I suppose I might as well wander onto my initial impressions of AITST 2 (strictly initial...) Didn't like it as much as part 1. Why? Well, I guess I've already gone on enough about part 1... but as a whole part 1 worked well for me, it maintained a consistent atmosphere and a consistent flow, so I was rivetted to the screen throughout, and the ep worked on me almost like a piece of music... but I can't really say the same for part 2. Problems I had with part 2:
1) The sin of omission - they did nothing to clarify the whole Anokin business in part 1, and I really thought that needed clarification (although I suppose you could call that a part 1 problem...)
2) Alti and Casper and the Unfriendly Ghosts - for me this just showed the dangers of bad CGI... with effects less really is more, very often: you stick in too much in the may of explicit CGI like this and it runs the risk of looking silly - as this did to me. I even thought Alti looked rather silly when she was hovering over Xena and Borias and cursing Solan. And for the ep to work properly, these scenes *really* needed to play seriously.
3) Arachnophobia - I had no problem with the spider until it acquired Gabby's head... that made me laugh out loud. See my comments re bad CGI above.
4) Too *much* explanation - ok, I know I complained about being unable to follow bits of part 1... but it seemed like people were constantly explaining things in part 2, so it didn't really have that dramatic flow.
5) Too much mechanics in the "spiritual" fights - to some extent this goes back to the Unfriendly Ghosts... but even the other "spirit" fights seemed too mechanical and physical to me. The only one I really bought was Cyane vs Alti - that I thought was good, and worked well.
6) The flash-forwards - ok, perhaps this is just prejudice, and the actual shots were done fine... but I *hate* flash-forwards (I also hate novels that stick in stuff like "little did I know when first I met Sir Jasper that he was to prove the undoing..." etc. etc.) It's basically pretty much like spoilers - I don't wish to watch the rest of the season constantly wondering "when is *that* bit going to come in". I resent it, and I wish they hadn't done it. (I guess it could have been worse though - more explicit and more hokey.)
So... Well I didn't hate the ep or anything, but I thought it was a let-down after part 1. Things I liked:
1) Vicky Pratt put in a pretty decent performance as Cyane, and the whole Xena / Cyane relationship was good (except its start - excuse me! bad Xena can't even spy on someone through a roof without falling through??? I thought she was already supposed to be an accomplished warrior by this point! That was more like a Joxer move!!)
2) The young Amazons came into their own a bit more, and did pretty well too, especially the "sweat hut" scene... getting rid of those furs really helped - it's hard to act when nobody can see you properly.
3) I loved it when Yakut punched Otere in the nose (or was it the other way round - I still get those two confused when they've got their furs on?), and then said, "Nope, I'd never have got that punch in if you'd got her powers!" or words to that effect. It reminded me of the end of ADITL.
4) Lucy put in some fine moments again. Unfortunately this time I didn't think her performance was able to develop the tension it should have throughout the ep, because of the awkward mechanics and excessive exposition cited above.
Ah well... I'll watch it again (when I get my tape back from my daughter). But that's my first take. How about you?
Well I can write a version for myself that works... but I would kind of like it if the official version had actually shown me something of the relationship between Xena and Anokin, and given me some clue as to why Anokin said Xena had "poisoned her soul". And had Xena and Anokin fallen out *before* Anokin died, or did Anokin's disdain for Xena only develop post-mortem? As I say, I could write my own answers, but I could also write quite a few widely different version which would fit the glimpses we were given, and I'd prefer it if a bit more of essential elements were actually included in what was shown on screen.
Oh I think there have been far worse eps than AITST2 - I just found it a bit of a letdown after part 1. Actually I really shouldn't commit myself about how I rank an ep until I've watched it a few times - some go up, some go down... the first time I saw them I might have said that I likes Cradle Of Hope and bit better than Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts, but I wouldn't have drawn a really strong distinction, but on repeated rewatching COH had consistently gone up in my estimation and BGBG down, so that now BGBG is probably my least favourite Season 1 ep (I even prefer The Titans... but The Path Not Taken is another one that's gone down in my estimations), whereas COH is solidly ensconced in my list of really good X:WP eps, although it's not my all-time favourite.
Are we ever going to find out what was up with Anokin?
That's my number one question - I mean I can write various versions of the missing parts of the plot myself, but hey, do we have to save boxtops to buy a clue? It would be nice if there were at least a few more actual dots in the ep to connect up... I mean I could draw you all sorts of pictures based on the little they did give us! I'm almost wondering if they didn't cut some of it at the last minute for some reason other than fitting the eps to the timeslots - in other words, I'm wondering if it was too "controversial" (as it may well have been in some possible versions you could draw from what they *did* show us), and they "chickened out"...?
Does the ending of Part 2 mean that Xena and Gabrielle will not end up dying when they are old and grey, because it appears that in the flash into the future that they are still awfully young when they die?
Well as Xena said in an earlier ep, when Gab made a comment about not wanting to end up like an old woman they met - "Don't worry, people in our line of work don't live to that age!" (Which ep, anybody...? Sorry - my trivia contest ended today, I've got a stack of entries to score, and I've got trivia on the brain...)
But no, I'm fairly sure that the implication is that that particular "future" is either avoidable or redeemable - I don't think that's how they're going to kill off Xena and Gab (because a. I don't think they'd do that, and b. they appear committed to making at least one more season after this one).
Personally I wish they hadn't shown those scenes - I *hate* foreshadowing in movies and books... it ranks right down among my least favourite techniques, and I tend to permanently dump authors who indulge in it too much.
What's up with all the crucifixion imagery?
Yep, what next? Xena does back-flips on water? Xena feeds a multitude with two eels and five loaves of nutbread?
