NattyN1855

It was fun. More fun that I expected. 4 points of view of the same situation - and we have 4 different situations at all. Actually, 4 stories in 1 episode. Cool! And when I can say - Dite is THE BEST bard of them. (sorry, Gabby) And Ares... well, it was second time he tried be the bard, and really it would be better for us if he had yielded to Xena's advice and hadn't taken that job.

Finally we can see Ares who has understood amenity of mortal life, not only dangerous, adventures.. love -- but usual every-day-troubles. Don't know about others, but I waited it since the end of 9 season. To his credit be it said, he held out a long time.

As for Xena, I'm surprised (unpleasant) that she left little boy with two drunken men. But then, her search of being alone was another thing I waited for a long time.

And of course, Dite and Haephy made my morning, day, weekend. Super! I'm happy that the farm was be handled by Haephestus, because I almost imagine new look of house. Great! (maybe Xena disagree with it, but it is her problems ) I always knew that Haeph has 'business grip'. And of course, it was nice to remember Salmoneus, and his book (hi, 'Dear Salmoneus'), especially because I used to think (after LotW) that he died in destitution. So, good news!

Ares finally remembered that he had another dog, before Horace. (poor Greg ) As for Horace itself, "it's not fair!" (c) Ok, his master has become mortal. Very well. It was his choice (again), his love etc. But what does the dog have to do with it? Why Horace must become ordinary dog? Objection!

And one thing is food for thought for us, shippers. Now we know that Dite changes facts easily, for 'interest'. And do we have a guarantee that Gabrielle's scrolls (and show is based on that scrolls) were NOT changed by one ditzy blonde goddess... or ex-goddess? Goddess who was the first shipper, as we can see. What do you say?

p.s. Family show??? Oh, so now XWP is _family_ show? And I guess, it was SUCH family show in WFC, or AU.

And another thought. Afterthought, probably.
Drunken Ares... whimpering Ares... Suddenly knowing he is mortal Ares... I'm not sure I like such Ares. And not sure Xena likes such Ares. It is ridiculous ex facte but it becomes uncomfortable... when you come to think of it.
Oh maybe it's just me.

Yes, it was spell. And it was also spell when Ares had tried to kill Xena in CH. And it was also spell when Hercules had killed Serene. Only one thing. All that spells didn't change person's nature. People forget all restraint, lose control, you can say, but they didn't lose themselves.

And what grieves is fact that Ares is _able_ be whimperer. We cannot believe that Herc killed his wife - nearly OOC. But we believe in Ares' anger, or Ares' whimpering.

I make no doubt Ares didn't show weakness before Xena. (and we remember that in other case, before his brother - and there was no Xena around -- Ares had not thought it necessary to maintain his reputation) Ares didn't show weakness before Xena first time. But we know, all men are babies, and ex-gods even less so.

It's simple to imagine that Ares could use to be a mortal, after all his experiences. (10? less? but who's counting? =) ). But hey, if you're losing the use of both legs and learning that you have only two days to live (c) - how long will it take to get used to it?

CasualFan

So, the first thing I thought after reading this episode was, "Wow - the Three Stooges do Rashomon! " The multiple-account gimmick was quite clever, and even though there was a spell complicating things, it was a revealing glimpse of the difficulties these disparate personalities could face having to accept themselves and each other.

I enjoyed the drunk scene between Ares and Haeph, although I'm sure Elfrieda is far too genteel to have witnessed such an episode first-hand. Ares' whininess and Xena's crankiness (as perceived by each other) were both fun and quite easy to believe, as were the difficulties all of the ex-gods had in dealing with mortality. At least Discord won't have to worry about it, although her demise in this one is a little less dramatic than watching her head fly across the screen in Motherhood.

Lots of shout-outs to X:WP and H:TLJ eps - Love Takes A Holiday, Love, Amazon Style, The Green-Eyed Monster, Old Ares Had A Farm, Many Happy Returns - even a reference to you are there when Genia starts discussing her virginity with the words, "Well, technically . . . " The horsetext was pretty thick, too!

Reading Gab's bitter lines about love and life, I have to wonder if she misses Joxer. Her love for Haimon, while strong and mutual, was filled with contradictions and complexities, while her relationship with Xena frequently epitomized the word "dysfunction." Joxer was the one adult who loved Gab without reservation and without conflicts with other relationships or commitments (Xena with Ares, Haimon's search for his own place, etc.), and that may have provided her with a comfort she never realized she had until it was gone.

Fun episode, and a nice change of pace from the heavy drama - good job, Elfrieda and Aurora!

Gabfan23

A change of pace, some funny bits and always nice to see Aphrodite. Particularly funny was the horse's conversation.

danajala

For me it was a very, very good comedy I've just loved the mean conversations between Xena and Ares because I was waiting to see something like that. Every couple has that kind of problems, right? Our ex-god of war was soooo irritating as a mortal, but sweet at the same time I really liked Argo and her theory about X/A problems image And the penultimate scence...could have been a little bit longer image Great episode, but I can't wait to read some more drama

secular atrophy

Great comedy! I found myself going with the flow of the story and not thinking overly much about details. Nice and light, brightened up my day. (Discord's appearance was a bit of a sad moment, but I still liked it. Her last stand outlook made me respect her for the first time in... ever. She's going to face the void laughing. Lovely.)

Sais 2 Cool

i've fallen behind with my shipper season episodes . glad i finally got the chance to read this today. it was very cute. i especially loved argo's conversation with the other horse .

another favorite bit was gabby's introduction to her version of the story: "My tale begins with the sound of weeping..." i groaned right along with xena and ares.

'dite had a lot of great lines but i think the absolute best (and most in character) was: "Xeeeena, you have to help us! Well, me, at least!" . awesome stuff .

great ep!