PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
(An army on horses)
Xena: Persians?
Man: They're headed this way
THE ODDS ARE AGAINST THEM
(An army approaches)
Xena: If they reach Athens Greece is lost.
(Xena throws a sword to Gabrielle.)
TWO
Gabrielle: As in you and me?
AGAINST AN ENTIRE ARMY
(The army approaches. Xena punches a soldier. Gabrielle rides on horseback.
A soldier shoots an arrow. Gabrielle is shot in the back.)
BUT GABRIELLE'S LIFE IS ON THE LINE
(Xena holds Gabrielle while looking at the arrow.)
Xena: Poison.
(Xena opens wide double doors.)
Gabrielle: How long do I have?
AND IN THE HANDS OF FATE
(The army enters a building. Xena fights the men.)
(Xena sits by Gabrielle.)
Xena: Even in death, Gabrielle, I will never leave you.
(Xena and Gabrielle hold hands.)
Gabrielle: I love you Xena.
BATTLE ON XENA
TV GUIDE PROMO
Xena must hold off an entire Persian army single-handed---and also tend
to Gabrielle, who's been struck by a poison arrow.
As Gabrielle lies near death from a poison arrow, Xena fights off the
Persian Army.
Xena's solo efforts to stop an approaching Persian army leave
a poisoned Gabrielle to fend for herself after the duo are double-crossed by a Persian spy.
AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
1st RELEASE: 02/09/98
An AA average of --
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
HERCULES (72/413 "Armageddon, Part 1")
STAR TREK DS9 (137/613 "Far Beyond the Stars")
OUTER LIMITS (59 "Second Thoughts")
EARTH: FC (14/114 "Pandora's Box")
2nd RELEASE: 07/20/98
An AA average of Unavailable
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
SYNOPSIS:
This synopsis is by Bluesong.
Gabrielle wants to learn backflips. She practices, using the staff as a bar,
then decides to do it without the staff. Xena tells her it took her about 300
tries to learn to do backflips without the staff. Gabrielle makes the attempt
anyway and sprains her ankle. She is too proud (or embarrassed) to let Xena
look at it, but Xena tricks her and slices her boot open with a throw of the
chakram. Xena fixes up the ankle, and a man approaches and tells them the
Persian army is coming. Xena says if the Persians reach Athens, all will be
lost. She sends the man ahead to warn everyone. Gabrielle rides on Argo, and
Xena explains as they walk along that she can create a landslide at the pass
and divert the army, which would at least give the forces of Greece time to
pull together. Gabrielle suggests that Xena go ahead and leave her behind,
but Xena is worried about Persian advance scouts finding her. Gabrielle asks
Xena why she can't just use that force she utilized in Chin to attack the
army, and Xena tells her that "took a purity of essence that, well, it's gone
now."
A Spartan deserter finds them, and he offers to help Xena. Advance troops
attack them and the deserter freezes. Gabrielle goes after him, though Xena
had sent her and Argo into the woods out of the way, and she is shot in the
back with an arrow. After Xena pushes the arrow through, she realizes it had
poison on it. However, she believes she can keep Gabrielle alive because the
arrow did not hit a main artery and there should be a serum in the next town,
Tripolis. The deserter wants to help, so Xena tells him there has been a
landslide at the pass and he should go on to Tripolis ahead of them and tell
them to round up their militia. But Xena knows that the man is really a
Persian spy; she misled him so that she wouldn't have to create the landslide.
Xena and Gabrielle arrive in Tripolis to find the town burned to the ground.
The people burned it rather than let the Persians have it, Xena says. She
searches through the physician's burned home and finds no serum for Gabrielle.
She takes Gabrielle to the armory so they can make a stand. She realizes that
the main army is close at hand. She and Gabrielle argue about leaving; Xena
wants to save Gabrielle. Gabrielle argues for the greater good. Xena gives
in and prepares to fight. At one point she tries to utilize her powers as she
did in Chin (Debt II), to no avail. In anger, she kicks over the vase she was
trying to move with her mind, and Gabrielle wakes. Xena goes to her, and
finds her feverish. She speaks as if she has just met Xena and begs her to
let her go with her, to take her from Potedia. "I want so much to be like
you," Gabrielle says. "And I want to be like you," Xena replies as tears
spill from her eyes.
Gabrielle sees the Persian army enter the armory. Xena fights them off, but a
man with a double-edged sword comes in through the roof. Gabrielle watches
him slit Xena's throat. She sits up -- it was a dream. Xena lies beside her.
