From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   3-06  The Debt   
      
   First air date was Nov 3, 1997   
      
   The episode starts out at night, Xena turns over in her sleep reaching for   
   Gabrielle. But she isn't   
   there and Xena wakes up and goes looking for her. She finds Gabrielle sitting   
   on a rock, a dreamy   
   look on her face. Xena asks if she is all right and  Gabrielle says yes, then   
   thanks Xena for   
   standing by her through everything she had just gone through (with Dahak and   
   Hope, we presume).   
      
   Someone is in the bushes. Xena pulls him out, It is an oriental man who is   
   badly wounded. Suddenly   
   Xena is attacked by four or five ninja-type warriors. Eventually Xena defeats   
   them, including   
   killing one with her Chakram. The man gives Xena a message - "The Green Dragon   
   has become too   
   large, and must be made small again." And he dies.   
      
   Xena tells Gabrielle she is going on a long journey, to Chin, to kill the   
   Green Dragon. Gabrielle   
   can't understand why, so Xena tries to explain.   
      
   There is a flashback to Xena on the cross and Caesar ordering her legs broken.   
   Then we see Xena   
   saying a new Xena is born with a new purpose in life - death.   
      
   She tells Gabrielle she went east seeking vengeance.   
      
   Flashback to a group of soldiers or bandits or mercenaries on horseback   
   chasing and killing   
   soldiers. Xena wants to kill them all, but  Borias, the leader, tells her if   
   they do, who will be   
   left to be terrified? Xena wants the dead bodies. She puts their heads on   
   pikes in front of the   
   Great Wall of China as a message to the House of Ming.   
      
   There is a meeting between Borias and Ming Tzu, but Xena insults him and   
   intimidates his son, Ming   
   T'ien, and the alliance doesn't happen. Borias decides to make a treaty with   
   the House of Lao.   
      
   He meets with the beautiful Lao Ma, wife of the ruler of the House of Lao.   
   While having dinner,   
   Xena smokes an opium pipe while observing Borias and Lao Ma making nicey-nice.   
   After Lao Ma goes   
   into her tent for the night, Xena comes in and tries to kill her with knives,   
   but Lao Ma throws   
   them back at her. When Xena charges, Lao Ma uses some kind of mystical force   
   and Xena is thrown   
   through the air and is knocked out. Lao Ma tells Borias the alliance can't   
   happen and after   
   whispering something in Xena's ear, she leaves.   
      
   Borias tells Xena she has until sun up to leave camp or he will kill her.   
      
   Xena tells Gabrielle she wanted to kill Lao Ma because she would civilize   
   Borias and she wanted him   
   wild like her. When Gabrielle asks what Lao Ma whispered, Xena tells her,   
   "'Fill yourself with   
   desire and see only illusion. Empty yourself of desire and understand the   
   great mystery of things."   
      
   Xena kidnaps Ming T'ien and has Borias broker the exchange of ransom. But   
   Borias betrays Xena to   
   Ming Tzu.   
      
   Gabrielle decides she can't go with Xena just to watch Xena kill someone. Xena   
   boards a ship and   
   leaves Gabrielle with Argo.   
      
   Xena is in a bamboo cage when Ming Tzu and his men meet Lao Ma. She gives him   
   permission to use her   
   land to hunt down Xena for entertainment. She gives Ming T'ien a gift she made   
   but he throws it   
   down without looking at it. Ming Tzu looks at it and it is an embroidery of a   
   green dragon, his   
   nicknamed for Ming T'ien.   
      
   Xena is hobbling through the forest with a crutch, running away from hunting   
   dogs. She runs into   
   Lao Ma who takes her to her house to hide her. Ming Tzu comes into Lao Ma's   
   bath looking for Xena,   
   who is hiding in a tub full of water, holding her breath. Ming Tzu stays so   
   long, Lao Ma dips her   
   head into the bath, giving Xena a kiss of life -- more air.   
      
   After Ming Tzu leaves, Lao Ma bathes and dresses Xena in fancy clothes.   
      
   Flash forward to Xena covering herself in back grease or mud and sneaking into   
   Ming T'ien's castle.   
   She has flashback images of Gabrielle trying to get her to stop the cycle of   
   hatred, alternating   
   with her own visions of killing and death, including letting Callisto sink in   
   the quicksand.   
      
   Xena sneaks into Ming T'ien's bed chamber and is about to stab him, but it is   
   Gabrielle in the bed.   
   She tells Xena she is sorry, but she couldn't let her do it. Xena is stunned   
   into inaction and Ming   
   T'ien orders her locked up.   
      
   Xena and Gabrielle can only stare at each other.   
      
   To be continued. . . .   
      
   ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''   
      
   First I have to apologize for the synopsis, but there is no way I could do   
   justice to everything   
   that was happening.   
      
   So where to begin?  Maybe with the absolutely gorgeous costumes? Or with the   
   stunning scenery? Or   
   the outstanding acting by Lucy, Reneé, Jacqueline Kim, and Marton Csokas? Or   
   the direction? Or the   
   writing (R.J. Stewart has done it AGAIN!)?   
      
   But I have to say something besides gushing on and on about how great this   
   episode is, so a few   
   items -   
      
   Even though it came last, this has to be said first - HOW did Gabrielle get to   
   Chin before Xena?!   
   And how did she know where to go to find Ming T'ien?  But since this is   
   continued, I'm sure we'll   
   find out next time.   
      
   Xena is so much fun when she's evil!  She revels in and celebrates her   
   wickedness. And more than   
   once Lucy's said how much she enjoys it as well.   
      
   And the underwater kiss between Xena and Lao Ma was probably the most erotic   
   scene so far.   
      
   Once again, Gabrielle has lied to/betrayed Xena. And although this time her   
   reason may be   
   honorable - not wanting Xena to commit murder. But is betraying Xena, and   
   possibly condemning her   
   to death any more honorable?   
      
   Maybe if Xena had told Gabrielle the WHOLE story (which even we don't know at   
   this point), perhaps   
   Gabrielle would have understood, and maybe even gone with her to try to talk   
   her out of it along   
   the way.   
      
   I was trying to figure out where Xena caught a ship going to Chin, but the   
   closest place she could   
   have done so would have been near Calcutta, India, into the Bay of Bengal   
   (would it have been that   
   cold?), then sailed south around Malaysia and then north past Viet Nam to land   
   either in the Gulf   
   of Tonkin or near Hong Kong.   
      
   And one other small thing - sometimes Xena and Gabrielle are sleeping under   
   blankets, and sometimes   
   under furs. In this one it was furs.   
      
   ''''''''''''''''''''''''''   
      
   But who cares? This was a great episode. A definite 9.5 out of 10.   
      
   ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::   
      
   3-06 The Debt                         9.5   
      
   3-05 Gabrielle's Hope              9   
      
   3-04 The Deliverer                  9   
      
   3-03 The Dirty Half Dozen      8   
      
   3-02 Been There, Done That   9   
      
   3-01 The Furies                       6.5   
      
   Average score so far    ---   8.5   
      
   --   
   David   
   http://geocities.com/daviderl31/xena.htm   
   http://geocities.com/daviderl31/GabPics.htm   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)