Xena: Warrior Princess 5x19 "Looking Death in the Eye" Reaction
Added 2022-11-07 21:44:58 +0000 UTC
Comments
I swear I get more out of your fantastically accurate predications than the actual reactions. 👏👏👏 Well done!
Girl4Music
2023-11-26 21:20:39 +0000 UTCAres conducts a private funeral for Xena and Gabrielle Ares had quite the evolution and transformation and I don’t often talk about it even half as much as I do Gabrielle’s evolution. There’s lots more they could have done with his character, and I’m sure that they did in ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’, but I thought they did really well with him in this show. Without a doubt, he is my favourite male character. The scene in the season 5 episode, ‘Looking Death In The Eye’, stood out for me when it comes to Ares’ change in personality. In this scene, he doesn’t just admit he loves Xena, but he also admits he isn’t right for her, and furthermore, that Gabrielle is. He admitted that Gabrielle could provide Xena with what she needed and he couldn’t. That must have been too hard to admit when Xena could hear him. But because he thinks she’s dead here, he admits it. This was the peak in his character development, I would say. The moment when you know he has really changed. And he still mentions what it is about Xena he really loves and appreciates. He thought she was beautiful when she was angry and fighting, which explains why he wanted her to go back to her dark side. So he could get to see much more of what he loves about her. He realized he was being selfish and inconsiderate of Xena’s emotions and that she was trying to reform herself into a person who fights for the ‘Greater Good’. Gabrielle mentioned something in the season 5 episode, ‘Amphipolis Under Siege’, that I thought was very interesting when it came to Ares’ constant attempts to win Xena over from her. Ares was obsessed with the good Xena. And maybe the reason why was because, deep down, he was good too. It’s just that he never recognized his goodness in her, whereas Gabrielle always recognized it in Xena. I think in his own way, Ares did appreciate Gabrielle for what she saw in Xena, even if he could never understand what Xena saw in Gabrielle. I thought that was an interesting point to bring up. Especially from the perspective of Gabrielle. Ares wasn’t an evil person. I wouldn’t even consider him a villian, in all honesty, same as I don’t with Callisto. This show has dynamic complexities where characters aren’t just villains/heroes or good people/bad people, but a fluctuation of both. Which is why it is far more relatable and resonatable than ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’. I’ve mentioned this before in my post about how Ares and Aphrodite are the most important Olympian gods to planet Earth. Ares had a responsibility where he had to keep planet Earth balanced between what is considered negative energy over positive energy. From a higher perspective, there is neither positive or negative. There are just energies. Therefore, war was Ares’ domain. As he said... “A fight is a fight, no matter which side you’re on.” So, I definetly understand him in that way. It’s the way the Universe works and there has to be symbols in art, entertainment and literature for that energy to be observed and taught to us, so that we understand why it’s all the more important to be good and to do good. You don’t understand that when all you ever see is the good. You can’t even identify with it without the bad. Although war is what Ares does, I’m glad he had a change of mindset when it came to Xena and realized that his efforts to revert her back to her dark side were in vain because she was looking towards the light. And unfortunately for him, her light is Gabrielle. Her true love. Her soulmate. Her twin flame. That was just something he couldn’t sever no matter what. Final touches to their memorial only include Xena’s weapons. No sais.
Girl4Music
2023-11-26 20:37:47 +0000 UTCOn the one hand, kudos to them for trying something so extreme. I have never seen another show try to pull of a drastic time jump like this. On the other... I don't think it paid off for them in the long run. They had to write out so many beloved and useful characters as we knew them (if not entirely) for this one twist. Having an adult Eve in what is quite frankly quite a cliched storyline was not at all worth giving up young Joxer, Autolycus, Minya, Najara, Cyrene, Lila, Salmoneus, etc etc. Completely agreed that this was a great episode though. There was a sense of foreboding from the start knowing that something great had been changed and the show would never be the same again. :/
Judson
2022-11-14 00:14:40 +0000 UTC
