Chakram

So we finally learn a little about the chakram... a very little. And end up with some more questions. Ares stole the chakram and gave it to Xena. And apparently, it's key to Xena's fighting abilities. Did it give Xena her dark side, too?

When DID Xena lose that dark side? It wasn't when she was purified as an archangel - Gabrielle was purified too, but has no problem crashing and bashing now. It wasn't when the chakram broke - Xena had plenty of dark side in the afterlife. Xena's haze about the battles in her life seems to be just like the one that kept Callisto from remembering her evil deeds. That lends credence to the idea that Callisto is the one who did this. Was that what Callisto's touch at the end of Fallen Angel was about? Everybody blames "whatever" brought Xena back for Xena's dark side loss, but was that really done only to give her a reason to restore the chakram? When the chakram is restored, so is Xena, so theoretically Callisto took away Xena's dark side to get her to restore the chakram and get rid of the god-killing business.

Interesting setup with the light and dark chakram. Whosoever pulls this chakram from this altar shall rightwise be kick-butter of all gods. Everybody else is toast. Why was the light chakram so much more powerful than the dark chakram? Or has Xena been carrying a god-killer around all this time without realizing it?

Cute symmetry between Joxer fawning over the newly-resurrected Gabrielle and Amarice fawning over the newly-resurrected Xena. When they looked at each other, I half-expected one of them to crack "Oh look, we both have our own pet people!"

Ahhh, I just love XenaVerse logic. "We're freezing in these rags, we better get to a market... so we can be toasty and comfy in even skimpier clothes!" Too bad Xena's dark side apparently holds most of her fashion sense. That housedress really needs to go. But Gab's new outfit... have mercy. The only drawback is that the camera's going to be showing off that open back so often we may forget what Gab's face looks like.

It's almost lost in the hubbub, but in the market, Xena asks Gabrielle "Don't you need some scrolls or something?" GOOD QUESTION! Hello? Bard? In there at all?

But with that minor complaint registered, allow me to take a brief moment to dance the dance of celebration for the return of Fightin'Gab. Oh yeah! And with convenient speed-framing to make her even snappier and faster than she was before! And with new moves! And with brand new weapons nobody's even SEEN before! Wow, apparently the key to getting better at fighting is to quit for a couple of months. It's been years since I've been in a fight; I ought to be able to maim with a glance by now. Check out Amarice's reaction during the marketplace battle as she, too, marvels over the mega-fighter Gabrielle. 'Bout TIME you showed the woman some respect, kid!

As the wise and witty Jennifer pointed out, you can play a great game of "who's got the brain" with this episode:

• Joxer has the brain! He plows into three bad guys to save the fight!
• Gabrielle has the brain! She tracks! She has a plan! (Granted, we never find out what the plan was, but I'm sure she had the brain.)
• Amarice has the brain! She grabs the god-killing chakram that everyone else has left behind on the temple steps.
• Eli has the brain! He stops Ares in his tracks! (OK, maybe that's not a brain, maybe that's just FINALLY being useful for SOMETHING! At LAST!)

Which also brings up the best joke of the episode, and it goes to Joxer for: "It's like you've lost your-" "-fire... edge...-" "-marbles." Hee hee!

Ares is back at last! With short hair and eased up a bit on the mega-buff muscles. In my opinion, his best look of them all. And he's got the suave charm turned up to the max, too. Oh my.

Did the line about "purest monk in his order" get changed halfway through filming? Kal's mouth looks a little off when he says it, and Eli's voice changes when he does the line, as if they were both re-dubbed.

Gab defines her new Way of Friendship when she tells Ei "I'll do anything to protect her (Xena)." And she proves it, too, by lighting into the bad guys like a whirling dervish and skewering one of 'em. In fact, most of the justice league got to polish up their fighting skills a bit to step in when Xena was not in her normal form. But now that the Destroyer of Nations is back to butt-kicking, will everyone else go back to low-level fighting? Something to watch out for in the coming episodes.

Note #1 for Amarice: When a guy kicks your butt, his boss will most likely kick your butt ten times worse.
Note #2 for Amarice: When sneaking up on an enemy to attack from behind, it's best not to give a war cry.
Amarice does not have the brain.

Ares and Kal had some great toe-to-toe scenes. Hilarious useless mutual chopping they gave each other - that axe in the throat looked PAINFUL. And they had an awesome fight scene, too - step back and watch the boys play for a while! (Horrible stunt double for Kevin, though - that guy had completely different hair!)

Caleb the ascetic had a hot tub? Remind me to be more ascetic.

So much for Joxer having any clue about the subtext. His attempts to figure out how to tell Gabrielle he loved her were cute, though, and Xena gave him good advice. But check out Xena's amused expression when she talks about just kissing the girl... memories from The Quest, anyone?

STEAMY hot tub scene (I know, bad pun) with Ares and Xena. Mercy, that hearkened back to season one when Ares' attempts to seduce Xena were both literal and figurative. I loved how Ares couldn't manage to pull his eyes up to Xena's face for a full minute after she turned around to face him. And Ares gets the last word with that scampy eyebrow-wiggle at Gabrielle when he makes a parting play for Xena's mindshare before he dashes off.

Eli, when you find a sentence that talks about the light and dark chakram, it would be good to finish the blasted paragraph BEFORE you're in the temple with all the bad guys crushing down on you. Eli doesn't have the brain.

Xena and Gabrielle and the gang have locked themselves inside the temple. Kal directs his soldiers and Ares wheedles ("I'll even make julienne fries! NOW how much would you pay?") outside. Ummm... guys? You're gods. Why not just zap youselves inside or blow down the doors?? (The Xena Reality Editor on my shoulder says that the temple must have been some kind of anti-god zone, hence no touching the chakram.)

Joxer finally tells Gabrielle he loves her! And we still get no resolution. Tune in next week.

The good Xena kills in order to protect Gabrielle (kind of like what some of us thought would be the way Gab would lose her blood innocence waayyyy back when). But she still has no problem grabbing the chakrams. Impressive god-kill effect, by the way!

I liked how, when Ares was trying to convince Xena to hand over the chakram, Gabrielle didn't say anything. It was very subtle, but it was nice sign of trust in Xena, even the lost-puppy-dog Xena.

Xena and Gab aren't the only ones who get a wardrobe change - the chakram gets a new look, too! Nifty splitting trick it does. It allowed Xena and Gabrielle to use similar fighting moves with their sai and chakrams, kind of an additional reinforcement that they're now on pretty much the same level.

I loved the reaction to Xena's "with a vengeance" line. Ares gets nervous, and Gabrielle gets smug.

And one last question for the road... I've heard of puss in boots, but sai in boots? Wow, I guess that'll keep Gabrielle from twisting her ankle if she does any more flips.

Return to the Wool-Gatherings.

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