I just watched it for the second time, the first being Sunday morning at 3 am. It's no wonder ratings are down, if in a huge market like Orlando, Florida you can only see X:WP at 3 am on Sunday mornings!!! (I was visiting my parentals over the weekend, see...)
First, a moment of silence for Ephiny. <sigh> WHY do TPTB feel it necessary to kill off my favorite characters? Granted, death is a fleeting concept in the Xenaverse, but this one stung. I actually felt pain when Ephiny went down in the teaser. :P (And a moment for Solari, too. Ephiny's death had a purpose, but that one struck me as random and unnecessary.)
Gabrielle's back, and she seems to have decided that leading troops into battle in the name of the Greater Good is an acceptable thing, so long as she doesn't have to shed any blood herself. I think I can deal with that. Looks like her Amazons can, too (though I was expecting a bit more pushback from the natives of her tribe on that one). This is the logical outcome of her "when push comes to shove, sometimes you have to shove back" at the end of The Convert. I just hope she doesn't revert to hiding behind the scenery after this.
The relationship between Xena and Gabrielle is back, yay! The scene with the fishing net by the river was a stitch. "Oh, I surrender before Gabrielle." <snerk> Utterly brilliant.
And yes, folks, the Warrior Princess is back too! Swinging as many as three swords at once, doing scads of damage with her chakram without it ever leaving her hand, and riding hell-for-leather into battle in Felicity-only-WISHES-her-slo-mo-were-this-powerful style. Not to mention, the "Warrior Princess" full theme which played during the ENTIRE scene where they rescued the Amazons. Gods, but that kicked ass. I had so much adrenaline going just from watching that scene, I couldn't get to sleep for a while after the ep was over.
Did anyone else find it ironic how the last time Xena saw Ephiny alive, it was as she dragged Gabrielle out of the Amazon village after just having broken Ephiny's arm, and this week we had Xena dragging Brutus into the Amazon village muttering, "This one's for you, Ephiny"? That one gave me pause for a second.
It's amazing how much Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor can communicate between themselves without uttering one single word. There were pages and pages of dialogue conveyed in the glances those two exchanged over the course of this episode. It's been a while since we've seen that - it was wonderful.
I'm surprised by the negative reactions to Amarice I've seen. I don't think anyone despises Tara more than myself (well, with the possible exception of LaLa ;), but I didn't even think of a comparison until I saw it made online. I just saw her as an annoying, overzealous kid in whom Xena saw something quite familiar (as opposed to a hateful, utterly unnecessary snot with REALLY bad hair whom I would love to see get up close and personal with Xena's chakram someday). Ephiny must've seen something in her too, or she wouldn't have had Amarice by her side when they went into battle against Brutus in the first place. (I wish we knew more of the kid's back story ... maybe next week?) I think the most important cue to what Amarice is all about comes when Xena is gathering people to ride after Brutus with her, and she says "Amarice, you too", at which point the kid jumps up like a puppy, chirps "OK!" and vaults onto her horse after the others.
You also have to give the kid credit for being able to utter lines like, "I thought you'd be taller" and "huh, and you're a warrior" and live to tell the tale. I also had to laugh at the irony of Gabrielle declaring, "you are a kid". It wasn't all that long ago, was it?
The final scene by the pyre choked me up both times. Gabrielle
finally being able to cry, and Xena comforting her in a way we haven't
seen in a long time ... <sigh> There's the love, people.
It's still there, thank the gods. And once again, folks, let's have
a moment of silence for Ephiny and Solari ...
Episode Rating: 9