"Reviews By Cruise" at ForevaXena . . .
Old Ares Had A Farm
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The
episode begins with Xena and Gabrielle entering a tavern with some very
unsavory characters about. Xena and Gabrielle sidle up to the bar for a
cold one. Xena scans the crowd and recognizes that the ugly guys are from
different allegiances and approaches the men to find out what the deal is.
She names the different warlords and colors each man wears asking them,
"What is this, a scumbag convention?" with a sarcastic arrogance about
her. Gotta love it! Gabrielle
is peacefully chilling with her port at the bar as her babe is confronting
the uglies. She places her drink back down on the bar just in case
something happens. She wouldn’t want to spill any of it, now would she?
The scumbags are reluctant to answer Xena’s questions, not very smart,
so she puts the pinch on the one guy and then all hell breaks loose.
Gabrielle’s not pleased about having to leave her cold one, but does and
starts to kick ass along with her lover who has already dispatched a few
men, quite handedly I might add. The fight scenes with the gals are great
and the music enhances the scene. Gabby looks to be enjoying
herself a great deal in the fight. They easily defeat the scumbags and Xena
finds out that the warlords of Greece, Macedonia and Thrace have all put a
bounty on Ares’ head and that they’ve united under Gasgar the terrible
to hunt him down and split the bounty. Xena is concerned, as is Gabrielle. The
scene changes to Ares walking down a path moving his neck around, cracking
it, when he is confronted by some little pipsqueak of a guy who tells him to
prepare to die as he moves his sword around threateningly. Ares gives him
a look of you’ve got to be kidding me and starts to draw his sword. Xena
and Gabrielle step out from behind the brush and stand on either side of
him. Xena crosses her arms over her chest threateningly and smirks at the
guy before them. Ares pulls out his sword and gives each of the ladies a
look before turning his gaze back to the goofball before him. The goofball
asks who they are and Xena sarcastically asks, "Who are you?" with a
mischievous smirk. The guy arrogantly tells them that they call him
battling Siki. Xena condescendingly tells him with a smirk, "Nobody ever
called you that. You just made that up. But if you don’t want to be
known as dead Siki. You’ll be moving on." He looks at them momentarily
and begins to back away when Xena drops her arms and all three start to
approach him. Siki tells them, "Alright, but the gold is mine, Ares,"
as he turns and runs away. Ares
shakes his head in disbelief and sheaths his sword saying, "I’ve been
getting a lot of that lately." He asks Xena what brings her there and
she tells him to save his butt, explaining the word is out that he’s
mortal and that there is a price on his head. Gabrielle rattles off all
the names of the warlords after him and he loves it. He tells Xena it will
be great fighting along side with her. He loves the idea. Xena tells him
they are there to offer him a new life. He’s confused and she explains
that he’s going to spend the rest of his mortal life a hunted man unless
he assumes a new identity. Gabrielle adds that he should go undercover as
someone else. He’s intrigued and says he would like to reinvent himself
by living his life as a king, a priest...if the cult is sexy enough.
Xena tells him he has to do something no one would expect of him. He asks,
"Like what?" Xena moves in close to him and places her hand on the
rock behind him that he’s leaning on, he’s digging the closeness by
the way, and she smiles saying, "How are you at shovelin' shit?" but
they bleep out the shit reference. Very funny comment. He stares at Xena,
gives Gabrielle a sideways glance who chuckles with a big grin at the idea
and looks back at Xena who is very pleased with the idea from the grin on
her face as the opening begins. Ares
is not pleased about being a farmer and wants them to go crazy on the guys
who put the price on his head. Xena convinces him it’s not a wise idea
and Gabrielle tells him that if they set him up as a farmer he can come
and go as he pleases. Ares looks at her and sarcastically shouts,
"Really?" as he walks away; he wants nothing to do with being a
farmer. Xena and Gabrielle loop their arms in his and pat him on the chest
trying to butter him up to see it their way. Gabrielle tells him no one
would suspect the god of war to be living on a country farm and Xena adds
that she and Gabrielle will stay with him until he gets the swing of
things. He starts to dig the idea saying, "Yeah, plantation with some
slaves, half a dozen flute playing girls," as he walks ahead of the
girls. Xena and Gabrielle stop with a funny look on their faces and Xena
sarcastically says, "Yeah, just what I was thinking." Oh, really Xena?
