From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   3-05 Gabrielle's Hope   
      
             First air date Oct 27, 1997.   
      
             The episode starts out with Gabrielle sitting in a field of flowers,   
   smelling one. She   
   sees Miranda (The Deliverer) coming toward her and she goes to meet her. They   
   share a loving   
   embrace. Gabrielle's hand reaches out to take a sacrificial dagger hanging in   
   the air. She   
   violently stabs Miranda, then looks at the blood on the dagger.   
      
             Xena wakes Gabrielle up and she says she had the dream again. Xena   
   tells her she's just   
   reacting to her first kill. Gabrielle says she feels she ought to be punished.   
   Xena says she is, by   
   her conscious.   
      
             They are walking through the woods and Gabrielle is nauseous, and   
   herbs and the pressure   
   points aren't helping. They are on their way to a seaport to book passage away   
   from Britannia.   
      
             They hear eerie sounds and hurry to get out of the woods.   
      
             Suddenly three banshees appear and Xena tries to fight them off.   
   They can hit her, but   
   her fists and sword pass through them harmlessly.   
      
             Gabrielle tells Xena they aren't attacking her (Gabrielle) and they   
   should move on. One   
   of the Banshees tells Gabrielle she is the Chose One.   
      
             They get to the port city and go to a tavern. While Gabrielle orders   
   food Xena goes to a   
   Phoenician trader to book passage to Greece. Gabrielle suddenly is famished   
   and orders cherries,   
   beef jerky, pork liver, chicken gizzards fried in sheep lard, and other things   
   to eat. Meanwhile   
   the citizens of the town are banding together and lighting torches.   
      
             While Xena haggles with the trader of the price of the passage,   
   three soldiers are   
   sneaking into the warehouse. As Xena starts to leave, they all start fighting.   
      
             The townspeople call out to Gabrielle, saying she is a witch and   
   must burn. They set the   
   tavern on fire and Gabrielle pole vaults out of the tavern to land in the   
   water. She gets onto the   
   dock and runs away with the people chasing her. Xena hears her yelling,   
   finishes off the soldiers,   
   and runs after them.   
      
               Xena catches up to them in the woods. One of the men tells her the   
   soldiers told them   
   Gabrielle will bring the beginning of the end of goodness. When Xena looks   
   back at Gabrielle she is   
   gone. Xena finds her with the banshees, who have dressed her in some kind of   
   burlap dress. They say   
   they want to protect her and the baby she is carrying. The banshees won't let   
   them leave the   
   forest. Xena and Gabrielle find the castle of the Soldiers of the Pierced   
   Heart, who are working   
   against the banshees.   
      
             Xena notices that Gabrielle's belly has swollen out, then Gabrielle   
   feels the baby move.   
   They go into the stable so Gabrielle can rest. Xena hears soldiers talking and   
   eavesdrops. One says   
   another shouldn't have turned the townspeople against Gabrielle. Another says   
   the thing inside her   
   must die. Xena breaks in, puts the Pinch on one and demands answers. She takes   
   the Pinch off and he   
   tells her Dahak planted his seed inside Gabrielle and she is carrying the   
   thing that is the window   
   that will let evil into the world.   
      
             They hear Gabrielle cry out and know she is in the castle. Xena runs   
   to Gabrielle,   
   locking the door to the stable. While Gabrielle is in labor the warriors try   
   to break in to kill   
   the baby.   
      
             Gabrielle delivers a baby girl as the soldiers break in. Two of them   
   side with Gabrielle   
   and Xena, saying the baby may be a child of the light. They fight again and   
   Xena carries Gabrielle   
   and the baby into a room. The two soldiers help lock the others out.   
      
             Gabrielle says the baby has given her Hope again and that is what   
   she will name her.   
      
             The soldiers notice how fast Hope is growing.   
      
             Gabrielle sees a sword stuck into a stone slab. The solder tells her   
   their last king   
   stuck it into the stone and the one who can remove it will be king. Curious,   
   Xena pulls the sword   
   out, looks at it, comments on the quality of the blade, and replaces it. The   
   two soldiers try but   
   it is stuck again.   
      
             Gabrielle can't believe her beautiful daughter can be evil. Xena   
   tries to reason with   
   Gabrielle, but Gabrielle says she will help Hope fight against her dark side.   
   Xena says she will be   
   watching, and Gabrielle warns her not to get between her and her baby.   
      
             During the night one of the solders, Iochid leaves through a secret   
   passage, which wakes   
   Xena. She wakes up the other one, Goen. He says the castle of full of secret   
   passages. Xena finds   
   the way out and tells him to watch Gabrielle and Hope. Xena hears Iochid   
   making a deal with one of   
   the banshees to be ruler of Britannia if he helps Dahak. When Xena goes back   
   to tell Goen, she   
   finds him dead, choked with the chain of his medallion, which Hope is playing   
   with. Xena starts to   
   stab  the baby but Gabrielle wakes up and tries to reason with her.   
      
             Just then the banshees come in and Xena fights them when Gabrielle   
   tells them to protect   
   her and the baby. This time she's figure out how to hit them.   
      
             Xena sees Gabrielle and Hope riding away on a horse and runs after   
   them on foot. The next   
   day Xena sees a man with the horse. He says he traded his rowboat for it. Xena   
   buys the horse and   
   goes after them. She sees Gabrielle carrying the baby and climbing a steep,   
   rocky hill. She yells   
   after Gabrielle, telling her the baby is evil and must be killed.   
      
             She catches up to Gabrielle at the top. Gabrielle tells her Hope   
   turned evil and tried to   
   choke her and she threw the baby off the cliff. When Xena hears a cry coming   
   from a cave and goes   
   to investigate, Gabrielle tries to stop her. But when Xena rolls away a rock   
   it is only a rat.   
      
             Gabrielle asks if Xena is satisfied and Xena says she had to be sure.   
      
             Next we see Hope in a basket floating downstream.   
      
             That night while Xena is sleeping Gabrielle goes off into the woods   
   and looks to the sky   
   telling Hope she loves her and to be good.   
      
   ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''   
      
             Another dynamite episode. We just knew there had to be something to   
   come of the events at   
   the end of 'The Deliverer'. Not only was Gabrielle racked with guilt over the   
   killing of Miranda   
   (even though it WAS in self defense), but the conception and birth of the   
   child of Dahak was   
   certainly unexpected (the first time around).   
      
             Good performances by everyone. I could almost feel the pain   
   Gabrielle was experiencing   
   while delivering her baby. (Not to mention the solar eclipse, the lightning   
   storm, and the sinister   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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