Have I mentioned that?(vbg) An image of Livia appears to Eve and tells her to spill her blood. It’s the only way to set things right. Finally Xena wakes up and they go find Eve.
They ask Xena how they are going to stop him. Xena has to bring him to earth even if it means taking his throne. She’s not going to have her family suffer anymore. Gabby tries to plea to Eve to not do this. But Eve says Xena’s the only one capable of stopping him and asks for her support. Gabby decides she’s outnumbered and holds onto Eve as Eve begins a prayer by the ‘portal of hell that opened up in Xena’s backyard’. Xena stands ready to battle him for when he comes from the hole. As the earth opens up, Xena sends Gabby and Eve away. He comes up and they battle. He taunts Xena that she can’t really kill him. She doesn’t want his throne. Xena pauses but realizes she has to do it to save the world from hell on earth. If being on the throne of hell is what she has to do then so be it – she stabs him through the stomach killing him.
Gabby comes up and says "Look". They turn around and see Eve talking to Cyrene. Cyrene gives Gabrielle a sweet hello and Gabby said they missed her. Xena says she finally found her but she’s gone. Cyrene said she’d never be gone if she’s in her heart. Cyrene vanishes before Xena can hug her. Eve asks Gabby what’s wrong when she sees a bit of concern on the bard’s face. She says she’s worried about the legend of Xena inheriting hell. Xena says she thinks this is not yet over as they stare into the firepit of Amphipolis.
Fade to Black.
Next week: Xena ‘dances with the devil’. Vigil appears to be back at a swinging soirée and Lucifer grows horns, which makes him pretty grumpy.