Seems we have gotten a glimpse into what Xena and Gabrielle like to do in
their time off.
J The
scene changes to Xena on Argo II with Gabrielle and Ares in their family
car (Monica pointed out that fact that they have a family car now.)...a
wagon driven by Gabrielle with Ares sitting next to her. They stop at a
ramshackle of a home. Xena is very excited about it, as it was her
grandparents home. Ares calls it an outhouse and isn’t pleased with his
new digs. Xena enthusiastically checks out the house and Gabrielle is wide
eyed, happy about the place...she loves it. Xena and Gabrielle are very
excited about the house and check everything from the inside out. Ares is
not happy at all and says, "Ares ain’t living here." Xena replies,
"Ares, it's a little run down but we can fix it," as she’s moving
things around and Gabrielle rights a fallen table. Ares adds, "When I
was a god I couldn’t have fixed this place." He’s right...the place
is a disaster. Xena opens a door and enters a different room as the door
falls to the ground. She comes back and enthusiastically says,
"Gabrielle, come check out the stove!" as Gabrielle eagerly heads in
to help her. It looked as if they were excited about buying their first
home together. Ares looks around the room and is mortified. The scene changes to the bar where the goofball is gloating to some women that he killed Ares. The warlords grab him and say he’s lying, but he might have seen him as his description is close to what Ares looks like. He tells them where he saw him and they estimate where Ares might be and head off to find him. The scene changes back to Ares’ farm and the hillbilly
music with a banjo is playing as we see Ares sitting on the porch resting.
He has a water skin between his legs and is wiping the sweat off his neck
with a rag. He’s only wearing his pants and his boots. He is definitely
not suited to be a farmer. Gabrielle and Xena are inside fixing up the
place. Xena is hammering something and Gabrielle is carrying a wash
basket. They are dressed in very skimpy outfits such as daisy duke shorts.
I was waiting for boss hog from the dukes of hazard to come driving up! Xena
yells at Ares for the rags and he tells her he can’t find them as he hides them under a board on the porch. Xena comes out to find out what
he’s doing and takes off her apron. Oh, love the flowers in her hair!
She tells him it doesn’t make sense, that they’ll do something else
then. Ares whines because he just wants to sit around. Gabrielle is
looking for the saw she left out there, but it’s missing now too. Ares
tells her, "Don’t look at me. I try to touch tools of common labor as
little as possible," as he squirts port into his mouth from his water
skin. Xena smirks saying, "Well, that’s going to change," and grabs his
ear. She pulls him to a standing position and directs him towards the
house. She pops him on the butt with her apron over and over again as he
whines, "Not the butt!" all the way into the house. Very funny by the
way. Gabrielle
enters the house saying; "I know I left that saw on the railing." As
Xena climbs up on the ladder and Ares is standing behind her, very
appreciative of the sight. She gives him his instructions to nail the
boards into the ceiling and he seductively tells her, "After you."
Xena is disgusted and tells him, "Come on!" He just doesn’t want to
do any manual labor and decides what she wanted him to do with the rags
was a better job than hammering the boards into the ceiling. She wanted
him to stuff the rags into the holes of the walls to block the wind from
coming inside. He exits the house to find the rags, but they are gone.
Gabrielle comes out and finds that one of her boots is missing as well.
They are all baffled as Ares’ water skin is now missing too. A
woman approaches and introduces herself as their neighbor, Greba. Ares is
very taken with the woman. She explains that Gasgar’s army is
approaching. She explains the terrible sexual things she's heard he does to
women, but seems intrigued by them, as is Ares. He cockily approaches the
woman and flexes his pecs as she explains that she’s a widow all alone
next door. Ares grins arrogantly as he stands before her. Xena and
Gabrielle smile and tell her, "Thank you Greba," in unison. Ares tells
her to drop back by again when the news is better and they’ll have some
wine and swap tips on raising root vegetables. Ooh, the sexual tension!
