Lifeblood

Lifeblood

Teleplay by R.J. Stewart, George Strayton, & Tom O'Neil
Story by Rob Tapert & R.J. Stewart
Directed by Michael Hurst

Episode synopsis:
Segment one: Gabrielle is bringing Xena and Eve to her tribe so that she can give Eve her Right Of Caste. But they arrive to find the Amazons in mourning and lighting funeral pyres, one of which is for Yakut. As her body is lit, her spirit rises and gives Xena a vision of battles and violence.
Segment two: Gabrielle needs to take her place as queen before she can transfer her Right Of Caste. Xena, left out of the ceremony because she is not an Amazon, is summoned by Yakut. Yakut reveals that she cannot cross over to the Land Of The Dead with her life work unfinished. She reveals that the Amazons are in danger and the key lies in the past. The history of the Amazon people are revealed to Gabrielle during her ceremony: in the original tribe, all the men had been killed by cannibals. Female warriors such as Samsara steal a dagger from the cannibals and use it to summon a savior from the future, an Utma. What they get is a freaked out high school girl, Cyane. When Cyane manages to ride a white horse for a few seconds, the tribe realizes that she IS one of them, and induct her into their tribe by cutting her arm, a ritual repeated in the present on Gabrielle.
Segment three: Gabrielle is asked to embrace the Amazon way, and shown a vision of the past, the Amazons battling the cannibals. She is asked to lead the tribe in their quest for vengeance. She refuses and asks to continue to the Right Of Caste ceremony. Yakut and Xena, meanwhile, have summoned the Utma dagger with which they can bring visions of the past into the present. They see a vision of Samsara challenging the original Cyane to a race, during which Cyane falls into a river but is rescued by one of the cannibals, with whom she falls in love. Samsara arrives and attacks him, but Cyane prevents her from killing. Samsara demands Cyane's death. Yakut and Xena realize that this bloodlust has infected the tribe and perverted their purpose all these years. Xena races to prevent Eve from being initiated into this curse with the sacrifice of a white horse during the Right Of Caste ceremony.
Segment four: The sacrifice is stopped by Xena who shows them more visions of their past: Cyane is captured by the canniabls, but the cannibal with whom she has fallen in love refuses to kill her. Then Samsara leads the Amazons to her rescue. It is revealed that Samsara's bitterness is the result of watching the cannibals kill her father, and now she is filled with vengeance. The vision is interrupted in the present by the Amazons who are still eager for this vengeance. Yakut begs Xena to stop them.
Segment five: Xena begs the modern Cyane to listen to her, because she owes Yakut (Yakut took an arrow for her.) The ancient tribe of Amazons lure the cannibals out into the open, and then attack them with a cavalry charge, wiping them out. But Samsara is unwilling to finish it there. She wants to continue and "slaughter them like sheep." The present Amazons are ashamed of their past and vow only to fight to save lives. Eve is initiated with water, and Yakut is free to cross into the Land Of The Dead.

Disclaimer: Warning: The Surgeon General cautions performing Weird and Grotesque Amazon rituals may be hazardous to your health.

Moments Of Subtext:
Gabrielle talks about her desire to give Eve her Right Of Caste: "Xena, we're all family. I love her like my own daughter."
Initiating a queen involves the tribe giving her their "spirit kiss," walking around her blowing kisses.
Xena tells Cyane that Yakut died for her "Because she loves you."
The original Cyane dances closely with her Amazon chum.

Commentary:
This is what would normally be called a "clip show" except that the clips they are showing are from an episode that never aired. It is from a series they were going to make called "Amazon High," which for some reason they dropped and made "Cleopatra 2525" instead. Which is a bit of a shame because when I first heard about "Amazon High" I thought it sounded incredibly bad: a modern high school student is transported back in time to the age of the Amazons. But now that I've seen some footage of the show, it's not as bad as I would have thought. I hope that they did not kill off Ephiny so that Danielle Cormack could do "Amazon High," because it looks like this flashback episode will be our last chance to see her. Now, am I losing track of what is happeining in the Amazon world? Wasn't Gabrielle queen of a different Amazon tribe? How does that give her leadership in this one? Another odd thing: Xena is not allowed to attend the Righ Of Caste ceremony because she is not an Amazon?! Hang on, Xena has more claim over this tribe than Gabrielle does. This is the tribe Xena found in "Adventures In The Sin Trade" where she became their shamaness, and trained her successor, Yakut. Now they are denying her membership? And speaking of "Adventures In The Sin Trade," what ever happened to Otere? She was the leader of this tribe, and Yakut was her second in command. But everytime they come back to this tribe, they only deal with Yakut and give no explanation for Otere's disappearance. Much later in the episode, when the Amazons are about to sacrifice the horse, listen as the woman holds the knife against the horse's throat. For some reason, the sound people decided the appropriate sound for this motion was a metallic "chink," like someone drawing a sword out of a scabbard.