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scifi_rewatchI looove this episode. I think you can tell from my icon that I’m a Xena/Gabrielle fan. But if there’s one character whom I could see breaking our beloved subtext, it would be Ares, god of war. Kevin Smith played him with such silky perfection. And out of all the men who go drooling after Xena, Ares may be the one where Xena reciprocates the most. He represents all the power she used to grasp for—and a sense of militaristic justice that still speaks to her. And this episode (where he killed some random peasants to entrap and control Xena,) was such a great introduction. There will be far more of Ares to come!
Xena and Gabrielle are traveling; Gabrielle wanders off in search of their road, but Xena, atop her horse, is drawn to the sounds of slaughter. She arrives in time to see a hooded man running his sword through the last of four victims. Justice-skills activate! Xena rushes forward to engage him, and we find that they are evenly matched. The hooded man might even be better. :-O In the midst of the fighting he does a summersault and disappears!
Only one of the men is still alive, and Xena gives him her sword to act as a tourniquet. She’s in the middle of binding his wounds when some villagers run over, drawn by the sounds of a sword fight. The wife of Teracles, the man Xena’s been helping, rushes to his side in order to hear him groan “that woman…” before fainting. The villagers give Xena, who is covered in blood, angry and suspicious looks. Uh oh.
Xena maintains her innocence; a man was here and he disappeared; she was just trying to help. A man who left his spoils behind? One villager says skeptically, pointing to Teracles’s coin strewn on the ground. His companions are starting to get aggressive now. Xena flips back onto her horse and rides off, yelling for Gabrielle. She finds her friend, of course, stripping down and about to bathe. Maybe that would slow the villagers down! ;) I feel dirty just writing that, hee. Xena pulls Gabby onto the horse, and they run into a mountain pass with the villagers in hot pursuit.
Later, the villagers talk to their elder, Benitar. They have Xena’s escape route blocked, and they try to talk around a trial—they don’t need one! The evidence is damning. Peranis and Grathios (always wondered—who came up with the names on “Xena”?) rally the victims, including a pregnant widow and a teenage son, into a frenzy. Benitar cautions, “We cannot allow ourselves to become as savage as the savage we hunt.” But the villagers demand “swift revenge, not slow justice.” The hooded man appears in the crowd, but no one seems to see him.
In the mountain pass, Xena tells Gabby they’ll escape at nightfall (which makes their daytime riding a little strange. :P) Gabrielle thinks her friend is over-reacting—these are just farmers, after all! But Xena counters that she’s seen how “twisted” people become when they lose their loved ones to violence. Yeah…first-hand experience there, Xeen. Gabrielle has faith in the justice system, but Xena is busy pondering the real assassin. She tells Gabby to run if they get separated. Gab wants to know why, but Xena doesn’t give her an answer.
In the morning, as the gals ride down the mountain pass, villagers come out from behind trees and spook the horse so that Gab falls off. They grab her as they drop ropes around Xena’s chest, which she easily cuts off. She disembarks the horse and sends her off, turning to face the villagers. She says if they let Gabby go she’ll go willingly with them. Benitar gives his word. Xena drops her sword and is knocked out. Yikes!
She awakes in a prison cell in her small clothes, her hands chained to the ceiling. Gabrielle comes in and wants to know why Xena didn’t fight. “They’re no warriors; it would have been a slaughter,” Xena replies. She tells Gabrielle it’s time for her to leave, but Gab of course refuses to abandon her friend. “Justice prevails!” says the idealist. She leaves, vowing to find exonerating evidence.
The hooded man reappears, but this time Xena can see him. She identifies him as Ares, god of war, and he takes off his hood. This is apparently the first time Xena has ever seen him, though that may clash with later storylines. Perhaps we can assume that this is the first time she saw him as Kevin Smith. This is in fact Kevin’s first episode in the entire Hercules/Xena franchise. :P Anywho!