Xena rolls her eyes disgusted and Gabrielle grins looking at her as the
woman leaves. Xena tells Ares and Gabrielle to take care of the thief as
she’s going to get information from Gasgar. Ares is upset as Xena enters
the house saying, "Oh, you still get to be the warrior." Gabrielle is
standing by the pole where Xena etched her initial as a kid and is
tapping her finger on the pole smiling. Xena is dressed in her leathers in
like two seconds after entering the house. Xena tells him she would rather
stay and work on the house as she’s walking towards Argo II. Ares tells
her, "The sad thing is, I believe you," as he stands next to Gabrielle
on the porch as she watches her lover mount her horse. Oh, love. Isn’t
it grand?
J Ares
looks around and says, "Where’s my belt?" Xena tells Gabrielle,
"Definitely take care of that one," as she rides off. Xena
pays Gasgar a visit offering him Ares’ head on a platter, but he
doesn’t want to share the bounty with so many. She tells him she’s not
in it for the gold, that it’s personal. He wonders why she didn’t kill
him when she was slaying the other gods and she told him that she
couldn’t, that the coward ran away. She tries to convince him that maybe
Ares still does have his powers and that the rumors of him being mortal
are wrong. She tells him she is a good insurance policy considering she
can kill gods just in case that might be true. He agrees when she tells
him she knows where to find Ares. Back
at the farm, Gabrielle and Ares are sitting in front of the fire talking,
eating and drinking. Gabrielle thanks Ares for giving up his immortality
for her and Eve. He explains that if Eve had died and Xena lost her powers
to kill gods then Athena would have killed Xena. He told her he was saving
Eve to save Xena and that Gabrielle was just an afterthought. He told her in a
very cold manner, but I think he did it for her too even though he
doesn’t want to admit it. Gabrielle looks a little miffed by the comment
but smiles and tells him, "Thanks anyway." I think Gabrielle believes
he did it for her too. Xena enters and is excited that they cleared the
chimney for a fire and sits down before it next to Gabrielle. Gabrielle
tells her, "Ares did the heavy work." And he adds, "She’s
exaggerating, she just doesn’t want to admit that she couldn’t get me
to work any better than you did," as he looks at Xena. Gabrielle smirks
and looks at him as he glances her way saying, "A lot of truth in
that." Xena starts to reminisce about how she and her brothers used to
tell ghost stories. Ares
reminds her that the thief is still there and that they stole his gauntlet
earlier. He taunts Gabrielle who thinks it might be a ghost and she’s
not too pleased with his teasing her. Xena asks, "Do you know what’s
wonderful?" and Gabrielle snaps, "What?" Xena smiles and says,
"It’s wonderful that we’re sitting here together in front of this
cozy fire." Gabrielle says, "That’s right...life on a farm’s so
peaceful," and smiles. Ares asks, "Are you insane? It’s dull,
horribly uncomfortable and it’s hard." Xena brushes him off saying,
"Oh, you’ll change your tune when you get a few..." and pauses,
looking around the room at the room that is starting to leak... "calluses on your
hands." She finished. The roof starts to leak directly over Ares’ head
and he says, "Let me guess, this is your favorite part," as the rain
is falling down on him. Xena stands up and tells them to split up and
check the rest of the house. She
finds her old bedroom which is dry and figures her grandfather must have
fortified the roof there. Ares sees the large bed and suggests that they all sleep in there. Gabrielle asks, "The three of us sleep in one bed?" Ares says, "Sure." Xena looks at him skeptically and says, "Well, I suppose. We are all grown ups." Emphasizing the last point she made. Ares mischievously smiles, nodding his head and says, "We certainly are." He’s
definitely happy with the sleeping arrangements. Xena is sleeping on the
left, Ares in the middle and Gabrielle is on the right. What’s up with
that? Xena and Gabrielle are sleeping in their bras with a cloth wrapped
around their lower halves, Ares is in sleeping pants with no top, but has
a small, square piece of cloth on his chest, I suppose it was his blanket.
He and Xena are tossing and turning, but as usual, Gabrielle is
peacefully sleeping on her side facing opposite them. She’s also taking
up most of the bed. Ares rolls over towards Xena, shifting his blankie as
he does so and Xena rolls to her side. They are facing each other now.
