Locked Up and Tied Down
This transcript is dedicated to the memory of Hilary J. Bader.
I can't find it.
XENA
It's there.
GABRIELLE
I got it. I got it.
XENA
Gabrielle, stop searching with your eyes.
GABRIELLE
All right. No eyes.
XENA
Find it? Ahhhh. You found it.
GABRIELLE
I learned from the best.
What in Tartarus have you been carrying on
these shoulders?
XENA
I wouldn't know. I try not to overanalyze my life,
like some people.
GABRIELLE
Some people say the unexamined life is not
worth living.
XENA
Those people haven't lived my life.
Xena.
XENA
Two men to the left, two to the right, and two
behind us.
All right! Get up!
and what do you want?
DRAXEL
We've come to bring you to justice.
This is an arrest warrant...for you.
XENA
For what?!
GABRIELLE
Murder.
XENA
Give me that.
Does the name Thelassa, mean anything to you,
Xena? Perhaps you've killed so many people
since then, you don't remember.
XENA
I remember Thalassa.
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Just because someone wrote that on a piece of
parchment doesn't make it true. Tell him, Xena.
XENA
I did it.
GABRIELLE
Well, she was crazed or, she was armed, right?
There was some sort of mitigating circumstance.
XENA
Gabrielle, she was innocent. She did nothing to
me and I killed her because it suited my purposes.
How's that for mitigating circumstances?
Here.
GABRIELLE
What are you doing?
XENA
I'm going back with them. You said yourself that
I had the weight of the world on my shoulders.
Maybe it's the weight of my guilt. This is my chance
to do something about it. Take it! You know
I'm right.
Chain her up.
ACT ONE
Get in there.
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Order! Order in this court! Quiet! Settle down
in this court! Silence here! Settle down in here!
Thalassa was so beautiful, a smile as radiant
as her bright red hair! She meant so much to this
village. It's hard to explain exactly who she was.
She seemed to have...I can't find the word.
XENA
A light.
WOMAN IN COURT
Yes, a light. She seemed to glow with
goodness. (crying) And when she was
gone...darkness.
XENA
That's right.
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We all expected greatness of her. Who knows
what she might have become? Might have done
for this town had she lived? Maybe we expected
too much from her, but Thalassa never
disappointed us.
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Hold it right there.
EXTRA
Come on, girls. Get in there!
EXTRA
Have mercy!
EXTRA
Move!
XENA
Here's the deal, nice and simple. You give us
what we want, or we kill the girls.
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It was an empty threat. Look, as violent as Xena
was in those days, there was a line even
she wouldn't cross.
TOWN ELDER
That's what we thought.
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Take me, and let the others go.
TOWN ELDER
Thalassa, no.
XENA
All right. Take her.
Tell her nothing. Nothing!
Uh!
Ah-h-h!
EXTRA
By the gods! No!
XENA
Tie her up.
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They say y--you don't kill unarmed women.
XENA
There's a first time for everything, old man.
Get them out of here.
Let's go!
EXTRA
Hurry up!
TOWN ELDER
No, wait! The storage cellars are in the temple
of Demeter, under the altar.
XENA
Very good. Now, get out.
TOWN ELDER
Wait! We told you where the stores are.
Let her go!
XENA
I will. Just as soon as I know you're telling the truth.
No! You can't just leave her! They're flesh-eaters!
When we returned, Thalassa was gone. The crabs,
smelling the blood, had torn her to pieces,
leaving the water red with her death.
Silence! Order in this court! Quiet! Settle down, there!
This was a terrible waste of a life. But Xena,
Xena has changed.
JUDGE
And you believe in her conversion?
GABRIELLE
Yes.
JUDGE
And she's done nothing since you've known her
to make you question her resolve to do good.
GABRIELLE
If you're looking for perfection, we all fall short.
JUDGE
Your defense of your friend is admirable, as are
her attempts at redemption. But all this cannot
erase a crime like the one committed against
that young girl. Xena, do you accept the condemnation
of this court for your guilt in this matter?
XENA
I do.
