From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   4-11  Daughter of Pomira   
      
      
      
             First air date Jan 18, 1999.   
             The story starts out with Xena having flashbacks of  a brutal battle   
   between her army and   
   a band of barbarians, who turn out to be the Horde. When one of Xena's men   
   calls for a retreat, she   
   stabs him in the gut with a knife, then realizing the battle is going against   
   them, she calls for   
   the retreat.   
             Back to the present and she is telling Gabrielle about the fight.   
   She intends to take a   
   different route to go around the battlefield. Suddenly they duck down because   
   they see three Horde   
   men a young Horde girl. Two Horde hatchets fly past them and kill one of the   
   Horde. A man tries to   
   take the scalp from another Horde when Xena interferes. The three remaining   
   Horde escape in a   
   dugout canoe. Xena says the girl looks familiar. Gabrielle finds a leather   
   sling with a Roman   
   design. Xena says they got it from her.   
      
             Xena says they will go the parents to see if she could be their   
   daughter.  Milo wants to   
   kill them  all and collect the scalps for the bounty.   
      
             Xena and Gabrielle go the fortified village where Raul and his wife   
   live. They tell Xena   
   the Horde kidnapped their daughter, Vanessa, six years ago. Gabrielle says she   
   and Xena will find   
   her and bring her back.   
      
             Milo wants to go with Xena and Gabrielle to hunt down the horde, but   
   Xena tells him to   
   get lost.   
      
             Xena tells Gabrielle that getting Vanessa back could start trouble,   
   but Gabrielle says   
   she deserves to be with parents who love her.   
      
   It is night and they are following a band of Horde. Gabrielle steps on a twig,   
   snapping it. The   
   Horde backtrack but they are hiding in a tree. They follow them to a hidden   
   entrance to a cave.   
      
   Xena disguises herself as a female Horde. When Vanessa goes for water at a   
   spring, Xena follows.   
   But when she says she is there to rescue her, Vanessa starts to scream. Xena   
   puts a variation of   
   the Pinch on her neck to keep her from screaming, then drags her away as the   
   Horde chase after.   
      
             They crawl down a small tunnel. One of the Horde throws a hatchet   
   and Xena catches it,   
   then throws her Chakram to make it cause a cave in to stop the persuers. She   
   then uses the hatchet   
   to break through up to the surface. She has Gabrielle take Vanessa to the   
   river while she lays a   
   false trail with the sling Vanessa had.   
      
             While waiting for Xena, Gabrielle tries to talk to Vanessa. When she   
   finally gets her   
   voice back, she tells Gabrielle he name is Pilee (or Pelee, or P'lee). She   
   says the Horde call   
   themselves Pomira and they honor life. Xena says they have a funny way of   
   showing it -- they killed   
   hundreds. Pilee says the other people are killers, of trees and earth. But   
   when the Pomira tell   
   them to go away, they kill the Pomira.   
      
             Xena is having second thoughts about taking Vanessa, but Gabrielle   
   is adamant about   
   taking her to her parents.   
      
             When they get back to the village, Pilee tells everyone one her   
   'father' Cirvik will come   
   to get her and kill everyone.   
      
             Xena talks to the townspeople and tells them killing Vanessa won't   
   stop the Horde, that   
   they must prepare to fight them to total annihilation.   
      
             Later, Vanessa is wearing a blue dress but when Raul tries to bond   
   with her, she   
   scratches his face, and he decides she is a savage.   
      
             Xena tells Gabrielle that Vanessa is the only way to forge peace   
   between the town and the   
   Horde since she is the only one who can speak both languages. Gabrielle is   
   confused about how   
   things are working out. Xena tells her Pilee wasn't a slave but the Horde   
   chieftain loves her.   
      
             At night Vanessa is sneaking away, She has a sword and starts to   
   kill her parents, but   
   instead takes a doll and leaves. Milo almost kills her but Xena stops him. She   
   tells Vanessa if she   
   doesn't help many will die on both sides.   
      
             The next day the Horde tribe are outside the village calling for   
   Pilee. Xena tells   
   someone to open the gates. Then Vanessa, her parents and others walk outside   
   to meet the Horde.   
   Suddenly Milo jumps up from a hidden foxhole and starts to kill Cirvik. Xena   
   flips off the top of   
   the wall to land between them. She and Milo fight. He gives her a pretty good   
   run for her money.   
   But in the end Xena stabs him in the gut.   
      
             Pilee tells everyone she has two fathers, and decides to go with   
   Cirvik but says she will   
   come back to visit. Cirvik yells to his men that there will be no war since   
   they are all family   
   now.   
      
             Gabrielle is convinced it was wrong to interfere, but Xena tells her   
   that now Vanessa's   
   parents know she is alive, and there is now peace with the villagers and the   
   Pomira.   
      
   ...........   
      
             Didn't remember too much about this episode. I can see why. I didn't   
   think too much of   
   it. It had a couple of good things, like the fight right at the beginning, and   
   Xena's silencing   
   Vanessa with a modified Pinch to the neck. And the Chakram's 90 degree turn   
   upward to cause the   
   cave in.   
      
             Once more it looked like Gabrielle was going to screw things up   
   because she didn't use   
   "good judgment" (Hope, Solan's death, the Green Dragon), but in the end she   
   was vindicated (this   
   time).   
      
             But she sure was certain Xena was going to go along with her   
   non-plan to get Vanessa back   
   (but what was Xena going to do - tell them no?).   
      
   It felt kind of like Gabrielle was giving Xena low blows when she kept   
   bringing up the fact that   
   children need to be with their REAL parents.   
      
   I was surprised Pilee put on the dress, washed her face, and combed her hair   
   with no   
   protest/tantrum.   
      
             What I didn't care for or didn't think made sense -   
      
             How did Xena recognize Vanessa after six years with her face painted   
   red and the wild   
   hair? And, surely, the sling wasn't a one-of-a-kind.   
      
             How did Xena know there were no other blond Horde girls?   
      
             But I think the worst was the fight with Milo. Even though he had   
   two hatchets, a sword   
   and a knife he never should have given Xena the trouble he did. And the worst   
   of the worst - when   
   they both jumped up to kick each other, they drove each other back ten or   
   fifteen feet through the   
   air - how lame was THAT?! I would have expected something like that between   
   Xena and Callisto, or   
   Xena and Ares, but with Milo????  But I did think Xena saying "I hate that"   
   was kind of funny. I   
   also liked Xena using her sword to deflect the first hatchet Milo threw at her.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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