Ares, her “former mentor and still biggest fan,” flicks his hand and releases her from her chains. He also gives her a shoulder rub, standard “Xena” negotiation behaviors. :P Xena takes his hand and he transfers her to a sexy boudoir, food, wine, sexy music, the works. Xena accuses him of killing the three villagers (Teracles may in fact survive,) and Ares says yup. :P He wants her back, “my warrior princess, living as my warrior queen.” (Boy, could Kevin deliver a line!) “I thought your ways were the only ways for me,” Xena says, sounding like she’s not so sure that statement belongs in the past. Ares wants to get her into something a little more comfortable, which means he’s slowly undressing her. Yowza. Is she really having more fun today? Xena: “I’m fighting for a better world.” She puts on a silky garment. “We’re going to conquer it…and we’re going to rule it,” Ares promises her.
In case she needs more of a turn on than battle these days, Ares provides her with some humane decrees—aid for the sick and the elderly. Damn. Maybe Xena and Ares should conquer America! ;) “Your destiny is to rule the world with me,” saysDarth Vader Ares. Outside the window, warriors are marching and calling Xena’s name. The warrior princess asks the god of war what he gets out of all of this, and he answers peace. :-O Peace under a great ruler, that is. He tells Xena all she must do is call out his name and he’ll be there for her. Until then…he transfers back to her cell, chains and all. Good luck.
Benitar is assuring Gabrielle that Xena will have a trial. Gab nominates herself as Xena’s advocate, but the old man puts his foot down. It’s all he could do to get the villagers to play fair, apparently. Meanwhile the villagers are whooping and hollering outside…one of them is dragging a straw man behind a cart. Gulp. Others have brought Xena out of her cell, apparently to be the next victim. Ares reappears to arch his eyebrow at her, like “really?” :P But Xena shakes her head.
Meanwhile Gabrielle runs forward to stand between her friend and the mob. “If you’re going to murder one, why not two?” she challenges. The villagers are uncomfortable with this notion, and Benitar intervenes more forcefully. Xena will stand trial, and Gabrielle will act as her advocate. The villagers aren’t thrilled but hey, what can you do. :P Xena and Ares continue to eye each other, apparently unbeknownst to everyone else.
Back in the cell Xena chastises Gab for her recklessness, but the babbling bard asserts, “normal people want to save their best friends, too!” They go back over the evidence…Xena found, alone and bloody, over the bodies of the four villagers. Gabrielle decides to take to the field, CSI style. Sure enough, she finds Ares’s footsteps in the dirt! Happily she runs back to the village to confront Benitar, explaining about the density of the footprints and how they’re toe-to-toe with Xena’s, and etc. Of course this is the time when Ares appears to erase his mark with a wave of his hand. One must wonder…why didn’t he do this before?? I can totally buy that he wanted to make Gabrielle look ridiculous. :P Benitar is not pleased, and he warns Gabs against wasting more of his time. Alas!
The trial begins! The pregnant widow recounts that she heard the clash of swordplay, and her husband and the other men screaming, and arrived in time to see Xena robbing the bodies with blood on her sword. The young orphan adds that his father’s purse was missing. Lawyer Gabrielle to the rescue! First off…since none of the victims had a sword, who was Xena fighting? Also, has anyone ever helped an injured person on his farm? Doesn’t the blood get everywhere? Isn’t it possible that this is what happened with Xena? …go Gab! “So if she robbed everyone else, where’s the money?” Attorney Babbling Bard continues. The villagers shout out half-hearted theories. Why didn’t she just kill all of you when you came to the scene? Gab presses. But she ran! the villagers protest. “All you care about is executing someone,” Gabrielle theorizes. “I would have run, too!”
She’s building up a strong case, my Gab, but the last piece of evidence to be brought in is Teracles himself. He’s on a stretcher, still weak and delirious from the attack. “The last thing I remember is that woman standing over me, my blood on her sword,” he mumbles. Village rage re-ignited! Gabrielle steps in, desperate to ask Teracles a few questions of her own, but his wife angrily brushes her off. Benitar declares the trial finished. The case will be discussed by council, and then he will read out the decree tomorrow. Things are not looking pretty.
