What this means is that I am running on very little sleep, and when I sat down to write my review the other evening, I was totally brain fried. I received a couple of messages from people who wondered where my commentary was, and I appreciate your concern.
Aside from that little bit of news, there is nothing else to report. So without further ado, let's get into this week's commentary.
Heart of Darkness
Written by Emily Skopov
Directed by Mark Beesley
This episode is, so far, the best episode of the season. Of course, this isn't really saying very much because I thought the first two episodes were decidedly bland. Heart of Darkness wasn't anything truly spectacular either, if I have to be totally honest. Still, this episode seemed to be closer to the quality that I have come to expect from Xena: Warrior Princess.
The basic plot of the episode isn't anything tremendously complex, and follows logically from the events at the end of Haunting of Amphipolis. Since Xena killed Mephistopheles (an event we are reminded of in the brief opening recap), she is the rightful ruler of Hell. This episode revolves around her attempt to find a replacement for her on Hell's throne. That replacement is found in the Archangel Lucifer.
Overall, I found this episode to be somewhat dark, and certainly the dramatic stakes were higher in this episode than in either Coming Home or Haunting of Amphipolis. Still, the storyline seemed to have a few missing pieces that detracted from the overall coherence of the episode. The new writing team is still, apparently, figuring out how things work in the show.
From the impression we got at the end of Haunting, as soon as Xena killed Mephistopheles, she became ruler of Hell. Apparently, it wasn't quite as simple as that. The gate to Hell is still open behind Cyrene's tavern, waiting for Xena to descend to Hell and actually assume the throne. In my mind, this seeming incontinuity isn't a big deal - it is merely an expansion or clarification on the idea from Haunting. The throne of Hell is vacant, and apparently the individual who deposed the former ruler takes over the job.
