Been There, Done That is one of my top ten favorite episodes. I have watched it repeatedly, and always enjoy it. Fins, Femmes, and Gems is my all-time favorite XWP comedy, but this one comes in second.
Xena and Gabs are sleeping in a barn, fulfilling many a fan fiction scenario. The "Sweet Equestra" guy reminds me a lot of Ryan Styles from The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line is it Anyway? Joxer dumps the eggs out of his hat and puts it back on. Blech! Every time I hear someone say the name Lykos, I picture a search engine in a blood feud. This episode sure doesn't start out funny with the death of Joxer. It was kind of cool that he got a floating pyre though. I remember clearly the first time I watched this one. Xena says, "Let's get some rest," and I was shocked when she and Gabrielle just laid down where they stood. I dunno why, but I expected them to at least walk to a campsite. It's an achingly sweet moment, sure to hearken more fan fiction scenes. Gabs fits perfectly against Xena. Gabrielle didn't think she'd be able to sleep, but it's Xena who seems to be having trouble closing her eyes. Xena wasn't sleeping in her armor in the barn. She is here. I guess if she sleeps indoors, she feels safe enough to go without it. Xena gives Joxer some noogies, and then shadow boxes him a few times when she finds him alive. What a welcome! "The other today…" Xena's explanation is very confusing…no wonder Gabs had such a hard time with it! I love Joxer's "what if we aren't real and someone else is making us up?" I've actually had this thought before, and I'm not on a television show. Joxer just turns green and passes out as Xena describes his death on the previous day. Then, when she got to "We had a funeral for him; you cried over him", he pops back up to grin dopily at Gabs. "You cried over me?" Stupid question of the episode and Joxer gets to ask it. Do Xena and Gabrielle really think he's stupid enough to step between two guys with swords? Love their unified "yes" response! And Joxer doesn't argue. I find Joxer very funny in this episode. "You insult my house?" one of the feuding family members asks him. Joxer stammers out a reply, "Well, it's not a bad house...it can use a little sweeping." Xena's "Son of a Bacchae" is great, and she proves once again, she doesn't need Argo for those power leaps. Can Xena's sword really break other swords? Xena sounds like a mom. "Now go home, both of you, until you can play nice." Xena looks more broken up over the death of Argo than she did over Joxer's. Xena has to be sitting there, hoping against hope that the day will repeat again and Argo will be okay. Joxer's apology is real…and heartfelt. Did he even hear Xena say, "You didn't kill Argo." Was the eggshell on Joxer's nose a pig's nose on purpose, or was it just a happy coincidence? Would a whole egg fit in his mouth? Xena bats away Gabs' hand like it's a bumblebee when Gabs tries to check her for a fever. Xena's irritation is so funny…"Because I'm the only one who can seem to remember it!" Check out her sarcastic grin at Joxer's "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Gabs looks pretty sarcastic as well. Xena constantly bares her teeth around Joxer, particularly in this one. And I'm not talking about a smile. Joxer-"I know a lot of people who have bonded together for their hatred over me. You two, for example." Xena side arms Joxer as she heads out of the barn the next morning. She does that almost every morning, except for when she chakrams him. "Go to sleep, Xe-e-e-na. The day is done." Hee hee…Joxer is hysterical in this one! Xena just snaps, "Joxer, I have tried that!" She has? And then there's the infamous, "Is that a hickey?" A lot has been made of the guilty look on Gabrielle's face. But I've never seen it as guilt. I just look at it, as she's embarrassed that Xena might be displaying such a mark. There's no telling whom the warrior princess got it from. Joxer is a ball of energy behind Xena and Gabs during this exchange. He can't stop moving. If you look closely at the sword in Gabrielle, you can see it's tucked under her arm. I love Xena's leery look when she wakes up in the barn and wonders if Gabs is alive. And Joxer's look as he enters the barn is like, "Aha, I finally caught them in the act!" Xena's look at him is hysterical! Xena grins sweetly at Gabrielle before, during, and after the hug, despite Joxer's interruptions. And then Joxer comes up with, "Maybe it's the rooster…" I love