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scifi_rewatchThis episode of “Xena” proved to be an interesting mirror image of the last one, with the capture of a god leading to problems for humankind—this time that they can’t die at all, rather than dying all the time due to the inability to heal themselves. Xena is once again called to save the day, and Gabby once again falls for a weekly “boy toy” who encounters troubles of a mortal nature along the way. :-/ In terms of the overarching story it doesn’t move things along much, but it does introduce some recurring characters, from gods Hades and Celesta to mortals Sisyphus, Karis and Toxeus. Although they never become “big name,” it’s always nice to have that level of continuity. Xenaverse is a small place, after all! ;)
We open in ye olde Greek castle (according to “Xena” anyway) where our latest royal couple, Sisyphus and Karis, are scheming. Karis is worried but Sisyphus feels pretty good about his plans to defeat death. A-whaa?
Outside, ethereal/spooky music plays as a lady in white literally glides to the guards in front of the castle. They heckle her but she just smiles sweetly, holding her candle and making to pass. When one man touches her he drops dead. :-O The others flee and the woman makes her way inside.
Sisyphus is apparently expecting this woman, whom he calls Celesta, and he invites her in for a “sumptuous feast of earthly delights.” Yum. Celesta is apparently sick of gliding, cos she zaps to her chair instead and reminds the king that once they’re done here the two of them will be off. “This doesn’t change anything.” Of course not, Sisyphus agrees, looking about two steps away from twirling his nonexistent mustache. :P He proposes a toast—to long light and a peaceful death. At that moment ropes snake out and trap Celesta to her chair! Uh oh.
Our girls, meanwhile, are passing some lovers in an apple grove. One reaches up to pick a fruit for his beloved and Gabrielle, dressed in a new, brown-toned skirt/top outfit, scoffs. Love, who needs it? She has adventure, the chance to meet interesting people, and to ramble as Xena tunes her out. :P And “as for the apple, I can pick my own!” She makes to do that but as she does, an arrow shoots out of nowhere and right through it! Yikes.
Warriors had shot it, of course, and they heckle Xena. The leader introduces himself as Toxeus—leading me to think it was a pretty desperate day in the writing room, hee. He offers our warrior princess a place in his army. “Join a band of worthless, lowlife scum…I think I’ll pass,” is Xena’s nonchalant answer. Too bad Toxeus has a “strict recruiting policy” of join or die. …too bad for him, that is. :P They don’t get that far before Xena puts her sword in his belly and he drops over dead. The rest of the army scatters and our girls are on their way. But then Toxeus’s eyes open! Gasp. He gets up, observes his wound, cackles and is on his way.
On the road again, Xena and Gabs briefly discuss Toxeus and warriors like him who generally want to take Xena down because of her reputation. Suddenly the ground shakes! Argo goes a little nuts, but only for a second. A chariot races out of the fog and Xena orders Gabrielle to stand back. The man riding it unmasks himself…and Xena identifies him as Hades, god of the underworld. Uh oh… “Relax, I’m a big fan,” Hades assures her. “Though for awhile, you were working us pretty hard down there.” Oh, Xenaverse. :P He asks her to rescue his sister, Celesta, since Xena is apparently familiar with Sisyphus and his palace full of tricks. Dire news for humankind—if Celesta’s eternal flame goes out, then “eternal suffering” will come to us. Yikes. As Gabrielle says, “if you tell someone you love them forever…it means forever.” LOL.
…or, perhaps more importantly, people who are sick or mortally wounded (save for warriors and stab wounds, perhaps,) suffer indefinitely. Xena and Gabrielle get to see that firsthand as they come across some victims of a rockslide (Hades-visit side effect, perhaps?) Xena tends to one such lad, though the guy behind her tells her to give it up because he’s too far gone. “Only death can give him release,” hint hint. Gabrielle, meanwhile, stumbles upon another nurse, a dude named Talus who stumbled upon the party on his way to Corinth. She watches, impressed, as Talus calms a patient with a romantic little story. Bard crush!