Xena snuggles into her pillow trying to get comfortable and feels her nose
touch someone else’s. She opens her eyes and jumps when she sees it's
Ares. She’s disgusted he’s there and says, "I think a change of
position is in order," and rolls on her side facing away from him,
draping the sheet over herself. He cuddles up in a spooning position with
her, desperately holding onto his blankie. Xena looks over her shoulder at
him and says, "I meant we should both change positions." He
agrees and rolls onto his back. Gabrielle decides a change in position is
in order too and rolls over towards Ares. Her left hand hits him in the
family jewels and rests on his leg very close to the jewel chest and her
other hand flops on his forehead, as she is still sound asleep. Ares is
groaning from her change in position and is breathing heavily. Xena turns
to see what is going on and is mortified to see Gabrielle’s new sleeping
position. The look on Xena’s face is priceless when she sees where
Gabrielle’s hand is positioned. She frowns and picks up Gabrielle’s
hand, placing it near Gabrielle’s side and makes sure it stays there so
it doesn’t fall back on Ares. Xena is disgusted by where her hand is
located and lays back down. Ares says, "I’m in Tartarus." Well, we
get a glimpse of Gabby’s favorite sleeping position. The only problem
is, her lover was in the wrong place! In
the morning, a rooster crows and we see Ares sprawled out on the bed all
by his lonesome. He wakes when he hears Xena shout from outside,
"Gabrielle! I don’t care if it is a ghost. If I can kill gods, maybe I
can kill ghosts too!" Ares groans and grabs his sword as he climbs out
of bed saying, "Thank god I’m a country boy," and walks out onto the
balcony to see what’s going on. He sees Xena and Gabrielle searching for
something and they find drag marks on the ground. Gabrielle tells Ares
that the ghost stole Xena's breastplate and he jumps down to help in the
search. They find all of their stuff buried and then hear a growl. Ares goes
over to a log and looks in it. He hears the growling from there and thinks
it’s a wolf. They all look inside and Xena tells him it’s not a wolf
and Gabby adds that it’s a dog. The dog runs out and jumps on Ares,
licking him. Ares cries out for them to get it off of him and Xena tells
him he’s just being affectionate. Xena
and Gabrielle love the dog and are playfully scratching his belly. Ares
tells them, "Don’t do that, now, we’ll never get rid of him." Gabrielle answers, "Maybe we don’t want to get rid of
him." Ares looks at Gabrielle and says, "Is there anything we agree
upon?" Gabrielle looks at Xena who has stood up and Ares looks at Xena
saying, "Oh yeah, anything else?" as Gabrielle looks at him smiling
and also stands up. As he’s working on it, Greba...the
nosey neighbor comes over and starts flirting with him. She thinks Xena and
Gabrielle are his daughters because he looks so sophisticated and has gray
hair. Ares is miffed and embarrassed by the gray hair reference and
pretends that it’s raining and he has to finish the work on the roof.
Greba leaves and he gets up on the roof, just as it breaks and he falls
through to the floor. Xena enters the house with a basket of food and sees
the dog on top of Ares licking his entire face as he is groaning. She
helps him up and he tells her he’ll never make a convincing farmer as
she’s brushing the dust out of his hair.
She tells him he has to accessorize and walks out of the house. He
straightens up and cracks his back in pain before following her outside.
They stand on the porch and watch as Gabrielle drives up with the
family car filled with chickens, a pig and a cow walking behind it. It kind
of reminded me of the Beverly hillbillies!
Xena eagerly runs up to her babe to help unload the groceries. Ares
is sitting on his butt, as usual with the dog in his lap as Xena and
Gabrielle are putting away the food and says, "This dog is incredibly
needy." Xena is humming her theme song as she’s putting the food away
and Gabrielle tells him, "Why don’t you pet it, then maybe it won’t
be so needy." Ares curls up his lip and taps his hand up and down on the
dog’s head as Gabrielle chuckles at the sight. Xena tells Ares that she
has a job for him and sends him out to kill a chicken for dinner. Gabrielle tells him, "Only one chicken," as he passes by her, eager to
do that job. Gabrielle asks
if Xena thinks that he’ll make a convincing farmer and Xena tells her
that all he has to do is do it once and then he can do whatever he wants.
