Well, here we are for Family Affair.

I must admit, I've got a problem with the title.. I either start conjuring up scenes of Buffy, Jody, and Mr French (and Uncle Bill, of COURSE) or some demented episode of The Man from Uncle.

But, I digress. I'll say at the outside that the only thing I wanted from this episode is a relatively satisfying reunion scene. Anything other than that was either an irrelevancy, or frosting on the cake. I could even forgive them Dinsdale the purple porcupine (or was that a hedgehog? I think it was a hedgehog) if they'd just give me that.

In the meantime, while I was waiting, I was watching (not listening) to the Herc Ep Ressurection, and learned that Hercules has added speaking flawless Celt and Viking to his repertoire. He's also learning new things, like how to breathe underwater. Or at least look puzzled, and thoughtful underwater, which I thought was kind of amazing. Also, palm trees are a little out of place in Celtic Britain. But the moss was a nice touch.(I told you I was watching it, not listening to it - I have no idea what went on in the episode, except that Iolaus didn't come back, and next week's Herc Ep has Auto and Sal in it,and a genie, and looks funny)

Okay.. so here we go.

Interesting… they tie Sins I and II in with this at the beginning.. like to remind everyone who the blond is.

Mm.. CGI moon… we have a guy wandering in the forest looking for his lost dog. He finds Bruno… and Bruno is barkng at someone lying behind a fake bit of castle wall.

Back to lava pit. Joxer is dumping daisies down the pit. Aww. He starts to put a little orange daisy down into the lava, but…

Yow! Xena comes up FROM THE PIT….covered in ash. She tells Jox Gab's alive.. Jox tells her she's nuts. They go to Potadeia. A storyteller is telling a child's story. Jox goes to watch it -

Xena is facing the storyteller, then she gets that. "I sense something" look, and turns ( in slo mo) and sees Gabrielle standing there. They stare at each other for forever. Curiously, there is a lack of emotion on Gabrielle's face. End of teaser. Renee's name is back in the credits, btw… I looked this time. (chuckle) The most striking thing about this whole scene is Xena's face when she sees Gabrielle before Gabrielle turns and sees her. You get this feeling this is something she really wants.

Now, of course, Joxer interrupts, and gets the first hug, and kiss. That immediately blew it for me, and I knew it wasn't Gab. (laugh) Now we get the explanation…she said she got caught in a niche in the wall…and that she was in shock… now Xena explains how she knew Gab was alive, after Gab said she sent Xena messages she never got.

The reunion gets interrupted by the monster who kills sheep and goats and dogs and…you get the idea. Gabrielle is acting.. perceptibly 'odd' - just off enough to where anyone familiar with Renee's portrayal of her would catch it..little things. Mostly facial expressions, or lackthereof.

We meet the parents. Joxer does the gallant beau thing. Herotodus hits Xena where it hurts, tells her Gabrielle would have been better off without her. Ouch.

Gabriele and Xena go to the barn, to track the creature… Gabrielle tells Xena.. "You never give up, do you.. no matter what the cost.. the pain… " The creature attacks the barn… then gets in, and attacks Xena.. Gabrielle does nothing to stop it. Xena manages to get them out of there, and the creature goes away. Xena says she wounded it.

Xena has figured out this isn't Gabrielle, it's Hope, and Dinsdale is actually the Destroyer. She convinces Joxer it's Hope, then formulates a plan to get Hope to lead her to Dinsdale. Part of her plan is to make sure all the sheep in Potadeia have been counted. She assigns Joxer to this task. (merwolf is giggling at this point.)

'Gabrielle' and Lila go for a walk… Xena catches up with them, and Hope leads them to a broken bridge… she tricks Lila into going onto the end of it, and breaks the supports, leaving her hanging. Xena grabs Lila, then Hope says she'll go for help.

Xena gets Lila back up , and tells her to go home, while Xena goes on a search and destroy mission. She tracks Hope through the woods, and now, so does Joxer. They both close with Hope at the same time and Joxer swings, then Xena faces off against her.

Joxer gets tossed into next week. He's been following Hope.

And then Xena stops, just freezes in place, her sword upraised. She stares at the person in front of her, and the camera swings around, and you know? You can see the difference. It's in the eyes, I think. But Xena knows this is not Hope. She gasps out Gabrielle's name, and then drops her sword and they hug, and this time it's the real thing. Gabrielle lets out this little cry, and Xena's whispering these apologies and stroking her hair.

Xena says "I searched for you.. I searched for you.. I was afraid… " Gabrielle answers. "You thought I was dead… what else could you think?" She's stroking Xena's hair.

Xena apologizes for not having faith that Gabrielle would survive.. Gabrielle says. "How could you? I didn't know I was going to survive.. I'm not sure I have."

Gabrielle sits down on a log and tries to explain what happened to her, Xena kneels beside her and holds her hand as she starts talking, explaining how she remembered the fall, and the fire.. and the rocks, and then Xena lifts their clasped hands, and kisses the back of Gabrielle's knuckles, as Gabrielle tells her she woke up in a hospice, and sent word to her. Then she tells Gabrielle Hope's still alive.