The two of them go to fetch water and Gabrielle tells Talus about the Celesta problem. What do you know, Talus grew up in the castle! :P Convenient ally! He then gives her a jasmine blossom, calling it “a rare beauty…just like you.” Methinks Iolaus from last episode is completely forgotten by now. :P
Thankfully Toxeus comes just in time to save us from the teeny boppers. He knocks Talus out and takes Gabrielle by the throat, demanding to know Xena’s location. Apparently she was following them, as she gets to quip one of her one-liners; “some guys just don’t know when to give up.” :P I mean sheesh, if death can’t stop them… Toxeus shoves Gabs aside to rejoin the groggy Talus as he and Xena fight. Our warrior princess finally flips over him and delivers another mortal wound, but Toxeus doesn’t even fall over this time. He thinks he’s turned into a god but Xena only scoffs at him. “Death’s capture has kept you alive. And when I release her, you will die.” Uh, Xena, why didn’t you just let him go on believing the immortality thing? Because now, of course, you have another obstacle in getting to Celesta. Well, they fight a little longer until Xena drops a heavy tree branch on him. :P Gotta give her props for the creativity.
Celesta is watching her candle burn out, and she tells Sisyphus that once it does, she’ll cease to exist. “Well, that’s the point, “ Sisyphus chuckles. Better she disappear than he die apparently…though with a name like “Sisyphus,” what luck does he think he has? :P Apparently Celesta was sent because the king angered Zeus. This leads to a brief argument about who should have providence over death—gods or mortals. Karis interrupts to say that Sisyphus sounds so cruel; what happened to the dude she married? “My compassion brought death to my door,” he answered, reminding her that it was in gathering water for his people that he pissed off the king of the gods. Well, they are capricious that way. He promises his wifey they’ll be together…forever. I’m thinking this sounds better in theory than it is in reality. :P
Toxeus makes his way back to his army and tells them that there’s no death anymore, but they have to stop Xena from ruining things. The new leader, Ceres, balks at Xena’s power, which seems sort of odd in the face of immortality here. “Cowards!” Toxeus fumes. To prove his point he goes around stabbing all of his men, finally throwing it into Ceres’s back. “So…what did you have in mind?” Ceres asks as the others slowly rise and guffaw happily at each other.
Gabrielle is gushing to Xena about how perfect Talus is, leading the warrior princess to concede that he’s “more than nice.” Same ol’ pattern here, ladies. She tells Gabrielle to take him to the hospital where they can help people—meanwhile she’s going to the castle alone. Up in the hills Toxeus et. al watch the girls split up, so they do the same. Toxeus reminds the other party to report back to him—“remember, your deaths depend on it.” Oh LOL.
Xena and Argo travel under terse music to the outer castle wall. The warrior princess notes some spikes hanging near the top so she jumps onto them, flips, and then scales the wall. No biggie. :P Inside, she knocks out one overly elaborate swordsman with one punch. She’s the only gymnast around here, bucko. ;) Sisyphus, meanwhile, has heard the news that Xena is here, which makes him excited and his wife wary, as per usual. He theorizes that Xena wants Death to survive because it’s good for business.
Gabrielle and Talus have made it to the hospital. Talus, alone, gasps in pain and clutches his chest. Uh oh. Did Toxeus stab him or something? The sickly woman Gab is tending to tells her that she died this morning, but as she was crossing over “something strange happened” and now she’s back here. Apparently she isn’t too happy about it. “Where is death?” she asks, another hint hint. Gabrielle explains what happened to Celesta, and that Xena is on it. The woman asks how Xena will “handle death.” Gabs is confused so the woman beckons her closer. Apparently whoever touches death will die him or herself. Yikes! She backs into Talus and tells him she wants to go warn Xena. Sir Used to Live in Castle promises to show her the way.