She reaches over and touches her. Xena gets up and they argue again about
leaving. Gabrielle says she is going to die and knows it. "I don't accept
defeat," Xena says. Then she tells Gabrielle that she is through paying for
her past. "My responsibility now is you." Gabrielle again says Xena must
stay and fight. Xena says that if this is their destiny, so be it -- she will
die fighting if Gabrielle is going to die. They clasp hands.
Xena goes outside and sends Argo away, telling her not to stop for any
stallions. Xena returns to Gabrielle and tends to her. Gabrielle says she is
just diverting Xena's attention from the fight. "But you're my source,
Gabrielle .... don't you know that by now?" Xena tells her. She throws
Gabrielle over her shoulder and carries her up a ladder to a loft. She hoists
a pot of boiling liquid up there as well and tells Gabrielle to push it over
when the Persians are near the ladder. Gabrielle says the liquid will fall on
Xena -- Xena says if the soldiers have gotten that far it won't matter.
Gabrielle says she hopes that Xena knows she never meant for Xena to be hurt
in China. Xena tells Gabrielle that she is her best friend, "my family. I
love you." They hug and part, not expecting to see one another again until
they reach the other side.
The Persians arrive, and Xena fights. She blows fire, slashes, cuts, dices
and splices -- true Xena fighting. She manages to get out of the way and
yells for Gabrielle to throw over the pot of liquid, which she does. Xena
goes out on the roof of the armory and fights some more. She is injured when
a soldier slices her arm, but she keeps fighting. She looks down and sees
that the spy from before is going to stab Gabrielle, so she kills him. She
fights more soldiers in the armory. They get her down and suddenly she comes
roaring back. She catches an arrow in mid-air and then sticks it in a
soldier. She watches him crawl to a vile with the antidote in it, then she
kills him. She brings the army to a standstill, and tells them, "go home,
there are thousands more like me." She takes the antidote to Gabrielle, but a
few straggling Persians attack her. She fights them off and gives the
antidote to Gabrielle. Gabrielle asks Xena how badly she's hurt, and Xena
says she is okay. Gabrielle tells Xena she still owes her a new pair of
boots.
COMMENTARY:
This commentary is by Beth Gaynor.
After so many wild and experimental episodes, getting back to the classic
recipe is a welcome return. Lots of fights, plenty of angst, Gab in danger, Xena dangerously peeved, a
healthy dash of humor, mix in cheese, corn and spice, stir vigorously, cook for 45 minutes. It's nice to get
back to the basics.
This was a mirror flip of The Greater Good. This time, it was Gabrielle dying by
inches while a battle was being waged around her. It was interesting to watch the roles get reversed. Hey,
Xena's died at least twice on Gabrielle; Gab owed her one.
What a lovefest of an episode. Guess the writers wanted to make up for Rift
lost time and give our ladies plenty of heart-to-heart warm and fuzzy time. It was cornball, sure, but hey, they
owe us some sugar after all that salt.
Gabrielle, inventor of the first Xena action figure! And with convenient carrying
case. Apparently, pre-Mycenean garb comes with standard bosom pockets. Xena uses hers to carry her
breast dagger, Gabrielle totes her Xena dollie. And I'm not makin' any more comments than that.
The history buff in me got a kick out of this setup. Marathon was a real battle,
and Pheidippides, the runner that Xena and Gabrielle met, was the man who ran 26 miles to tell Athens
about Marathon (which the Greeks won in real history), dying of exhaustion after the long run. The pass of
Thermopylae was an actual battle site, too. A small band of Greeks was defeated, but used the pass to hold
off a swarm of Persians long enough for the main Greek army to escape. Once again, XenaStaff uses just
enough "real" history/mythology/legend to give a story a jump start, then turns it on its ear.
Glad to see that the swift little "use the force, Luke" trick Xena pulled in Chin
hasn't been forgotten compeletely, although the writers aren't making it available to Xena any time she
needs an extra ace up her sleeve (thank goodness). And it makes sense: Can Xena be free of will, desire,
and hate, when Athens is on the line, Gabrielle's dying beside her, and the Persian cavalry is about to ride
down on her head? Not too likely.
Renee O'Connor has mentioned how often she has to cry on the show, so it
must be noted: Gabrielle got to stay dry-eyed the whole ep, but Xena was the one with leaking eyes. Hope
you enjoyed the break, Renee!
