Xena Media Review #19 (12/08/96) - Part 2 of 4 ================== cut here ================== -------- TIMELINE -------- 04/29/96 20 Ties That Bind ------------------------------------ LIST OF ANNOTATIONS FOUND IN XMR #19 ------------------------------------ Amended Annotations ------------------- [050.6] 10-01-95 DAYTIME EDITION. Interview tv show [058b] 10-01-95 TELEVISION BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL. [068.5] 10-28-95 WGN. Televised interview. [073.4] 11-06-95 THE EVENING POST (Wellington) 20/20 Annotations ----------- [260] 04-29-96 TIES THAT BIND. Episode no. 20. [261] 05-01-96 SPECTRUM. Vol. 1 No. 5. Page 2. [262] 05-01-96 SPECTRUM. Vol. 1 No. 5. Page 5. [263] 05-01-96 SPECTRUM. Vol. 1 No. 5. Page 6. [264] 05-01-96 SPECTRUM. Vol. 1 No. 5. Page 10. [265] 05-01-96 SCI-FI UNIVERSE. Vol 2. No. 15. ------------------- AMENDED ANNOTATIONS ------------------- [050.6] 10-01-95 DAYTIME EDITION. Date unknown. Interview television show. COMMENTARY: Date unknown. Interview television show. This televised interview was made probably in October 1995 (Ms. Lawless referred to an November episode as coming up, so the interview was definitely before 11/95). It was an early interview and therefore was very formal. Ms. Lawless wore conservative clothing (something she had stated she rarely did) and didn't make any overt jokes with the interviewer, as she did with later interviews. In the interview Ms. Lawless related her first HTLJ experience (HERCULES AND THE AMAZON WOMEN) and related the famous story of how she got the Xena part due to the illness of an American actress (still as yet unnamed in print or in fandom). The interview continued with Ms. Lawless' take on the Xena character: (1) "Oh, she was thoroughly wicked. Thoroughly ruthless. But you know, when I look back on them, when the crew and I sat down and watched some of the old tapes, we were just aghast. She was absolutely irredeemable. Who would have thought?" (2) "She [Xena] just realizes there's just something more to life and perhaps she ought to join the social order a little bit and stop maiming people for no apparent reason." When asked what it was like playing a part like Xena, Ms. Lawless stated, "I can't imagine a better role. I can't think of a better role for a woman. Certainly not in episodic television, ever." When asked about Xena's relationship with Hercules, Ms. Lawless stated, "he comes and goes....He does come through in sweeps month. This month in November you can look forward to a crossover episode, and yes, it's very, very exciting." [She was referring to the episode PROMETHEUS]. Quirky moments: When Ms. Lawless was apparently told to sit up straight by someone off camera and off sound what consequently appeared on camera was Ms. Lawless saying completely out of context, "Sit up straight? Sorry." Best line: REPORTER: "Sorry. I'm having a hard time hearing you because you're in New Zealand." The interview was plagued by a bad satellite feed (creating such moments as: REPORTER: How does that happen? LUCY: Pardon me? *And* REPORTER: What's it like to play somebody like that? LUCY: Because -- pardon me? Transcription by Julia Medina TRANSCRIPTION: REPORTER: She thwarts a man-eating cyclops, stops the ruthless warlord Draco's men, and ultimately defeats the barbarian warlord and saves her village, her family, and her people. If it sounds like something out of this world, it is. It's the story of Xena: The Warrior Princess, played by actress Lucy Lawless. If you're a fan of the hit television show Hercules, you already know Lucy. If not, let's meet her now. Welcome to us -- to News 12. LUCY: Thank you for having me. REPORTER: Of course, you're joining us now from New Zealand where this story is being taped; right? LUCY: Yes, it is. REPORTER: Okay. You already appeared in some episodes of Hercules. What was your role in those shows? LUCY: I started right back in the very first telemovie where I was playing the bad first lieutenant of the Amazon Queen, and I was sort of her bully boy -- bully girl. And then they got me back for another role which was bigger and the roles sort of kept getting bigger until somebody dropped out of a trilogy of stories -- an America actress -- and they said, "Oh, well. Let's get Lucy Lawless. And at least we know she'll be up to do the role?" I guess that's what they said. Sit up straight? Sorry. REPORTER: So after appearing on these episodes of Hercules, obviously, you got a good reaction from the audience cause they decided to give you a series all your own, Xena: The Warrior Princess; right? And this is going to follow the story of you and Hercules and pick it up where it left off in these other three shows of Hercules? LUCY: That's right. Or a little while later when she's had a little brush with something closely resembling love and decides to change her wicked ways -- tries. REPORTER: Changing her wicked ways in the ones in the Hercules stories, as you mentioned, she was considered kind of a bad -- LUCY: Oh, she was thoroughly wicked. Thoroughly ruthless. But you know, when I look back on them, when the crew and I sat down and watched some of the old tapes, we were just aghast. She was absolutely irredeemable. Who would have thought? REPORTER: But then she changes her ways in the series now, and she becomes a hero. LUCY: Yes, she does. Well, that's what we're aiming at. REPORTER: How does that happen? LUCY: Pardon me? REPORTER: How does that happen? LUCY: She just realizes there's just something more to life and perhaps she ought to join the social order a little bit and stop maiming people for no apparent reason. REPORTER: And what are some of the things that she does that we can look forward to seeing? LUCY: Oh, now, we're scurrying through castles and saving the world from a world without death. REPORTER: What's it like to play somebody like that? LUCY: Because -- pardon me? REPORTER: What's it like to play somebody like that? LUCY: It's thrilling. I love it. I love going to work everyday. REPORTER: You consider yourself -- LUCY: I can't imagine a better role. I can't think of a better role for a woman. Certainly not in episodic television, ever. REPORTER: Do you consider yourself like her or are you basically the opposite of her? LUCY: No, she's a few -- she's like a sliver of my personality, I guess that's -- yeah, that's how I work in acting anyway, you pull out strings of your own personality to make this character and other strings to make this character, so they're both distinct from one another but both real. REPORTER: Sorry. I'm having a hard time hearing you because you're in New Zealand. She has a love interest with Hercules? LUCY: Yes, she does. REPORTER: How far -- LUCY: But he comes and goes. REPORTER: -- in the course of the series? LUCY: Well, he does visit. He does come through in sweeps month. This month in November you can look forward to a crossover episode, and yes, it's very, very exciting. REPORTER: All right. Well, we'll look forward to watching that. LUCY: Hope you will enjoy watching it. REPORTER: Okay. Thanks a lot for joining us. Lucy Lawless. LUCY: My pleasure. REPORTER: Once again. That series is Xena: The Warrior Princess. [58b] 10-01-95 TELEVISION BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL. October 1995. Page 132. 21120 words. "The Buyers' Guide to Programs at MIPCOM" COMMENTARY: In a buyer's guide for MIPCOM 1995, XWP was listed as for sale for 22 episodes. It was after the victorious November sweeps when the decision was made to add two more episodes to the first season. EXCERPT: ACTION/ADVENTURE... ...Product Title: Xena: Warrior Princess; Episodes: 22x60 mins; Rights: TV: o, Theatrical:, Video:; Distributor: MCA TV International; New or returning: New; Stand No.: 11.02/13.01... ...SCI FI/ACTION... ...Product Title: Xena: Warrior Princess Episodes: 22x60 mins. Rights: TV: o Theatrical: Video: Distributor: MCA TV Int'l New or Returning: New Stand No.: 8900... [068.5] 10-28-95 WGN. Televised interview. COMMENTARY: In another satellite feed interview (REPORTER: Is it Saturday morning where you are? LUCY: Good morning. Pardon me?), Ms. Lawless promoted the HTLJ double feature of THE GAUNTLET and UNCHAINED HEART which aired on WGN 10/29/95. When asked about the character Xena, Ms. Lawless stated, "I think Xena's just battling her own animal instincts the whole time, you know, she left an ordered society when she was fairly young, still a child, and went severely off the rails and is now just sort of fighting to get back on them. And she doesn't want to be a hero; she doesn't want anybody revering her as a role model or the like, but she just gets caught up in other people's sticky situations and knows that the only thing to do is the right thing and help out." Also discussed was Ms. Lawless' impression on working with Kevin Sorbo and the demands of her role. When asked what was the fun in doing the character, Ms. Lawless stated, "It is unfettered. And I like the way that it is all sort of very straightfaced and makes it even campier, you know, because if you don't play it straightfaced, the audience can't go on the journey, can't be engaged in the fantasy, and that's what we all want, you know, just to drop out for an hour." Transcription by Julia Medina TRANSCRIPTION: REPORTER: She's bold, she's beautiful, and she packs a wallop. She is Xena: The Warrior Princess, and she'll appear on a special episode of Hercules tonight here at 8:00 O'clock. Xena has her own show here on WGN TV, and next Friday she'll be battling barbaric enemies, slave traders, and a host of other evildoers. Who is the woman behind the leather, swords and flashing fists? Well it's none other than Lucy Lawless, who joins us live via satellite from New Zealand. Good afternoon, Lucy, or I guess I should say good morning. Is it Saturday morning where you are? LUCY: Good morning. Pardon me? REPORTER: Is it Saturday morning where you are right now? LUCY: Yes, it is. It's fairly early on a Saturday. REPORTER: Well thanks for joining us. Tell us, what is it like to play a warrior princess? LUCY: Terrific fun. I love going -- I love going to work. I do. REPORTER: Tell us a little bit about the show itself. What are you battling for and who are you battling against? LUCY: I think Xena's just battling her own animal instincts the whole time, you know, she left an ordered society when she was fairly young, still a child, and went severely off the rails and is now just sort of fighting to get back on them. And she doesn't want to be a hero; she doesn't want anybody revering her as a role model or the like, but she just gets caught up in other people's sticky situations and knows that the only thing to do is the right thing and help out. REPORTER: Sometimes we get forced into doing just the right thing whether we like it or not. LUCY: Yeah. REPORTER: What was it like working with Kevin Sorbo, better known as Hercules? LUCY: Oh, terrific. Kevin's a real pro. He's never sick, he never doesn't know his lines, and he's very, very, very fun. REPORTER: Now we're watching some scenes. You can't see this, but tell us about the action here and the stunts. Do you do a lot of your own stunt work? LUCY: I do all the fighting, and anything we don't have time to cover or is just too dangerous, they'll throw some other poor woman off a cliff for. But you know I get to do things with rats and spiders and being drowned under water and all that exciting stuff, so you will see my face. REPORTER: You're getting hit by rocks in that particular clip as we saw. What is the most fun having this character? I would imagine it's just great fun to be able to totally step out of the modern world and step into something that is just you know -- LUCY: Pure fantasy. REPORTER: Completely untethered if you will. LUCY: It is unfettered. And I like the way that it is all sort of very straightfaced and makes it even campier, you know, because if you don't play it straightfaced, the audience can't go on the journey, can't be engaged in the fantasy, and that's what we all want, you know, just to drop out for an hour. REPORTER: You bet. LUCY: Or two hours if you watch both Hercules and Xena together. REPORTER: If you watch Hercules and Xena together, it's two hours worth of the fantasy drop out. LUCY: Yeah, your fantasy fix for the week. REPORTER: Thanks for joining us. Look us up when you're in town. Kevin was in town doing some promos recently, hope to see you over here too. Thanks a lot. LUCY: Yeah, thank you. [073.4] 11-06-95 THE EVENING POST (Wellington). Page 3. 388 words. "No Second Chances Allowed" By Phil Wakefield COMMENTARY: This news item announced the making of Hercules 20/20 TV3 documentary which was broadcast 11/06/95. It also observed that TV3 still hadn't committed to whether it was going to carry HTLJ or XWP. The 20/20 Interview was annotated as XMR073.5, and appeared in XMR #18. EXCERPT: ...TV3 SHOULD have better luck with the Hercules TV series; starting with a making-of the show, which features in tonight's 20/20. While you might think Anita McNaught's report is a plug for a new TV3 show, the network has yet to buy Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or sister hit Xena: The Warrior Princess. The twist with both is they're being shot in Auckland and feature New Zealand actors (including Lucy Lawless as Xena). However, you won't recognize them from their accents - they've been trained in California-speak for viewers of syndicated TV in the US. Clearly, they like what they hear. Hercules has been out-rating both Baywatch and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (which returns next week) while Xena last month made an impressive bow. Hercules and Xena are estimated to have pumped $ US100 million into the local economy and have been enjoyed by critics for their "mix of action, goofy dialogue and nifty special effects". ----------- ANNOTATIONS ----------- [260] 04-29-96 TIES THAT BIND. Episode no. 20. Series 1-20. First release. Guest stars: Tom Atkins (Atreus) and Kevin Smith (Ares). Cast: Stephen Lovatt (Kirilus), Sonia Gray (Rhea), Lutz Halbhubner (Tarkis), Jonathon Whittaker (Andrus), Nancy Broadbent (Areliesa), Heidi Anderson (Slave Girl), John Manning (Ranch Hand #1), Mark Perry (Warrior #1), Tony Williams (Warrior #2), James Marcum (Warrior #3), and Robin Kora (Village Elder). Written by Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster. Directed by Charles Siebert. RATINGS HISTORY: 1st release (04/29/96): 1st ST:DS9 ranked 9th at 5.7; 2nd HTLJ ranked 13th at 5.2; 3rd BAYWATCH ranked 14th at 4.8. XWP did not place in the top twenty. 