Xena walks into a new room of the castle and Sisyphus talks to her Wizard of Oz style, all hidden voices and puffs of smoke to enter. Xena tells him he’s caused “a lot of pain” but the king counters that he’s brought eternal life to his subjects, and more importantly, himself. :P Xena tells him he’s blinded by his own, selfish desires. “Now tell me where he is, or I’ll make your eternity a living hell.” So bad ass. Sisyphus scoffs at her “brawn over brains” reaction, challenging her with the notion of not having to see her friends die. But Xena remains unmoved, so the king drops her through a trap door. :P Woops. Xena falls and falls and falls (how high up are we here?) until she finally snags on something…a skeletal arm of a prisoner who was apparently hanged a long time back. She dangles a bit before the arm breaks, then she falls and falls until she finally lands on the ground. Guess the skeleton stalled the momentum? /lack of physics knowledge
Talus, meanwhile, leads Gabrielle through a hidden cave that snakes into the castle; the army goons, of course, follow. Once they get inside Gabs wants him to turn back but Talus refuses to leave her; “I’ve never met a girl who knows every line of Sophocles by heart.” Aaw. Once again Toxeus breaks up the romance. Time for a wild goose chase! The two of them climb some stairs, but after Gabs is up they collapse on Talus and send him through another trap door. Guess he didn’t know about that part of the castle, hee. The goons keep after Gabby.
Xena rises and follows the cries of Talus’s descent as he barrels out of a chute. He tells the warrior princess that Gab wanted to impart the news about not touching Celestsa, and Xena basically says “duh!” All this for nothing! :P He doesn’t know where Gabs is now, either, but boy does he feel bad. Xena shushes the new blabbermouth and listens to the drip of water, surmising that a drain has to be nearby. Sure enough she opens a nearby trap door and the two of them splash down into a moat.
Gabrielle sneaks through the castle and away from the voices. She hides behind an old tapestry, where of course a rat takes interest in her. :P Ensue comedy of the mouse and Renee O’Connor squeaking quietly at each other while Toxeus looks on in confusion. :P When the rat darts out from behind the tapestry Toxeus skewers it, aww. :( Gab is able to sneak out after he leaves.
Xena and Talus encounter more rats as they crawl through a drain. Not only are they blocking the path, but they’re dumping on the characters’ heads, lol. Rat rebellion! Xena is merely annoyed as she crawls through them, and Talus isn’t too perturbed either, but nice atmosphere. They find a new trap door and climb out into another part of the castle. The queen sneaks by as they begin to talk. Talus is in pain again and Xena notices. Apparently he’s had worsening chest pains for awhile. She deduces that he was on his way to his childhood home in Corinth to visit for one last time. :( Xena asks if she can help and if Gabs knows, but Talus answers in the negative to both. “This makes my job a whole lot tougher,” says a sad-looking Xena, but Talus says no; this is the right thing to do. Xena says he’s a good person, like Gab said, and yeah, I found this a little touching. I love how Xena’s empathy for downtrodden folks comes out. Meanwhile, the queen leaves discreetly when they do.
Karis goes to find Sisyphus, who is a little less happy with the Xena problem now that it’s dragging on. She tells him she’s certain now that they’re doing the wrong thing, that people need death. Celesta, from behind, looks like she’s about to faint in her chains. Don’t people want to live? Sisyphus asks desperately. In response Karis grabs a dagger and says, “if I give myself a mortal wound, would you have me suffer as well?” Personally I think it would have been slightly more effective if she didn’t sound so hysterical, but maybe that’s me. :P Sisyphus grabs the dagger in response. “If Xena wins, I die!” They take a look at the candle, which is almost out.
Defeated, Karis leaves him and finds Xena again, calling out her name. She says she wants to help, though the warrior princess is wary about trusting her. She recognizes Talus (touching, since he was only a servant’s son,) knows a way to get to Celesta while avoiding her husband’s traps. Speaking of traps, Siyphus finally thinks he caught Xena in one, but it turns out to be his wife! He’s in his battle armor when the real Xena comes up behind him. He tells her he’s ready to duke it out, but Xena refuses. She tells Talus to come forward; sure enough, Sisyphus remembers him fondly as well. “I’m dying…or at least I should be,” his young friend tells him. Don’t fear death, Talus continues. “I have for the longest time, but my suffering has grown so deep…” I think we have a Kevorkian advocate here. :P “Death can be a friend,” Talus insists. But Sisyphus still resists; he’s not suffering, he points out. He can still have a good life. Talus says when “the good king” he knows sees all the suffering lack of death causes, then he’ll die inside. “It’s not how long you live that matters, it’s how well you live.” Sisyphus is finally ready to bend. Damn. All you need is a bard to tell it to you straight. :P
Sisyphus kisses his wife who tells him she’ll miss him, aww. He then goes to untie Celesta…and Toxeus enters with Gab! A knife is to her throat once again, but Xena goads him into letting the babbling bard go so he can fight who he really wants to. Sisyphus returns to unlocking Celesta, and the camera pans back and forth between the fight and the king fumbling with the keys. Ultimately Toxeus pushes Sisyphus away, knocks Talus out and takes Gabs prisoner again. Xena summersaults towards them and Chakrams the knife out of Toxeus’s hand and the manacles off of Celesta. Damn that chakram can always get the work done. :P Once again no one need die by rescuing the god! The candle lengthens automatically and Toxeus starts to lose his strength.
