A Family Affair is heart wrenching
Posted by FollowYourFate@reddit | xena | View on Reddit | 16 comments
I’m rewatching again for the first time in about ten years and I have been dreading A Family Affair. I love the creepy horror vibe (which is normally not my vibe) and the tension of Hope being embedded in Gabrielle’s family – will she kill them?!
But what gets me every time is that mother-child bond that plays out between Gabrielle and Hope (once again), and more intensely between Hope and The Destroyer. That monster just wants to be loved by and please his mother! The scenes with Hope and her son are so uncomfortable for the love and sadness and twisted nature of their relationship. So sad.
Does this ep, or any others, produce such a feeling of dread and pathos on you? Apart from one great Xenite friend, I’ve been alone in my Xena worship since 1995 so the opinions of over XWP obsessives are fascinating to me, often revealing completely different takes
Confident-Club1310@reddit
The shared need for love felt by both Hope and the Destroyer suggests that Hope may not have been the absolute Evil Xena perceived her to be. Perhaps Hope could have been saved, as Gabrielle dreamed. But Hope was given no chance.
theseedbeader@reddit
I will always be curious about what, if anything, could have been done to bring Hope around. Obviously it’ll always be left to head canons and fan fiction, but it’s interesting to muse about.
Confident-Club1310@reddit
To surround her with love, care, kindness. For starters :)
QueefOnAYogaBall@reddit
That's definitely one of my favorite episodes.
Icy-Sir-8414@reddit
A horrific episode I've enjoyed it
carz4us@reddit
ROC is an amazingly talented actor.
That’s it.
IseQween@reddit
I also found this to be a powerful, creepy, poignant ep for the reasons others mention. I hadn't really thought about Hope wanting to live with Gabrielle's family, which adds a new layer for me.
Renee once again shows her awesomeness in her ability to play the various emotions of both Gab and Hope. I really trust her choices. When I first watched the initial reunion with Xena in the market, I saw Hope, then thought Renee unconsciously slipped into Gab mode when her face lights up at seeing Xena and they hug. Ironically, it's one of the most frequent scenes in fan videos.
I now believe Renee was communicating exactly what she wanted. On one level, Hope had captured Gab's personality sufficiently to fool Xena. On another level, it may have been one of the first genuinely happy Hope moments, even if it was realizing the deliciousness of being able to "play" with/on the love of the person she hated most. She could fully satisfy her curiosity about and desire to experience the various relationships she'd never had. I believe the human part of her truly craved that.
krampus99claws@reddit
I would have to say that the beginning of the Dahak storyline remains the most uncomfortable part for me. After Xena arrives at the temple, Gabrielle makes a noise when Krafstar enters. That sob/groan/wail is one of the most haunting sounds I have ever heard. Thinking about why she made it makes my skin crawl.
cestlavie_69@reddit
Yep, agree.
cestlavie_69@reddit
I love this episode. The reunion between Xena and Gabrielle is exquisite. The last scene between them, where Xena tells Gabs of her devotion, makes my little gay heart sing.
The awkwardness between Xena and Herodotus is delicious. The Destroyer just wants his mother’s love. ROC is so good as Hope. I love her sinister glare. I love it when she says Xena never gives up, no matter the cost. And Xena’s like “huh?!”
There is so much goodness in this episode, I’ll leave it at that, for now. Oh, one more observation: while watching the series in real-time, Joxer was extremely annoying. There was just too much of him in too many episodes at the wrong times. But in this episode, when Xena and Hope first make eye contact, and it’s about to get emotional because Xena thinks it’s Gabrielle, Joxer pops up between them in the shot. It’s perfect. It makes the resulting reunion between our girls flat and anticlimactic. Everything feels “off.” I think it’s the perfect tone setter. It makes the audience feel a bit of the unsettled feeling Xena has about “Gabrielle.”
Agent8699@reddit
I thought it was very interesting that with all the powers of a demigoddess, Hope chose to travel to Potideia and assume the life that Gabrielle had run away from.
Sure, she may have been weak and needed to provide for her son, but with her abilities she could still do that almost anywhere. Instead Hope sought out her family and seemingly embraced them and her role as Gabrielle while getting to know her aunt and grandparents.
Even if she was super weak, why not just kill them and inherit the farm as Gabrielle so she doesn’t have to role play 24/7? Hope seemed to want to embrace the role of dutiful daughter.
And then, for the third / fourth time, Gabrielle is forced to kill her daughter once again. The true Gabrielle returns home to destroy the carefully constructed and beloved illusion that Gabrielle’s parents and sister had been enjoying.
Overall_Sandwich_671@reddit
The shepherd we saw getting killed at the beginning of the episode was the Destroyer's first human victim, so maybe Hope was saving the family for last once it had gained enough strength from killing all the other villagers.
For a demon spawned by Dahak, Hope is very good at taking advantage of her human form and blending in (even Xena says she is good at her Gabrielle act) maybe it's because she inherited Gab's peaceful and merciful aspects that prevent her from killing needlessly.
I do also think Hope is curious about Gabrielle's relationship with her family and wants to experience the kind of life her mother originally came from. She could also have killed joxer back when she bumped into him during Sacrifice, but instead she just asked him questions and wandered off while her followers were out rounding up random villagers.
Hope knows that people can be useful while they are fooled by her appearance.
Tricky_Direction_897@reddit
I always have a hard time with this one, too. I feel the same way. I always feel sorry for The Destroyer…
godsibi@reddit
It is very well directed and written for the outrageous thing that is actually happening in this episode! The fact that in one season, Gabrielle went from "the little girl from Potidea" to birthing a demon clone and (by extension) a monster, and then having to kill them, it's a proper Greek tragedy!
It's also one of my favourite episodes in the entirety of the show! I'm not sure how much Sam Raimi was involved in this, but the half eaten corpses outside of The Destroyer's lair are pure Sam Raimi horror! Whenever someone says "Xena was a family friendly show", episodes like this come to mind!
StarrE1@reddit
Yes!!!!! It's gut wrenching to watch the interactions between Hope and the Monster!!! The feels!!!!!!! 😭😭😭
Critical_Leave_2574@reddit
I just watched a couple days ago, and same! I think they made a good choice of having Renee play Hope.
Hope hatching from that cocoon was so creepy too.