The reviews presented on this page do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the XWPVS xenastaff, but the opinions of the individual reviewers.

Review for "Curse of the Lake Demon" (XWPVS 8.5)
by: David J. Duncan

In "Curse of the Lake Demon", the XWPVS seems to turn away from the exploratory mode of the first four installments of Season 8. While the Native American theme continues, we see the struggles for acceptance and to communicate minimized and the clash with the monstrous maximized once more. The concept of spirit plane warfare is reintroduced from the last three seasons. The theme of the "hunter and the hunted" comes out here as well. And perhaps, Xena and Gabrielle are on their way home by the end.

The teaser seems to embody the theme--"be careful what you wish for". As Xena and Gabrielle canoe downstream, something chases them. As they flee, the two warriors end up dropping over a fifty foot waterfall. As they do, Xena sees the Lake Demon for the first time.

Act I offers the reader a depth of knowledge and background on the area and its events. As the two warriors recover their senses, they marvel at how they survived the fall. (Ares, perhaps? Who knows? In any event, I loved the crack about the "one that got away". ) They stumble upon an area filled with dead and rotting carcasses. It is at this point that Gabrielle has her first vision. As she grabs a tomahawk left there by one of the victims, she sees of a Native American warrior's last battle with the creature and his death. Then, they meet Hawkeye, a young warrior from a nearby village who gives them a preliminary sketch of what is going on between his tribe and the Lake Demon before leading them back there. (This is interesting. They understand each other without the usual hand gesturing? Hmmm….) After meeting Owl Eyes, the old shaman, Xena and Gabrielle get more information on the Lake Demon. (Another stare down between Xena and a male warrior reminds us of how her presence confuses the whole gender caste in these tribes.) Then the Lake Demon attacks the village. In a Tolkien-esque twist, Xena finds an exposed area in the creature's scales and attacks it. (Shades of Smaug from the Hobbit anyone? ) Interesting stare down between Gabrielle and the Lake Demon before it backs off. Xena, of course, goes into protective mode and leaves Gabrielle behind. (Gabrielle's reaction here shows that she still thinks about Japa and "A Friend In Need".)

Act II splits the story into two parts: the physical and spiritual battles. On the physical front, Xena and the hunting party pursue the Lake Demon. After returning to its lair, the group goes to Spirit Cliff to face the creature there. Before they can leave, however, the Demon grabs Maliko, one of the warriors and tortures him. Xena kills the victim with her chakram and takes control of the situation. Meantime, Owl Eyes reveals to Gabrielle that it is she who must defeat the Lake Demon and it must happen in the spirit realm. He tells her the story of Billowing Snake and Naitaka and how the dead are unable to cross to the other side unless the situation can be taken care of. (Shades of "Adventures in the Sin Trade" and once again, "A Friend in Need") He hands her a bowl and she drinks, starting the journey to the spirit realm. (Here, I have to ask why Owl Eyes misses Xena's spiritual power. After all, she has fought in that realm before and taught Gabrielle what she knows. Did she lose her spiritual 'gift' after her revival? While I like seeing Gabrielle repeat the "Them Bones, Them Bones" experience and get it right this time, I wonder about that oversight.)

Act III contains the battles in earnest. Xena and the party fight the Lake Demon by Spirit Cliff, trying to kill it and keep from being killed in the process. Meantime, Gabrielle goes to the spirit realm and encounters the spirits as she and Owl Eyes' animal totem/spirit travel to the lake. There she recognizes Billowing Snake's evil and Naitaka's goodness trapped within it. (Interesting insight here with Gabrielle's spirit vision.) Then the shaman and the dead spirits give her the ability to fix the situation and defeat the evil in front of her. (Again, "Adventures in the Sin Trade") As she does so, Xena and the others in the physical world see the Lake Demon emit a blinding glow as it changes back to normal.

Act IV offers a wrap up to the story and to potential questions. Xena and Hawkeye give their comrades from the hunting party a suitable funeral before returning to his village. Before they get there, Gabrielle and Owl Eyes talk about the reality behind the situation: that Xena, in her protective mode, could not have defeated the Lake Demon in this realm and caused three needless deaths in the process. To make Gabrielle forget, he uses a charm. When Xena returns, Gabrielle reminds her that they go down the paths together. (Well, in a way, they did.) At the story's end, Owl Eyes guides them to an island with a crevice to the Land of the Dead and hopefully, Charon's boat. (Umm…potential YAXI here-there are several "Lands of the Dead" in the Xenaverse: the Elysian Fields, Tartarus, Valhalla and the Steppes' Land of the Dead. Charon would be waiting on the River Styx to take them to Tartarus and Hades. As Hades said in "Sin Trade Part I", 'not all of the dead come to me'. Surely, Xena would have reminded Gabrielle of that risk.) In the end, they enter a crevice and dive into the bottomless pool, disappearing from our view.

"Curse of the Lake Demon" is a great episode with good writing and lots of insight. It harkens back to the spiritual wars against Alti and Yodoshi from Seasons 4-6. I like how Gabrielle had the chance to finally wage a successful spirit fight-further proving herself as Xena's companion and developing toward equality with her friend. There were some questions though with Owl Eyes' assessment of the two warriors' abilities and what his motives may have been under the surface. As noted above, Xena has that ability too and the Lake Demon should have reacted to it. Perhaps, Gabrielle's quest for peace is making her more potent in that way. Finally, I was hoping to see more of that spirit from the end of "Wampum". (Maybe it might show up at some point down the line?) Anyhow, overall this was a great episode.