Celesta picks up her candle and goes back to gliding towards her victims, touching them one by one. The goon army falls to the ground, dead, and Sisyphus says he’s ready now. Celesta refuses however, saying “Your time will come. There’s someone else who needs me.” Talus comes forward, and Gabrielle finally starts to realize the truth. Denial comes first; “you owe us!” she spits angrily at Celesta. Talus asks her forgiveness for not telling her sooner. He promises to see her on the other side and they hug to sad music. He won’t forget her, he promises. Gabrielle is getting teary as Celesta touches him, but instead of falling to the ground like the others, he gets to walk into a white-lit heaven like Patrick Swayze from “Ghost.” :P Reward for being good? Gabrielle leans on Xena’s shoulder, and both women look so affected by what’s happening when Talus disappears beyond the mist. It’s some nice acting…for a relatively unimportant character. I mean, Gabs knows him for an episode; that’s it. Still, empathy is a big theme in “Xena.” And it’s nice to see my ladies leaning on each other for moral support.
Interesting ethical episode, really, about the power of death. Is death a good thing? Should we fear it? “Xena” seems to take a stand, pointing out that death is a natural end to suffering. Interesting juxtaposition with godly influence, particularly when Zeus gets pissed at a relatively healthy person and orders his sister to take him out. :P Greco-Roman gods were kind of like the mob, heh. We’ll see if Sisyphus really learned his lesson when he reappears later in the show, heh. As for seeing Toxeus again…and Hades…well, I guess I’m giving spoilers away already! :P
Episode disclaimer: No Jumbo Sized Cocktail Rats were harmed during the making of this motion picture. Glad the production crew was looking after the little guys, hee.
___
We open in ye olde Greek castle (according to “Xena” anyway) where our latest royal couple, Sisyphus and Karis, are scheming. Karis is worried but Sisyphus feels pretty good about his plans to defeat death. A-whaa?
Outside, ethereal/spooky music plays as a lady in white literally glides to the guards in front of the castle. They heckle her but she just smiles sweetly, holding her candle and making to pass. When one man touches her he drops dead. :-O The others flee and the woman makes her way inside.
Sisyphus is apparently expecting this woman, whom he calls Celesta, and he invites her in for a “sumptuous feast of earthly delights.” Yum. Celesta is apparently sick of gliding, cos she zaps to her chair instead and reminds the king that once they’re done here the two of them will be off. “This doesn’t change anything.” Of course not, Sisyphus agrees, looking about two steps away from twirling his nonexistent mustache. :P He proposes a toast—to long light and a peaceful death. At that moment ropes snake out and trap Celesta to her chair! Uh oh.
Our girls, meanwhile, are passing some lovers in an apple grove. One reaches up to pick a fruit for his beloved and Gabrielle, dressed in a new, brown-toned skirt/top outfit, scoffs. Love, who needs it? She has adventure, the chance to meet interesting people, and to ramble as Xena tunes her out. :P And “as for the apple, I can pick my own!” She makes to do that but as she does, an arrow shoots out of nowhere and right through it! Yikes.
Warriors had shot it, of course, and they heckle Xena. The leader introduces himself as Toxeus—leading me to think it was a pretty desperate day in the writing room, hee. He offers our warrior princess a place in his army. “Join a band of worthless, lowlife scum…I think I’ll pass,” is Xena’s nonchalant answer. Too bad Toxeus has a “strict recruiting policy” of join or die. …too bad for him, that is. :P They don’t get that far before Xena puts her sword in his belly and he drops over dead. The rest of the army scatters and our girls are on their way. But then Toxeus’s eyes open! Gasp. He gets up, observes his wound, cackles and is on his way.
