Judgement Day
This episode rather took me by surprise, and I like some of the elements in it very much.
Looks like Hercules has found himself another woman.
Xena seems pretty uptight over the news that he is getting hitched.
She says "Come on, Gabrielle" only it sounds like Gabriel. She hasn't done that in a long time.
Gabrielle tries to figure out Xena's reaction to the news, but Xena isn't being very cooperative.
Listen to Gabs…"Just walk away from me. What, am I talking to myself here?"
Uh…guess so!
The taverners who told the news were really Ares and Stryfe in disguise.
Check out this dialogue:
Stryfe: That was a joke…Dig?
Ares; Dig Hercules's grave. Learn how to talk so I can understand you. You gotta relax more, Stryfe.
Ares says one of his greatest battles was the Battle of Torrance.
There were over 10000 dead.
The victors weren't led by a general, but by a warrior. Of course, it was Xena.
Ares wistfully believes that he will someday have Xena under his control again.
Xena back flips into the battle with a strange war cry. It's much like the one she used in Unchained Heart.
Hercules got his butt kicked in a fight the others were totally uninjured in. That had to be humiliating!
Xena has a hard time saying "dislocated."
Her voice in the cave does not sound right. Either Lucy has a cold, or they should have done some looping over that scene, because she just doesn't sound like herself.
Thank the gods for Dr. Xena!!
Xena asks, "Is it true? About his losing his powers?" At first, I thought "Well, duh…he's lying there near death…of course, he lost his powers!", but now I realize she might have been asking about the manner in which he lost his powers.
Iolas tells Gabrielle more about Serena's death than he told Xena.
Hercules tells Xena, "I didn't think I could ever love someone like that again…I'm-"
Of course, he was referring to Xena with that sentence, but she cuts him off. "We're long past the time when we could have been together."
Her voice cracks on the last couple of words.
I have to ask…why does she say that? Is it because of Gabrielle's appearance in Xena's life? That's the only possible reason I can see for the time getting past them.
Xena has a very serious talk with Hercules, then turns around and has to have another one with Iolas. She's handling all the sensitive chats in this one.
Xena approaches Iolas with," I never did thank you for taking care of Gabrielle. Thank you."
Love this exchange of dialogue…
Iolas: Unless…
Xena: Unless what?
Iolas: Unless I kill him first.
Xena: You haven't got the stomach for it…He's your best friend. You couldn't do it.
Iolas: And you could?
Xena: If I had to. If there was no other way.
Xena wasn't surprised or shocked at all to hear about Iolas thinking about killing Hercules. That was amazing in itself.
Then, the fact that she say easily states she could kill him is so matter of fact. She can still be very cold when the situation warrants.
Finally, she just asks for Iolas to hear her out.
When they enter the final battle, Xena says, "You've got short memories. Stay back unless you want more of what we gave you before."
The crowd steps back immediately.
Iolas kills Hercules, which incenses Xena. After a brief duel, she kills Iolas.
Xena gets Iolas off her sword with a push to his face. I don't think I've seen that move before.
Then she gets the wonky look in her eyes, and looks at the villagers. "You wanna see some more blood?"
But…uh…Xena? There's no blood on your sword!
She doesn't care…"Bring it on!" she tells the villagers.
Ares says the only way to bring Hercules' back to life is for Xena to turn to the dark side again.
Good thing the goat skin worked! Love Xena's half-smile when Hercules announces that fact.
Xena has a hard time holding back when Stryfe is kicking Hercules's butt.
I don't like this Zeus as much as I liked Anthony Quinn.
When Hercules proclaims he's back, and gives Stryfe a mighty punch, Xena gives the same half-grin.
Xena tells Iolas, "You give good scream." Must be a Kiwi saying.
He shows her his near fatal wound, and she compliments, "Very nice."
This seems to be a different version of the dirge. Xena sings it much faster, and it has more of an "Arabic" sound to it.
The ending is very sad, with Hercules saying goodbye to Serina.
I dunno…this episode seems to change directions midstream. At first, the plan seems to be to get Xena to convert back to Ares's side, and then halfway through, it focuses more on just getting Hercules to end up dead. Still, I rather like it, and it's good to see Xena equally comfortable with Hercules and Iolas.
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