Death in Chains

This episode was very interesting, and made a very interesting point. Death is good? Can this be? Yes. In this episode, every good, wonderful reason for dying is pointed out and magnified to such detail that you'd think everyone was looking forward to the day they die.

Synopsis
This episode starts with a woman in a long flowing nightgown, carrying a candle, and gliding along the ground, arriving at the front entrance to a castle. One of the guards touches her, dies, and the others run away. She enters the castle and is tricked into sitting down at a chair. King Sisyphus, the guy who tricks her, wants her captured so that he and everyone else in the world can have eternal life.

Xena and Gabrielle walk through a field with a bunch of apple trees. In the background, old women are picking the apples. Xena says something, then Gabrielle, in a previously unheard of, unseen outfit, says she can pick her own apples or something like that and reaches up to grab one off a tree.

An arrow impales the apple as Gabrielle watches in horror. Xena looks in front of them to see a band of warriors led by Toxeus. Toxeus, like every other demented warlord, wants Xena to join him. Of course she says no, so they have to fight. Xena skewers the guy and leaves, Gabrielle tagging along.

As the two are traveling down a road, a bottomless pit opens up in front of them. Xena forces Gabrielle into hiding and unsheathes her sword, ready for a fight. Up from the pit appears a guy with slicked back hair, a weird expression on his face. Xena prepares to fight him, but he assures her that it's okay; that he only needs her help. She recognizes him as Hades, god of the underworld. Hades tells Xena that his sister Celesta has been captured and he needs her to rescue the girl. Xena knows that Celesta is Death, and that without her, no one on earth will be able to die. She says she'll help him, gathers Gabrielle, and leaves.

Toxeus, like the idiot that he is, returns to his men. They are surprised to see him alive, and are disgusted at the sickening wound in his stomach that should have killed him. He tells them about how everyone will now live forever. They don't believe him, of course, and so he proceeds to give them all mortal wounds to prove his point. They follow him with the intent on getting Xena.

Xena and Gabrielle come along a field where there are a bunch of wounded or sick men and women. Xena stops to help a man who is in extreme pain but cannot die. No one seems to know that Death has been captured, and that they will live forever. Gabrielle meets a charming young man who tells a story to a wounded man she is swabbing. Yes folks, she's swabbing. It may be that we've actually seen the start of her obsession here. Xena hands Gabrielle a rag and some water and tells her to go help the other people. Xena, what have you done? You've created a monster!

The young man's name is Talus, and he's really nice to Gabrielle. She seems to be falling in love with him, though she seems to be doing that a lot here in Season One. Seems like every guy she sets her eyes on she falls in love with. Anyway, Xena tells Gabrielle to go get some water and the Gabster goes off with the guy to do Xena's bidding. Of course, who knows if she ever comes back with the water, because the next thing you know, Toxeus is back for more He attacks Gabrielle and Talus, beats up the guy, and Xena comes to save the day.

Seeinng that Toxeus can't be beat because he can't be killed, Xena uses her chakram as a circular saw and drops a huge tree branch on him. He can't get up because of how heavy the thing is, and so Xena is free to leave, not worried about him. She tells Gabrielle and Talus to stay somewhere safe and goes off alone to free death.

Toxeus gets free of Xena's trap and tells his men to split up and follow both Xena, Gabrielle and Talus. The men rant and rave and chase after Xena and Gabrielle.

Xena knows the stupid warriors are following her. She speeds up, getting out of their sight for a moment, and propels herself into a nearby tree. The warriors, who wouldn't know a trap if it hit them in the face, stop and stare dumbly at Xena's horse. The warrior princess bellows her war cry and jumps on them, knocking them out.

Gabrielle is at some hospital-type place with Toxeus. She's swabbing a very old woman on the head when the woman starts to talk to her. Thinking that she's the only one with enough meaningless things to say, Gabrielle listens intently to the old woman's insane story. She tells Gabrielle that she died and went to the other side, but came back. Gabrielle tells her about how Death has been captured and how Xena is going off to save her. The old woman taunts Gabrielle by telling her that whoever touches Death will die. Gabrielle feels obligated to go warn Xena, and reluctantly takes Talus along with her to King Sisyphus's castle.

Xena breaks into the castle very easily, via the front entrance. After stopping a guy in the hall, Sisyphus appears in front of her out of nowhere and spats meaningless jibberish. She looks surprised as he disappears into thin air again, but her surprise turns to horror as the floor falls from beneath her. She falls for seemingly miles, finally stopping her mad descent by grabbing onto a hanging skeleton's arm. At first she doesn't know what she's holding onto, but looks up and grimaces in disgust at the cobweb-covered bones. The arm that she's holding onto starts to break and she falls, seemingly to her doom. Of course, no one can die, but of course Xena might not have died from that anyway.

Talus leads Gabrielle into Sisyphus's castle the back way with a few smiles and soft words. The girl follows blindly. Just behind them, though, are Toxeus's men, who spring a surprise assault in some hallway. Gabrielle and Talus start to blab on about medical stuff, then run for it. Gabrielle runs up a flight of stairs. Talus is about to follow, but the stairs flatten out and he falls into a hole.

Meanwhile, Xena is getting up from where she fell. She hears a strangely distorted scream as Talus appears from a tube. Talus tells Xena that him and Gabrielle were coming to warn her not to touch Death. Xena exclaims something close to "I know that, you idiot", and tries to find a way out. The closest thing around is a sewer hole or something like that, and they take the chance and go into it.