Back in the cell Xena is chained again, leaving Peranis and Grathios protected enough to come in and talk smack to her. As they start to beat her, Ares reappears, groaning from the corner. “Some unbearably smelly farmer is beating you half to death,” he complains to his former mentee. Xena addresses Ares: “You above all should know what grief can drive people to do.” Ares takes her back to the boudoir and her silky dress. Xena admits that she almost did call his name—she wants to live. “Danger excites you, and as you know, I am somewhat dangerous,” Ares says, sounding like a Lifetime personals ad. The call to battle “burns inside you.” The camera pans to the fire between them, slowly blurring so we can see Xena’s former conquests as Ares invokes them. “Xena will never be answerable to these pathetic creatures,” Ares promises. Something in Xena snaps.
Xena breaks free of her chains and starts wailing on Peranis and Grathios. She breaks out of her cell, knocking out more villagers. Gabrielle runs in, but Xena backhands her into a wall! :-O Gabby goes down, and this wakes Xena up. As Gabrielle, hurt, runs back out again, Xena administers to the people she’s injured. Benitar comes in, confounded that Xena didn’t just try to escape. A contrite Xena says that she’s done bad things in her life, and it seems she’s capable of them still. Damn that Ares. Benitar promises an objective verdict.
…but apparently not everyone believes in those anymore. Gabrielle, first dressed like a familiar hooded figure, talks to Xena through the prison window. She says she found Argo—methinks this is the first time the horse’s name has been mentioned! *confetti* She ties some ropes on the bars and will drag them off for their escape. Xena is stunned enough that Gabby came back after receiving that beating. Gabby says she knows that wasn’t really Xena, aww. She also now knows, “there is a big difference over what justice is and what the law is.” Xena declines Gabby’s help, though—“if I run now, I’ll be running forever.” Gabby unties the rope and leaves.
Alone, Xena calls out Ares name and is transported back to the boudoir in a new dress. She falls back on the bed with Ares behind her. The god admits to entrapping her; “I wouldn’t have killed those village fools if I didn’t know they’d find you guilty.” He promises that they’ll make the world a better place “by leading it your way.” Damn, that boy knows how to manipulate. Ares pours wine, continuing on his vision about a military rule supporting peace, with Xena as a leader, not just a warrior. Xena calls it irresistible, but she still needs a new army. Ares promises to bring anyone, living or dead. “Hector? Achilles? Agamemnon?” Xena prompts. Apparently these folks are all long dead, though later this season Xena will be fighting the battle of Troy. :P Ares gives his word and sends her back. She’ll get her army once she’s officially found guilty.
Sure enough, in the morning, Benitar finds Xena guilty. Her punishment is to be dragged to death, like that straw man from earlier. Ares reappears, but Xena gets the last laugh. She calls on him to bring back the three villagers he killed! Ares looks shocked, but then he laughs. “Marvelously manipulative, my dear!” He waves his hand, and the three men walk out of a nearby house. Their families rush forward to embrace them. “No one’s even dead,” Gabrielle says in a wonder. Personally, I gotta wonder myself what Hades thinks of his nephew stepping over his toes like this. :P
One of the former victims gives a Nobel Prize-worthy speech about Xena, how this “brave and noble woman” fought the hooded man, even though they were strangers. “Truly I say she’s the very soul of goodness.” …looks like you lost your protégé, Ares! The villagers now cheer Xena, forgetting that they ever booed her. Benitar drops all charges.
Ares reappears behind Xena. “Even as an adversary you are one of a kind.” “I know my choice was the right one for me,” Xena responds, looking kind of smug. Ares kisses her hand and says “until next time” before disappearing. This will be a common refrain for them. :P
Later, Xena resumes her wanderings with Gabrielle and Argo. Xena expresses her gratitude that Gabrielle came back, even after what happened between them. Gab says she trusts her, aww. Xena says she owes Gab. Hmm. :P Gabrielle decides to take Xena up on that, smacking her friend in the jaw but just hurting her own hand in the process. Oh, Gabby. “Feel better?” Xena asks. “I think I broke my hand…but I do feel better.” :P
“How did those guys come back from the dead?” Gabs changes the subject. Xena starts to explain about her relationship with Ares; what a story that will turn into! As we pan into the trees, Ares re-whispers, “until next time, Xena.”
Yup, I love this episode. Maybe it was a little overdone with Ares’ repeated promises…but boy did they sound good, and I never even was a hardened warrior like Xena! :P The two of them have such an electrifying relationship, and it seems like it’s even more interesting now that Xena is resisting his control. I imagine Ares prefers the fight, personally.
Also, Gabrielle learns a Valuable Lesson of the Day about how justice can be waylaid by the thirst for revenge. But for an amateur lawyer, she did one hell of a job! Guess it’s true that she can always talk her way out of everything. :P
___
Xena and Gabrielle are traveling; Gabrielle wanders off in search of their road, but Xena, atop her horse, is drawn to the sounds of slaughter. She arrives in time to see a hooded man running his sword through the last of four victims. Justice-skills activate! Xena rushes forward to engage him, and we find that they are evenly matched. The hooded man might even be better. :-O In the midst of the fighting he does a summersault and disappears!
Only one of the men is still alive, and Xena gives him her sword to act as a tourniquet. She’s in the middle of binding his wounds when some villagers run over, drawn by the sounds of a sword fight. The wife of Teracles, the man Xena’s been helping, rushes to his side in order to hear him groan “that woman…” before fainting. The villagers give Xena, who is covered in blood, angry and suspicious looks. Uh oh.
Xena maintains her innocence; a man was here and he disappeared; she was just trying to help. A man who left his spoils behind? One villager says skeptically, pointing to Teracles’s coin strewn on the ground. His companions are starting to get aggressive now. Xena flips back onto her horse and rides off, yelling for Gabrielle. She finds her friend, of course, stripping down and about to bathe. Maybe that would slow the villagers down! ;) I feel dirty just writing that, hee. Xena pulls Gabby onto the horse, and they run into a mountain pass with the villagers in hot pursuit.
Later, the villagers talk to their elder, Benitar. They have Xena’s escape route blocked, and they try to talk around a trial—they don’t need one! The evidence is damning. Peranis and Grathios (always wondered—who came up with the names on “Xena”?) rally the victims, including a pregnant widow and a teenage son, into a frenzy. Benitar cautions, “We cannot allow ourselves to become as savage as the savage we hunt.” But the villagers demand “swift revenge, not slow justice.” The hooded man appears in the crowd, but no one seems to see him.
In the mountain pass, Xena tells Gabby they’ll escape at nightfall (which makes their daytime riding a little strange. :P) Gabrielle thinks her friend is over-reacting—these are just farmers, after all! But Xena counters that she’s seen how “twisted” people become when they lose their loved ones to violence. Yeah…first-hand experience there, Xeen. Gabrielle has faith in the justice system, but Xena is busy pondering the real assassin. She tells Gabby to run if they get separated. Gab wants to know why, but Xena doesn’t give her an answer.
In the morning, as the gals ride down the mountain pass, villagers come out from behind trees and spook the horse so that Gab falls off. They grab her as they drop ropes around Xena’s chest, which she easily cuts off. She disembarks the horse and sends her off, turning to face the villagers. She says if they let Gabby go she’ll go willingly with them. Benitar gives his word. Xena drops her sword and is knocked out. Yikes!
She awakes in a prison cell in her small clothes, her hands chained to the ceiling. Gabrielle comes in and wants to know why Xena didn’t fight. “They’re no warriors; it would have been a slaughter,” Xena replies. She tells Gabrielle it’s time for her to leave, but Gab of course refuses to abandon her friend. “Justice prevails!” says the idealist. She leaves, vowing to find exonerating evidence.
The hooded man reappears, but this time Xena can see him. She identifies him as Ares, god of war, and he takes off his hood. This is apparently the first time Xena has ever seen him, though that may clash with later storylines. Perhaps we can assume that this is the first time she saw him as Kevin Smith. This is in fact Kevin’s first episode in the entire Hercules/Xena franchise. :P Anywho!
