Amac Productions

Xena’s dad.

Nope, it’s just Ares being an ass. Seems right.

This episode was chaotic!

I think I might have whiplash.

I mean, we thought Xena met her father again after who knows how long because details are irrelevant on this show. I really do love that this show doesn’t bother to explain things too much.

It’s just like, here’s Xena’s dad. He’s been gone, Ares somehow knew his name, looks, and all the things about Xena’s childhood. How? Doesn’t matter. We’re not here to talk about that right now.

And we just go, okay. Moving on.

Then we do.

Amazing, I love it.

I miss when shows didn’t get overly detailed into things.

So we thought we met Xena’s dad. He’s a deadbeat of sorts. Xena’s not sure about trusting him. We’re rescuing girls from some warlord who has Ares backing. Except Ares is steering him towards Xena.

Not to take her out, but to have her take his place.

I do agree with Ares on one thing. “Sometimes the best man for a job, is a woman.”

Yes, thank you sir.

How is the god of ancient Greece more mature about things like this than most people today???

Anyway…

But the warlord doesn’t want to be replaced, but he falls into the trap anyway because that’s what Ares wanted. So does Xena.

So does Xena!

Xena takes the bait and temporarily becomes a warlord again.

But a little love tap from Gabrielle sorts that shit out real quick.

I’m sorry, that sentence made me laugh, because that’s exactly what happens.

Gabrielle stands up for the village to the somewhat terrifyingly angry Xena and when she pushes her aside, makes herself heard – by smacking her in the back with a pitchfork.

Ouch.

Except it barely fazes Xena beyond, ‘Gabrielle just hit me because I’m being all murderous. I should get a handle on that.’

Which she does.

I’ll admit, she came to her senses quicker than I expected, but it also worked.

Like I’ve said before, Xena is clinging to being better right now. Her resolve will be as strong as it ever will in the face of just making this choice. Resolve crumples over time.

Naturally, enough time has passed by now, to make her stumble a little.

But as I pointed out before, Xena sees in Gabrielle all that is good in the world. She looks at this innocent girl, following her around, and knows she has to better for all the people like her.

Here, she sees the monster she’s slipping back into in Gabrielle’s eyes and makes a turnaround.

Her resolve here, still strong enough to pull her back, along with her affection for this innocent girl who has declared herself her best friend in all the known world.

Coupled with her ‘father’ not being dead and his sudden blood-thirst jar her into realizing how close she came to doing something she’d regret.

I love how far we’ve come here.

I firmly believe Gabrielle would have kept throwing herself at Xena if she kept moving forward with hurting people.

She did it without regret or remorse.

Her friend was falling into darker habits and needed help.

But again, unlike the people behind her in the village, she doesn’t really know what she’s facing.

I mean, the god of war is hellbent on getting her back on his side. That alone is frighteningly revealing.

But also, he refused to kill her.

He’s going to keep trying because he believes that darkness is still within her. Because he believes she’ll slip. Because to him, she’s more valuable alive.

Yikes.

That’s a lot of terrifying information right there.

Gabrielle is a little out of her mind to stand up against someone like Xena. But also, there’s a high chance she understands something the audience at this point should know.

Xena will never hurt her. Not on purpose.

She’d kill anyone who tries. She’d never do anything bad herself to her best friend. With that confidence, she happily tosses herself into the fire to defend the village.

Because even as lost as she was getting, Xena didn’t actually hurt Gabrielle. She pulled her out of the way. She didn’t hurt her. Didn’t hit her. Or injury her. Just moved her.

A very telling action given how lost she was at that moment.

Overall, I liked this episode and I hope we get to explore the darker aspects of Xena’s personality.

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