Looking Death in the Eye

Looking Death In The Eye

Written by Carl Ellsworth
Directed by Garth Maxwell

Episode synopsis:

Segment one:

Joxer, an old man now, buys one of Gabrielle's scrolls at an auction. Reading it to his kids, we find out that Xena, tired of the bounty on Eve's head, has gone to the Fates to learn when the Twilight Of The Gods will begin. They tell her that only when she dies will the chain of events begin.

Segment two:

While walking through a forest, Xena and Gabrielle are attacked by Hades and Athena, who have come for Eve. Destroying Hades' helmet of invisibility, Xena and Gabrielle escape in the spark explosion which follows. They seek shelter with Octavius and his army. Meanwhile Athena, Hades, Hephaestus, and Ares are hoilding a meeting. They ask Celesta, death, to kill Xena, but she will not/can not even to save her own life. Xena arrives in Hephaestus' cave and attacks him. He beats her savagely until Celesta appears to take her life.

Segment three:

Gabrielle attacks Hephaestus while Xena uses the distraction to throw Hephaestus' chain around Celesta, capturing her. Then together they beat Hepahestus into a pit. Haphaestus and Hades bring the news to Athena and Ares that Celesta has been captured. Xena confronts Celesta about all the suffering death has caused her and her family. Xena reveals that she can make Celesta's family suffer too, for Hades is her only family. Xena wipes away Celesta's tears. Realizing that the gods will inflict suffering on those close to Xena in order to get Celesta back, Gabrielle runs to find Joxer, and arrives just as Athena and Hades do.

Segment four:

Gabrielle, in order to protect Joxer, tells Athena where Xena is headed. Confronted by Athena, Xena agrees to trade Celesta for Gabrielle. Xena makes a sudden attack, and she and Gabrielle escape in their cart. But as soon as they clear the forest they find Hades waiting for them. He drives them towards Athena's archers, and while trying to avoid all this, they find themselves on a precipice. Athena sets the cart on fire, while the combined attack of Athena, Hades, and Hephaestus sends the cart over the cliff. Xena comes to, finding Gabrielle's dead body and Eve buring. She freaks out and tries to impale herself. Ares interferes. She takes poison and falls down, dead.

Segment five:

Octavius arrives to where Joxer is, grieving over what he has just seen. But Octavius reveals that he has Eve. There was only a doll in the cart. And Gabrielle and Xena had both taken Celesta's tears, which makes them seem to be dead. But what they hadn't planned on was that Ares then takes away the bodies and entombs them in coffins of ice up in a mountain cave, which he then seals.

Moments Of Subtext:

• When they are initially attacked in the forest by Athena and Hades, Xena refuses to toss Eve over to Gabrielle. Athena suggests to Gabrielle that Xena does not trust her in a situation like that with her child. Xena reveals that while that move may have bought her a few seconds, she was unwilling to do it because the same outcome would have occured. I think this shows that Xena is hesitant to risk Gabrielle's life, even when her child is involved.
• When confronting Celesta, Xena says "I can't lose what's left of my family." She says this as she is walking towards Gabrielle and Eve.
• Over Xena's coffin Ares speaks, referring to Gabrielle who is laying in an adjacent coffin. "You're with her now. I handled you all wrong; I know that. She knew what you needed: unconditional, unselfish love. And I couldn't give that to you. But I appreciated you in ways she never could: your rage, your violence, your beauty. When you sacrificed yourself for others, you were hers. But when you kicked ass, you were mine. I love you Xena."

Commentary:

Not a bad episode, but there are so many stupid things going on in here that I plan to have a lot of fun mocking this one. First off, when Xena and Gabrielle visit the fates at the begining of the episode, they have the cuts on them that they are about to receive at the NEXT fight. Did some editor somewhere get confused, or did they rearrange the order of events after they filmed them? Next, Hades attacks Xena and Gabrielle while invisible, and STILL can't hit them! What is wrong with this god? And since when does a god need a helmet of invisibility to be invisible? They can do that at will! In fact, they are naturally invisible unless they choose to reveal themselves to a mortal. Now, what kind of plan is it to let a god beat you nearly to death so that you can capture death herself when she appears? I have to say that Xena recovers very well from being beaten to death. Funniest line in this episode: "Octavius, thanks for babysitting." Hello? This guy is the emperor of Rome! Okay, near the end, Xena and Gabrielle are surrounded by Athena, Hades, and Hephaestus, and they still manage to escape? Keep in mind, people, that these are gods! All they really managed to do is ride away in a cart, and Athena says "Drat! Well, maybe whe can try again when they leave the forest." And as for the final plan, their apparent deaths, how is that supposed to work? All the gods have to do is ask Celesta, and she will reveal that she never came for them, therefore they had not died. Or Hades, ruler of the underworld, will notice that they are not in the afterlife. Or they could pay a visit to the Fates and see that their life threads are still intact. All in all, this was a poorly thought out plan. More and more I find that the gods in Xena are suffering from what I call the "Borg problem." (Actually I originally called it the "Cybermen problem," but times change.) This is when the writers of a show have created a nemesis that is so powerful and nasty, that week after week they have to milk down these bad guys so that the heroes can survive. Now, if these gods, alone or combined, cannot kill whomever they want with ease, what exactly makes them gods?