From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
                                        2-03 The Giant Killer   
      
   First air date –  Oct 14, 1996   
      
   The episode opens with Xena and Gabrielle walking through a bunch of giant   
   bones. It is a giant graveyard and Xena tells Gabrielle that the giants   
   don't bury their dead. [ I guess they just let them rot until only the bones   
   are left – what a smell!!]  Xena is there to meet a friend from 10 years   
   ago. [Xena must have had an EXCITING life ten years ago – everything   
   happened then!!]   
       The friend arrives and it is a giant. Gabrielle excuses herself so Xena   
   and Friend can have some alone time. But she is accosted by some bad looking   
   guys. They are about to attack her when Xena shows up and everyone fights.   
   One of the captives is named David. Gabrielle doesn't do so good in the   
   fight, she gets knocked down pretty easily.   
       It turns out that the guys Xena was fighting, the Philistines, are the   
   ones who hired the giant, Goliath, to defeat a bunch of poachers, the   
   Israelites. [Of course Xena knows Goliath – she knows EVERYONE! They fought   
   side by side – TEN years ago, against another giant named Gareth, who killed   
   Goliath's wife and daughter.]   
       Goliath is siding with the Philistines to get money to track down   
   Gareth.   
       Xena joins Dagon, the Philistine boss for dinner. He plans to enslave   
   the Israelites. Gabrielle steals bread and fruit to give to David and his   
   pals who are in the dungeon. When she goes to see them, she gives them the   
   bread but keeps the fruit for herself.   
       Xena and Goliath have a discussion about him siding with the bad guys,   
   but he insists he has to do it to get revenge on Gareth.   
       The captives try to tunnel out and are caught. The penalty is death.   
   David is going to have his head cut off, but Gabrielle falls on top of him   
   saying they will have to behead her too. That is fine with Dagon. But Xena's   
   Chakram deflects the axe. Everyone fights again. Even Argo gets in on the   
   action, dispersing the Philistines. Everyone mounts up and rides off to the   
   Israelite village/fort.   
       Gabrielle brings soup to David and discovers he has a betrothed – Sarah.   
   Once again, Gabrielle is left feeling like a fool over some good looking   
   guy.   
       Gabrielle finds Xena looking out of a window, she is thinking about how   
   Goliath saved her life while Gareth was killing his family.  So she owes him   
   more than just her life. Gabrielle put both hands around one of Xena's in   
   support.   
       Xena proposes a winner-take-all battle against Goliath. She knows that a   
   clean shot between the eyes just above the nose will kill giants. The   
   Philistines accept, but Goliath is wearing a helmet and Xena can only run   
   away while the Philistines attack. She throws salt into Goliath's eyes and   
   then runs inside a cave with the rest of the Israelites.   
       Jonathan, David's older brother and next in line after their father,   
   King Saul, is killed. David tells Xena HE has to be the one to kill Goliath.   
       Gabrielle and David are together again, and Gabrielle says the new   
   one-god concept is new for her. And he recites his latest Psalm, which   
   starts out "The Lord is my Shepard," Gabrielle seems moved, and interested.   
       They meet again to fight and the Israelites have many gold shields, and   
   after the sun come out, the concentrate the reflection on Goliath's helmet.   
   It gets so hot he take sit off and David kills him with as stone from his   
   sling. Xena goes to Goliath as he is dying and tells him his war is over.   
       The ep ends with Xena walking thought the giant bones, thinking to   
   Goliath,  hoping he is with his family and still considers him as a great   
   warrior, and her friend.   
   ………………………   
       Okay, a rather hokey episode. With no really drama about the outcome,   
   and a suspect time line, but for some reason I liked this one.   
       We find out that things aren't so black and white with Goliath. He is   
   seeking revenge for the deaths of his family, and needs the money and info   
   Dagon has to find Gareth. And it is hard for both Xena and Goliath to have   
   to fight friend against friend.   
       And once again Gabrielle finds out about yet another page of Xena's   
   past – her friendship, and battles, with and against giants, TEN years ago!   
       I really liked the scene when Gabrielle took Xena's hands with hers,   
   nothing flashy or spectacular, just Gabrielle giving love and support to an   
   obviously hurting Xena.   
       Liked that Argo got a chance to do more than look pretty.   
       Looked like Gabrielle's little plan almost backfired on her – almost got   
   her head chopped off. But Xena was there  to save the day.   
      
       *Of course there were a few items to criticize –   
       When they scattered the Philistine horses in the pen, they were   
   saddle-less, but when they arrived at the Israelite fort, all the horses had   
   saddles on them.   
       I would think that  Xena should know more than one way to kill a giant.   
   Even if her Chakram couldn't penetrate the helmet, what about a solid thunk   
   into the neck, severing one or both jugular veins? Or what about Chakram-ing   
   into one of his knees? Then chopping away at his neck?   
       Why didn't Gabrielle notice that Sarah ran up to David when they got   
   back to the fort?   
       Xena was pretty cold about planning on killing Goliath, usually she   
   tries to find a peaceful solution, but not this time.   
       Couldn't help but notice that David, while explaining about his one god,   
   acknowledged the Grecian gods, calling lesser gods.   
      
       Despite the flaws, and the predictability of the outcome, there were   
   enough moments between Xena and Goliath, and Xena and Gabrielle, and   
   Gabrielle and David, that bumped it up a notch or two.   
       I rate it a 7 out of 10.   
      
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