Xena: Warrior Princess 4x21 "The Ides of March" Reaction
Added 2022-08-01 21:29:21 +0000 UTC
Comments
This scene kills me. The role reversal. Gabrielle the protector and defender after her path of love, and Xena the vulnerable and helpless, her back broken. The prophecy has come true and they both know what is to come. In that moment of acceptance they do not show fear, only love as they try to comfort one another. It is so romantic and intimate that it actually feels voyeuristic to watch, and to know that it is the end for them both yet their only thought is for each other is just what this show was all about. The tears actually fall from Gabrielle’s face. I hadn’t noticed that before. This show…
Girl4Music
2023-11-23 20:28:49 +0000 UTC“Because it’s the kind of question that can’t really be answered until it’s actually faced.” That’s it. You really don’t know for sure what you would do until you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place like Gabrielle is in this episode. Until you can’t just do nothing.
Girl4Music
2023-11-23 20:18:10 +0000 UTC‘The Ides Of March’. How do I even begin to talk about this episode and specifically this scene? How much love can you hold for a person that you would give up absolutely everything to see that they make it out alive just to be faced with the fate that they won’t and you’re absolutely fine with it and calmer than stone? And when I say everything - I mean EVERYTHING. A home A career A family A daughter A queenhood A philosophy A sense of self A blood innocence Not to mention your very own life. Imagine the love and loyalty and dedication that you would have to put in to the relationship between you and them to do that. It’s almost unhealthy and abusive if not for the fact that the person wouldn’t let you do it anyway. But you just throw caution to the wind in love for them and die on the cross with them. Pure selfless unconditional love. It’s insanely romantic what Gabrielle does in this.
Girl4Music
2023-11-23 20:07:02 +0000 UTCLove this culmination of S4. Earlier, Amarice posed a question to Eli... 'if someone threatened your mother, would you fight to defend her?' Which is easily extrapolated to any intertwined relationship. Then we get Gabrielle's instinctive answer in regards to defending the person she loves most, Xena. Because it's the kind of question that can't really be answered until it's actually faced. And because Gabrielle's Way is with Xena, for better or worse. She just can't copy/paste Eli's Way or Xena's... but create her own unique mix. Top 5 episode for me.
Octavia
2023-11-05 05:22:16 +0000 UTCThe part that hits me in the gut is when Xena says “I wish I would have read your scrolls just once”
Alex Prado
2022-08-10 16:26:05 +0000 UTCIf that's the case, then Callisto would not have told Xena anything about Brutus at all. Her main point was about Caesar rising to power, she did not need to include any info about Brutus and Xena didn't even ask. Yes, if this were the "real world" Caesar could absolutely have been planning on assassinating Brutus. But this is a scripted story told by writers. For them to make the choice to have Callisto tell Xena one thing on screen, not show Xena finding out otherwise, then have Xena tell Brutus a completely different thing... that shows me that the writer and director's intent is for us to understand Xena lied.
Judson
2022-08-05 11:45:20 +0000 UTCBecause if Callisto had said Ceasar's assassination, she'd know that Xena would have told it to Brutus. When Brutus learned it, he would have saved himself from being assassinated. But even though Callisto lied to Xena, Xena figured out that Caesar was planning to kill Brutus. As I said before, I don't think this possibility is absolutely true. I'm just saying nothing in this episode refutes this possibility.
Burak
2022-08-04 14:11:16 +0000 UTCCallisto had no reason to lie. What would telling Xena a half truth accomplish for her? Her mission was to ensure Caesar gained control, why would she intentionally undermine that by giving Xena information? She was gloating to Xena about how Caesar's rise to power could not be stopped and did not expect that Xena would be able to think of a lie based on that info and speak with Brutus.
Judson
2022-08-04 05:37:02 +0000 UTCI didn't say it presented on-screen. But both possibilities could be true. Callisto may have known Ceasar's assassination and intentionally telling Xena that Caesar would give him Gaul.
Burak
2022-08-03 17:30:10 +0000 UTCWhile Caesar is definitely capable of planning Brutus' assassination, I don't think there is anything presented on-screen to lead us to believe so. Xena gives Brutus two pieces of information: 1. Caesar is going to declare himself emperor on the ides of March when the senate reconvenes. She figured out the emperor part from the laurel wreath she saw him try on and made an intelligent guess that he would announce it when the senate next met. Callisto confirms this when Xena says it to her ("My, aren't you the clever girl"). 2. Caesar is talking to assassins in Gaul to kill Brutus. Unlike the point above, we never see this on-screen. What we do see on-screen is Calisto telling Xena, "Everybody has their price, even the honorable Brutus. Caesar's gonna give him Gaul and that should keep him smiling." Caesar seems to have believed that Callisto can help him achieve his destiny, even agreeing to her instruction to put a bounty on Xena. He has no reason to lie to Callisto about this plans with Brutus. From what we see presented to us, and what we know of Xena's tactics, I fully think the interpretation is that Xena used the knowledge that Caesar would be sending Brutus to Gaul as a bribe to spin the lie about Caesar planning on killing him there.
Judson
2022-08-03 10:49:56 +0000 UTCI'm not so sure if we are meant to believe Xena was telling the truth or lying about Ceasar planning to kill Brutus. I think both can be possible.
Burak
2022-08-02 13:16:13 +0000 UTCThis really is a great season finale, which we’re treating this as. ... I wonder if Xena’s death is her penalty for getting her final victory over Caesar by out-and-out lying to Brutus to cause a betrayal and a murder. ... Gabby’s lethal rampage is a sight to behold. ... The disclaimer made me laugh considerably, despite having seen it so many times before.
Koz
2022-08-02 06:23:31 +0000 UTCIronically, for all the real reasons Caesar deserved to die, he was killed over something he didn't do. He really did stay loyal to Brutus to the end, planning on bribing him with Gaul rather than killing him to get him out of the way. Brutus misunderstood Caesar's instructions for him to travel to Gaul because Xena had used Callisto's information to spin a convincing lie that Caesar was planning to have him killed in Gaul. I thought it was a pretty neat way to preserve the 'real world known dynamic' between Brutus and Caesar, where Brutus was the traitor, while fitting these characters into the Xenaverse.
Judson
2022-08-02 04:42:47 +0000 UTCNope, this wasn't planned as the final season. Next season will clearly be Arminestra and Shakti's adventures in India, as played by Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. XD I feel ambivalent about Gabrielle killing the guards. On one hand, it is an over-simplified and gratuitous step for her character to take. But on the other hand, it is a better chracterisation for her than the Way of Love, which always felt so incomplete. Gabrielle was still following Xena into fights and leading the Amazons in battle, the only difference being that she put down the staff and stopped fighting personally. I feel like a fully realised character on this path would have to be like Eli, travelling around preaching peace in a lifestyle of complete non-violence, and we don't want that for Gabrielle because she would have to leave Xena and the show. Also, the execution of this season's vision arc and "life paths" theme was masterful. Like or hate the destination, this season did tell a very meaningful and complete story of Xena being validated in her Way of the Warrior and Gabrielle sufficiently exploring many other lifestyles that seemed to fit aspects of her character before ultimately deciding on what she called "the Way of Friendship", to be beside Xena fully. And it was that final "Way of Friendship" which was imbued with permanence, with their deaths, as the right way for Gabrielle.
Judson
2022-08-02 02:16:30 +0000 UTC
