Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Season 2 Episode 4
Written by Adam Armus and Norma Kay Foster
Directed by T.J.Scott
This is a weird and wonderful episode with just about everything. The Music, the special effects, the Sub-text, the One-liners, the settings, the story…all are great! And the acting is superb. When Xena says "Gabrielle….DO IT" every watching heart just stops!
The story starts in a mysterious forest. Xena and Gabrielle are out to discover why local girls have been disappearing. There’s something afoot in the forest, well actually, "afeet":- Joxer’s feet! He’s being chased around by a pack of snarling wolves….or are they Bacchae? Of course, Xena and Gabrielle come to his rescue, well, really Xena because Gabby sort of hides behind her while she fights off the wolves.
Joxer’s presence is explained when he pulls out of his sack the head of Orpheus. Xena’s task is to help Orpheus defeat Bacchus and thus free the girls who are in danger of becoming Bacchae (slaves to the aforementioned god of wine and all things debauched).
Unfortunately, there’s a bit of history between Xena and Orpheus – he blames her for his wife’s death, but Xena explains to Gab that Euridice simply got in the way.
O.K., so this intrepid bunch – Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer and the head of Orpheus mounted atop Argo and looking like a scarecrow, set off to find Orpheus’ Lyre. Gabby gets a bit side-tracked when she’s drawn into some rather erotic dancing, Xena is mightily worried about the Bacchae, the Lyre disappears and Joxer thinks Xena has been bitten. In actual fact it’s Gabrielle who turns into a Bacchae. Xena is prepared to risk the mission and her life (again) to save Gabrielle. Orpheus tries to tell Joxer that Xena can’t be trusted and Joxer goes along with his line of thought (shame on you Joxer). But of course, not only does Xena save Gabrielle, save the Bacchae and kill Bacchus, she reunites Orpheus with his wife and with his body.
And WOW! There’s a video-wearing-out-scene where Xena realises she has to let herself be bitten before she can kill Bacchus (with a Dryad bone by the way, which are rather tough to get hold of and the getting hold of involved Joxer being sucked into a grave and losing his boots!). Anyway, who else to bite her but….."Gabrielle, DO IT!" Gabby sinks her teeth into Xena’s neck, Xena rolls her eyes and turns, temporarily, into a Bacchae and together they swoop down to finish off Bacchus. There’s a whole load of rapidly changing camera shots before everyone’s back to normal. Well, apart from the audience who are totally breathless!
Watch for: when Joxer throws his bag over his shoulder and cracks Orpheus’ head against the rocky wall of the cave; Xena’s "Right…..Right……Right" when Gabs tells Joxer they’re off to fight Medusa, Xena’s New Zealand accent on "spidah, sand spidah", Joxer’s lyre playing (awful), Orpheus’s singing (even worse) and of course – that DELICIOUS bite.
(Review by Jan)