One Against an Army

After so many wild and experimental episodes, getting back to the classic recipe is a welcome return. Lots of fights, plenty of angst, Gab in danger, Xena dangerously peeved, a healthy dash of humor, mix in cheese, corn and spice, stir vigorously, cook for 45 minutes. It's nice to get back to the basics.

This was a mirror flip of The Greater Good. This time, it was Gabrielle dying by inches while a battle was being waged around her. It was interesting to watch the roles get reversed. Hey, Xena's died at least twice on Gabrielle; Gab owed her one.

What a lovefest of an episode. Guess the writers wanted to make up for Rift lost time and give our ladies plenty of heart-to-heart warm and fuzzy time. It was cornball, sure, but hey, they owe us some sugar after all that salt.

MAJOR blooper alert: the second time that Xena makes a stand at the front door, watch closely. Every time they show her from behind, even while she's swinging her sword, her scabbard still has her sword in it. Other shots show the scabbard empty.

Gabrielle, inventor of the first Xena action figure! And with convenient carrying case. Apparently, pre-Mycenean garb comes with standard bosom pockets. Xena uses hers to carry her breast dagger, Gabrielle totes her Xena dollie. And I'm not makin' any more comments than that.

The history buff in me got a kick out of this setup. Marathon was a real battle, and Pheidippides, the runner that Xena and Gabrielle met, was the man who ran 26 miles to tell Athens about Marathon (which the Greeks won in real history), dying of exhaustion after the long run. The pass of Thermopylae was an actual battle site, too. A small band of Greeks was defeated, but used the pass to hold off a swarm of Persians long enough for the main Greek army to escape. Once again, XenaStaff uses just enough "real" history/mythology/legend to give a story a jump start, then turns it on its ear.

Glad to see that the swift little "use the force, Luke" trick Xena pulled in Chin hasn't been forgotten compeletely, although the writers aren't making it available to Xena any time she needs an extra ace up her sleeve (thank goodness). And it makes sense: Can Xena be free of will, desire, and hate, when Athens is on the line, Gabrielle's dying beside her, and the Persian cavalry is about to ride down on her head? Not too likely.

Renee O'Connor has mentioned how often she has to cry on the show, so it must be noted: Gabrielle got to stay dry-eyed the whole ep, but Xena was the one with leaking eyes. Hope you enjoyed the break, Renee!

"Look at you now," Xena marvels at Gabrielle's bravery. But to me, the growth from Gab this episode wasn't in bravery. Gab's always been long on courage, and has faced death with guts before. The surprising thing was Gabrielle's work with that pot of boiling oil. Gabrielle has always blanched at the idea of taking the life and death of others into her hands. In episodes like The Price, we've seen that Gab hates the idea of necessary death, and will wiggle and squirm any way she can to avoid it. Not so this time. Xena gives Gab her instructions to dump that oil, and when Xena calls for it, even though Gabrielle probably can't see for sure whether she's dumping the oil right onto Xena, she crawls over and dumps the couldron without hesitation.

They managed to make an arrow removal scene even more painful than the one Xena went through in Chariots of War, by making it slower, blast it all. Wow, that hurt. Kudos to the effect of pulling the shaft out of Gabrielle's shoulder. That gave me the willies all the way through the next commercial break.

Funny; Tripolis looks an awful lot like Laurel (Hower and Minya's hometown from A Day in the Life), just filmed from the opposite end.

Xena tries three separate times to leave the Persians behind and get Gabrielle to help. The first time was after they found out Tripolis had no antidote. Second time was when they realized the arrow had hit Gab's lungs and how little time she had available. Third was in the middle of the night as Gabrielle worsened. Each time, it took more determination from Gabrielle to keep Xena there. By the final attempt, Xena was willing to declare her quest for redemption over and pitch her whole quest in favor of keeping Gabrielle safe. Now _that's_ desperation. But Gabrielle still manages to keep Xena on the straight and narrow, keep her vision clear. No wonder Xena calls Gab her source.

Greatest bluff of the century: "Go home, there are thousands more like me!" I laughed for five minutes. If she could have produced Meg, Diana, and Leah on the spot, the entire cavalry would have probably died of heart attacks.

We watch two hallucinations from Gabrielle during the night: the beginning of her life with Xena, which we see from Xena's perspective as Gabrielle feverishly whispers "You gotta take me with you. Teach me everything you know. You can't leave me here...", which were her exact words from Sins of the Past (before going on to talk about philosophers and prophesies - were those going to be Gabrielle's backup arguments if Xena hadn't cut her off?). That scene, by the way, was my favorite in the episode for "gets ya right here" value. The second hallucination was the end of her life with Xena, which we see from Gabrielle's perspective; her dream of Xena's death as they're overrun by the Persians.

Loved the effect of Gabrielle's line "Then honor my memory." The way it was shot, the way it was said... it was the voice of a living ghost.

After Xena's line about meeting their destiny together, she's planning on dying in the battle alongside Gabrielle. Through the rest of her preparations, her goodbye to Gabrielle, and the fight, she's counting on taking as many of them with her as possible. But the moment she gets the poisoned arrow, a plan flares, and her tactics change. That's the point when she figures out a way for Gabrielle to survive - and where Gab survives, she does, too.

This episode gave us a grim, clear picture of how a Warrior Princess is supposed to die. I saw it two or three times over during the episode's big battle; buried under a dozen men, overwhelmed at last. Xena managed to break her way free, of course, but it was still a vivid image of a warrior's death.

Watch Argo's right shoulder when Xena sends her away from the battle. There are numbers - our style, Arabic (is Argo an Arabian?) numbers - branded on her shoulder. They're gone for the far shot of her rearing.

Pogo spear! Check the "boing!" sound effect as Xena bounces from side to side to stomp on Persians. The comic relief was a nice break in the midst of all the battle nastiness. This fight put Xena through the wringer unlike anything we've seen. By halfway through, she's sweaty. By the time it's over, she's bloodied, bruised, dirty, and soaked in sweat.

Nice effect of the ground shaking under the pounding of 300+ horses. I think XenaStaff must have used up their horsie budget for the whole season on this episode. (With the help of some stock footage.)

The strange Rift timeline still haunts us. Gabrielle apologized for Chin, but nothing about Hope and Solan? Was that because she figures Illusia didn't quite cover Chin? Or was this supposed to occur before Maternal Instincts? (I doubt that.)

I'd heard that Lucy is no longer doing the fire-breathing trick in the name of not endangering the life of the star unless absolutely necessary. This must be the first faked fire-breathing; the flame is entirely too straight and there's not enough force behind Xena's breath for the flame we see. Ah well, it was cool while it lasted. But it *would* be awfully tough to explain why Xena had no eyebrows all of a sudden; better to play it safe.

Return to the Wool-Gatherings.

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