Ares, her “former mentor and still biggest fan,” flicks his hand and releases her from her chains. He also gives her a shoulder rub, standard “Xena” negotiation behaviors. :P Xena takes his hand and he transfers her to a sexy boudoir, food, wine, sexy music, the works. Xena accuses him of killing the three villagers (Teracles may in fact survive,) and Ares says yup. :P He wants her back, “my warrior princess, living as my warrior queen.” (Boy, could Kevin deliver a line!) “I thought your ways were the only ways for me,” Xena says, sounding like she’s not so sure that statement belongs in the past. Ares wants to get her into something a little more comfortable, which means he’s slowly undressing her. Yowza. Is she really having more fun today? Xena: “I’m fighting for a better world.” She puts on a silky garment. “We’re going to conquer it…and we’re going to rule it,” Ares promises her.
In case she needs more of a turn on than battle these days, Ares provides her with some humane decrees—aid for the sick and the elderly. Damn. Maybe Xena and Ares should conquer America! ;) “Your destiny is to rule the world with me,” says
Benitar is assuring Gabrielle that Xena will have a trial. Gab nominates herself as Xena’s advocate, but the old man puts his foot down. It’s all he could do to get the villagers to play fair, apparently. Meanwhile the villagers are whooping and hollering outside…one of them is dragging a straw man behind a cart. Gulp. Others have brought Xena out of her cell, apparently to be the next victim. Ares reappears to arch his eyebrow at her, like “really?” :P But Xena shakes her head.
Meanwhile Gabrielle runs forward to stand between her friend and the mob. “If you’re going to murder one, why not two?” she challenges. The villagers are uncomfortable with this notion, and Benitar intervenes more forcefully. Xena will stand trial, and Gabrielle will act as her advocate. The villagers aren’t thrilled but hey, what can you do. :P Xena and Ares continue to eye each other, apparently unbeknownst to everyone else.
Back in the cell Xena chastises Gab for her recklessness, but the babbling bard asserts, “normal people want to save their best friends, too!” They go back over the evidence…Xena found, alone and bloody, over the bodies of the four villagers. Gabrielle decides to take to the field, CSI style. Sure enough, she finds Ares’s footsteps in the dirt! Happily she runs back to the village to confront Benitar, explaining about the density of the footprints and how they’re toe-to-toe with Xena’s, and etc. Of course this is the time when Ares appears to erase his mark with a wave of his hand. One must wonder…why didn’t he do this before?? I can totally buy that he wanted to make Gabrielle look ridiculous. :P Benitar is not pleased, and he warns Gabs against wasting more of his time. Alas!
The trial begins! The pregnant widow recounts that she heard the clash of swordplay, and her husband and the other men screaming, and arrived in time to see Xena robbing the bodies with blood on her sword. The young orphan adds that his father’s purse was missing. Lawyer Gabrielle to the rescue! First off…since none of the victims had a sword, who was Xena fighting? Also, has anyone ever helped an injured person on his farm? Doesn’t the blood get everywhere? Isn’t it possible that this is what happened with Xena? …go Gab! “So if she robbed everyone else, where’s the money?” Attorney Babbling Bard continues. The villagers shout out half-hearted theories. Why didn’t she just kill all of you when you came to the scene? Gab presses. But she ran! the villagers protest. “All you care about is executing someone,” Gabrielle theorizes. “I would have run, too!”
She’s building up a strong case, my Gab, but the last piece of evidence to be brought in is Teracles himself. He’s on a stretcher, still weak and delirious from the attack. “The last thing I remember is that woman standing over me, my blood on her sword,” he mumbles. Village rage re-ignited! Gabrielle steps in, desperate to ask Teracles a few questions of her own, but his wife angrily brushes her off. Benitar declares the trial finished. The case will be discussed by council, and then he will read out the decree tomorrow. Things are not looking pretty.
Back in the cell Xena is chained again, leaving Peranis and Grathios protected enough to come in and talk smack to her. As they start to beat her, Ares reappears, groaning from the corner. “Some unbearably smelly farmer is beating you half to death,” he complains to his former mentee. Xena addresses Ares: “You above all should know what grief can drive people to do.” Ares takes her back to the boudoir and her silky dress. Xena admits that she almost did call his name—she wants to live. “Danger excites you, and as you know, I am somewhat dangerous,” Ares says, sounding like a Lifetime personals ad. The call to battle “burns inside you.” The camera pans to the fire between them, slowly blurring so we can see Xena’s former conquests as Ares invokes them. “Xena will never be answerable to these pathetic creatures,” Ares promises. Something in Xena snaps.
