Succession

Succession

Written by Steven L Sears
Directed by Rick Jacobson

Episode synopsis:

Segment one:

Mavican, the aggressive-blonde-girly of the week, after a roll in the sack with Ares demands that he makes her his heir. He dumps her so hard it makes the ends of MY relationships look good. Meanwhile, Xena is involved in a fight with five desperados. Gabrielle gets frustrated because Xena will not let her participate. She feels Xena is being overprotected. She for some reasons decides to pour out her frustration to Ares, who lends a sympathetic ear. Gabrielle is then confronted by Mavican, who belives that by killing Xena she will prove to Ares she has the right stuff.

Segment two:

Mavican and Xena fight, only to be interrupted by Ares. He decides to make a game out of it. He sends them to a distant land to fight with several conditions: Mavican must kill Xena to be returned home. Xena cannot kill Mavican. And anybody can ask for his help if they need it. Gabrielle wakes up in a void, alone. Xena and Mavican fight it out until Mavican escapes. After sunset, Gabrielle finds herself near Mavican's campfire, and Xena is in the void, but can see all that happens to Gabrielle. Gabrielle tries to set a trap but is caught and caged by Mavican. As the sun rises, Gabrielle morphs into Xena.

Segment three:

Xena escapes from her cage, and Mavican runs off, realizng that all she has to do is wait until sundown and kill Gabrielle in order to kill Xena, as they are in the same body. Ares chats with Xena, complimenting Gabrielle's performance in this "game." Xena sets a trap and captures Mavican, just as the sun sets and Gabrielle reappears. Mavican escapes and poises to attack.

Segment four:

Gabrielle triggers a trap set by Xena, which batters Mavican while Gabrielle makes her escape. Ares confides to Xena that all this is to test Gabrielle to see if she'll kill Mavican. He approaches Gabrielle in her hideout and asks her to be Xena's heir, to help him rule the world. He returns her sai to her as Mavican approaches.

Segment five:

Mavican and Gabrielle fight. Gabrielle stops herself from delivering the killing blow. Xena reappears as the sun rises and she and Mavican battle again. Xena causes a rockslide which buries them both in the cave. Mavican calls upon Ares for his help. Disgusted, he sends Xena and Gabrielle back home, leaving Mavican trapped in the cave.

Moments Of Subtext:

• Mavican, looking to confront Xena, tells Gabrielle: "And I understand that killing you is the best way to meet her!"
• Mavican asks a caged Gabrielle, "So, what's it like? I mean, being with Xena? It's like a brush with eternity, isn't it?"
• Mavican remarks to Xena: "Of course, if I kill you, I kill her. And I was just begining to like her."
• When Ares reveals that all this is to test Gabrielle, he asks her: "You're not jealous?" "You leave her out of this," she warns.
• Back where they started, Xena turns towards Gabrielle and says tenderly, "I'm so proud of you." "Oh please!" complains Ares of this display of emotion.
• And let's not forget, our grrls are inhabiting the same body throughout this episode.

Commentary:

It took me all summer to write this review. Not that this is the worst episode ever, but that it is so...plain. Nothing interesting happens in this episode. It is as if they took some of the most reoccuring bland elements of the series and combined them into one episode. Yet another person wants to kill Xena so that they can be the one who killed the Warrior Princess. Once again Ares is trying to convinve someone who is never going to be his lackey that they want to rule the world. Once again there is a cave. Once again there is a bottomless pit. Yawn.

Speaking of caves, I have gone on and on about this before, but in the spirit of reusing already familiar themes: the surface of Greece must be incredibly unstable with all the caves and tunnels and bottomless pits that dot the landscape. And why is every cave on the verge of a cave in? They all seem to have this convenient rock shelf above their entrances which is covered with debris, waiting for one tug to cover the doorway with. Just like most hills and mountains are waiting to let loose a rockslide to fil in some pass somewhere.