From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
       4-05 A Good Day   
      
      
      
             First air date Oct, 26, 1996.   
             The story starts out with Roman soldiers loyal to Caesar in a   
   village looking for   
   supplies. A woman, tells him Pompey's men have already gone through the   
   village and taken   
   everything. He accuses the villagers of dealing with the enemy (Caesar) and   
   readies his men to kill   
   them with javelins.   
      
    A Greek mercenary wearing Roman armor rides up and tells them to stand down.   
   He tells the soldiers   
   he is Phlanagus and they are under his protection, but the soldier says he has   
   to teach them a   
   lesson. Suddenly Xena's Chakram flies by, cutting off the spear heads. Xena   
   flips in and she and   
   Phlanagus fight off the soldiers, who finally fall back.   
      
             After the fight Phlanagus  is reunited with his wife and son.   
      
             Xena tells him  that she understands that Caesar and Pompey have   
   brought their civil war   
   to Greece, and she's there to make sure it happens.   
      
             Gabrielle tells Xena the land is crisscrossed with caverns and the   
   miners will make a map   
   of them for Xena.   
      
             Gabrielle tells a rider to get as many men from other villages as he   
   can. A teenager with   
   a bow and arrow named Temecula wants to volunteer. He demonstrates his skill   
   with the bow and she   
   says he can send messages.   
      
             Cut to Brutus and Caesar talking strategy. Brutus asks Caesar about   
   a wooded hill but is   
   told it's worthless.   
      
             Xena is brought leather uniforms that look similar to Romans and she   
   says from a distance   
   no one will think otherwise.   
      
             Xena tells the villagers they have to burn the town, kill the cattle   
   and poison the meat   
   so the land will be worthless to the Romans. And they can rebuild later.   
   Phlanagus' wife takes a   
   torch and is the first one to set her house on fire.   
      
             On the hill a two-sided banner is stuck in the ground. One side has   
   Caesar's flag, the   
   other has Pompey's.   
      
             A soldier tells Pompey that Caesar has the hill. Pompey knows there   
   must be a reason, and   
   sends his men guarding the catapults to take it away from Caesar.   
      
             Both Caesar's and Pompey's men fight. Caesar sees the two-sided   
   banner and suspects Xena   
   is there.   
      
             The villagers capture and hide the catapults. A soldier describes   
   Xena to Pompey and he   
   realizes she is the one who took them.   
      
             Xena makes sure the catapults will strike at an exact spot.   
      
             Temecula asks Gabrielle about war, and wonders what it's like to   
   kill someone. Gabrielle   
   tells him everything changes.   
      
             Cut to Caesar and Brutus, who tells him that Pompey may be making an   
   offer to Xena for an   
   alliance.   
      
             Phlanagus pretends to have a hooded prisoner to take to Caesar. It   
   is Xena. She gets   
   behind Caesar's tent, and cuts a small hole to listen to his plans. But before   
   she can hear all of   
   them, Phlanagus is recognized as a deserter and is captured and taken to   
   Caesar. Caesar says to   
   execute him. Xena has to save him and misses out on the final part of the   
   plans.   
      
             Back in the village, Xena takes Gabrielle to look out over the land   
   where the Romans are   
   camped. She says she won't be there when things start happening and wants   
   Gabrielle to take charge.   
   Gabrielle says she can't lead men to their deaths. Xena says she will tell   
   Phlanagus.   
      
             Xena and Pompey meet in the woods. He mentions how Xena tricked   
   Caesar about Vercinix.   
   Just then Caesar shows up with some men and threatens them. Xena says she   
   wanted Caesar to come,   
   then yells out, and the catapults launch fiery loads at them. Caesar and   
   Pompey swordfight while   
   Xena fights the other men. The ground gives way and the three of them fall   
   down into a cavern.   
      
             Back in the village, Temecula runs in and tells Gabrielle that the   
   Romans are retreating.   
   But Gabrielle knows it's a trap and runs to tell Phlanagus. He says Xena told   
   them to trust her,   
   and puts Gabrielle in charge.   
      
             Caesar, Pompey, and Xena continue to fight each other in the cavern.   
      
             Gabrielle leads the villagers into battle wearing leather armor and   
   a helmet using her   
   staff to fight with. The Romans seem to be falling back and the villagers go   
   after them.   
      
             Xena tells Caesar she knows about his reserve troops, but he asks if   
   she knows about the   
   trap he set for the villagers. Xena leaves with Caesar and Pompey still   
   fighting each other.   
      
             There is fighting everywhere. Gabrielle looks at it in disbelief.   
   She sees a Roman   
   soldier about to kill Phlanagus and picks up a javelin to kill the soldier,   
   but when she throws it,   
   she is wide of the mark and Phlanagus is killed. Then Temecula kills the   
   soldier with an arrow.   
      
   In the cavern, Caesar and Pompey realize all is quiet and the battle is over.   
   When they survey the   
   field they are shocked at the deaths. Caesar tells him they were played and   
   they lost. But it doesn't   
   change his destiny.   
      
             Xena finds Gabrielle holding the dead Phlanagus and consoles her as   
   she cries.   
      
             Cut to funeral pyres for the dead villagers as Xena sings a funeral   
   dirge.   
      
             Gabrielle confesses that she could have saved Phlanagus, but doesn't   
   know how to get over   
   not doing it.   
      
             Xena tries to justify her actions but ends up just telling her to   
   convince herself it was   
   a good day of fighting. And it all had to be for a reason, otherwise what is   
   the point of   
   everything?   
      
             Gabrielle tells Xena she should go talk to Temecula and tell him the   
   same thing.   
      
   ........   
      
             Another dramatic episode.   
      
   But first, the bad stuff -   
      
             When I first saw the episode back in Oct 1996, I disliked it as much   
   as any episode I'd   
   seen up to then. I didn't have any exact reason why, but it just left a bad   
   taste in my mouth. And   
   when I saw the rerun I'm sure I must have felt the same way because my   
   feelings for it were always   
   the same. Then when I got the DVD set and watched it again, I still didn't   
   like it. When I posted   
   my feelings to this newsgroup, I found out that a lot of people thought it was   
   one of the best.   
      
   Anyway, after watching it for at least a fourth time, I discovered I don't   
   dislike it as much as I   
   first did, but there are still things I don't like.  Like seeing Gabrielle   
   wearing the helmet. And   
   that final speech by Xena seemed such a cop out (people still say 'cop out'   
   don't they?).   
      
   Here it is in its entirety -   
      
   Gabrielle asks how she can get over not saving Phlanagus when she could have.   
      
   "I can't answer that question-- maybe `cause there's nothing I can say that   
   can take away that   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)