Xena breaks free of her chains and starts wailing on Peranis and Grathios. She breaks out of her cell, knocking out more villagers. Gabrielle runs in, but Xena backhands her into a wall! :-O Gabby goes down, and this wakes Xena up. As Gabrielle, hurt, runs back out again, Xena administers to the people she’s injured. Benitar comes in, confounded that Xena didn’t just try to escape. A contrite Xena says that she’s done bad things in her life, and it seems she’s capable of them still. Damn that Ares. Benitar promises an objective verdict.
…but apparently not everyone believes in those anymore. Gabrielle, first dressed like a familiar hooded figure, talks to Xena through the prison window. She says she found Argo—methinks this is the first time the horse’s name has been mentioned! *confetti* She ties some ropes on the bars and will drag them off for their escape. Xena is stunned enough that Gabby came back after receiving that beating. Gabby says she knows that wasn’t really Xena, aww. She also now knows, “there is a big difference over what justice is and what the law is.” Xena declines Gabby’s help, though—“if I run now, I’ll be running forever.” Gabby unties the rope and leaves.
Alone, Xena calls out Ares name and is transported back to the boudoir in a new dress. She falls back on the bed with Ares behind her. The god admits to entrapping her; “I wouldn’t have killed those village fools if I didn’t know they’d find you guilty.” He promises that they’ll make the world a better place “by leading it your way.” Damn, that boy knows how to manipulate. Ares pours wine, continuing on his vision about a military rule supporting peace, with Xena as a leader, not just a warrior. Xena calls it irresistible, but she still needs a new army. Ares promises to bring anyone, living or dead. “Hector? Achilles? Agamemnon?” Xena prompts. Apparently these folks are all long dead, though later this season Xena will be fighting the battle of Troy. :P Ares gives his word and sends her back. She’ll get her army once she’s officially found guilty.
Sure enough, in the morning, Benitar finds Xena guilty. Her punishment is to be dragged to death, like that straw man from earlier. Ares reappears, but Xena gets the last laugh. She calls on him to bring back the three villagers he killed! Ares looks shocked, but then he laughs. “Marvelously manipulative, my dear!” He waves his hand, and the three men walk out of a nearby house. Their families rush forward to embrace them. “No one’s even dead,” Gabrielle says in a wonder. Personally, I gotta wonder myself what Hades thinks of his nephew stepping over his toes like this. :P
One of the former victims gives a Nobel Prize-worthy speech about Xena, how this “brave and noble woman” fought the hooded man, even though they were strangers. “Truly I say she’s the very soul of goodness.” …looks like you lost your protégé, Ares! The villagers now cheer Xena, forgetting that they ever booed her. Benitar drops all charges.
Ares reappears behind Xena. “Even as an adversary you are one of a kind.” “I know my choice was the right one for me,” Xena responds, looking kind of smug. Ares kisses her hand and says “until next time” before disappearing. This will be a common refrain for them. :P
Later, Xena resumes her wanderings with Gabrielle and Argo. Xena expresses her gratitude that Gabrielle came back, even after what happened between them. Gab says she trusts her, aww. Xena says she owes Gab. Hmm. :P Gabrielle decides to take Xena up on that, smacking her friend in the jaw but just hurting her own hand in the process. Oh, Gabby. “Feel better?” Xena asks. “I think I broke my hand…but I do feel better.” :P
“How did those guys come back from the dead?” Gabs changes the subject. Xena starts to explain about her relationship with Ares; what a story that will turn into! As we pan into the trees, Ares re-whispers, “until next time, Xena.”
Yup, I love this episode. Maybe it was a little overdone with Ares’ repeated promises…but boy did they sound good, and I never even was a hardened warrior like Xena! :P The two of them have such an electrifying relationship, and it seems like it’s even more interesting now that Xena is resisting his control. I imagine Ares prefers the fight, personally.
Also, Gabrielle learns a Valuable Lesson of the Day about how justice can be waylaid by the thirst for revenge. But for an amateur lawyer, she did one hell of a job! Guess it’s true that she can always talk her way out of everything. :P
___
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