From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   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 Chosen 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.   
      
       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 shots of the animals during   
   the birth.)   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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