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Was it a kiss in FIN or not? I used the bulk of this post in a thread months ago. I enjoyed exploring The Quest kiss, I think this one needs to be explored again.

I have done extensive research regarding the "Kiss". I say it is a kiss and here is why. If you have not seen this from a dvd using super slo-mo & a X4 zoom, you don't know what you are missing. There is no comparison between this and the regular. For one thing, it last so much longer and you see things you don't see on the regular. It is not just one take, it has been edited. When Gabrielle holds Xena's face, she catches a strand of her hair under her thumb. After it leaves this segment, there is no strand and the strands of her bangs are slightly different. I have an 8X10 photo of this scene. The strand is there, the bangs are in the same position, but the body positions are different than on the film, so, this is just a promo picture or there was much editing. Bet they did dozens of takes. What wouldn't you give to see the outtakes.

Some time ago, I came across a transcript of the commentary from the stand alone FIN Director's Cut dvd. I just scanned thru it with the intention of going back and reading it more thoroughly. Two days later, the site had shut down. I could not find anything like it anywhere else. Was thinking about it the other day, decided I have to have that commentary. So, what does one do in a case like this? You order one, of course. It's on its way. The gist of it, was Rob wanted it to be a kiss, but Lucy didn't understand that was what he meant, so she kept doing it just as a water transfer. Caused a lot of problems until they all got on the same page. I am anxious to hear all this for myself.

Some believed after viewing the scene that Gabrielle said, "I love you".
To those who wish there was an "I love you", I don't believe there was. With the slo-mo & the zoom, you can see what is happening. At the beginning, Xena had her mouth open somewhat. When Gab leaned in, Xena opened it even more. Gab had her lower lip in Xena's mouth and her upper was clinging to Xena's upper. Xena then closed her mouth. For those who claim that this was not a shared kiss because Xena was unconscious, view this part very carefully and you will see Xena adjust her mouth to Gabrielle's exactly as is the norm. You can also see her throat move as she swallows just the way you would do when you tilt up slightly to receive a kiss. When they switched to the close up, Gab had a firm grip on Xena's upper lip. She moves her head to the left, then back to the right. Was the purpose of that to spread the water evenly to both sides of Xena's mouth? Hum! She backs off a bit, opens, then closes her mouth. At regular speed, it looks like she might have said something, but I don't think so. She needed Xena's mouth open for the water. She backed off a bit, opened her mouth and used her lower lip to push Xena's mouth open. She then closed her mouth and once again got a grip on Xena's upper lip. Then, we get the shot from the back. With the next close up, she turns loose of Xena's lip, tilts up a bit and lets the drop of water run off her lower lip into Xena's mouth. The slow down lets you see so well that sweet, sweet way she rubs her nose down Xena's nose. There was a point to a nose rub after a kiss, but I fail to see any useful purpose after a water transfer.

If your dvd will allow setting it for slo-mo, advancing 1 frame at a time and a zoom feature, set it on X4, any higher and it will blur it. If you have never watched it this way before, do so. I promise you will see things you have never seen before. If you still believe it was a water transfer, then..... Oh well!! You may now be excused to go take a cold shower.