Gabrielle is completely oblivious!
OMG.
Xena – you have to teach her something!
Even some space-awareness might be good.
The entire beginning of Gabrielle just chatting away while Xena watches their back has pretty much been their dynamic.
Not to mention the literal embodiment of sunshine walking around, innocent as can be while Xena just sees the scum getting too close.
I didn’t even need the rest of the episode if I’m being honest. I could have taken 44 minutes of Xena beating up bad guys while Gabrielle is clueless.
I know I’ve said before I wonder when that will change, because I’m sure it’s inevitable despite Xena’s best intentions. But I also don’t want it to change at the same time.
Because this is hilarious.
Watching this grump deal with sunshine personified is hilarious.
And Xena doesn’t even seem to mind, which to me shows how much she cares already.
Although, maybe not as much as later on given there was no immediate freak-out hearing that Gabrielle was set to be executed.
I can’t want for that freak-out.
It’s one of my favorite things.
A normally very calm, badass, calculating character suddenly loses it in the face of losing the person they love most.
It’s a *chef’s kiss* kind of moment.
So I was disappointed we weren’t there yet, but I still have a lot of show to cover. I’m sure we’ll get there.
As for everything else, the episode was meh..?
I honestly, expected Gabrielle’s fears of Xena slipping back into darkness to be more well… have some truth to them.
It was interesting that Xena wasn’t even a little tempted being back in her old stomping grounds with old friends.
But then I thought about it a bit more.
Xena is still new to this path. She’s so dead-set on doing the right thing, right now, that nothing is going to pull her from this path. She’s too determined right now.
Determined to make amends.
Determined to keep Gabrielle safe.
It’s actually too soon for her to slip back into old habits when she’s actively focused on breaking them.
It’s when people get a little too comfortable things slip.
I wonder when we’ll see her dark side come into play.
It’ll be interesting to see how both of them deal with it.
The villain was meh.
He thought he was smarter than he was.
He thought he had her pegged and even if he was somewhat right, it didn’t matter because Xena knew he was never a hundred percent fooled. She used to her advantage allow with Marcus.
Ah, Marcus.
I think it’s sort of funny he died.
Sorry.
Because to me, it felt like the writers were like yes, Xena likes dudes. Here’s a perfectly good one who could turn his life around and be added to the cause. He could join them.
Whoops, he dead.
The arrow slipped.
It just felt like the writers were all, sure we can add a man to hide the gay.
Damn, he died. Heroically. He turned good.
But oh well, he’s dead now.
Still just Gabrielle and Xena.
Anyone else get that vibe?
Like we’ll never keep a guy around long enough to threaten their relationship story we’re trying to tell so no one but the gays notice.
Although, to be fair, I liked Marcus way better than bland choice number one with the kids.
I was sad to see him die, but not sad to know he won’t be a threat anymore to my wonderful queer enjoyment of the show.
Also, this is first episode to end on a sour note.
Xena had mentioned she didn’t want to stand by anymore friends’ graves. Yet she ends up there anyway contemplating her part in his death as his friend.
I wonder if she’s picturing that Gabrielle will end up there one day.
That she’s doomed to outlive her friends and family.
She’s already seen so much death, caused a lot of it. How much more does she have to take? How many people will she lose? Is it worth it to keep people around? Will Gabrielle be better off without her?
There was so much emotion there, kudos to Lucy.
Also to Renee for having Gabrielle entirely miss the gravity of the situation.
Xena appears to be rethinking her entire life that has led to this point.
Meanwhile, Gabrielle believes his death was honorable, doing the right thing, and being remembered as her friend.
My goodness, these two are never in the same headspace.
Can’t wait to see where we go from here!
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