HAUNTING OF AMPHIPOLIS    

commentaries by Ranjit Kumar

The Haunting of Amphipolis was an unusual, spooky homage to numerous horror movies.....was it any good?.... my review will reveal all. 

The Review- Well, I don’t know about this one! There were moments that I loved and moments that were downright boring. Xena, Gabrielle, and Eve return home to Amphipolis to find the town deserted and Cyrene's spirit trapped in her haunted tavern. A beggar in the mausoleum tells Xena that her mother always waited for her but that Mephistopheles cursed her tavern and slowly drove her insane. The townsfolk, believing Cyrene to be a witch of Mephistopheles, burnt her at the stake. Things go from bad to worst with Gabrielle getting possessed and a hellhole opening in the backyard. They soon learn that Mephistopheles requires the blood of the messenger - Eve - in order to materialize. Xena, determined to release her mother's spirit, gives him exactly what he wants and kills him - setting into effect a prophecy which claims that whoever kills him must take his place as the ruler over hell. I totally dug the first 40 minutes of the horror extravaganza. The maggots on Gabby’s hand, the shower scene, blood drops dripping from the ground and especially loved the scene where Xena’s and Gabby’s hands were joined together. Also loved how during that scene knives and chains were darting towards them...kinda like Sacrifice 2. After the appearance of Mephistopheles things become a tad boring. What a dreadful villain....did anyone understand a single word he said? ....and why must he be so butt ugly, I know he’s a villain but what about the female villains like Callisto, Najara and Velasca. They were gorgeous, for once I’d like to see a good looking male villain ( I don’t have to wait long as next week, Alex Mendoza who play’s the devil is quite the hottie.) What was up with Eve? She sounded like a broken record repeating the same line one million times. In the name of Eli can the writers give poor Adrienne Wilkinson better dialogues.  

Thumbs down--

-- Adrienne Wilkinson. I gave a thumbs up last week but this time she whines and weeps and coughs and repeats `in the name of Eli’ in the name of acting. 

-- Poor Cyrene... such a wonderful character, such a dreadful gruesome death. 

- The last 20 minutes...should’ve spiced things up a bit. 

Thumbs Up--

-- Awesome special effects. Loved everyone of them...except the hand joining one. 

-- ROC delivers such a powerful performance. Loved her reaction to the maggots in her hand. 

-- The homages to classic horror movies were well done. 

-- Great Directing by Garth Maxwell...the cameral angles, the blurring of scenes, the fast paced editing made the episode better then it might have been. I’m not a huge fan of Garth but this time he does a good job. 

-- Joe Lo Duca who used to be the best thing of the show and who slept the whole of last season with recycled or mediocre music (draco rap anyone) finally gives us some new music. 

I can’t wait for next week as the dance music is excellent. All in all it was an O.K. episode with great moments but I expected a little more. The first two episodes of Season six have been mediocre and nowhere near classic Xena episodes. Lets see what future episodes deliver. 

Rating- 6.5/10 

Next Week- Heart of Darkness- You might have noticed that Xena is acting a little strange at the end of the last episode. Well the reason is that her heart is filled with darkness. This episode I am dying to see b’coz it is the sexiest Xena episode ever made. There is a shocking orgy, Xena in a bikini, gabby in a leather bra, Virgil semi- nude and a dance which you have to see to believe......You can see why I can’t wait to see this one.

COMING HOME

commentaries by Ivan

 It's the season we were waiting for, for so long. After that long and agonizing wait it's finally here - the season premiere of season 6 on Star World. So, before further adieu I'll review the first episode telecast, talk about the good points and the not so good points.

 Review-

After such a long wait of almost a year I was expecting a spectacular season premiere. Sadly that is not the case. It is a good episode, just not good enough for a season premier. The premise of the story is that Ares wants his godhood back and thus wants the Ambrosia from the Amazon land. The furies drive Ares insane to take revenge about what happened last season (Ares saved Eve and thus Xena could kill Athena) Xena stops Ares and kills the Furies in the worst plan Xena has ever made.

Okay, I'm making the episode sound terrible but it wasn't. The photography was cool with snow capped fields and glacial ponds. Kevin Smith (may he R.I.P) was fabulous....loved his acting. It was good to see Xena and Gabby so friendly again. The most impressive part of the episode was Eve's role. Although she was annoying in previous episodes she acted really well with a subtle performance. Varia was excellent and I'm glad she's going to be back later on for a couple more episodes. The furies on the other hand were awful actresses.

 The stupidest part of the episode- that chakram throw. How many of us went... Huh!!! when that happened. But all in all a simple, attractive looking, well acted episode.

Thumbs down-

 - The furies- I'm sure this trio are never going to win any oscars.
 - Too laid back and simple a story to be a season premiere.
 - The ending fight was too bloody and brutal not to mention boring and
improbable for my liking.

 Thumbs up-

 - Adrienne Wilkinson (Eve) and Tsianina Joelson (Varia) were superb.
 - Kevin Smith. one of his best performances to date.
 - Missy Good's script. She kept it nice and simple
 - Xena apologizing to Gabby for hitting her with the chakram.. too short an apology though.

 - Great opening credits! They changed it after five years.. talk about procrastination.
 

- Not connected to the serial - the brand new Xena ad on Star World.
Although they could have chosen better scenes (like Who's Gurkhan or the Ring trilogy) it wasn't too bad. .and boy they took scenes from a variety of episodes. As far as I can remember there were scenes from Haunting of Amphipolis, Heart Of Darkness, The Abyss, Dangerous Prey, When Fates Collide, Many Happy Returns, Soul Possession and yes, two beautiful scenes from the series finale Friend In Need.

Rating- 6/10

Next week- Haunting of Amphipolis. Now this is an expensive, special effects laden, horror bonanza. This episode was supposed to be the original season premier so lets see how it fares next week.