Sacrifice Part II
written by Paul Robert Coyle
The Chakram Newsletter: Issue 04
SD: The big topic among fans of the show is whether Gabrielle deliberately fell into the pit or fell accidentally.
Paul: I never saw that she could have pushed Hope. The only way to guarantee that Hope would go into the pit is for both of them to go over together. I think Gabrielle would have preferred not to die herself. If you ask how far in advance she had the plan, there was no way she went into that temple knowing about the lava pit.
SD: She’d never been in that temple before.
Paul: Right. Nor did she know she would be in the position with Hope standing over a pit and Gabrielle having the opportunity to push her in. It was all spur of the moment.
SD: What was she thinking during the scene where Xena and Gabrielle, in essence, were saying good-bye?
Paul: Gabrielle was going to find a way that Xena wouldn’t die, but she didn’t know what that would be. When Xena was trying to stab Hope with the Hind's blood dagger, Gabrielle stood watching. She was trying to find some way to get out of this so she didn’t lose her best friend.
SD: Another tantalizing point is Callisto’s change of heart after Gabrielle fell into the pit.
Paul: If Callisto had been asking to be killed for three episodes in a row and Xena finally gives her what she’s been asking for, that’s too straight a line. I thought, now is the moment when Callisto finally changes her tune and when she doesn't see it coming, that’s when Xena gives it to her.
SD: Some people thought she was taunting Xena to get her to kill her.
Paul: No. She wanted to live. And I think Hudson played that scene beautifully.
SD: When Callisto started to laugh, I was thinking, “Don’t just stand there! Xena’s got a knife in her hand with Hind’s blood! Take to the hills, Callisto!” And then I thought, her contract's up, she’s gotta stand there and take it.
Paul: “No more living for you.” (laughing)
SD: It's sad to lose that character.
Paul: I was told to do this. It’s not like I came in and said, “For the season finale I’m going to kill your most popular villain (Callisto) and your co-star (Gabrielle).” I did what I was told. (laughing)
SD: Gabrielle is always trying to find some good in people and especially her daughter. But, in the end, she turned away from Hope.
Paul: She rejected Hope. That was a specific attitude direction that I was given for Gabrielle’s character. My earlier drafts played more on the “she’s my half-daughter, there must be good in her somewhere.” But RJ and Steve said we've got to get Gabrielle past this point in her relationship with Hope. We needed a scene where we know that Gabrielle is not on Hope’s side anymore. As far as she is concerned, her daughter is dead.
SD: Xena made a promise to Gabrielle in “Callisto” not to become a monster if anything happened to Gabrielle.
Paul: I think it was a burst of rage. Xena’s a human being and at that moment she took out her rage on Callisto who certainly deserved it. You might see that as a betrayal of her promise to Gabrielle. Xena giving in to her dark side.
SD: That was a cool scene when Hope was mentally throwing all those weapons at Xena.
Paul: It was very effective. We’re planning a 3-D episode for Hercules and that teaser of “Sacrifice II” would have made a perfect 3-D segment. I loved when the chakram went straight at the camera. What a 3-D moment that would have been!
SD: And then Xena got hit by the chakram.
Paul: Hope sent the chakram back at her faster than it's ever traveled before. Xena’s own weapon was turned against her by Hope.
SD: Someone wrote on the internet, “Dahak can be put out by having a heavy ceiling ornament plug up his fire hole. Not a very powerful god is he?
Paul: (laughing) For the moment, that broke his psychic hold on his disciples, including Seraphin. That was the idea. There was a discussion about whether or not to kill off Seraphin and we realized Xena needed some victory at the end of this episode. Freeing Seraphin and the other disciples was important or Xena would have had no victory whatsoever.
SD: Any scenes cut?
Paul: I'd like to say something about the campfire scene. This was the final campfire meeting between Xena and Callisto. What was shown was the beginning and the end. I set it up and R.J. rewrote the dialog. It was the last opportunity for Callisto to talk about Cirra and what she and Xena have meant to each other. And, because of time, it was cut. It was nicely performed, but it didn't advance the story and the feeling was that Cirra had been talked about enough that we didn’t need to go into it again. Campfire scenes are so cool on Xena. They’re one of the fun things I look forward to writing when I do a freelance Xena episode.