From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   The Reckoning   
   First air date --  Oct 16, 1995   
           Another brief recap   
   Xena is on horseback and Gabrielle is walking. The least Xena could do is   
   walk with her.  But then Xena lets Gabrielle go wandering off looking for   
   some road, and Xena rides off toward the sounds of fighting.   
       A mysterious hooded stranger is there, and he and Xena fight.  {Xena is   
   now carrying her sword on her back!} It's obvious he's as good if not better   
   than Xena, but he never knocks or kicks the sword out of her hand, which   
   lesser villains have done in the past.   
       Suddenly he disappears, so Xena tends to the wounded. then the villagers   
   come and accuse Xena of killing three of them. So she rides off, finds   
   Gabrielle in a slip-like undergarment washing in a stream, she pulls   
   Gabrielle up on the horse and they go, leaving Gabrielle's shoes behind.   
   When they are finally captured, Xena talks them into letting Gabrielle go   
   free, and Xena takes a nasty whack to the back of her head with a shovel.   
   The stranger appears out of thin air, and is revealed as Ares god of war,   
   who has orchestrated the whole thing just to get Xena back on his side.   
   Now here's the part I don't understand - Xena says she often wondered what   
   he looked like, but I'm pretty sure in a future episode,she said Ares gave   
   her the Chakram! Maybe somehow he got it to her without her seeing him.   
   So we see the trial, and Gabrielle does a very good job pointing out the   
   flaws in the arguments against  Xena, but things go bad anyway.   
   While Xena is awaiting the verdict,  a couple of villagers come into the   
   cell and he starts pounding on her.  Xena freaks out, and  easily  breaks   
   the chains holding her and proceeds to beat the tar out of them.   
   Unfortunately, Gabrielle chooses this moment to approach Xena and gets   
   knocked back through the air against the stone wall and stairs of the jail.   
   (She's lucky she wasn't killed.)   
       And the look on Gabrielle's face is one of pure shock and disbelief. As   
   she makes her escape, Xena comes to her senses and begins tending to the   
   guys she just beat up.   
   The next morning, Xena is to be executed since the council found her guilty.   
   So she calls out the name of the three men Ares killed, and since he gave   
   his word, they are brought back to life and Xena is declared not guilty   
   since, as Gabrielle put it, "Nobody's even dead."   
      
   I liked that we got to see Ares, and even though it's obvious he's not such   
   a good guy (he DID kill three unarmed farmers), he is still kind of likeable   
   in a smarmy kind of way.   
       I liked seeing Xena using her smarts to outwit Ares.   
   I thought Gabrielle did a good job trying to prove Xena's innocence. And if   
   the townspeople weren't so ready to  execute Xena, Gabrielle's arguments   
   would have worked.   
       The look on Gabrielle's face when Xena hit her is indelibly etched into   
   my memory. I surely didn't see it coming (nor did Gabrielle!).  And even if   
   it was done in the heat of battle, it was still a stunner.  One of those   
   scenes that  will be remembered for a LONG time.   
       If the remaining episodes are this good, or even close, then the   
   remaining season will definitely come out a winner.   
      
       I liked this episode, so far I think it's my favorite. I give it an   
   eight out of 10.   
      
      Sins of the Past  -- 7   
       Chariots of War – 7   
       Dreamworker ---   8   
      Cradle of Hope --   6   
      Path Not Taken --  6   
      The Reckoning --  8   
      Average...............  7   
      
      
      
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