Xena tries three separate times to leave the Persians behind and get Gabrielle
to help. The first time was after they found out Tripolis had no antidote. Second time was when they realized
the arrow had hit Gab's lungs and how little time she had available. Third was in the middle of the night as
Gabrielle worsened. Each time, it took more determination from Gabrielle to keep Xena there. By the final
attempt, Xena was willing to declare her quest for redemption over and pitch her whole quest in favor of
keeping Gabrielle safe. Now _that's_ desperation. But Gabrielle still manages to keep Xena on the straight
and narrow, keep her vision clear. No wonder Xena calls Gab her source.
We watch two hallucinations from Gabrielle during the night: the beginning of
her life with Xena, which we see from Xena's perspective as Gabrielle feverishly whispers "You gotta take
me with you. Teach me everything you know. You can't leave me here...", which were her exact words from
SINS OF THE PAST (before going on to talk about philosophers and prophesies - were those going to be
Gabrielle's backup arguments if Xena hadn't cut her off?). That scene, by the way, was my favorite in the
episode for "gets ya right here" value. The second hallucination was the end of her life with Xena, which we
see from Gabrielle's perspective; her dream of Xena's death as they're overrun by the Persians.
Loved the effect of Gabrielle's line "Then honor my memory." The way it was
shot, the way it was said... it was the voice of a living ghost.
After Xena's line about meeting their destiny together, she's planning on dying
in the battle alongside Gabrielle. Through the rest of her preparations, her goodbye to Gabrielle, and the
fight, she's counting on taking as many of them with her as possible. But the moment she gets the poisoned
arrow, a plan flares, and her tactics change. That's the point when she figures out a way for Gabrielle to
survive - and where Gab survives, she does, too.
This episode gave us a grim, clear picture of how a Warrior Princess is
supposed to die. I saw it two or three times over during the episode's big battle; buried under a dozen men,
overwhelmed at last. Xena managed to break her way free, of course, but it was still a vivid image of a
warrior's death.
Pogo spear! Check the "boing!" sound effect as Xena bounces from side to
side to stomp on Persians. The comic relief was a nice break in the midst of all the battle nastiness. This
fight put Xena through the wringer unlike anything we've seen. By halfway through, she's sweaty. By the
time it's over, she's bloodied, bruised, dirty, and soaked in sweat.
Nice effect of the ground shaking under the pounding of 300+ horses. I think
XenaStaff must have used up their horsie budget for the whole season on this episode. (With the help of
some stock footage.)
The strange Rift timeline still haunts us. Gabrielle apologized for Chin, but
nothing about Hope and Solan? Was that because she figures Illusia didn't quite cover Chin? Or was this
supposed to occur before Maternal Instincts? (I doubt that.)
I'd heard that Lucy is no longer doing the fire-breathing trick in the name of not
endangering the life of the star unless absolutely necessary. This must be the first faked fire-breathing; the
flame is entirely too straight and there's not enough force behind Xena's breath for the flame we see. Ah
well, it was cool while it lasted. But it *would* be awfully tough to explain why Xena had no eyebrows all of a
sudden; better to play it safe.
FACTS SCHMACTS:
This observation is by CR.
There are major historical problems with this episode, and even bigger
geographical ones. To highlight this, let's just review what the episode
says about the Persian invasion:
The Persians have defeated the Athenian and Spartan armies at Marathon
and are advancing on Athens by the shortest route, the pass at Thermopylae.
Xena bluffs them into thinking the pass is blocked, so they head round
the mountain via Tripolis, in the vicinity of which Xena stops their
advance guard.
Almost everything in that paragraph is wrong.
The Persians lost at Marathon, it was a great Athenian victory.
The Spartans weren't even there. The shortest route to Athens, just 20
miles away, is certainly not via Thermopylae, which is 90 miles the other
side of Athens. So is Tripoli (Tripolis?), but in a different direction. And
on a more minor point, if the ladies are heading to Thessaly, it's more
than a days' journey away - 150 miles, more like 10 days.
The way it really happened, very briefly, was:
(WARNING: History lesson follows. Some accounts conflict):
Athens sided with Greek city-states in Ionia (western Turkey) in rebelling against
Persian rule. In 490 BC, Darius of Persia sent an army by sea against Athens,
they landed at Marathon, 20 miles due east of the city. Athens sent a runner to
Sparta for help, he covered the 140 miles in under two days. However, the
only troops that arrived in time were a contingent from the small city-state
of Plataea, just north-west of Athens.
The greatly outnumbered Greeks quite unexpectedly routed the Persians,
killing those who could not escape to their ships in time. Then they hurried
the 20 miles back to Athens to get there before the Persian fleet. The
Persians went home.