Then they are out of there. Gabrielle is chuckling and smiling knowingly
as she continues to put stuff away. Gabrielle says, "MMhmmm." We hear
Ares yelling from the backyard along with the chickens. Xena looks at
Gabrielle and says, "What?" Gabrielle turns to her and says, "Xena,
I know you want to help Ares, but you’re here to relive your childhood
memories." Xena grins and says, "You think so?" Gabrielle grins and
says, "Yes," as she moves closer to Xena. Xena smiles at her and
replies, "Maybe you’re right. I was happy here. It was peaceful and I
felt safe. Ever since my life has been anything but." Gabrielle looks
at her and smiles saying, "I’ll say," with a chuckle as Xena
stares
at her with a grin. Gabrielle tells her, "Let’s enjoy it while we
can." They smile at each other and then hear Ares yelling. The look out the
window and laugh as Ares chases the chickens around the coop, but can’t
catch them. Of course, banjo music is playing to make it funnier. Xena
sees Gasgar’s army heading over the ridge towards them and Ares heads
into the house. Xena
gets into her armor and tells Ares if he pulls this off they’ll leave
him alone. Gabrielle helps her get into her armor as the men yell for
someone to come out of the house. Xena goes over the plan for what he is
to say and that she’ll be hanging out back as it wouldn’t be a good
thing to find the warrior princess hanging out on the farm. The men
outside demand that they come out and decide to torch it. Ares is nervous
and tells Gabrielle to stall them. She takes the rag off her head, musses
her hair and tears open her top revealing her bra as she walks towards the
door. Ares is impressed and nods his head appreciatively. Gabrielle stops
in the doorway and leans on it grinning as she’s trying to cover herself
with her top. Wow! What a scene! She
walks out grinning and tells them that she was busy and they are all very
pleased and laughing. They ask if she’s seen Ares the god of war as
she’s flirtatiously talking with them and Ares steps out dressed as a
farmer. He has a straw hat on, tattered clothes, a huge belly and a
pitchfork. He shouts, "Josa! What are you doing? Get back on in the
house woman!" with a country accent. Gabrielle
turns around smiling, surprised by him, and heads towards him. He barks
something at her as she passes him and then arrogantly approaches the leader
asking, "What do you want?" The guy is pissed at his attitude and
kicks him in the face. He gets sarcastic with him and the guy punches him
after dismounting his horse. He’s about to hit him with a board as Xena
rides up and stops him. The guy thinks that he might be Ares and Xena
tells him that Ares is a much younger man than this one. Ares isn’t
pleased with that comment and gives her a dirty look. The guys are all
goading her to put the pinch on him as they’d like to see it and she
really doesn’t want to. Neither does Ares who is giving her looks to not
do it, but she does. Just as she does, Horace, the dog runs up and bites
her in the butt as everyone including the pig and rooster starts to laugh.
Xena didn’t think it was funny as the dog jumped on Gabrielle’s horse.
Xena is rubbing her butt and tells Ares, "Look you, and your little dog
too, are
going to be dead in 30 seconds if you don’t tell me if you’ve seen
Ares the god of war!" Farmer
boy Ares answers, (in a very funny tone of voice, I think he inhaled a helium), "He stayed here a couple of nights ago and went to the
Hurata pass." The leader is pleased and tells her he will let Gasgar know
right away as he’s mounting his horse. Ares is choking and pointing to
his throat pleading for her to remove the pinch. Xena tells the guys
she’s heading to the Hurata pass as everyone rides off. Xena takes the
pinch off and rides off too. Gabrielle comes out of the house admonishing
Ares for giving them such an attitude.
He tells her that any farmer would give an attitude if their woman
were going to do the entire army. Gabrielle tells him, "I was just
playing with my character. I just used the first thing that popped into my
head." He sarcastically answers, "I think that says a lot about
you," with a sly grin. Xena rides up and tells him he did a good job.
The dog barks at her from atop the horse and Xena angrily looks at him.
She tells him to get off of the horse and throws her chakram at him,
hitting the saddle horn as the dog jumps down. Ares isn’t pleased and
says, "Hey, hey, hey, stop throwing things at my dog!"