2nd release (08/12/96): 1st HTLJ 4.5; 2nd XWP at 4.0; and 3rd ST:DS9 at 3.9 SYNOPSIS: This synopsis was brought to you by guest synopser, Anita Firebaugh (Bluesong@aol.com). Xena and Gabrielle watch as a warlord puts many women and girls into a cage; his most recent pillage. Xena wants to save them, and hatches a plot, but before she can do anything a man with white hair runs from the woods and attacks the warlords. Xena goes and saves him; he says he is her father. Xena does not believe him. She and Gabrielle rescue the women and girls, and one runs away because she "went willingly" with the warlord's men in order to spare her sister. Gabrielle goes after her, and the older man stops a thug from beating up Gabrielle. Xena thanks him, and then they take the women and girls away. While the women bath and ready themselves for the journey back to their village, Xena sits on a hill, watching, and humming a song. Suddenly the stillness is broken when the older man comes riding a horse through the creek, shouting for Xena. He has several men chasing him; Xena goes after them on Argo and once again saves the older man. The older man says the horse was owed to him; Xena does not believe this, so she checks out his story. Finding it to be true, she is confused about this person. Is he her father or not? Xena is attacked by a dart-blower; Xena catches the dart, and the older man goes after the attacker. Gabrielle sees him kill the man while he was pleading for mercy. But when Xena checks out the story, the attacker had a hidden knife. The older man then tells Gabrielle in an offhanded manner that she should take a hike so he can spend some time with his daughter. Gabrielle offers to lead the women and girls back to their village while Xena and the older man ride rear guard. Xena and the older man are attacked; together they fight them off. They reach the village, and the villagers take the old man prisoner, because he once led an attack on their village. Xena says she will stop the warlord if they leave her father alone. Xena goes after the warlord. They have a fight, and Xena wins. She takes his army and leads them back to the village. She sees her father hung up to die; she screams "Take the village" and "Kill them all" to the men around her. She pulls her father down and he dies in her arms. The villagers are rounded up, and she walks toward them with her father in her arms. "Who killed my father?" she asks. She cannot even see Gabrielle; she has reverted to her old ways. Gabrielle stands up to her, and in fact hits her in the upper back with a pitchfork. Then her father speaks, asking her where her anger is, and Xena realizes Ares has been playing games with her. She tells him to kill her, but he does not, and he vanishes. As the show ends, Xena tells Gabrielle that some families are made, and they are closer than blood, and that is how she feels about Gabrielle. COMMENTARY: (Back to Kym) I am slacking off these days. I only watched the first thirty minutes of TIES THAT BIND when writing this commentary. Maybe I will get to the last thirty minutes sometime later. The first thirty minutes positively exhausted me. Knowing how the show ends, I can assume the last thirty will surely hospitalize me. The slow yet inevitable seduction of Xena to the darkside, along with Gabrielle's supreme self-sacrifice in bringing Xena back, not to mention some beautiful camera work and a sound track to die for, can and will take me out when I do get around to watching the rest of the show (now, now, this is a repeated viewing...I have seen the show complete many times but it was way in the past). This show, at least in my humble opinion, is AMAZING. I could talk for hours merely about the first thirty minutes, and no doubt I will. However, not today. As a tangent, I watched SINS OF THE PAST again a couple of days ago and I was dumbfounded how EVERYTHING about the show is in that one episode. It was truly a great foundation for what was to be built. It was chuckfull of Xena-isms: the silly gravity-defying acrobatics; the 'magic' chakram; the lingering looks