Let's just cut to the chase: this *might* be the best Xena episode yet. It also makes for a great season ender, except that there is one episode yet to come. From the start, the tone is grim, when we find Callisto suffering in Hell - though it raises some questions about the mythology of the Hercules/Xena Universe the writers don't bother to address. How did Callisto end up in Hell? I mean, this means that The One True God is real and unless you believe in Him and follow His way, you end up in Hell. But then there are the Greek, Roman, Indian etc. gods. How does the big picture make sense? "Oh shut up. Callisto is back and she's smokin' hot! Even hotter than Amarice and Hot India-style Gabrielle combined! One wicked smile from Callisto and I'm smitten."
Great. It's the Subjective Me. Anyway, for reasons unclear, Callisto is sent on a mission to Caesar and elsewhere, Xena makes the decision to put Caesar out for good - and to do it solo. Pre-Eomer Karl Urban gives us yet another delicious turn as Caesar. He is one of the few actors who give us believable characters in this show. The same cannot be said of pre-Judging Amy, pre-Psych Timothy Omundson, but then again, he is hampered by having to play a thoroughly useless character. Luckily, Brutus captures Gabby, Amarice, Eli and his followers. Xena infiltrates Caesar's palace, but there is a surprise waiting in a nicely dramatized scene. And then Xena has to kick some poor legionnaire butt. Even better, Callisto finally has the upper hand against Xena, which gives us a *discussion* scene that's better than the fight before it!
Brutus takes his prisoners to the ominous prison fortress from Xena's visions. And the Romans are building crosses. Uh-oh, doesn't look good. Brutus is blissfully aware that the crosses are for Xena and Gabrielle, because he believed when Caesar said they would crucify some pirates. Gabrielle tries to talk some sense into him, but to no avail. Xena then sneaks up on Brutus in the wild, on his way back to Rome, and warns that Caesar will declare himself the Emperor on the Ides of March, and then find a way to kill Brutus indirectly. Still he does not believe. He's a pretty dense guy, this Hercules/Xena Universe incarnation of Brutus.
The final act is incredibly dramatic for a series famed for its cheesiness. It's like from a completely different show! A better show, with aspirations to greatness instead of run-of-the-mill entertainment with little to offer in drama, characterization, arc plots and overall coherence. But then again, this was in 1999. Only Babylon 5 had had the cojones to attempt a five-year plan, and it didn't exactly work out as planned. If Universal didn't order Reneissance to stick to basics, they probably decided to do it themselves. Which is sad, because instead of cult series, Xena could really have been an ageless classic like B5... Despite my complements, this episode gets only a 7/10 from me because its groundwork is contradicting itself, the plot has been signposted for ages and we all know what happened to Caesar. And do we *believe* this is the end of Xena? Not for a second.
"Hold on, I have something to say. I thought 'Endgame' was brutal, but the massacre at the end of this episode is truly spectacular. Even though Amarice escapes with Eli and we don't get any ruthless double-dagger action. But then Gabrielle goes berserk! Did *not* see that coming. There's a nice combination of impalements, slicing, dicing and an astonishing stabbing that reminds me of the legendary Patricia Arquette vs. James Gandolfini battle in True Romance. And yeah, the ending is dark."
Great. It's the Subjective Me. Anyway, for reasons unclear, Callisto is sent on a mission to Caesar and elsewhere, Xena makes the decision to put Caesar out for good - and to do it solo. Pre-Eomer Karl Urban gives us yet another delicious turn as Caesar. He is one of the few actors who give us believable characters in this show. The same cannot be said of pre-Judging Amy, pre-Psych Timothy Omundson, but then again, he is hampered by having to play a thoroughly useless character. Luckily, Brutus captures Gabby, Amarice, Eli and his followers. Xena infiltrates Caesar's palace, but there is a surprise waiting in a nicely dramatized scene. And then Xena has to kick some poor legionnaire butt. Even better, Callisto finally has the upper hand against Xena, which gives us a *discussion* scene that's better than the fight before it!
Brutus takes his prisoners to the ominous prison fortress from Xena's visions. And the Romans are building crosses. Uh-oh, doesn't look good. Brutus is blissfully aware that the crosses are for Xena and Gabrielle, because he believed when Caesar said they would crucify some pirates. Gabrielle tries to talk some sense into him, but to no avail. Xena then sneaks up on Brutus in the wild, on his way back to Rome, and warns that Caesar will declare himself the Emperor on the Ides of March, and then find a way to kill Brutus indirectly. Still he does not believe. He's a pretty dense guy, this Hercules/Xena Universe incarnation of Brutus.
The final act is incredibly dramatic for a series famed for its cheesiness. It's like from a completely different show! A better show, with aspirations to greatness instead of run-of-the-mill entertainment with little to offer in drama, characterization, arc plots and overall coherence. But then again, this was in 1999. Only Babylon 5 had had the cojones to attempt a five-year plan, and it didn't exactly work out as planned. If Universal didn't order Reneissance to stick to basics, they probably decided to do it themselves. Which is sad, because instead of cult series, Xena could really have been an ageless classic like B5... Despite my complements, this episode gets only a 7/10 from me because its groundwork is contradicting itself, the plot has been signposted for ages and we all know what happened to Caesar. And do we *believe* this is the end of Xena? Not for a second.
"Hold on, I have something to say. I thought 'Endgame' was brutal, but the massacre at the end of this episode is truly spectacular. Even though Amarice escapes with Eli and we don't get any ruthless double-dagger action. But then Gabrielle goes berserk! Did *not* see that coming. There's a nice combination of impalements, slicing, dicing and an astonishing stabbing that reminds me of the legendary Patricia Arquette vs. James Gandolfini battle in True Romance. And yeah, the ending is dark."
