"Callisto, when Xena burned your family did you see them on fire? Did you... did you smell their flesh sizzling? Do you know what I think? I think you wanted them to die so you'd have a reason to be a bitch."
Xena and Gabrielle, now released from their mortal coils, join forces with the Archangel Michael to battle Callisto and the infernal forces of Hell.
Summary
Joxer travels to Rome after he has nightmares about Xena and Gabrielle being in trouble. He meets Amarice and Eli and is devastated when he sees the bodies of Xena and Gabrielle hanging from crosses. Joxer says he wants to take their bodies back home to Greece. Amarice says the Romans will not allow that. Joxer insists he's going to do it anyway and Amarice agrees to help him.
Gabrielle prepares to ascend into Heaven.
Meanwhile, Xena and Gabrielle sit on the ledge of a cliff and are approached by a flock of angels, who scoop them up and fly out over a monumental abyss. The angels take first Gabrielle and head up and then other angels take Xena and head up. Black specks rise up from below and the angels get all upset about the approaching demons. The demons make the angels drop first Gabrielle and then Xena.
Gabrielle cries out for Xena and Xena tries to fall toward Gabrielle. They almost touch hands when somebody grabs Xena. It is Callisto in demonic form. Gabrielle keeps falling, yelling for Xena. Xena and Callisto exchange blows. The archangel Michael grabs Xena, but Callisto takes Gabrielle to the depths of Hell.
Xena demands Michael assist her in rescuing Gabrielle from Hell.
Determined to bring Gabrielle back, Xena convinces Michael to turn her into an archangel. Michael places her in a cave and Xena walks through the Fire of Purification. She emerges, engulfed in flames and Michael leads her to a pond of divine water. Xena, bearing wings, rises from the pond a full-fledged archangel.
Callisto taunts Gabrielle in Hell.
While Joxer, Amarice and Eli remove Xena and Gabrielle's bodies from the crosses, Callisto taunts Gabrielle in Hell. She tries to trick Gabrielle into eating the fruit that will spread evil through her body, but Gabrielle resists. Before descending into Hell, Michael warns Xena that she might be tempted to relieve the damned of their suffering. The only way to do this is to take on their guilt, which would free them, but trap her in Hell forever.
Amarice honors the memory of Xena.
Amarice cuts a lock of Xena's hair and swears to honor the memory of the Warrior Princess. She turns on Eli and tells him all of this is his fault, because he turned Gabrielle into a whimpering wimp who would not fight or anything until it was too late.
Demon Gabrielle
Callisto has some of the other demons hold Gabrielle down and force food into her throat. Gabrielle gets a taste and then eats more and grows horns. Gabrielle tells Callisto she probably enjoyed watching her family burn because it allowed her to turn into a bitch. Xena and the rest of the archangels arrive in Hell just after Gabrielle succumbs and eats the poisoned fruit. Xena attacks Callisto and cuts off both her wings. Michael and the other archangels battle the demons and rescue Gabrielle.
Xena gives up her light and absolves Callisto.
Xena is about to leave when she looks at the helpless Callisto and sees every ounce of suffering that occurred in her life. Truly moved, Xena pulls Callisto close and a glowing light surrounds them.
After Gabrielle is purified in the divine water, she is disgusted when she learns that Xena gave herself up to save Callisto. Michael tries to explain that Callisto is an innocent because Xena healed her pain and took away the memory of all her past evil deeds. But Gabrielle thinks that Callisto is just putting on an act.
Gabrielle forgives Callisto and earns her wings.
Michael continues by saying that the next time the demons attack, they may not be able to stop them because Xena is more powerful than ever now that she has turned demon. Michael tells Gabrielle that Xena is more dangerous in the air and that their only chance of defeating her is to attack her while she's on the ground. Gabrielle knows she's the only one who can ground Xena, but she needs to have wings in order to do so. Instead of walking through the Fire of Purification, however, Gabrielle must forgive Callisto for everything she's done in order to become an archangel.
Xena attempts to take Gabrielle back to Hell
Gabrielle earns her wings just as Xena ascends from Hell with a legion of demons ready to take over the earth. Xena goes after Gabrielle, but before the other archangels can attack, Xena takes to the air. Gabrielle follows and lures Xena into the abyss, where the two fight like they've never fought before. Xena is clearly more powerful and de-wings all of the archangels.
Eli resurrects Xena and Gabrielle, with help from an unlikely source.
Meanwhile, Eli, who feels responsible for the deaths of Xena and Gabrielle, is praying for forgiveness when he is approached by Callisto as a Guardian Angel, who whispers something in his ear. Eli goes over to Xena and Gabrielle's bodies and places his hands on their heads. Callisto, not visible to Joxer and Amarice, rests her hands on top of Eli's. Just as Xena is about to send Gabrielle to Hell, Michael jumps to Gabrielle's defense. As they fall, Xena and Gabrielle disappear in the mid air.