JUDGE
Then I sentence you to life imprisonment on
Shark Island. And may the gods have mercy on
your soul.
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Come on, murderer.
Don't get too close. She's a killer.
I'd like to say goodbye to my friend.
EXTRA
All right.
You could have said something in your defense.
XENA
There's no defense for what I did, Gabrielle.
GABRIELLE
Xena, you could have argued the greater good.
Come on! Surely what you can do outside prison
will outweigh-
XENA
What? Outweigh what? The pain that that
young girl felt as she was being eaten alive?
GABRIELLE
Don't.
XENA
Gabrielle, she was like you. She had your kind
of spirit and I killed that. What can
outweigh that?
GABRIELLE
Xena, if you're looking for redemption, you're not
gonna find it there.
XENA
I'm not looking for redemption any more. Gabrielle,
we're always talking about your spiritual quest.
You say that you need something to make
you feel complete. Well, so do I.
EXTRA
Load the prisoners!
Time's up.
Xena. Xena! Xena, listen to me! Xena, please
don't do this! Xena!
Keep moving!
GABRIELLE
All right! All right!
Pick up the slack on that rope!
A mug of your finest wine.
TAVERN KEEPER
What are you doin' here?
HEALER
Ordering a refreshment, obviously.
TAVERN KEEPER
Why aren't you on the prison ship?
HEALER
Because I have tendered my resignation as the
healer of Shark Island prison. The wine, please.
TAVERN KEEPER
Let's see the colour of your dinars.
HEALER
How rude! I have a good mind to walk out
of this establishment!
TAVERN KEEPER
Fine with me.
GABRIELLE
I'll buy him a mug of wine.
HEALER
Why, thank you, young lady.
So, you were the healer of Shark Island prison.
HEALER
For five months. But not anymore. I wouldn't spend
another hour in that hideous place.
GABRIELLE
Is there a new healer?
HEALER
N--n--not yet. M--my notice was rather sudden.
GABRIELLE
(to Tavern Keeper) When's the next ship to Shark Island?
TAVERN KEEPER
Uh, a week.
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Stay on your feet!
EXTRA
Come on! Move!
EXTRA
Stay together!
Everything you've heard about this place, everything
your mothers told you to frighten you into being
good little girls, is true. But keep your noses clean,
obey the guards, and you'll survive! Try to escape,
and, uh-
Please! Have mercy. I beg you! Give me one more
chance! Please! I beg you!
This woman killed a guard in her effort to leave
us! Prison rules demand the ultimate punishment
for any attempt to escape!
Welcome...to Shark Island prison!
END OF ACT ONE
ACT TWO
Hello, sweetie!
CLYSEMENE
Hello.
ERSINA
I've got good news for you. Once you tell me where
the money is, I'm not gonna kill you. Isn't
this your lucky day?
CLYSEMENE
I don't know what you're talking about.
ERSINA
I heard you killed your husband for his fortune
and stashed it before they got to you.
CLYSEMENE
That's not true.
Wrong answer.
Maybe it's the wrong question, Ersina.
ERSINA
Well, if it isn't Xena?! Hey, girls, this is the woman
who put me behind bars. I am so glad to see
you here. Do you know what I spent the past two
years asking myself? "How can that murderin'
bitch, Xena, send people away to be punished?"
You never had to pay for your crimes.
That's always bothered me.
XENA
Then we have something in common. It's always
bothered me, too.
ERSINA
I heard you let them take you without a fight. I think
that being a good girl made you soft.
XENA
I wonder if you're not right.
ERSINA
Take her, girls!
Hmm. All right, I get the point. Xena some of us
aren't planning to die on Shark Island.
Time comes for us to leave, we wouldn't mind
having someone with your fighting skills
with us.
XENA
Not interested.
Come on! Move it! Hurry up! You, there!
CAPTAIN
Move it faster if you wanna eat, ladies!
She's getting a little ripe. Cut her down -- toss her
in the water. Let the sharks have her.
XENA
Let me bury her.
CAPTAIN
Bury her?
XENA
Please.
All right, if you'd rather do that than eat.
Move them out!
Come on! Let's go!