Review: Episode 8.5 - Curse of the Lake Demon
by: 41 Cyg

Another good episode. My rating is a 7.7 (out of 10). I'm not sure why I'm putting it below last week's (Wampum), but I'm fairly certain of the relative ranking in my mind, even if I can't explain why.

Before I get to detailed comments on this week's episode, I want to mention something that I only recently noticed in the New World story arc. With the U.S. Thanksgiving coming up soon, I realized that many of the traditional holiday foods originated here in the Americas. Then I noticed while reading one of the earlier episodes this season, that our heroes seemed to be sticking to their usual diet of rabbit and fish, with maybe some venison thrown in, all of which are common on both sides of the Atlantic.

It's true Gabrielle did try a (very) hot pepper in Mayan Madness (7.21), there was apparently a roast tapir in War Cries (7.22) and they found some guavas in Child's Play (8.01, but where are the most common New World foods? Corn (maize to British English speakers) was the dominant food grain from the southern tip of South America through southern Canada, but I believe it is not mentioned. Popcorn too, was grown in what is now the U.S., and was a regular part of the meals in some areas. Potatoes are also absent, although maybe they will appear in the (as yet) undramatized Machu Picchu story. Sweet potatoes, too, are missing. Cranberries, another Thanksgiving staple, are, I believe, native to the northeast U.S. and could have appeared in any of the last three episodes. I can overlook the absence of buffalo steaks, since none of the episodes were set in the Great Plains where the bison flourished, but surely Xena and Gabrielle would have encountered the traditional Thanksgiving main course - the turkey. They were common from Mexico to the northeast U.S. and, while nowhere near the size of the farm bred monsters seen today, would have provided the two travelers with several days worth of meat. I can imagine the scene:

Xena and Gabrielle have been following the sound of an unusual bird call. Peeking through tall grass into a clearing, they see a magnificent Tom turkey with several good sized hens.

GABRIELLE

By the gods, Xena, look at the size of those chickens!

XENA

I don't think those are chickens, Gabrielle, though I'll bet they taste as good. Which one do you want?

She unhooks her chakram.

XENA - CONT'D

The big guy there?

GABRIELLE

We couldn't finish him in a week! one of those smaller ones will do fine.

Anyway, it would have been nice to see Xena and Gabrielle sampling more of the local specialties.

Now to my comments on Curse of the Lake Demon.

Teaser: The lake monster is an interesting looking creature. Did you use a particular legend or just put a specific face on the general `monster in the lake' story? (An answer to this question in the forum said that while the idea of a lake monster was taken from Canadian legend, the actual depiction was left up to the illustrator.)

Act 1: A fifty-foot waterfall seems a bit high for Xena and Gabrielle to go over with no injuries. I know they have survived a lot of dangers, but something like twenty feet would still be exciting, but believable (But, of course, Gabrielle does say `I can't believe we survived that!'.)

It took a second read-through to figure it out, but I think I've got the lake monster's home turf straight now. Our heroes came down the river and encountered the lake monster. After going over the falls, they were in a canyon made by the falls eroding its way upstream where the lake monster had his trash dump. Below this the stream widened out into the lake where Naitaka lived and which held the island with the bottomless pool.

I liked Gabrielle's comment on the monster as `... the one that got away, ....'

Why does Gabrielle get a vision of Hawkeye's father from holding the tomahawk? She's not generally psychic and the tomahawk is not like the Chibchada (from War Cries, 7.22), is it?

It's interesting that Xena and Gabrielle don't have to resort to sign language to understand Owl Eyes. They must have picked up the language of the area at a previous stop.

Act II: I usually don't mention typos (We all make them.), but it is unusual that the wounded are placed on palettes (artist's paint boards). Some more appropriate accommodations must have been found later, since Gabrielle does rest on a pallet (a small or poor bed). At least they weren't on palates. That would have been a lot messier!

The warrior Black Elk - are the authors paying homage to the narrator of Black Elk Speaks?

Owl Eyes says Bellowing Snake wanted to command the spirits of the dead to fight for the living and the council objected to that, but couldn't he just have asked them instead, leaving the choice to them?

Owl Eyes tells Gabrielle the story of Bellowing Snake. Why then must he show it to her in a vision?

I assume the dialogue heading, Bellowing Wing, is an error for Bellowing Snake.

Act III: When Owl Eyes says two of the warriors have already died it seems Mahko, Black Elk and Ahote are dead.

Act IV: When Gabrielle suggests that she and Xena return to their home via the underworld, I'm surprised Owl Eyes doesn't put in an objection. Although the pair, particularly Xena, have had a good deal of experience in the underworld, it still is not a trip that should be undertaken without a good deal of serious thought and planning.

Also, with all the underworlds Xena has been in, Hades (numerous episodes), the Amazon afterlife (Adventures in the Sin Trade), the Judeo-Christian Heaven and Hell (or at least a reasonably good facsimile of it)(Fallen Angel) and some sort of Oriental afterlife (Honor Bound (7.01 & 7.02)), she has never noticed a connection between them (In fact, in Adventures in the Sin Trade I, she had to return from Hades to the regular world to get to the Amazon afterlife.), so why would she or Gabrielle be so certain that they could find their way to Charon, or would there even be a way?