Stunned, Eli, Joxer and Amarice look on as Xena and Gabrielle slowly come back to life. It is Callisto's turn to earn her wings, as she is transformed into an archangel and disappears with Michael, to be reunited with her family in Heaven.
Disclaimer
Hell Hath No Fury like a Woman Scorned
Background Information
Behind the Scenes
- This episode was one of seventeen that fans selected to be featured on the Xena: Warrior Princess: 10th Anniversary Collection, and is subsequently considered one of the greatest episodes in Xena: Warrior Princess history.
- When the Archangel Xena fights the Archdemon Callisto in Hell, music from "The Deliverer" and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" plays (from the respective fight scenes with Krafstar and Bacchus).
- Joseph LoDuca won the 2000 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)" for this episode.
- This episode required around 270 special effects shots, as compared to the usual 50-100 in an episode.
- Lucy Lawless dubbed lines like "heavy birdie" and "little broken butterfly on the ground" for demon Xena as she prepared to take Gabrielle back to Hell with her, but they decided not to use them. They were meant to show that demon Xena wanted Gabrielle the way that a cat wants a mouse.
- As of this episode, Xena: Warrior Princess gets a new costume designer, Jane Holland, and two new head writers, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
- Holland mentioned that this was the second episode she had to design costumes for and she struggled alot with practical requirements. She said in an interviews for the Season Five DVD Set, “The wings were really heavy so they had to have a substantial harness to hold them on. And also a lot of those characters were flying as well, so they had flying harnesses. The challenge was to provide a form-fitting costume that incorporated the bulk of the harnesses. So I first looked at medieval paintings and from there we sort of evolved the look of the angels, which were gold and white…”
- Eric Gruendemann revealed in an interview for the Season Five DVD set that this was the first time they created digital sets for almost everything in the episode and everything was shot in front of a blue screen with just a little bit of flooring, so it was very hard for the actors on set. He remembered reading the script for this and thinking, ‘Well, okay, in the teaser… we’ll be spending more money trying to create this situation than we would in a whole episode otherwise.’ So by that point, I’m already crying and hemorrhaging money, but it was worth it…”
- Rob Tapert talked about Xena giving up her humanity to redeem Callisto to Whoosh! Interview in January 2001. He liked Xena giving up her humanity to redeem Callisto but they struggled a great deal to get into a situation that allowed the action to take place, so that Xena was willing to trade places with Callisto. “Therefore, I guess it did embrace aspects of Christianity, but I am certainly not banging the drum for Christianity… I don’t feel we embraced Christianity any more than we embraced Hinduism… or anything else.”
Key Events
- First appearance of the archangel Michael on Xena: Warrior Princess. He previously appeared in the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys episode, "Revelations", the season finale of the fifth season. That episode was rather ambiguous as to what he was, but this episode explicitly confirms he is an archangel, in the Abrahamic tradition.
- The actor, Charles Mesure, also previously appeared in the Xena: Warrior Princess episodes "The Price" and "The Dirty Half Dozen", playing the roles of Mercer and Darnelle, respectively. Coincidentally, and fortuitously, he was one of the few actors to be able to hold up the wings on his own.
- This is the second of a three episode story arc, beginning with "The Ides Of March".
- Callisto's pain is wiped away and she becomes a pure soul. Her ultimate redemption, however, will not occur until "Seeds of Faith".
Trivia
- In the Alternate Reality in "When Fates Collide", Gabrielle's play was called "Fallen Angel" and was based on this episode.
Links and References
Guest Stars
- Ted Raimi as Joxer
- Timothy Omundson as Eli
- Jennifer Sky as Amarice
- Charles Mesure as Michael
- Hudson Leick as Callisto
- David de Lautour as Lief
- Angela Gribben as Laura
- Tamati Rice as Raphael
- Jim McLarty as Pankos
- Lee Jane Foreman as Arleia
- Jay Ryan as Zortis
References
People
- Xena
- Gabrielle
- Joxer
- Callisto
- Eli
- Amarice
- Michael
- Raphael
- Pankos
- Arleia
- Lyceus (Mentioned)
- Perdicus (Mentioned)
Gods
Places
Other
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| #01 | Fallen Angel | #09 | Seeds of Faith | #17 | Kindred Spirits | |||
| #02 | Chakram | #10 | Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire | #18 | Antony & Cleopatra | |||
| #03 | Succession | #11 | Punchlines | #19 | Looking Death in the Eye | |||
| #04 | Animal Attraction | #12 | God Fearing Child | #20 | Livia | |||
| #05 | Them Bones, Them Bones | #13 | Eternal Bonds | #21 | Eve | |||
| #06 | Purity | #14 | Amphipolis Under Siege | #22 | Motherhood | |||
| #07 | Back in the Bottle | #15 | Married with Fishsticks | |||||
| #08 | Little Problems | #16 | Lifeblood | |||||