Gabrielle is running into trouble of her own, and hides behind a curtain to get away from some ugly-looking dumb guys who hear noises and get suspicious of the curtain. Thank the gods for Gabrielle's sake that a fat rat climbs around her head for awhile then decides to run out the bottom of the curtain. The stupid warrior guys think the rat was making all the noise, and so they step on the rat and don't think to look behind the curtain.

Xena and Talus climb through the sewer system, which is barely big enough for them. All of a sudden, there is a torrential downpour of rats not predicted by the weather man that morning, and they hurry along, trying to get away from the rodents. Finding another hatch-like contraption, they get out of the sewers and are now in a hallway of the castle. Sisyphus's wife comes along and tells them she'll help them. They don't believe her at first, but grudgingly agree. Xena says to hurry, but Talus starts to have a pain in his chest and has to stop. Xena finds out that he's been sick for a year, and hasn't even told Gabrielle about it. They continue on, Xena feeling worse about having to free Death.

Sisyphus thinks he's got it all figured out, and traps who he thinks is Xena in a cage. He finds out it's really his wife, and Xena's standing behind him. Quickly realizing his mistake, he is easily convinced to let Death go by the groveling Toxeus, the begging wife, and the silently encouraging Xena. Gabrielle pops in somewhere around now, and is very glad to see Xena and Toxeus, the people who mean the most to her right now. They go to let Death go, but of course nothing in the Xenaverse can be easy...

Sisyphus is using a really big key to unshakle Celesta, but Toxeus pounces on the people in the room and tells them that he won't let them free Death. He still wants Xena with him, and she tells him that he can have her if he can run her through. The idiot and his men think they can, and so go after Xena. Xena, having so many skills, takes care of the men and sends her trusty chakram flying, cutting Death's bonds and therefore freeing her. Everything is all nice and wonderful and Death kills all the men who were stupid enough to let Toxeus stab them. Sisyphus is ready to die, but Death tells him it's not his time yet. Think, all that trouble for nothing. Celesta is really after Talus.

Gabrielle is not very happy about this, and tries to pull a guilt trip on the sister of Hades by pointing out that they helped save her. Celesta is ready to back off, but Talus wants to go. He says some comforting words to Gabrielle and leaves the realm of the living peacefully, saying something the equivilant of "I'll see you again real soon!".

Gabrielle and Xena share a rare silent moment as they watch Talus go wherever he's headed, and the episode ends.

Commentary
This episode was pretty good, but yet again Gabrielle is falling for the first guy she meets. Shouldn't she know by now that Xena is the only one for her? Of course, she's just an annoying little brat who just happens to have the heart of a lion and the soul of...something good. I guess she's entitled to a few mistakes. This guy was actually pretty good for her, though. He told stories, did dumb and idiotic things, liked to swab...need I say more?

Here's a little scene cut from the episode where Gabrielle gets a little too preoccupied for her own good.

(Xena tells Gabrielle to go get some water. Gabrielle takes a bucket and heads off with Talus, mumbling to herself until he realizes that he's there. She drops the bucket in the water and waits for it to fill up, all the while trying to make conversation with Talus.)
Gabrielle: "So, how do you know all that wonderful stuff?"
Talus: "Books. I love to read."
Gabrielle: "Oh...oh yeah, you said that."
(Talus hands Gabrielle a flower and she stares into her reflection, thinking thoughts of happiness, peace, and prosperity. Talus looks up at a man who has appeared before the two lovebirds. Toxeus grabs Talus by the throat and begins to choke him. Talus manages to strangle out a few words.)
Talus: "Gabrielle? GABRIELLE! HELP!!"
Gabrielle: "Go away, Xena. I'm thinking about Talus. I hope he's around until the day I die."
Talus: "Gabrielle! It's me, Talus!!"
(Gabrielle continues to wistfully stare at herself, unaware of her surroundings. As usual, Xena comes along to save the day. She beats Toxeus up and traps him under a large tree branch.) Xena: "Gabrielle, are you out of your mind?"
Talus: "Don't bother."
(Gabrielle doesn't answer to Xena's calls. Xena shakes the girl, who stretches and blinks her eyes as if just waking up from a long nap.)
Gabrielle: "What is it, Xena?"
(Xena only glares and walks away, wondering what Gabrielle had been so wrapped up in thinking about. The scene fades to noises of Talus attempting to get Gabrielle's attention.)

Could this ever actually happen? I'd like to say no, but with the season one Gabrielle, nothing is impossible. I just hope she doesn't get so mixed up with every other average-to-cute-looking guy that she sees. It would be a horrible waste.

Quotable Quotes
"Your time will come, Sisyphus. But right now there is someone who needs me more." -Celesta to Sisyphus

"You don't have to take him! You owe us! We saved your life!" -Gabrielle to Celesta

"Another needless death." -Xena to no one in particular

"Whoever touches Death will die." -Old woman to Gabrielle

"My people are celebrating eternal life!" -King Sisyphus to Xena

"I'm a big fan. For awhile there, though, you were keepin' us pretty busy down there." -Hades to Xena

G: "Where did you learn that?"
T: "Books."

Memorable Moments
Gabrielle falling hopelessly in love with a guy she met not even 24 hours ago.
Xena and Talus being attacked by hordes of falling rats.
Talus "going peacefully."
Hades appearing from a chasm in the road and speaking nicely to Xena.
King Sisyphus thinking he can cheat death and get away with it as long as Xena is around.