between Xena and Gabrielle; Xena SAVING Gabrielle; Gabrielle SAVING Xena; weird dialogue; Xena's world- weariness; Xena's quest for redemption; Xena's use of the word "friend"; Gabrielle's extraordinary gift of gab; Xena's relationship with Argo (even though she does call Argo a he!); lots of fog; "the look"; Xena's family; Gabrielle's family; Perdicas (eek!); and that is only the short list! What can I say...XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS as a show amazes me and I am the first to admit I am obsessed by it. But what a wonderful obsession! Now, back to TIES THAT BIND. 1. THE PITFALLS OF FATHERHOOD. Robert Tapert, one of the creators of XWP and an executive producer of the series, once stated "I believe, in the basest and crassest of ways, that there's a formula to stories about heroes, and no one had ever tried to do it before with a woman hero. Or if they did, they made excuses for her being a woman." (tentative XMR322, 07-01-96, MS. Magazine, Vol 7, No. 1, July/August 1996, page 74, "Xena" She's Big, Tall, Strong--and Popular" by Donna Minkowitz) One of the great formulas of the hero, or more appropriately macho male myth, was that of the great rift between the father and the son. In TIES THAT BIND, the audience was treated to Xena's version of her father angst. Her father abandoned her family when Xena was 4. As an adult, Xena felt unresolved and ambiguous feelings towards her father's memory. She was disgusted by his actions and yet fondly remembered the 'good times'. Too bad for Xena that psycho-therapy would not be invented for another couple of thousand years. However, the wily and wascally Ares used Xena's longing for a unified family and her unconscious and vague mourning for her father to his advantage. 2. ARES. In Ares' first appearance in the Xenaverse, THE RECKONING (#06), he openly wooed Xena to the dark side by offers of worldly power to do good. In his second appearance in TIES THAT BIND, he went undercover to try to trick Xena into being his representative on earth. By INTIMATE STRANGER (#31) he had given up on making Xena his representative and attempted to give Callisto that honor. Ares apparently never quite made the connection that he failed in his first two attempts because of Xena's friendship with Gabrielle. Callisto had made that observation sometime between CALLISTO (#22) and RETURN OF CALLISTO (#29) while she was in prison. In CALLISTO, Callisto's goal was to hurt Xena; she used Gabrielle as a means not an end to harm Xena. However, in RETURN OF CALLISTO, she told Xena that she was going to kill Xena's soul first...which was Gabrielle. Callisto, of course, wound up killing Perdicas instead, but served the same purpose; by killing Perdicas in Gabrielle's presence, Callisto effectively made Gabrielle a basketcase. Finally in INTIMATE STRANGER, Callisto inexplicably gave up on Gabrielle and went after Xena's mother instead. (Uh-oh, maybe there is something to this lessening of the theme of Gabrielle symbolizing Xena's soul and will to do good???). But hey this is all a tangent...we can't let Callisto dominate in a section about Ares! Come on, Callisto (in Xena's body) showed how wimpy he was in INTIMATE STRANGER, only to have Xena (in Callisto's body) show how even moreso wimpy he was in TEN LITTLE WARLORDS. It looks like season two is not being nice to Ares. However, TIES THAT BIND still portrayed the honorable and respectful Ares that was the theme of the first season. It will be greatly remembered for that. 3. WRITERS. The team of Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster has given to us: CHARIOTS OF WAR (#02), DEATH IN CHAINS (#09), BEWARE GREEKS BEARING GIFTS (#12), TIES THAT BIND, and GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN (#28). Their first exploration of the father-child angst was in CHARIOTS OF WAR as between Cycnus and Sphaerus. 4. DIRECTOR. Charles Siebert's best work for XWP thus far is his Ares trilogy: THE RECKONING (#06), TIES THAT BIND (#20), and TEN LITTLE WARLORDS (#32). The most mature, ironically, was his first, THE RECKONING. His direction of Ares was inspirational and showed that he understood the character. This theme was continued on through TIES THAT BIND. This time Ares attempted to seduce Xena in a radically different way than in THE RECKONING. However, Mr. Siebert lost his momentum in TEN LITTLE WARLORDS by abandoning any reference or continuity with the previous Ares shows. True, TEN LITTLE WARLORDS was a comedy relief piece that is rumored to have been re-shot and re-placed in the seasonal calendar after Ms. Lawless' injury. For that reason I shall still hope for the greatly anticipated Ares