Xena angrily shouts at him as she catches the chakram, "What do
you mean? He bit me!" The dog walks up to Ares and Xena is surprised and
asks, "Did you say your dog?" as she dismounts Argo II. Ares picks up
the dog and says, "He is the only one who stood up for me just now. I
think I’ll call you Horace. Come Horace, let’s go kill some
chickens," and walks away with the dog. Gabrielle laughs and says,
"It’s amazing, he’s bonded with that dog." Xena answers, "Well,
that dog worships him. That’s the kind of relationship Ares can understand." Xena
and Gabrielle are debating the best way to milk a cow as Ares sits petting
his best friend. A man calls out and the dog runs away. He explains that
he’s a salesman and his dog ran off during the storm. He asks if
they’ve seen him and says that they couldn’t miss him as he has two
different colored eyes. Ares asks, "One green, one blue?" (nice
reference to Xena and Gabrielle’s eyes!) And the man enthusiastically
says, "Yes." Ares says, "Never saw him!" The man hears the dog
barking and runs out of the barn with everyone in tow. Ares is upset that
the dog is his and the he might lose him. He tells the dog, "Run,
Horace, run," as the man is chasing the dog through the woods. The gang of badies drops by the salesman’s cart and sees Ares’ gauntlet there. He tells them the dog found it on a farm. The scene changes to Xena, Gabrielle and Ares looking for his gauntlet. They can’t find it and the nosey neighbor lady Greba stops by to tell them that Gasgar’s men were talking in the tavern that they were heading for this farm as they think Ares is there. Ares is quite smitten with the woman and gets this silly grin on his face every time she comes by. They thank her and send her on her merry way. We next see Xena enter
Gasgar's tent and she attempts to play off that Ares passed through, but
he’s not buying it and tosses Ares’ gauntlet to her. He wants to know
why she’s been trying to hide Ares. Gabrielle enters the tent
angrily saying, "I’ll tell you why!" Xena turns around and says,
"What are you doing here?" Gabrielle approaches Xena, angry and says,
"Tired of being used by you Xena!" Xena angrily answers, "Gabrielle
this is not time for one of your little spats." Gabrielle looks at Gasgar,
"You want to know where Ares is?" He says, "Yeah." And Xena tells
him, "Don’t listen to her, she’s insane." Gabrielle moves towards
her and says, "I’ll tell you who is insane...you." She says pointing
and turning to Xena. "If you think you can walk away from me. You’ve
fallen in love with Ares and all of a sudden I’m nothing!" Gasgar
asks, "You’ve fallen in love with Ares? After all he’s done to
you...that’s pathetic." Xena slams her hands down on the table and
faces him, "You want a piece of me?" "He smiles and say, "None of
my business, really." Xena angrily says, "Damn straight!" Ares
is sitting on the porch sad and Horace comes running up to him. He’s
very happy and pulls the dog up into his lap as Xena and Gabrielle ride up.
They’ve traded the family car in for a convertible sports car for Gabby
(her horse without a wagon). Xena gives him his gauntlet back and explains
she heard Gasgar was heading to the Pultrius caves. He asks if that’s the
same cave that the beast with the seven heads makes it’s lair and
Gabrielle tells him it has eight heads and none of them are friendly. Xena
tells him he can stay there as long as he wants and no one will bother him
there. Ares says, "Thanks, but to be honest. Once I’m outta chickens I
might just move on." Xena seems a little disappointed and tells him,
"You should drag it out. You might find a kind of peace that you won’t
find afterwards." Xena moves close to him and adds, "Maybe I’ll come
visit you some time," with a grin. Ares has a change of tune and says,
"Or maybe I could give this whole rural thing a try." He leans in to
kiss her and Gabrielle looks down, slightly jealous. Xena laughs and says,
"Good boy," as she pinches his cheek and pats his face, then walks to
Argo II. He’s smiling and Gabrielle smiles back at him as if to say,
"Ha ha, she’s mine." Xena tells him, "Have fun." And they ride
off as he watches them. Gabrielle
asks Xena as they ride away, "How are you feeling?" Xena answers,
"I’ve learned something about coming back here. You can’t look for
peace in the world around you. You’ve got to find it in your own heart.
I was happy when I was a kid here, because I was loved and felt like I
belonged. I was lucky then and I’m lucky now." She looks at Gabrielle
and smiles. Gabrielle returns the smile saying, "Me too," as they
ride off into a new episode. Very
cute episode and very funny. We
get some insight into Xena and Gabrielle’s sleeping positions. Too bad
Ares was in the middle! Seems to me that Xena and Gabrielle might be
heading back to that home in the future. Maybe that’s where they will
settle down together and wait for the movie’s they will do when the
series ends. It seems like Xena was ready to settle down and liked the
idea of fixing up the house right beside her blonde babe. Enjoy! |
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