From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   1-21 The Greater Good   
      
   First air date – May 6, 1996   
      
       The episode starts out with Gabrielle appearing to be fighting someone,   
   or some thing, with her staff. Turns out it's Argo. Xena whistles and Argo   
   kicks the staff out of Gabrielle's hands and Xena catches it, telling her   
   not to practice on her horse.  Xena leaves Argo with Gabrielle to go on   
   ahead on foot. While at a well, a woman comes up to her and says Talmadeus   
   is attacking her village. Xena whistles for Argo just as Gabrielle is trying   
   to mount up, and ends up flat on her back.   
      
       Talmadeus' lieutenant has Lord Seltzer captive, who is really Salmoneus,   
   and is selling fizzy water from the town's water supply. Xena rescues him   
   and finds out that he sold Talmadeus talcamite swords and belt buckles,   
   which dissolved in the rain during a battle.   
      
       During the fight, someone, some female, shoots a dart from a long way   
   off that hits Xena in the neck. She smells and tastes the liquid on the tip   
   and spits it out – some kind of poison.   
      
       Xena is following Talmadeus and his men. They fight. The men go down but   
   during the fight with Talmadeus, the poison starts taking effect and Xena is   
   almost killed. Gabrielle throws her staff, knocking the sword from   
   Talmadeus' hands, then she and Argo rescue Xena.   
      
       Gabrielle is mad at Xena for keeping the secret from her. Xena says it's   
   Tolmic poison and it's working its way up from her feet, paralyzing her.   
      
           [I looked it up; doesn't exist. There IS Temic poison - a nerve   
   agent that kills in minutes]   
      
            Xena tells Gabrielle she will have to pretend to be Xena to keep   
   Talmadeus from learning Xena has been incapacitated. Gabrielle puts on   
   Xena's battle leathers and armor. Xena gives her a wooden disk for a   
   Chakram. Gabrielle gives out a weak battle cry.   
      
       Xena tells Gabrielle she has to ride Argo into Talmadeus' camp. She does   
   and tells them they have to leave the valley or else. They chase her back to   
   town and Xena sticks her head out of the door and throws the real Chakram at   
   them and they run off.   
      
       Gabrielle tells Xena she needs to think about herself for a change but   
   Xena tells her they are there to protect the people. But if she dies, she   
   wants Gabrielle to take her home to be buried, and what they're doing is for   
   the Greater Good.   
      
       Gabrielle goes back to Talmadeus' camp, but she is captured, and tells   
   Talmadeus that her being there is part of a trick Xena is playing. Talmadeus   
   starts to kill Gabrielle, but Argo comes to her rescue and they ride back to   
   town.   
      
       But two of Talmadeus' men have sneaked into where Xena is and tries to   
   kill her. She barely defeats them then falls, apparently, dead.  When   
   Gabrielle gets back she sees the dead Xena, and after a tender moment tells   
   Salmoneus they are going to fight to protect the people – for the Greater   
   Good.  She then goes off by herself and takes out her grief and anger on a   
   tree with her staff.   
      
       Salmoneus goes to Talmadeus and makes a deal. He can have Sal and Xena's   
   body if he'll leave the villagers unharmed. Talmadeus agrees. But after he   
   has them gathered at his camp, he says he's going to sell the villagers to   
   the slavers.   
      
       He has Xena's body tied between two horses, one of them Argo, to have   
   Xena torn apart.  Gabrielle fights her way into the camp,  gets a sword at   
   Talmadeus' neck, and tells him she's taking Xena home. Talmadeus calls her   
   bluff, and when her eyes leave his to look at the way she's holding the   
   sword, he slaps it out of her hand.   
      
   Argo 'talks' to the other horse and neither move when whipped. Talmadeus   
   orders Argo killed, but Xena comes back to life and everyone fights and   
   Talmadeus and his men are defeated.   
      
       The episode ends with Xena and Gabrielle telling the other how much each   
   has done for the other. As the are walking away, Xena is holding the   
   poisoned dart and looking around.   
      
      
       One of the best episodes so far.   
      
   We see how much Xena has come to trust, and to rely on Gabrielle. And how   
   far Gabrielle has come. Not only her proficiency with the staff, but in her   
   self confidence to pretend to be Xena even though it's the last thing she   
   wants to do. But she knows Xena is depending on her. Just like when she was   
   watching Xena's whirlwind style of fighting that knocked down Talmadeus'   
   men, cheering on Xena from afar. But just as soon as she realized something   
   was wrong with Xena she didn't hesitate to rush in and save her life.   
      
   A few other things I noticed:   
      
   Right after Gabrielle was practicing her staff work on Argo, she had taken   
   it apart and stowing it in the saddlebag. I saw at least two separate   
   pieces.   
      
   When Gabrielle was looking down at the 'dead' Xena, she looked so young and   
   so helpless.   
      
   Gabrielle's fighting skills with her staff makes her one tough cookie to go   
   up against.   
      
   Gabrielle's determination to follow in Xena's footsteps to defend and   
   protect the villagers.   
      
   Of course, Gabrielle's Xena war cry as she was riding away from Talmadeus'   
   camp.   
      
   I noticed that Gabrielle's hair seemed more blonde when the dark coloring   
   was washed out in the horse trough, but was back to the reddish color at the   
   end.   
      
   As much as I like Gabrielle as a blond, the dark-haired Gabrielle really   
   turns me on!   
      
   Did they think the wooden disk Chakram was REALLY going to fool Talmadeus?   
      
   This was one good episode. And once again Gabrielle pushed the ratings up. I   
   would have given it a 7 without her, but everything about her bumped it up   
   to an 8 out of 10.   
      
      
   David   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)