Season 3 -- Part 2
Last week in my seasonal retrospective, I looked at the first half of the third season. This week, I take a look at the second half.
The first ten episodes laid the foundation of the explosive changes that were about to occur in the lives of Xena and Gabrielle. As the season unfolded, rumors of "the rift" made many fans nervous. Events in the two-part epic The Debt put more strain on Xena and Gabrielle's relationship than had ever seen before. Gabrielle's betrayal in the first part and their reconciliation in the second seemed to put the rumors of the rift to bed; if this was the rift, thought many fans, perhaps it wasn't as bad as they had feared.
Indeed, the next three episodes were all light comedies - it would seem that we were back to business as usual.
Then came Maternal Instincts.
In what is probably one of the most emotional hours in the entire third season, our heroines are put through a wringer. Hope returns and frees Callisto. Gabrielle hides Hope's identity from Xena and - unwittingly - causes the death of Solan (just as Xena has decided to let him tag along on their travels). Gabrielle adds more blood to her hands when she poisons Hope, and almost commits suicide afterward.
The final sequence of this episode - with Xena and Gabrielle walking off in opposite directions - is still one of the most powerful scenes in the series (and incidentally, the moment I sat up and really took notice of this show). If people thought the rift was opened and shut during The Debt, they hadn't seen anything yet.
Following Maternal Instincts came the surprising musical episode, The Bitter Suite. Picking up where the last episode left off, Xena tries to kill Gabrielle and the two of them wind up in the Alice-in-Wonderland style fantasy realm of Illusia. Accusations and recriminations fly as the duo works out their problems in an episode that ranks as a fan favorite.
The most controversial part of the season was present in this episode as well - the so-called "Gabdrag". In her murderous rage, Xena drags Gabrielle behind a horse (not, as some fans believed, Argo) for what feels like several miles, and Gabrielle's looks to be on death's door at the end of it.
This single event started a feeling in certain fan circles that the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle mirrored that of modern-day abusive relationships. Xena hurts Gabrielle either physically or emotionally, and the bard remains with her friend. Some fans accused the producers of being insensitive to the issue of domestic violence. This was an issue that would continue for some time - becoming especially prevalent during the fourth season.
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