Ten years later, 480BC, Darius' son Xerxes crossed the Hellespont with a
huge army and marched through northern Greece (all the small towns
wisely surrendering without a fight) and headed south towards Athens. At
the 'pass' of Thermopylae (actually a track along the coast) a Greek
defending force was outflanked by a contingent of Persians who were shown
a path through the mountains by a traitor. While most of the Greeks withdrew,
a small force of 300 Spartans stayed and fought to the last man.
The Athenians abandoned their city to the Persian invaders, but the Greek
fleet outmanouvred and defeated the bigger Persian fleet at Salamis;
Xerxes went home, leaving an army in Greece. In 479BC, a Greek army
headed by the Spartans defeated the Persian force at Plataea, while a
Greek fleet surprised the Persian navy at Mycale in Ionia. This was the
end of the major Persian invasion, though some mopping-up remained
to be done.
Thus the tiny Greek city-states had defeated the greatest empire in
the world, a quite amazing achievement. This is why some Greek
Xenites hate ONE AGAINST AN ARMY for what it
does to their history. I just hate what it does to geography. How could
Xena in her right mind say that the shortest route from Marathon to
Athens is via Thermopylae?
The only weak explanation I can come up with is that Gabrielle was
still out of it from the after-effects of arrow poison when she wrote
that scroll. Or maybe Xena used it for rubbing Argo down or
whatever they do to horses, and wrecked it. Somebody should
have given the writers a map!!
Contrast this with the sense of history shown in WHEN IN ROME,
where the writers took the known facts and skilfully wove a story around
them. Crassus, the third member of the triumvirate, and disliked by
Caesar and Pompey his co-rulers, was killed in Syria. In XWP, Xena
spirited him to Rome, where he was executed anonymously as no-one
in Rome except his rivals recognised him. This fits neatly into history with
a minimum of conflicts, quite unlike OAAA.
Footnote: The Persian empire, it appears, was not particularly despotic,
being content to let its subject states get on with their lives and religions so
long as they paid their due tribute. And an intriguing aside: At the naval
battle of Salamis, Xerxes noted that the most energetic of his naval
commanders was the only woman amongst them, Artemisia, ruler of Caria,
and said "My men have become women, and my women, men". A real
warrior princess?
Reference: Ancient Greece, Thomas R Martin, Yale University Press.
Studies in Ancient Greece, ed. Diane Hennessy, Thomas Nelson Australia.
WHIMPERS, MURMURS, AND A LOVE GONE TOO
FAR
11-13-98. From Beth Gaynor. At the Cherry Hill NJ Convention (08/98), Sharon Delaney, president of the Official XENA Fanclub, discussed Renee O'Connor. O;Connor's a very thoughtful, involved actress
who muses out her characters' thoughts and motivations for every scene. According to Delaney, she can tell you exactly why Gabrielle did anything in any moment. For example, Delaney asked about why Gabrielle stroked Xena's hair after
having her nightmare/vision about Xena's death. According to O'Connor, Gabrielle was thinking that this may be their last night on earth, and pondering how beautiful Xena was.
02-01-98. In the promo for this episode, Xena is seen telling Gabrielle that
she'll never leave her, even in death. WOW!!! Now **THAT'S** a committment if I ever heard one. Also, it's
quite a leap from "I'm gonna kill you" which was the previous week's mantra. Looks like Xena needs some
lithium to keep those mood swings in check!And I bet Gabrielle is due some prozac...
HISTORICAL STUFF
From Grolier's Multimedia encyclopedia:
This fragment from a sarcophagus captures the action of the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), a decisive
Athenian victory during the Persian Wars. Although the Athenian army was greatly outnumbered, under the
strategic command of Miltiades and with the aid of Plataean troops they defeated the Persian army on the
Plain of Marathon, 32 km (20 mi) from Athens. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)...
The Battle of Marathon, fought in 490 BC on a plain northeast of Athens,
was a triumph for the Greek forces as they repelled a major Persian
invasion during the Persian Wars.
Again, also courtesy the handy Grolier's and some of Bret's old college
texts):
According to legend, in 490 BC a Greek soldier named Phidippides ran the 36.2 km (22.5 mi) from the site
of the battle of Marathon to Athens, where he died after announcing the Greek victory over the Persians.
The modern marathon commemorates this feat, and, appropriately, a Greek, Spiridon Loues, won the first
modern Olympic marathon.
