Happy Daylight Savings Time everyone.

Here we are for A Good Day. The 'Verse gets a double dose of Caesar, Julius Caesar this week… as I was tuning in the sat dish, I saw he's on Hercules also. I just watched bits and pieces, but they get a Horned dude, and they need to do a little work on the matting for the rapid movement shots. They also should use something other than twisted electrical wire for a vine. But it was a nice episode… I liked Caesar in it, but then, he's always fun, and Hercules and Morrigan have nice chemistry.

Anyway, I just saw the previews of the Xena ep… which featured Gabrielle leading people into battle. Wow. Lots of violence in this one…Xena in full twirl the sword and spit them with it glory.

We open on Caesar's sacking legions. They're searching for food… but Pompeii's men have been there first .. they're going to slaughter the villagers for collaborating with Pompeii, but one of the villagers husband serves as a mercenary in Caesar's army.

He shows up, and challenges the Romans, they're about to spit him like a dog, when yells happen, and chakrams fly, and all of a sudden it's a Roman patrol versus one Greek mercenary, one Warrior Princess, and one women and children protecting, butt kicking bard.

Great fight scene - Gabrielle, in addition to gabwhacking everything in sight, deflects a spear in flight in a nice move. After the Romans run away, the mercenary tells Xena she can't stop the Roman civil war Caesar has brought to Greek soil. Xena tell him, on the contrary.. she's there to make sure it happens. (Xenamotto - when you can't kill them all yourself, get them to kill all of themselves. It's catchy, I like it.)

Xena convinces Flanagan (sp) to help them trap Caesar and Pompeii..Gabrielle is gathering fighters and supplies. She finds a kid who can shoot a bow (I mean really can) and lets him convince her to let him join the effort. You can see Gabrielle doesn't want him anywhere near… she sees herself in him.

Xena finds a way to get the women and children to safety, but tells the villagers they have to destroy the village. Gabrielle asks her. "Are you sure about this." Xena answers. "Yes." They watch as the village is destroyed.. I think this is one of the scenes from the Alti flash forwards.

Note: Xena looks nice in Roman armor. She pretends to be part of Caesar's army, and claims a hill… Pompeii immediately decides the hill is important and decides to attack. They attack each other, then Caesar picks up the standard they're fighting over, and realizes it's a double standard (laughing) and immediately says.. "Xena!"

(and he knows this because of the quality of the embroidery on it, right? Or does he smell her distinctive scent? Who knows?"

A scene of getting ready for battle.. boiling bandages. Gabrielle gets to listen to how much Flanagan's wife wants him safe, and the doe eyed kid wonders what it's like to kill someone. Gabrielle tells him. "It changes Everything. Everything."

Xena gets…captured? No.. it's ruse.. she listens in to the plans of Caesar, but Flanagan is caught, and about to be executed. Xena catches up with the executioner and breaks his neck.(Xenamotto - War is hell) They escape.

Xena tells Gabrielle she needs her to lead the villagers - Gabrielle tells Xena she can't do that. Xena accepts that.. and says she'll get Flanagan to do it.

Pompeii meets Xena in the forest… trying to cut a deal. Caesar shows up.. and it turns out to be a trap by Xena. They fight, Xena does a nice 'kill them all' twirl and spit maneuver, then Pompeii and Caesar fight off to one side. Xena joins them, and the ground collapses under them

(it's halftime.. phew.. so far this is a nice, classic Xena ep.. an not a giggling lice, or rabid rabbit to be seen…or Argo for that matter…

They come back and say that Caesar's legions are retreating…but Gabrielle knows it's a trap… she stops Flanagan from retreating the villagers… he says before she left, Xena told him to listen to Gabrielle.. to trust her. He does… Gabrielle leads the villagers into battle.

Xena finds out the rest of the plan….and leaves Pompeii and Caesar to fight as she goes to find Gabrielle and becomes this one woman two handed sword wielding killing machine.

The plan works = both armies attack each other, and the villagers start them fighting… Gabrielle does an amazing job of gabwhacking.

I had to stop writing and just watch here, because…this was just an incredible couple of minutes of television. I'll try to describe it, but you all are going to have to see it for yourselves.

Gabrielle watches Flanagan fight, and he sees her, and raises his sword in salute.. and gets clobbered from behind. A man is going to stab him, and Gabrielle picks up a spear to stop him - but fires it into a pile of dirt instead. She can't kill. Some folks seeing this are of the opinion that she just missed. I'm going to continue believing she just couldn’t kill the guy when it came right down to it. She didn't just miss, she missed by miles.

Flanagan gets spitted, but his attacker gets shot in the heart with an arrow from the doe eyed kid. Gabrielle goes and holds Flanagan as he dies, then she reacts in total rage, screaming and jerking his body around.

Pompeii and Caesar fight for awhile, then realize it's gone silent above them, and they come out of the caves, to find utter desolation. Their armies have destroyed each other.

Xena finds Gabrielle crouching over Flanagan's body.. and she hugs her. Then they have a funeral pyre for him, and the other village dead.. Xena sings. They all leave, and his wife tells Xena thank you.. and that she's going to tell her son his father was a simple fisherman.

Xena goes to where Gabrielle is standing.. and Gabrielle says she could have saved him… Xena tells her.. as hard as it is to accept, things really do happen for a reason, and that she's seen so many changes in Gabrielle, but Gabrielle has to believe there's a purpose behind it, or else what's the point?

Gabrielle says she's going to go talk to doe eyes.. and try to make him understand that too.

Whatever I just wrote can't do justice to the ending part of this episode. People can like The Debt, and The Price, and Bitter Suite, and whatever.. but for me, this brought home all the intensity, and the gut ripping emotion the series is capable of.

This, for me, right now, was the very best Xena, Warrior Princess episode ever.

Xena is wonderful here.. focused and driven, but outsmarting Caesar at every turn… fighting like nothing on earth, but when she does dig her way out from under all the bodies, the first thing she does is find Gabrielle, and comfort her. No platitudes.. no 'you'll feel better in the morning' Just a hug.

When she really needed Gabrielle to lead those villagers, but the bard said no - not a word of protest, not a word of argument.. just okay. I'll find another way. But she made sure to cover all her bases, and let Flanagan know that if Gabrielle did decide to intervene.. to let her. To trust her, as Xena trusts her, which is completely. Not only in her heart, but in her judgment - this is Xena depending on Gabrielle to read and react to a military situation, confident that she can come through.

And she does. Gabrielle comes to that choice to kill, or not to kill, and she chooses not to kill, and because of that, Flanagan dies. And because of her choice, the doe eye boy takes a life. Xena tells her, "I can tell you it was for the greater good, but with that knowledge in your heart, and that weight on your shoulders, there's nothing I can say that will take that away." What a horrible thing for Gabrielle to bear, and Xena knows this… she realizes it.

Wow.