'The Furies' was a very ambitious episode,... definitely. But since they were going where they were going in Season 3, it made a lot of sense to have this very ambitious episode as the opener to the whole thing because the questions that come up for the whole thing are 'did Xena really kill women and children?' 'Is Xena the daughter of Ares?' 'Did Cyrene kill her husband?' These are very heavy questions to ask and themes to explore, and showing the characters having to work them out and answer or maybe not answer them was, as I said,... very ambitious because they were going heavy as much as possible but still wanted and were determined to throw in the light just as much.
I like 'The Furies' a lot for what it does in playing with the tones. In Xena's head - having been driven mad - that actually works a lot and gives real significance to the whiplashing tones of comedy vs drama and Lucy just nails it either way. So much range. So much versatility. You buy it completely that she's been driven to the edge of insanity but she's not so far over the edge that she cannot do what Xena can always do. Be three steps ahead of the game and defeat the villain. Not that I view Ares as a villain. But he still is a frequent antagonist.
So they set up the precedent quite well with 'The Furies' for where they were going and what they would be doing with the entire season and I think it's probably the best opener to any of the seasons as far as setting it up tonally... because really... it stands out in that on it's own. You may not have known what you were going into, but you were at least aware that it could go either way at any point and that's great.
Season 3 does go either way at any point. Dramatic as fuck or daft as a brush and when you go back and you watch 'The Furies', it does dawn on you that it was intentional that they did what they did with it and you're ready for the rollercoaster ride unlike in Season 2 where you're not prepared whatsoever for the emotional whiplash of it all. You see, Season 3 is successful in that it's going to hit you hard but when you look back on it, all the signs were there that it would and that's clever writing. Not just clever writing but also clever overall production execution. I love Season 3 of XENA with everything in me. I believe the way that they did this season in particular of the TV show is phenomenal television. It's up there with BUFFY Season 5 easily.
We got so fucking lucky with the creators/cast/crew of this TV show.
LIZ: "Apparently, I have no idea what I'm talking about."
ROB: "There you go. Nor do the studio though."
LIZ: "That's true. Well, they assume that people thinking they're lesbians is a bad thing."
ROB: "Ah."
See? They're 100% on our side.
Always were. Always will be. ❤️