Also looks like they mixed up elements of the 2nd and 3rd Persian Wars in
Greece.
The second invasion had the Battle of Marathon, and the third was the one
where the Greek Army holding the pass at Thermopylae was wiped out (the Greeks later won, but the
holding action bought them time to get organised). A mention of the history booksfrom Grollier's:
Thermopylae is a pass in Greece lying between Mount Oeta and the Gulf of
Malia's southern shore. Because of its strategic importance on the route
from Thessaly to Locris, it was the site of three notable battles in
ancient history. In 480 BC the Spartans under Leonidas heroically
defended Thermopylae against the huge Persian army of Xerxes l (see
Persian Wars).
HIGHLIGHTS:
From Beth. "Look at you now," Xena marvels at Gabrielle's bravery. But to me,
the growth from Gab this episode wasn't in bravery. Gab's always been long on courage, and has faced
death with guts before. The surprising thing was Gabrielle's work with that pot of boiling oil. Gabrielle has
always blanched at the idea of taking the life and death of others into her hands. In episodes like THE
PRICE, we've seen that Gab hates the idea of necessary death, and will wiggle and squirm any way she
can to avoid it. Not so this time. Xena gives Gab her instructions to dump that oil, and when Xena calls for it,
even though Gabrielle probably can't see for sure whether she's dumping the oil right onto Xena, she crawls
over and dumps the couldron without hesitation.
From Beth. They managed to make an arrow removal scene even more painful
than the one Xena went through in Chariots of War, by making it slower, blast it all. Wow, that hurt. Kudos to
the effect of pulling the shaft out of Gabrielle's shoulder. That gave me the willies all the way through the
next commercial break.
From Beth. Greatest bluff of the century: "Go home, there are thousands more
like me!" I laughed for five minutes. If she could have produced Meg, Diana, and Leah on the spot, the
entire cavalry would have probably died of heart attacks.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT
FOR
02-24-98. From CR. The dialog:
Gabrielle: How many campfires?
Xena: 30 or 40.
Gabrielle: 10 or so men per fire. That's good. For a minute there
I thought we were in trouble.
Is there anybody who didn't recognise this as being closely
adapted from the last minutes of 'Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid'?
02-24-98. From Nikalaos.
Thermopalae is not only a place, but in the Herc & Xenaverse, it's the name of Herc and Iolaus' special
move when Iolaus does a back roll over Herc and they end up on opposite sides to kick b*tt.
From Bret. In the grander sense, the ep itself in an homage to the
film 300 SPARTANS, in which 300 men held the pass at Thermoppalae against an invading Persian army
(the timeline is wide traversed once again). Gabrielle makes allusion to this when she asks if what they are
about to do isn't "something you have to try 300 times".
From Bret. In the teaser, Gabrielle says she's got "everything worked out" in
how to do the flip. She pulls a small figure from her BGSB to demonstrate. This is an homage to Peter Bell,
the stunt coordinator on the show, who in fact works out all the stunts using little figures and such.
From Bret. Also in the teaser, Xena tells the runner going from Marathon
carrying a warning to "pace himself" because "a run like that could kill you". The legend, of course, states
that is exactly what happened -- a runner carrying warning of an invading army dropped dead after
delievering his message.
From Bret. Gabrielle mentions the title of another ep where the roles are
reversed (Gabby takes care of poisoned Xena) THE GREATER GOOD.
From Bret. It was also asked about Xena using her "power" that we saw in
THE DEBT. TPTB had expressed concern that people would think Xena had some new power after
that ep aired. We see Xena trying to do it in a moment of meditation in OAA but she can't.
From Bret. When Xena readies a pot of boiling liquid and drags it across the
floor to place it, it's half empty. When Gabrielle empties it onto the invaders, it's
full to the top.
From Beth. MAJOR blooper alert: the second time that Xena makes a stand at
the front door, watch closely. Every time they show her from behind, even while she's swinging her sword,
her scabbard still has her sword in it. Other shots show the scabbard empty.
From Beth. Funny; Tripolis looks an awful lot like Laurel (Hower and Minya's
hometown from A Day in the Life), just filmed from the opposite end.
From Beth. Watch Argo's right shoulder when Xena sends her away from the
battle. There are numbers - our style, Arabic (is Argo an Arabian?) numbers - branded on her shoulder.
They're gone for the far shot of her rearing.
TRANSCRIPT
Click here to read a transcript of ONE AGAINST AN ARMY .
DISCLAIMER:
Gabrielle's ankle was harmed during the production
of this motion picture.
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