On the road again, Xena and Gabs briefly discuss Toxeus and warriors like him who generally want to take Xena down because of her reputation. Suddenly the ground shakes! Argo goes a little nuts, but only for a second. A chariot races out of the fog and Xena orders Gabrielle to stand back. The man riding it unmasks himself…and Xena identifies him as Hades, god of the underworld. Uh oh… “Relax, I’m a big fan,” Hades assures her. “Though for awhile, you were working us pretty hard down there.” Oh, Xenaverse. :P He asks her to rescue his sister, Celesta, since Xena is apparently familiar with Sisyphus and his palace full of tricks. Dire news for humankind—if Celesta’s eternal flame goes out, then “eternal suffering” will come to us. Yikes. As Gabrielle says, “if you tell someone you love them forever…it means forever.” LOL.
…or, perhaps more importantly, people who are sick or mortally wounded (save for warriors and stab wounds, perhaps,) suffer indefinitely. Xena and Gabrielle get to see that firsthand as they come across some victims of a rockslide (Hades-visit side effect, perhaps?) Xena tends to one such lad, though the guy behind her tells her to give it up because he’s too far gone. “Only death can give him release,” hint hint. Gabrielle, meanwhile, stumbles upon another nurse, a dude named Talus who stumbled upon the party on his way to Corinth. She watches, impressed, as Talus calms a patient with a romantic little story. Bard crush!
The two of them go to fetch water and Gabrielle tells Talus about the Celesta problem. What do you know, Talus grew up in the castle! :P Convenient ally! He then gives her a jasmine blossom, calling it “a rare beauty…just like you.” Methinks Iolaus from last episode is completely forgotten by now. :P
Thankfully Toxeus comes just in time to save us from the teeny boppers. He knocks Talus out and takes Gabrielle by the throat, demanding to know Xena’s location. Apparently she was following them, as she gets to quip one of her one-liners; “some guys just don’t know when to give up.” :P I mean sheesh, if death can’t stop them… Toxeus shoves Gabs aside to rejoin the groggy Talus as he and Xena fight. Our warrior princess finally flips over him and delivers another mortal wound, but Toxeus doesn’t even fall over this time. He thinks he’s turned into a god but Xena only scoffs at him. “Death’s capture has kept you alive. And when I release her, you will die.” Uh, Xena, why didn’t you just let him go on believing the immortality thing? Because now, of course, you have another obstacle in getting to Celesta. Well, they fight a little longer until Xena drops a heavy tree branch on him. :P Gotta give her props for the creativity.
Celesta is watching her candle burn out, and she tells Sisyphus that once it does, she’ll cease to exist. “Well, that’s the point, “ Sisyphus chuckles. Better she disappear than he die apparently…though with a name like “Sisyphus,” what luck does he think he has? :P Apparently Celesta was sent because the king angered Zeus. This leads to a brief argument about who should have providence over death—gods or mortals. Karis interrupts to say that Sisyphus sounds so cruel; what happened to the dude she married? “My compassion brought death to my door,” he answered, reminding her that it was in gathering water for his people that he pissed off the king of the gods. Well, they are capricious that way. He promises his wifey they’ll be together…forever. I’m thinking this sounds better in theory than it is in reality. :P
Toxeus makes his way back to his army and tells them that there’s no death anymore, but they have to stop Xena from ruining things. The new leader, Ceres, balks at Xena’s power, which seems sort of odd in the face of immortality here. “Cowards!” Toxeus fumes. To prove his point he goes around stabbing all of his men, finally throwing it into Ceres’s back. “So…what did you have in mind?” Ceres asks as the others slowly rise and guffaw happily at each other.
Gabrielle is gushing to Xena about how perfect Talus is, leading the warrior princess to concede that he’s “more than nice.” Same ol’ pattern here, ladies. She tells Gabrielle to take him to the hospital where they can help people—meanwhile she’s going to the castle alone. Up in the hills Toxeus et. al watch the girls split up, so they do the same. Toxeus reminds the other party to report back to him—“remember, your deaths depend on it.” Oh LOL.
