Xena must hold off an entire Persian army single-handed…and also tend to Gabrielle, who’s been struck by a poisoned arrow.
Gabrielle sprains her ankle while attempting to perfect the “Xena flip.” She refuses to let Xena look at her ankle but Xena tricks her, using her chakram to apply compression (and ruining Gabrielle’s boot).
As Xena prepares to treat the swelling, Phiddipides (Nick Kemplen) rushes up and tells them to run for their lives. He reports that a huge foreign army has come ashore, laid waste to the troops in Marathon and is now heading their way. From his description, Xena deduces that the attackers are Persians.
Xena says if the Persians reach Athens, all will be lost. She sends Phiddipides ahead to warn everyone. Gabrielle rides on Argo, and as they walk along, Xena explains that she can create a landslide at the pass and divert the army, which would at least give the forces of Greece time to arm a defence. Gabrielle suggests that Xena go ahead and leave her behind, but Xena is worried that Persian advance scouts might find her. Gabrielle asks Xena why she can’t just use that force she used in Chin to attack the army, and Xena tells her that “took a purity of essence that, well, it’s gone now.”
A Spartan deserter finds them, and he offers to help Xena. Advance troops attack them and the deserter freezes. Gabrielle goes after him, though Xena had sent her and Argo into the woods out of the way, and she is shot in the back with an arrow. After Xena pushes the arrow through, she realises it had poison on it. She believes she can keep Gabrielle alive because the arrow did not hit a main artery and there should be a serum Tripolis which is close.
The deserter wants to help, so Xena tells him there has been a landslide at the pass and he should go on to Tripolis ahead of them and tell them to round up their militia. But Xena knows that the man is really a Persian spy; she misled him so that she wouldn’t have to create the landslide.
This episode mirrored the Greater Good with the roles reversed. As Gabby lay dying I couldn’t dredge up any sympathy. I guess The Bitter Suite didn’t cure my animosity towards the Bard after all. For some reason, I resented the fact that Gabrielle was a burden and that Xena was willing to stick by her regardless. The whole rift thing has got my emotions going off in all sorts of directions. It was a dramatic episode with some touching subtext moments.
Xena: Even in death, Gabrielle, I will never leave you.
Gabrielle: I love you Xena.
Disclaimer: Gabrielle’s ankle was harmed during the production of this motion picture.
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