From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
               1-02 Chariots of War (also known as 'Sins of the Father')   
   Sept. 11,1995   
      
       In the beginning credits was "Also Starring Renée O'Connor".  Not yet up   
   to 'co-star' status.   
      
       I noticed that Xena's hair braid was gone, and replaced with bangs. Not   
   sure about the bangs but I think they're better than the braid.   
      
       In the tavern when Xena is leaving and Gabrielle says, "Don't forget   
   about me," so you just know something's going to happen so that Xena won't   
   be back anytime soon.   
      
       Xena comes upon a very small village that is being attacked by a small   
   band of men bent on destroying the village that the villagers are trying to   
   rebuild after a previous attack. And she proceeds to thwart the attack.   
      
       For the first time we see Xena catch arrows shot at her. She catches two   
   of them, but the third one goes into her midsection.   
      
       She is taken to the home of Daruis, whose son's life Xena saved, to   
   recuperate.   
      
       And that scene about pushing the arrow all the way through her, breaking   
   off the arrow head, and then pulling the shaft back out -- Xena certainly   
   looked like she was in pain! I could just about feel it myself.   
      
       And then we see the evil warlord father -- a follower of Ares, named   
   Sphaerus, and his son, Cycnus, who doesn't seem quite so evil, especially   
   after he and Gabrielle meet in the tavern where she is waiting for Xena to   
   return. That certainly was  a nice kiss she (Gabrielle) planted on him,   
   while sitting in his lap, no less! (I think if I was Cycnus I could have   
   found an excuse to hang around a little longer.)   
      
       So Sphaerus makes fake peace with the villagers in order to get them   
   gathered together in one place so Cycnus can slaughter them and Sphaerus can   
   have the valley for himself.  Xena goes to the meeting with Darius, and   
   instead of her warrior garb, agrees to wear his favorite dress that had   
   belonged to his diseased wife,   
      
      And I only have three words -- hot , Hot , H O T!  Wow! She IS one   
   beautiful woman, with an erotic, graceful way of walking away from you.   
      
       But I digress. Xena goes to the meeting, knowing the kind of man   
   Sphaerus is. And he proves her right when his men try to kill the villagers.   
   But when Xena fights them off, Cycnus tells his men not to chase after them.   
   So now we know he is NOT his father.   
      
       BUT, when Sphaerus hears it was Xena, he tells Cycnus that Xena killed   
   Stentor, his older brother when his back was turned, in  so Cycnus wants to   
   avenge the death himself. So father and son set out in a chariot going after   
   Xena, I suppose he knew where she was, with a second following behind for   
   back up. Xena is able to commandeer the second one while Gabrielle rides on   
   ahead on Xena's horse as a distraction.  (I was wondering when the chariots   
   of the 'Chariots of War' were going to show up.)   
      
       Xena passes Sphaerus' chariot, being driven by Cycnus, and Gabrielle   
   makes a 'frantic leap' from the horse into the chariot. It is then that   
   Gabrielle and Cycnus see each other again. Xena disables Sphaerus chariot   
   and then hers is overturned by a bump in the road -- a small hill in the   
   riverbed.   
      
       Xena and Sphaerus fight while Cycnus threatens to kill Gabrielle, but   
   she convinces him not to, saying this is his moment of choice. Which was how   
   she described to him in the tavern her decision not to stay home and have   
   children but to travel with Xena.   
      
       Darius rides up with Xena's Chakram, but she kills Sphaerus with his own   
   sword. Then Cycnus tells Darius to reassemble the villagers so they can make   
   real peace.   
      
       As Xena is preparing to leave, Darius' three children beg her not to go,   
   and Darius offers her a place to settle down. She is tempted, but she   
   refuses, and leaves with Gabrielle.   
      
   ...   
       All in all, not a bad effort for the second episode. We don't see as   
   much of Gabrielle as we did in 'Sins of the Past'. But her small part did   
   what it was supposed to do -- help Cycnus decide he would prefer to be a   
   peace-maker rather than a blood-thirsty warlord like his father.   
      
       But I feel like this episode came too soon. We don't know how long she   
   and Gabrielle have been traveling together, but for the sake of continuity,   
   we'll assume it's only been a week since they left Amphipolis. So, to be   
   tempted so soon after her decision to follow that Redemption Road seems like   
   she isn't quite as committed as she let on.   
      
       Out of ten, I would give this one a seven. I don't think it was quite as   
   good as 'Sins of the Past', but maybe it's because  now that I know why Xena   
   wants to atone for her past, I'd like to see her face some of those demons   
   she's created.   
      
       Oh yeah, in the excitement of the chariot races, we hear Gabrielle yell   
   out, twice – "XENA!"   She yelled it once in the first episode, and twice in   
   this one.  Does that mean that  in the season finale she yells it out   
   twenty-four times?   
      
      
   David   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)