When in Rome...

Deja vu all over again: Xena has a job that takes her up against Caesar. The last time this happened, she managed to forget that Gabrielle existed for a few days, starting a snowball that nearly wiped them both out. This time, can she keep her anger from taking over everything else? Is Gabrielle going to trust Xena to do so? This episode was a psycho-drama: a little bit of crawling around inside the heads of Xena and Gabrielle, and a test of the glue that's been patched over the Rift cracks. So how do our heroes fare?

Report card for the Warrior Princess: Xena very carefully explains her plans to Gabrielle, holding nothing back, even when she knows Gab isn't going to like what's happening. Two steps forward. However, like the situation with Hope, Xena steadfastly asserts that her plan is the only possible solution to the problem. I would have bought that if they were already in the dungeons with Vercinix, but with a full day still ahead of them, it rang false. At least this time, Gabrielle wasn't so out of whack that she could only dig her heels in: she came up with a viable addition to the plan that would save Vercinix and still give Crassus a chance for his life. One step back for Xena, one step forward for Gabrielle (and we're doing the cha-cha).

For a moment, I took Xena's attempt to kill Caesar as a HUGE step back... Xena had given in to her vengeance yet again, deviated from the plan, broken her word to Gabrielle, and went for the assassination attempt, in a way that was a mirror of The Debt. (The knife in the teeth and the raised blade were near duplicates of Debt shots - except that Xena had her clothes on this time.) But it seems that Xena's plan the whole time was to end up in prison, too, and fight in the Coliseum to buy Gabrielle and Vercinix time. Wasn't it? Gabrielle didn't seem surprised at Xena's arrival, so I'm placing my bet that Xena had failed her assassination attempt on purpose. THAT must have been a hard game to throw.

Also on the plus side, Xena and Gabrielle seem to have worked past that huge bugaboo of not trusting each other. Gabrielle's very worried about whether Xena will keep her cool (watch how quickly she begs "Don't kill him!" when Xena pinches Crassus), but she keeps the faith. She follows the plan and trusts Xena to stay in control. Likewise, Xena trusts Gabrielle with a huge part to play in freeing Vercinix, and to do it even with the looming crisis over Crassus' death. Xena gets a chance to re-do her abandonment in Brittania; Gabrielle gets a chance to re-do her betrayal in Chin. This time, they get it right, and both trusts are rewarded.

Caesar's tactics may be predictable, but he sure knows the right notes to play. His time-honored "divide and conquer" strategy homes in on Xena and Gabrielle's weakest points: Xena's obsession with Caesar and Gabrielle's concern about that obsession (and its effects on her). Fortunately, the old dog won't hunt any more. It doesn't even come close: "I gotta go to the bathroom. Are we done yet?" is a pretty sure sign that she's lost interest in you, JC. And Gabrielle not only doesn't waver, she tosses Crassus around like a rag doll when they're on the road to Rome. That's some serious determination to stick by the quarterback.

Gabrielle does a great drunk act! Listen for "No, no, you've got the wrong blonde!"

What's up with the horse-dragging theme this season? When Crassus and Xena meet up with Gabrielle, I half-expected her to look down at his dangling body and mutter "Hurts, don't it?" Then Xena gets the same treatment in the Coliseum. Maybe a bunch of stunties held a meeting and decided "You know what this show needs? More dragging people behind horses."

Xena historical lesson of the week: Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus did form a ruling triumvirate in Rome, and they really were at each other's throats about as much as shown here. Caesar's victories in Gaul were his major stepping stone over the triumvirate and into a throne all his own, with the help of the death of Crassus in Syria. X:WP throws in the Warrior Princess to pluck Crassus out of danger long enough to give us our story.

No line-stealing from the Warrior Princess this week! Xena gets the hands-down coolest lines of the episode.

"There's a sentence in there just dyin' to get out."
"So why do they call you the Warrior Princess?"
   "Because 'Caesar' was taken."

I have a theory that this entire episode was created for the sole purpose of getting Xena into the Roman Coliseum. The Coliseum was a neat effect, and Xena versus two gladiators is a great Saturday night lineup. Xena takes it easy on the bad guys for a while and gets her turn at horse-dragging (feel better, Gab?), spots Gabrielle, the gloves come off, and we get our recommended daily allowance of violence as Xena wipes the floor with two armed, mounted gladiators. None too shabby.

"And somewhere out there is an irritating blonde..." Psst. Hey, Caesar. Try looking in the cell behind you. I had to laugh when Caesar tossed Xena in the klink with Gabrielle and Crassus, the two he'd been searching for, eight feet away from his back.

Roll the Gabrielle Death Tote Board up to three. Gabrielle's beliefs about killing are STILL being put to the test. She still tries to view killing in black and white: if it's a death, it's wrong. However, like Xena has been saying, Gabrielle's heart knows what's right. Gab's head just needs to catch up. This time, Gabrielle's heart is willing to kill. A death that could save the lives of untold numbers of innocents is a fair price to pay.

Once again, Gabrielle doesn't hide from tough choices. She not only decides to let Crassus be killed, she makes sure he knows she's done it. Whew, that girl's got guts. Nicely tense moment when Crassus is killed: the expression on Gab's face as she watches him be taken to the block, the sudden stop to Crassus's protests hitting Gabrielle right between the shoulder blades, and Xena's face darkening with deep worry that carries on into the next scene.

When Xena's forced to kneel in the Coliseum, the soldier on her left loses his grip on her arm. Xena, being a polite prisoner, holds her arm out until he takes it again.

It's a good thing we got that introductory fight for Vercinix, so that we could learn that he's a competent, honorable warrior with a loving family. Other than that, he spends the rest of the episode as a piece of furniture waiting to be rescued and we would have had a tough time having any sympathy at all for the reason Xena and Gabrielle were freeing him.

How'd Argo get to Rome? They take a ship from Syria to Italy, and Argo shows up as they're walking outside of the city. Did they pack the poor girl in the cargo hold, or did they try to take her as carry-on luggage?

Every mention of Caesar and Xena's past with him hits both of the women hard - the wounds from Brittania are still fresh. And when Crassus mentions that Xena's "judgement gets a little impaired" around Caesar, he pours on the salt. Watch the winces in both womens' faces.

These must be the most unobservant prison guards on the face of the earth. After a couple of days of guarding him in his cell and showing him off at a party, nobody notices that Vercinix is suddenly close-shaven, blonde, and fair-skinned?

Check out the fountain at the party for the display of Vercinix; it's full of wine. We now know who to thank for the frat party tradition of hairy buffaloes in the bathtub.

Great moment on the ship at the end as the ladies have a heart-to-heart. Crassus's ring tumbles out of Gab's hand the moment Xena says she loves her and touches her arm. The action matches what Gab has said: she's willing to pay the price of taking lives in order to stay with Xena. Let's just hope that she can drop the angst as easily as she dropped that ring.

Return to the Wool-Gatherings.

	Web www.bethgriese.com