said rooster clearing his little throat. He never knew what hit him! That night Xena lies down in the barn intentionally. She smiles in her sleep, but that quickly becomes a shout of frustration. Didn't Gabrielle already know Joxer was crazy about her? "He'd crawl fifteen miles on broken glass just to sweat in your shadow." It earns Gabrielle and Joxer the full smile after she delivers that line. And why exactly, did Xena's "revelation" insure Joxer would stay there with Gabrielle? I would have thought he would have taken off running! You know Xena's desperate when she's trying Joxer's ideas! Check out her look of fear when Joxer tries talking to the houses. It's great! All of the archers seemed to be trained on Joxer. I've read a lot about all three of them dying in this scene, but it looks to me like only Joxer died. I love Xena's cranky look right before she chakrams Joxer. And Gabrielle is hysterical in this scene…"He's d-d-dead? You k-k-killed him!" And Xena just casually goes back to sleep. What's up with the thumb in her mouth though? She never wakes up the same way twice. When she trusses up Gabs and Joxer (hee hee), Gabs is tied sitting up and Joxer is on his stomach. I love that scene with Xena and the muffins! She looks more like Lucy than Xena when she tries to choke down the muffin! Great reaction to the horrible tasting muffin. By the way…should muffins crunch when you bite into them? Why did it take so long for Xena to think of visiting the healer and the midwife? Here's the answers to the questions, "Yes…no, no, yes, no, I tried that, both ways, no, no again, I don't know, I tried that…Are there are anymore questions? Good." When she says, "Both ways," she wiggles her eyebrows at Gabrielle in a suggestive manner. The answer "I tried that" was in regards to the lullaby Joxer suggested. The next topic was the hickey. Does "both ways" have something to do with that? Hmmm.. Then Xena says, "Put your swords up…it is time to talk peace." Uh, Xena, there were swords were already up. Shouldn't you tell them to put their swords DOWN? Xena says "Manos" with a short A. Everyone else pronounces it with a long A. I loved Gabs' patronizing tone when she gives the "talking peace is good" speech. After Xena agrees to party with Gabs and Joxer (!), notice she gives both of their necks a little squeeze before they walk off. Xena's Yosemite Sam leg-kicking scene is, to me, the funniest moment in the whole series. It makes me laugh every single time. It's so out of character, yet at the same time, in character. I can't blame Gabs and Joxer for their reactions. Xena is losing it! I love the monologue and Xena's yoga positions while going through it. She's like a six-year-old girl suddenly: "First day, everything seems normal, ceptin that Joxer gets killed. And the next day, I fix that, and then Argo gets killed. On the third day, I now that there is something I am supposed to do, and that somehow it's tied in with this blood feud. So I find out all about the old man getting hit by the cart, and I save him, but the fighting breaks out anyway and Gabrielle gets killed. Ah! So, somehow, I am supposed to save the old man, stop everyone else from getting killed, and make peace between the two houses…It's too much…So, I find out every stinky little thing there is to know about these people. I save the old man, stop the fighting, and then use the information I've got to make peace between the two houses…and still…it isn't enough…I'm missing something small…I think I know what it is!…Thanks, I just needed to say that out loud." Xena looks disgusted at the suicide, but at the same time, sympathetic. The lover boy was expecting Hercules, or at least, Sinbad. What a jerk! Love Xena's "Well, we'd better get some rest. Today is going to be a very busy day tomorrow. Small joke. Good night." Do you get the feeling Xena enjoys thwomping Joxer every time she blows by him? When Gabs and Joxer are in their mesmerized position, why do they change sides? They switch. Xena tells Gabrielle, "I'm really busy here. Go play with Joxer." On top of everything else, Xena is a whiz at geometry. It's hysterical to watch her go about her business making measurements while all Tartarus breaks loose around her. Love Joxer's, "Don't worry…she's gone. But you can be my sidekick." Now, why would Xena have to measure for such a throw? She's made plenty of outlandish throws without all the careful measurements. It's terrific how she grabs Gabs' staff while she's using