EXTRA
You heard the captain!
EXTRA
Move!
EXTRA
Come on!
EXTRA
Come on!
Move it!
XENA
You take them in. All right?
Okay, got it.
Quick. Here. Get up. Okay? You all right? Are
you okay?
What's going on here?
EXTRA
Don't stand around talking.
XENA
This woman's too weak. She can't lift anymore.
CAPTAIN
Oh, too weak.
Oh-h-h.
CAPTAIN
You're a real hero, aren't you?
XENA
No.
You just talked back to me, didn't you?
XENA
No.
Uh!
CAPTAIN
There you go again. Heh-heh. Don't you ever
say no to me! If I say you're a hero, you're a hero!
Uh!
CAPTAIN
Heh-heh. Now, heh-heh, you're a real hero, aren't you?
XENA
I'm a...hero.
CAPTAIN
Good.
Now, hero, I want you to unload that wagon
and line the supplies against the wall!
No! I want the hero to do this by herself.
Uh-uh, uh-uh.
That wall.
(to a guard) You have to be firm with 'em.
(whispering) Get away.
CLYSEMENE
Please?
XENA
(whispering) Get away.
CAPTAIN
Hey, you!
CLYSEMENE
Yes?
CAPTAIN
Hu! Didn't I say to let her do it by herself?
CLYSEMENE
Yes.
CAPTAIN
Three lashes for disobedience!
CLYSEMENE
Uh!
Guards!
EXTRA
After her!
Stop this. Release the guard at once...murderer.
Chain her.
An altar for the souls of the dead. Or is it just for
the souls of the people you've killed, Xena?
Well, it looks like you've miscounted. You know,
it would have been far better for you and
for me if ya had killed me.
Yeah, that's right, Xena, it's me, your victim.
Thalassa.
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
Seeing me bring back some memories, Xena?
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No-o-o!
You know? A wolf, if caught in a trap, will gnaw
off its own leg, just to get away.
I was lucky. The crabs did it for me. Bring her.
Chain her like a hog ready for slaughter.
No!
THALASSA
I've been watching you since you came here, Xena.
At first, I couldn't figure out what you were up to.
Helping people, building that silly little shrine.
And then I realized what I heard about you was
true. You're trying to make up for all the evil
things you've done. How pathetic. As if any of
it could make up for what you did to me.
Ah-h-h!
You know, Xena? The thought of you has haunted
me every moment of my life. Do you understand
what that's like?
XENA
Yes...I do.
THALASSA
Throw her into the pit.
Uh!
You finally have the punishment you sought, but
it's for a murder you didn't even commit. Don't you
just love the irony?
A healer has arrived along with the new
prisoners, Commandant.
THALASSA
Well, send him in.
A girl? Come in. Can you heal the pain, or are
you just a fraud like all the others?
GABRIELLE
Where does it hurt?
The fingers.
This wasn't removed by a healer's knife.
THALASSA
A healer's knife? No. Many knives. Many hungry,
little knives.
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That's enough! Do you hear me?! That's
enough! Get off! Get off!
You'll need to put the salve on twice a day.
THALASSA
Will you do it for me?
GABRIELLE
When I come in for treatments, yes. Shall I?
This wound is so old. It should get more attention.
THALASSA
Why do I feel like it's still there?
GABRIELLE
Maybe you haven't accepted the loss.
THALASSA
What would you know about loss?
GABRIELLE
A few things.
THALASSA
You have such warmth and beauty. I had that
once, too.
GABRIELLE
If you give yourself a chance, you may rediscover
your soul.
THALASSA
That's sentimental nonsense. Whatever beauty
I had inside me was crushed the day evil entered
my life. A tall, dark-haired evil. She took my beauty
and she mutilated my soul.
What's the matter?
GABRIELLE
I, um, I think that I should, I should probably visit
the--the prisoners, check to make sure that their
state of health is all right.
THALASSA
You can't wait to serve, can you? You should be
careful. Enthusiasm like that can be dangerous
for your health.
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Bah!
I gotcha good that time.
All right! Try this!
GABRIELLE
Okay, do you have to follow me around, everywhere?
CAPTAIN
Commandant's orders. Wouldn't want anything
to happen to her pet healer now, would we?
GABRIELLE
No, we wouldn't want that. (to old woman) Excuse
me. May I borrow your broom?
CAPTAIN
Gonna sweep up a little dirt?
GABRIELLE
In a manner of speaking, yes.
Thank you.
Xena. Xena!
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Xena. Xena. Are you down there?
Gabrielle.
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Xena, can you hear me? Hang on.
EXTRA
Check the pit!
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(quietly) Gabrielle!
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There she is!
Let go of me!
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ACT FOUR
So? Your friend is Xena, and you must be Gabrielle.
Do you know who I am?
GABRIELLE
Thalassa.
THALASSA
What a fool I was. You know? I thought you
liked me, but you were only using me to free her.
GABRIELLE
Xena was sent her for committing a murder,
your murder. There should be a re-trial.
THALASSA
You know? For a moment, I was beginning to
believe what you said about rediscovering
the beauty of my soul.
GABRIELLE
It was happening. I could see it.
THALASSA
Uh, Gabrielle, it's over.
CAPTAIN
Correction, Commandant, it's not over yet.
Commandant, the rules.
THALASSA
Yeah, the rules. Do what you must.
Welcome, ladies-
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-to Shark Island prison. Everything you've heard
is true. But keep your noses clean, obey the guards
and your lives will be bearable. Short, but bearable.
Break the rules and suffer the ultimate punishment!
This woman was caught trying to help a prisoner
to escape. Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk. For this action...death!
Whenever you're ready, Commandant.
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Uh!
We're waiting.
THALASSA
I can't.
CAPTAIN
I can. Do it!
It's--it's Xena!
EXTRA
Oh!
CAPTAIN
Everyone back to your barracks! Now!
ERSINA
Not in this lifetime. Now!
Get out of my way! Gabrielle!
Gabrielle.
GABRIELLE
Xena.
ERSINA
(to prisoners) Kill the commandant and the
prison is ours!
GABRIELLE
Okay.
XENA
Get her outta here.
THALASSA
The guards, I should stay.
GABRIELLE
They're gonna tear you apart!
That's enough! Get back!
ERSINA
Come on! Let's go!
Get off! Get off! That's enough! (to Clysemene)
Where's Ersina?
CLYSEMENE
I saw her heading towards the commandant's office.
This way!
EXTRA
They went in there!
EXTRA
Break down the door!
EXTRA
The commandant's in there!
GABRIELLE
Get back!
EXTRA
Get that bitch!
Uh!
Now, I owe my life to you. The gods certainly love
playing with our fates, don't they?
XENA
Thalassa, I can't ask your forgiveness. I wronged
you terribly. But there's one thing I know. When
I met you, you were a wonderful, loving person.
And if you continue to let that love be buried under
bitterness and anger, evil wins.
THALASSA
What you say, it's true. Your friend here, she helped
me get back in touch with something these last
few days. My soul. My ability to do good had been
crippled. The evil Xena, she did that to me. Don't
let her do it to you. Thank you, Gabrielle.
So, how about it?
XENA
How about what?
GABRIELLE
Forgiving yourself.
XENA
Gabrielle, that's not for me. But I won't let that monster
that I used to be, the one that's sleeping so close
to my heart, destroy all the good I can do now.
GABRIELLE
Not as long as I'm around.
STARRING
Lucy Lawless as Xena
Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle
GUEST CAST
Katrina Browne as Thalassa
William Kircher as Captain
Tanea Heke as Ersina
Natalie Dennis as Clysemene
Julie Taylor as Hanged Woman
Gilbert Goldie as Town Elder
Huntly Eliott as Judge
Margaret Blay as Woman In Court
Patrick Smith as Healer
Laurie Dee as Tavern Keeper
Chris Sherwood as Draxel
Teleplay by: Hilary J. Bader
Story by: Rob Tapert and Josh Becker
Directed by: Rick Jacobson
Disclaimer: No Rabid Flesh-Eating Crabs were cooked during the production of this motion picture.
