From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   5-05  Them Bones, Them Bones   
      
      
      
             First airdate was Nov. 1, 1999.   
             The episode starts out with Gabrielle digging in a swamp with one of   
   her sais trying to   
   find a mushroom Xena says will stop her nausea. She eats it then has severe   
   stomach pains.   
   Gabrielle rushes her to a healer. Xena thrashes around on the bed. They tear   
   open her clothes to   
   expose her belly. Something is moving under the skin. Then a baby's skeleton   
   hands and skull pops   
   out.  Xena wakes up and the healer tells her she gave her a sedative. Xena   
   thinks someone is trying   
   to kill her baby. Gabrielle says it's a dream but Xena says it's a vision. She   
   wants to go see   
   Yakut, a northern Amazon shamaness. Amarice with still with them.   
      
             The three of them ride hard until they get to the camp of the   
   northern Amazons. Yakut   
   says she had a vision they were coming. Yakut tells Xena her baby's life force   
   is being drained in   
   the spiritual world. Xena know its Alti. Gabrielle insists she should be the   
   one to go fight Alti   
   in the spirit world. She puts on hunting leathers and with a bow and arrow   
   kills a large stag and   
   smears its blood on her face. She goes back and there is a tribal dance while   
   Gabrielle gets ready   
   to go into a trance. Xena gives her a dagger and tells her to never let it go.   
   They cut each   
   other's palms and let their blood mix so they will be linked.   
      
             Gabrielle crosses over during a psychedelic trance. Everything she   
   looks at freezes -   
   fire, water, a bird. Alti appears and beats on a version of Gabrielle without   
   the dagger, while the   
   'real' Gabrielle lies on the ground. Xena sees the REAL Gabrielle being   
   killed. She gives Gabrielle   
   mouth to mouth and Gabrielle is resuscitated.   
      
             Gabrielle tells Xena Alti wants the baby to be born. Xena says Alti   
   wants to trade her   
   soul for the baby's. Xena and Yakut go to dig up Alti's bones while Gabrielle   
   and Amarice go to   
   find sacred amber guarded by an Amazon mystic. Yakut tells Xena there is a   
   golden tree with so many   
   branches even the gods can't count them. Each branch has a baby's soul and   
   when a woman accepts she   
   is about to become a mother, the baby sends a thank you in the form of a dove.   
      
             Xena and Yakut find the bones but the skull is missing. Yakut has   
   it. She took it for her   
   ritual, but only unleashed Alti's soul. Xena is pissed Gabrielle almost got   
   killed because of it.   
      
             That night Xena wakes up and sees Yakut bleeding. She is in the   
   spirit world. Xena drinks   
   some of the blood and crosses over. Alti is there and reaches into Xena's   
   belly and pulls out the   
   soul of her baby. Alti says she will return the soul if Xena and the Amazons   
   will return her to the   
   physical world.   
      
             Gabrielle and Amarice go into  a cave and they find Ch'iah, the   
   Amazon mystic. She tells   
   them Amarice isn't a real Amazon, but she lets Gabrielle pass. Gabrielle gets   
   the sacred amber and   
   they head back to camp.   
      
             Xena tells them Alti has her baby's soul, and plans to bring Alti   
   back.  Back in the   
   spiritual world Xena tells Alti to take her hand and they will be back in the   
   physical world.   
   Alti's skeleton is on an altar or stone bed surrounded by candles. The   
   skeleton gets up and Xena   
   tells her they are in Xena's dream world. Xena pulls off her skin and clothes   
   and the two skeletons   
   fight.   
      
             In the real world Xena's body is taking the worst of it. In her   
   dream world, she manages   
   to retrieve her baby's soul. In the real world Gabrielle and Amarice feel   
   Xena's belly jump, They   
   know it's the signal and Gabrielle pours the amber on Alti's bones. It blows   
   away in a   
   mini-whirlwind.   
      
             Gabrielle gives Amarice an Amazon necklace from her own tribe.   
   Amarice decides to stay   
   with the Amazons.   
      
             Yakut and Xena say their goodbyes. Yakut tells her she and her baby   
   will be targets   
   again. Xena says she's going to head east to learn a few new tricks. Xena sees   
   a dove as a sign she   
   has accepted her motherhood.   
      
   ```````````````````````````````   
      
             Well, an episode that didn't suck.  And for the most part, it wasn't   
   too bad. Found a lot   
   of it I liked, and not so many things I didn't.   
      
             If I had been Xena or Gabrielle, I would have thought that just   
   MAYBE it was the mushroom   
   that caused Xena's stomach pains.   
      
             The scene with the baby's skull popping out was cool. I watched it   
   three times.   
      
             I assume the romance with Amarice and Armand didn't last very long.   
   Maybe he was a lousy   
   (inexperienced) lover.   
      
             I really liked Gabrielle in the leathers and with the bow and arrow.   
   Maybe that's what   
   she should be wearing. But, then we wouldn't be able to admire the Gab-Abs.   
      
             I did think the psychedelic crossing over was a bit long even though   
   some of the images   
   were pretty cool. (In the interview, Donald Duncan said the green flames were   
   real, by using blue   
   vitriol (or bluestone) -- copper sulfate pentahydrate.) The green and purple   
   lighting was nifty.   
      
             I didn't think Gabrielle was going to be able to defeat Alti. But   
   apparently, Alti was a   
   bit afraid of the dagger, which is why she never let the real Gabrielle get   
   near her with it.   
      
             I never have understood why, oh WHY do people cut their palms when   
   they want to shed   
   blood. I've had my hands cut more than once (I'm a sheet metal worker), and   
   not only can you NOT   
   use that hand for a long time, but every time you try, it just breaks open the   
   cut and it takes   
   even longer to heal.   
      
             I almost missed it, but when the Amazons were dancing. Amarice   
   seemed like she didn't   
   know what the hell was going on.   
      
             In one way I thought the skeletons fighting was kind of dumb, but in   
   another, some of it   
   was pretty good. I didn't understand why skeleton-Alti swallowed the soul when   
   all she had to do   
   was stick it right up under her ribs.   
      
             Bringing Alti into her dream world was a clever thing to do. Xena's   
   always got one trick   
   or another up her sleeve.   
      
             So Amarice wasn't a real Amazon. Thinking back on it, every time she   
   mentioned HER tribe   
   (was it in 'Ides of March?) why didn't anyone think to ask her just WHAT tribe   
   she came from?   
      
             Don't remember the story about the tree of souls and the dove.   
      
             A lot more blood in this episode. But mostly to drink and to   
   face-paint with.   
      
             Next to Callisto, Alti is the best nemesis for Xena. Always like to   
   see Alti show up.   
   (Would Callisto and Alti be allies? Or enemies, fighting each other over who   
   gets to kill Xena?)   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)