it. And I'm sure Gabs appreciated Xena's "Good girl". Once again, she pops Joxer with the door. Xena got to Hermia a split second after the chakram did. If she'd hustled, she could have made it. She certainly looked pleased with herself. Can't blame her though, she was pretty well on her own during this one despite Gabrielle and Joxer's presence. What was the point of the day repeating one more time? Xena should have been totally freaking out UNTIL she saw the turnips. Xena gives Joxer a spontaneous hug and kiss. Gabs throws her head back as Xena grabs her. Very interesting turnip placement by Xena And this time, an anvil falls, instead of a horseshoe The belly laugh at the end was a bit much. This was a very clever, very fun episode. Not many TV shows would have the guts to pull it off, but XWP did it very well. What did Gary think? This episode,tho intricate,had its moments.It is hard to write it in a logical flow,since the day keeps repeating and we keep seeing the action changing,yet staying basically the same. Xena and Gabby awaken in a stable and Joxer arrives with their breakfast---goose eggs. He gets hit off the head with a hammer dropped from a blacksmith who was in the loft. Later,as they all go out,Joxer interrupts a Romeo and Juliet-style feud,and ends up getting stabbed to death. There is a Viking-type funeral,a first for the show,since Joxer is burned on a floating funeral pyre.All other ones were on land. There is a great scene of Gabby and Xena lying down to sleep.It is a beautiful pose for both,and I have the poster.It typifies what I believe of Xena and Gabby as friends who comfort each other. The "next" morning,Xena awakens to see Joxer with the eggs again,and at first thinks it was all a dream.She knows he will get hit from the loft again,and tries out her theory. Sure enough,the day repeats itself in the barn. Gabby looks cute waking up from under the straw,saying she'll rise,but refuses to shine. Joxer says that maybe they are all in someone's head and don't really exist...an obvious harmless dig at the show. He does have some good ideas about why the day repeats(tho he and Gabby are not really aware of it as Xena is). He suggests that the rooster may be responsible,or that if they get the feuding families to hate THEM,the feud will stop.Also,he says that Xena should try to stay up all night to avoid the repeating day. Xena,as usual,meddles in the feud wherever she ses it. She just can't seem to butt out no matter what is going on. She does the flip way too often,when she mainly has to run to her objective. It should be used only in situations where she has to clear an obstacle. Why do the families have fencing foils in 45 B.C? When Argo is dead,we see a rare thing...Xena cries as she runs in. There is a good campfire scene after Argo's death. Joxer says it might have been his fault...Xena says no. The darkening sky was a nice touch. Joxer later asks Xena "is that a hickey?"...Gabby has a perfect reaction to it...she looks a bit flustered and tries to look away. Maybe she thinks Xena made out with someone,or that Joxer thinks it was from Gabby herself. The "group hug" later was funny,too. At first,it looked as if when Xena saw Gabby alive(after Gabby gets stabbed in the alley)that Joxer may have thought that the girls were kissing. This was RenPics teasing us with the "are they?" question. The young couple who caused the whole repeating day say this,as the story unfolds: Like Romeo and Juliet,the feuding families won't let them marry. The girl takes poison so as not to live without love. The boy asks Cupid to never let the day end,keeping the girl alive. Meanwhile,the only one to break the spell will be a hero who saves the day and stops the cart from killing Coska and stops the girl from taking the poison. Xena can't do both,and also cannot stop the various fights at the same time. The Chakram later solves this problem. Why does the girl scream in fear at the fights? She knows the day will repeat and nobody will die. The boy cannot help the cause...Xena must do it alone. Xena embarrasses Joxer by saying to Gabby that Joxer loves her and would sweat in her shadow...a pretty picture. Xena finds the broken vial with nightsbane. She asks the chemist if any is missing...he says yes. Xena later sees an old midwife who tells her that one of the leaders has a son by the other leader's wife....this was never resolved,since half-brothers are involved. Why isn't the other guy jealous and outraged? The deaths: