Xena Warrior Princess 6x05 Reaction
Added 2025-06-15 01:10:06 +0000 UTCComments
Xena of Arabia. I think this one is an alright episode. It's also one where Eve just happens to not be there for whatever reason. The big deal here is that Gabrielle seems to think she deserves to die for the same thing (actually, much less) than she used to defend Xena over. Gabby doesn't let herself off the hook, even when she let's Xena off of them. So Xena has to let Gabby off the hook instead.
Koz
2025-06-15 18:49:04 +0000 UTCGABRIELLE: “I never thought I’d see this.” XENA: “What?” GABRIELLE: “You washing blood off my hands.” XENA: “I never thought I’d see it either.” The inclination for Xena to lie and fashion fantasies to save Gabrielle in ‘Legacy’ is something I could spend hours on thinking and writing about. Of course she won’t let Gabrielle near her if that’s what she plans to do because Gabrielle would outright refuse to lie. Her actions and choices - she knows she must own up to them. But Xena… Xena would spend eternity and the next serving the greater good in retribution for all her past sins… but not when it’s Gabrielle that has to pay for her own crimes. In that case she’ll go against the grain. She’ll even go against it if Gabrielle didn’t do it. Because as she said… Gabrielle is more important to her than the greater good. Than her own moral code. Mostly because she’s HER greater good. But also because she believes she doesn’t deserve to face any consequences to actions - even if they are her own. And it wouldn’t make much sense for Gabrielle to be the opposite. To put Xena second. Only if it’s herself - which is something I feel like ‘Fallen Angel’ got wrong. But this is it though. This is what it comes down to. This is why these final Season 6 episodes make sense. The greater good is only put first if it’s themselves. Each other? Not a chance. Not even if it’s just once. You can’t make them pay for their crimes with each other. That’s something they will not allow to happen. I’ve wrote about this extensively before but it bears repeating again. Xena and Gabrielle were true heroes. Meaning they weren’t about self-gain at any point. But first and foremost, they were heroes to each other and if for any reason one of them made a mistake or had a misstep somewhere in their actions, the other will do anything possible - regardless of how dangerous or even morally wrong it might be - just to save them. Now ‘Legacy’ is interesting because obviously the audience is going to be on Gabrielle’s side just as Xena is. Not just out of bias but because they’ve seen the full picture of what happened. They see how much of an accident it was. But nevertheless, it was still going to be murder in the eyes of everyone else - even those that worshipped them and would be biased based on that alone - because they didn’t see the full picture. They didn’t see that it was an accident and they wouldn’t take Gabrielle’s word for it that it was. So Xena feels she has to lie because how else could she ensure Gabrielle’s survival? And once Gabrielle tells them the truth, she feels she has to betray them all to the Romans. She doesn’t care about what’s morally right because it’s Gabrielle that’s caught in the fire. Not her. When you’re more important to each other than the greater good - you’re going to go against the greater good to save one another or to keep one another alive. UNLESS the other requests or pleads for you to not to. And this is the major striking difference with Xena. But that’s Xena. That’s how she operates. Were it Gabrielle that had to make that sacrifice. Nope. It wouldn’t happen. And ‘Legacy’ proved it. So ‘Legacy’ is interesting because it’s a compelling confliction they face and would own up to the consequences of - of which we know would only be true if it was themselves rather than each other. But even more so on behalf of their own request - of which Gabrielle acquiesced to. Xena did not and would not have. Was the show about the greater good? Mostly… I’d rather put it as it was about the greater sacrifice because what’s good about sacrificing with your own end? And if there’s someone that goes beyond or above that for you,… how do you deal? Because you’re not sacrificing with YOUR end. You’re sacrificing with THEIRS. What if they specifically ask you to let them? Do you ignore it? Or do you respect it? COMPELLING. Melissa Good - longtime beloved Xena fanfiction writer - wrote this one along with the episode ‘Coming Home’ and a 3rd episode with Rob Tapert that never made it to production. I think she was a fantastic addition to the Xena family of creators/cast/crew and a lot of her fanfiction work is treated as canon because of it.
Girl4Music
2025-06-15 03:43:38 +0000 UTC