Xena and Argo travel under terse music to the outer castle wall. The warrior princess notes some spikes hanging near the top so she jumps onto them, flips, and then scales the wall. No biggie. :P Inside, she knocks out one overly elaborate swordsman with one punch. She’s the only gymnast around here, bucko. ;) Sisyphus, meanwhile, has heard the news that Xena is here, which makes him excited and his wife wary, as per usual. He theorizes that Xena wants Death to survive because it’s good for business.
Gabrielle and Talus have made it to the hospital. Talus, alone, gasps in pain and clutches his chest. Uh oh. Did Toxeus stab him or something? The sickly woman Gab is tending to tells her that she died this morning, but as she was crossing over “something strange happened” and now she’s back here. Apparently she isn’t too happy about it. “Where is death?” she asks, another hint hint. Gabrielle explains what happened to Celesta, and that Xena is on it. The woman asks how Xena will “handle death.” Gabs is confused so the woman beckons her closer. Apparently whoever touches death will die him or herself. Yikes! She backs into Talus and tells him she wants to go warn Xena. Sir Used to Live in Castle promises to show her the way.
Xena walks into a new room of the castle and Sisyphus talks to her Wizard of Oz style, all hidden voices and puffs of smoke to enter. Xena tells him he’s caused “a lot of pain” but the king counters that he’s brought eternal life to his subjects, and more importantly, himself. :P Xena tells him he’s blinded by his own, selfish desires. “Now tell me where he is, or I’ll make your eternity a living hell.” So bad ass. Sisyphus scoffs at her “brawn over brains” reaction, challenging her with the notion of not having to see her friends die. But Xena remains unmoved, so the king drops her through a trap door. :P Woops. Xena falls and falls and falls (how high up are we here?) until she finally snags on something…a skeletal arm of a prisoner who was apparently hanged a long time back. She dangles a bit before the arm breaks, then she falls and falls until she finally lands on the ground. Guess the skeleton stalled the momentum? /lack of physics knowledge
Talus, meanwhile, leads Gabrielle through a hidden cave that snakes into the castle; the army goons, of course, follow. Once they get inside Gabs wants him to turn back but Talus refuses to leave her; “I’ve never met a girl who knows every line of Sophocles by heart.” Aaw. Once again Toxeus breaks up the romance. Time for a wild goose chase! The two of them climb some stairs, but after Gabs is up they collapse on Talus and send him through another trap door. Guess he didn’t know about that part of the castle, hee. The goons keep after Gabby.
Xena rises and follows the cries of Talus’s descent as he barrels out of a chute. He tells the warrior princess that Gab wanted to impart the news about not touching Celestsa, and Xena basically says “duh!” All this for nothing! :P He doesn’t know where Gabs is now, either, but boy does he feel bad. Xena shushes the new blabbermouth and listens to the drip of water, surmising that a drain has to be nearby. Sure enough she opens a nearby trap door and the two of them splash down into a moat.
Gabrielle sneaks through the castle and away from the voices. She hides behind an old tapestry, where of course a rat takes interest in her. :P Ensue comedy of the mouse and Renee O’Connor squeaking quietly at each other while Toxeus looks on in confusion. :P When the rat darts out from behind the tapestry Toxeus skewers it, aww. :( Gab is able to sneak out after he leaves.
Xena and Talus encounter more rats as they crawl through a drain. Not only are they blocking the path, but they’re dumping on the characters’ heads, lol. Rat rebellion! Xena is merely annoyed as she crawls through them, and Talus isn’t too perturbed either, but nice atmosphere. They find a new trap door and climb out into another part of the castle. The queen sneaks by as they begin to talk. Talus is in pain again and Xena notices. Apparently he’s had worsening chest pains for awhile. She deduces that he was on his way to his childhood home in Corinth to visit for one last time. :( Xena asks if she can help and if Gabs knows, but Talus answers in the negative to both. “This makes my job a whole lot tougher,” says a sad-looking Xena, but Talus says no; this is the right thing to do. Xena says he’s a good person, like Gab said, and yeah, I found this a little touching. I love how Xena’s empathy for downtrodden folks comes out. Meanwhile, the queen leaves discreetly when they do.