episode where it finally dawns on Ares that Gabrielle is the key to Xena's soul, not earthly powers or riches or even blood relatives. Since the producers of XWP tend to keep threads and themes with one director, I also anticipate that when this great episode is to be shot, Mr. Siebert will be chosen for the task. Mr. Siebert's other episodes included the first part of his "Sisyphus" series, DEATH IN CHAINS (#09). TEN LITTLE WARLORDS served double duty, being his third Ares episode and second Sisyphus episode (Mr. Siebert even appeared as Sisyphus in TEN LITTLE WARLORDS; Ray Henwood played Sisyphus in DEATH IN CHAINS; ooooo, perhaps more evidence that TEN LITTLE WARLORDS was the episode which supposedly was re-shot?). DEATH IN CHAINS was a quirky exploration into the necessity of death; just as TEN LITTLE WARLORDS was a quirky exploration into the necessity of a god of war, aka the general need for an outlet for humanity's warlike urges (was this guy sent by the Shadows, or what???). Mr. Siebert also directed ORPHAN OF WAR (#25) which took him out of his usual Ares/quirkiness explorations. I haven't figured out yet where that episode fits in the grand scheme of Siebert things, but I am working on it. 5. THE REDEMPTIVE FRIENDSHIP. Once again it is the pure at heart Gabrielle who has to beat some sense into Xena, both figuratively and literally. In THE RECKONING, Xena went into a bloodlust and did not come out until she swatted Gabrielle across the room. Xena was shocked into sobriety by her deed. Xena's bond with Gabrielle was greater than the bloodlust Ares had induced. Fast forward to TIES THAT BIND. Ares sees Gabrielle as nothing more than a hinderance to his plans. While in his Atreus disguise, he convinces Gabrielle to leave Xena. Not good enough Ares. Gabrielle was at the village that he wanted Xena to attack. Xena dutifully attacked (hey!!! they are flaying dad down there!!! take the village!!), but Gabrielle stood up to Xena. Interestingly enough, when Xena brushed off Gabrielle, there was a brief moment of recognition, but was quickly buried. Gabrielle then took the now legendary farm tool and slammed it against Xena's back. Gabrielle did perhaps her bravest deed (I found this more brave than what she did in THE GREATER GOOD. In GREATER GOOD, she was essentially required to masquerade as Xena and to carry on in Xena's supposed death. Her motivations were noble, but also inspired by an emotional chain of events where she didn't really have time to understand and consider the consequences or real motivations of her actions. In TIES, Gabrielle faced her death knowingly with time to understand what she was doing. The scene where she hits Xena is a grand moment for Renee O'Connor. In those five seconds she goes from righteous anger to utter and complete fear as she awaits to be skewered by Xena. A tough moment which Ms. O'Connor superbly performs). You can tell by Gabrielle's looks she did not expect to survive but was doing so to make a political statement. Luckily, Xena got the message. So what is the real message of this episode, other than Ares is a pain in the proverbial rear end? It is that Gabrielle is more than just a comic foil, action buddy, or even student to Xena's teacher; Gabrielle, at least during this part of the series, represented to Xena all the good things in her life and the reasons why Xena was attempting redemption at all. This grand theme of the growing spiritual, emotional, and physical friendship between Xena and Gabrielle reached its current apex in the episode REMEMBER NOTHING (#26) where the friendship between the two women were cast as being not only foretold and inevitable, but as unbreakable and consequently eternal. This was also supported further in REMEMBER NOTHING where Lyceus (her beloved brother and pre-Gabrielle moral compass) and Gabrielle almost merge. It is through this episode that you learn how important both Lyceus and Gabrielle are in Xena's perception of her life. HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Monty Pythonesque dartblower. (2) Chakram hovering in place while Xena fought, and then when she was free, the chakram flying back to her and re-attaching itself to her belt. Look ma! No hands! (3) Ares: "Sometimes the best man for a job is a woman"; tough break for Kirilus. (4) Every single scene with Rhea. Her approach, her style, her subtle use of drama is beyond my abilities for description (I only hope she was not a method actor!). You got to see her, to believe her. DISCLAIMER: No Fathers, Spiritual or Biological, were harmed during the production of this motion picture. ================== cut here ================== Continued in Part 3