Okay - RP - you're forgiven purple Dinsdale. I liked this scene a lot - what's more, I believed the emotions in it. It felt very real. There's one moment after Gabrielle says 'I sent word to you' where she looks down at Xena, and there's such a look of love in her eyes, it's almost painful to watch.

They go back - Gabrielle is very concerned about her family… Xena goes to check on them ,and finds Hope there - she's convinced the family that Xena attacked her. Herotodus threatens Xena with an ax.. and then Xena finds out they sent Joxer out there alone. Hero gains a point by making a comment that Joxer's too stupid to take on the monster by himself. Xena goes to find Joxer, and Gabrielle gets into the house and convinces Lila it's her, and that the other person is an impostor. Lila goes out with bandages, and Gabrielle picks up a childhood doll of Lilas.. then Hope shows up and we have a completely amazing

Mother/daughter chat with a very nice performance by Renee as both Gab and Hope. She really makes you think you're looking at two different actresses.. it's amazing.

Gabrielle tells Hope she loved her, but she had to stop her. Hope says 'For Xena?" Gabrielle says, "No. for all of us." Then Gabrielle escapes.

Meanwhile, Xena has released Joxer, and drawn Dinsdale after her to the barn, where she starts fighting him, and his having little luck Gabrielle shows up , and the monster thinks it's Hope.. he goes to her, and she embraces him, then Xena puts twelve inches of steel into his back. He screams, and Gabrielle beats it over to the safety of the tall dark and deadly one, and they watch Dinsdale thrashing.. then Hope shows up, and Dinsdale thinks she betrayed him, so he skewers her. (Dysfunctional, as a word, doesn't touch what this family is.) They die together, as Xena and Gab look on.

Dissolve to a scene in the barn… Gabrielle is asking Xena if she feels that things never really end, that they come back again and again with different faces on them. Xena says yes, that she was caught in a cycle of violence and hatred, and no matter how hard she tried to break out, something kept pulling her back in. Until Gabrielle.

Gabrielle starts to protest.. but Xena interrupts her.. and says that it's true - that Gabrielle talks about finding her way, but to Xena, Gabrielle is her way. She looks down as she says this, and seems almost shy about saying the words.

Gabrielle says..how can I be your way, if I'm lost, myself?

Xena says.. I'm searching for answers too.. but how we look for them doesn't matter, as long as we look for them together, you and me.

Gabrielle goes over and puts her arm around Xena, and put s her head down on her shoulder, and we fade out as they both smile.

Hmm.

I really liked this. I liked that they didn't make believe nothing happened, and that they contrasted the difference between the initial greeting of Xena and Hope with her unexpected reunion with Gabrielle. I liked Renee's performance, which was quietly restrained as Gabrielle, and wonderfully vicious as Hope.

I liked Gabrielle's obviously badly shaken up world, and how she's questioning everything now.

I liked Xena's very obvious desperate need to find Gabrielle again, and her reactions both initially, when she sees what turns out to be Hope, and the unrestrained emotionalism she gives us when they are, finally, reunited.

I didn't mind Joxer in here at all, though I know there are folks not on spoilers who are going to go up in flames when he steps between them at the very beginning. Once The Real Gabrielle ™ returned, Joxer didn't come within a square mile of the two of them, not even at the end. Xena doesn't even tell him the real Gabrielle's back when she rescues him.

I liked that Xena knew, even in a battle fury, even in mid leap, that it was the real thing this time Her whole face lit up with wonder.. it was great.

I liked the characterization of Hecuba and Herodotus.. it was harsh, yes, but there was some wry humor to them as well, and it would have been nice to have seen a final scene with them, and the real Gabrielle.. it was nice to see Lila warming up to Xena after she saved her life. (grin)

I even didn't mind Dinsdale.. who, if spiky, managed to get across more emotion than 50 percent of the actors you see on the screen with his little cries. I wonder how it felt to him when Gabrielle touched him, there at the end… she was scared spitless, and it showed, but I'm sure he felt the love in her - it was terribly ironic, just knowing that Gabrielle was capable of giving him what he was really looking for because that's her nature. I felt very sorry for Dinsdale… it wasn't his fault that he was what he was.

My favorite Xena moment outside her scenes with Gabrielle - getting her chakram stuck in a tree, then thumping it to make it release. The whole tree shook. I laughed my butt off. That, and when she looks into Dinsdale's eyes and says "Bite me."

All in all.. this is my favorite ep of the newly hatched season..not just because Gabrielle's back, but mostly because it returns me to the actual series. Renee gets a specially big round of applause, though. As Hope, when she's talking to Dinsdale, she borrows some of Callisto's intonations… and as Hope and Gabrielle, gives a pretty funny line in a very serious scene - Gabrielle - "Why aren't you dead?" Hope - "Well, it's certainly not for your lack of trying, is it?"

Note - it's a good thing, however, that Dinsdale arched backward instead of forward when Xena skewered him - other wise it would have been bard hors d'eouvres. Little Gabby bits on sticks, you know?

Next week…

Ugh.. I think I'll be passing on doing the spoiler for Sickness and in Hell… the previews looked… well, picture Lucy after she's been through a little shock therapy, hair wise, and lots of smelly jokes regarding sheep dung. (Apparently this is the cure for Gabrielle's foot rot, or something.)