Karis goes to find Sisyphus, who is a little less happy with the Xena problem now that it’s dragging on. She tells him she’s certain now that they’re doing the wrong thing, that people need death. Celesta, from behind, looks like she’s about to faint in her chains. Don’t people want to live? Sisyphus asks desperately. In response Karis grabs a dagger and says, “if I give myself a mortal wound, would you have me suffer as well?” Personally I think it would have been slightly more effective if she didn’t sound so hysterical, but maybe that’s me. :P Sisyphus grabs the dagger in response. “If Xena wins, I die!” They take a look at the candle, which is almost out.
Defeated, Karis leaves him and finds Xena again, calling out her name. She says she wants to help, though the warrior princess is wary about trusting her. She recognizes Talus (touching, since he was only a servant’s son,) knows a way to get to Celesta while avoiding her husband’s traps. Speaking of traps, Siyphus finally thinks he caught Xena in one, but it turns out to be his wife! He’s in his battle armor when the real Xena comes up behind him. He tells her he’s ready to duke it out, but Xena refuses. She tells Talus to come forward; sure enough, Sisyphus remembers him fondly as well. “I’m dying…or at least I should be,” his young friend tells him. Don’t fear death, Talus continues. “I have for the longest time, but my suffering has grown so deep…” I think we have a Kevorkian advocate here. :P “Death can be a friend,” Talus insists. But Sisyphus still resists; he’s not suffering, he points out. He can still have a good life. Talus says when “the good king” he knows sees all the suffering lack of death causes, then he’ll die inside. “It’s not how long you live that matters, it’s how well you live.” Sisyphus is finally ready to bend. Damn. All you need is a bard to tell it to you straight. :P
Sisyphus kisses his wife who tells him she’ll miss him, aww. He then goes to untie Celesta…and Toxeus enters with Gab! A knife is to her throat once again, but Xena goads him into letting the babbling bard go so he can fight who he really wants to. Sisyphus returns to unlocking Celesta, and the camera pans back and forth between the fight and the king fumbling with the keys. Ultimately Toxeus pushes Sisyphus away, knocks Talus out and takes Gabs prisoner again. Xena summersaults towards them and Chakrams the knife out of Toxeus’s hand and the manacles off of Celesta. Damn that chakram can always get the work done. :P Once again no one need die by rescuing the god! The candle lengthens automatically and Toxeus starts to lose his strength.
Celesta picks up her candle and goes back to gliding towards her victims, touching them one by one. The goon army falls to the ground, dead, and Sisyphus says he’s ready now. Celesta refuses however, saying “Your time will come. There’s someone else who needs me.” Talus comes forward, and Gabrielle finally starts to realize the truth. Denial comes first; “you owe us!” she spits angrily at Celesta. Talus asks her forgiveness for not telling her sooner. He promises to see her on the other side and they hug to sad music. He won’t forget her, he promises. Gabrielle is getting teary as Celesta touches him, but instead of falling to the ground like the others, he gets to walk into a white-lit heaven like Patrick Swayze from “Ghost.” :P Reward for being good? Gabrielle leans on Xena’s shoulder, and both women look so affected by what’s happening when Talus disappears beyond the mist. It’s some nice acting…for a relatively unimportant character. I mean, Gabs knows him for an episode; that’s it. Still, empathy is a big theme in “Xena.” And it’s nice to see my ladies leaning on each other for moral support.
Interesting ethical episode, really, about the power of death. Is death a good thing? Should we fear it? “Xena” seems to take a stand, pointing out that death is a natural end to suffering. Interesting juxtaposition with godly influence, particularly when Zeus gets pissed at a relatively healthy person and orders his sister to take him out. :P Greco-Roman gods were kind of like the mob, heh. We’ll see if Sisyphus really learned his lesson when he reappears later in the show, heh. As for seeing Toxeus again…and Hades…well, I guess I’m giving spoilers away already! :P
Episode disclaimer: No Jumbo Sized Cocktail Rats were harmed during the making of this motion picture. Glad the production crew was looking after the little guys, hee.
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