Legacy

Not a shabby episode at all - I liked it. Some weak moments, but generally it looked cool, sounded nifty, and had some chewy moments for thought. And any episode that starts right out with the crack "No, deserts don't have to be dry, windy, and desolate, Xena: it's optional" can't be bad.

Was it a day in the life in-joke that when we open the scene on the women in a hot tub, Gabrielle is washing her own ears instead of letting Xena do her powerwash? ("No thanks, Xena, I can get it this time.")

Wow, Xena and Gab are tan-line-less. Funny how Gabrielle says there's "strange beauty to the desert" right after the major nudity. Strange? We get glimpses of that beauty a few times every season!

I may be weird, but any time I see a scene with nekkidness, my first instinct is to check for film cuts that indicate that stunt butts (or other body parts) were used. We've definitely had stunt butts before on the show, but I don't think they were used this time. Careful shots, long shots, and body suits, but no stunties. Kudos to Lucy and Renee for guts. And my sympathies to all those folks whose stations trimmed out this scene... sorry, folks.

Xena and Gabrielle once again go native with some really rockin' outfits. Gab's shirt, in particular, is outstandingly cool, and I liked Xena's outfit better without the pink wrap.

Watch the stuntie when Xena grabs the guy's whip and pulls him off. He bounces as if his foot got caught in the stirrup. Ouch!

"Battlin' bard of Poteidaia?" Ewwwww, awful name. But how does that balance with Gab's later line that she's known more as a warrior than a bard? Both are still there. The episode ends with warrior, though... is that a sign that we won't be seeing many scrolls after this?

Kahina says that only Xena knows how to use a chakram... that kind of forgets Callisto, and Eve. (Although she wouldn't have known about Eve.) But I won't quibble. It was still a fun demonstration.

Gabrielle's scrolls have traveled in 25 years... very cool! It's nice to see her bardiness get validated like that. But being living legends immortalized in scroll may get to be a bit of a pain for our two.

Quick thinking on the amazon chastity oath, Gabrielle! What a hilarious twist on the cliche of offering women to visiting men.

Korah bothered me through most of the episode, and I finally put my finger on why. He should have been a boy of 14 years old, tops. The way he acted, the way others treated him and talked about him, and all his lines were geared toward a kid. It seemed totally wrong because it was coming from a guy who looked about 25 years old.

Why did Gabrielle tell Korah that he wouldn't want to wash her feet? I was expecting her feet to be so stinky that it would knock the man-boy over when he slid off her boot, but there seemed to be no such problem. The foot-washing sure got Xena's attention and her weapons; maybe that was what Gab was trying to warn the geeky little guy about.

Xena and Gabrielle's cover story when they visit the Roman governor had more holes than Caesar's tunic. What was she supposed to be investing in? And Gab was the mouthiest servant on earth. But the scene was worth it for the amusement value of the line "For once, Xena, I'd like to be the Roman noble and you be the slave." Now there's a quote that'll show up in sound files across the web.

The CGI sandstorms were kind of a bargain-basement version of the storms from The Mummy. Don't get me wrong, I liked them, but they were amusingly cheesy.

Watch Xena during the second standstorm for a nice touch: when Xena shouts for Gabrielle, she gets sand in her mouth. Clever!

The first shot of Korah's hand in the sandstorm shows an actual knife, not a scroll. All the other shots are of a scroll. Psychologically, it's interesting how completely my brain filled in "knife" after that first shot. In fact, my brain filled it in so completely that I was confused when the scroll fell from Korah's hand - I thought he had a knife AND a scroll. Using an actual knife and then expecting us to believe it had been mistaken for a scroll was a lazy trick.

Xena says these two sentences right in a row: "I saw tracks where he was killed," and "There was a storm." I was waiting for someone's IQ (I had been counting on Kahina) to rise above the freezing point and call Xena on such a bad lie. I could forgive Tazere for being a little too distraught to notice, but any other desert-dweller who thinks for a second that tracks can be seen in a sandstorm? Please.

I really liked the argument between Xena and Gabrielle about telling the nomads. Good dialogue and excellent acting, highlighted by Xena's "Please, I'm begging you" line. Fantastic.

When Gabrielle talks about trying to decide mid-battle whether to disable or kill, Xena tells her to trust her instincts. And that bothers me a bit when Gabrielle ends up killing Korah in the storm; is that saying that Gab's instinct is to kill? Maybe that's the very thing that was Gabrielle's motivation to let the nomads sentence her to death.

The montage of Gabmoments had a very interesting juxtaposition between Gab making Xena promise not to become a monster if something happens to her, then Gab's energizer killer bunny routine when Xena was hurt. It was a powerful peek at how Gabrielle could see that she was the one who had become a monster.

Death by guillopolo! Most amusing moments: the way the polo field became three miles long for lots of reaction and impending doom shots when they charged Gab, and the amazing fact that Xena has a backhoe hidden in her belt that lets her dig Gabrielle out of a five-foot pit in two seconds flat.

This season is only five episodes old, but we may already have the most killer right-between-the-eyes comment of the season with Kahina's "You left a few details out of those stories, didn't you?" YeeeeOWCH! Kahina absolutely nails both Xena and Gab for the fact that Xena isn't above stepping on people's heads to achieve their goals... and apparently Gab doesn't really dwell on that in her stories.

This is far from the first time that Xena has put aside her Greater Good ethic for Personal Good. But this episode meets that head-on and turns it into a gut check. Xena admits that for her, Gabrielle's good comes before the Greater Good. I have every ounce of respect for that.

Gabrielle has a STAFF again in the last fight! Oh, pleasepleaseplease tell me that's a permanent change. Nothing against the sais, but it was soooo good to see Gab swinging that staff around again.

I was disappointed that the problem between Gab and the nomads was tied up so easily. The whole clan should have wanted her head... literally. It was good that they acknowledged that the cheesy saved-your-life-in-battle-now- we're-buddies resolution wasn't a good one, but I would have preferred it if Xena and Gab had high-tailed it out of there in the storm after the battle was done.

Awesomely cool line when the Roman gets told to "Tell Caesar that Xena sends her regards." Wouldn't THAT be a fun moment to see in Tartarus... or Hades... or hell... wherever these folks are going.

Kinda gruesome shot of the soldier's body being covered over by the sand. No wonder there skulls all over their guillopolo fields!

Return to the Wool-Gatherings.

	Web www.bethgriese.com