From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   The Reckoning   
      
   First air date --  Oct 16, 1995   
      
   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. 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.   
   (And here Gabrielle yells out "XENA!" But I don't think she heard her). When   
   she wakes up, she's in chains in a jail, which looks pretty hefty for a   
   small village. Must be lots  of crime thereabouts.   
      
       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.   
   He takes her (or maybe just her spirit) to some fancy palace (or maybe Mt   
   Olympus) where he tried to seduce her and convince her into rejoining him,   
   but she turns him down.   
      
       Now here's the part I don't understand. Ares tells Xena she was in the   
   past, and would be in the future, fighting for a better world, her destiny   
   is to conquer and then rule the world. But he is the god of WAR! If Xena   
   conquers everyone, who is there to wage war on? Ares would be out of a job!   
      
       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, Peranis and a couple of his buddies come into   
   the cell and he starts pounding on her.  Again Xena's spirit is with Ares,   
   and he shows her scenes of her past warrior life. 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.   
      
       That night, Gabrielle comes to Xena with Argo and offers to use a rope   
   to break out the barred window so Xena can escape, but Xena has a plan. She   
   tells Gabrielle to go, but explains she is grateful Gabrielle came back for   
   her.  Xena makes a deal with Ares that if she is found guilty she will join   
   him if she can name the warriors of her new army. She mentions  Hector,   
   Achilles and Agamemnon, saying they're long gone, but Ares replies that he   
   is the god of war and he can bring back them and anyone she wants.   
      
       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."   
      
       And in a bit of sentimental glop. One of the previous dead men –   
   Palinios says, "Everybody!  Hear me, my friends! This brave and noble   
   woman -- she was the last thing I saw --  battling a cowardly hooded man who   
   attacked us.  She fought him for our lives, though we were total strangers.   
   Truly, I say she is the very soul of goodness.  And we thank her, with all   
   our hearts.”   
      
       A little over the top, but maybe he has the soul of a politician and   
   wants Benitar's job.   
      
       The final scene has Xena and Gabrielle leaving the village, and   
   Gabrielle hits Xena's arm and hurts her hand. But she says she feel better,   
   hitting Xena after getting hit.   
      
       So, apparently only Xena could see Ares the entire time because   
   Gabrielle was asking how the men came back from the dead, and Xena asks if   
   she has ever heard of Ares. Which sounds rather dumb, since she should be   
   familiar with all the major gods.   
      
       I liked this episode, so far I think it's my favorite. I give it an   
   eight out of 10.   
      
       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 definitely liked seeing Xena in the two dresses Ares put her in, a   
   nice change from her warrior leather.   
      
       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.   
      
       I thought Xena using her sword to stop the bleeding wasn't the smartest   
   thing to do, but I guess it was all she could think of at the time.   
      
       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.   
      
   http://daviderl.com/ReneeOConnor.html .   
   http://daviderl31.blogspot.com/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)