6-01 Coming Home

First airing was Oct. 2, 2000.

The story starts out with soldiers carrying shields walking through the woods with Amazons watching
and hiding.

Xena, Gabrielle, and Eve are walking through a clear-cut burned up forest. Gabrielle wonders who
would burn the Amazon forest. Xena says Ares sent a message for them to meet him there.

Back to the soldiers and Amazons - fighting. Xena, Gabrielle and Eve hear this and run to save the
day. The Amazons are losing until they hear Xena's war cry. Everyone fights. Eve hesitates, then
throws a couple of soldiers around. The soldiers run away.

After the battle, introductions are made. The queen is Marga; her second in command is Varia. They
know who X&G are. Marga tells Xena she needs to kill one more god - Ares.

Xena tells Gabrielle to go with them while she check outs Ares and his army.

In Ares' tent, he is trying to kill a pesky fly but fails. Xena is there, catches the fly, and
makes fun of him. He says the Amazons have Ambrosia and he wants it to regain his god-hood. She
says she will help him destroy the Amazons if he will give her control of his army. He is
suspicious until she tells him being good isn't fun. Gabrielle comes in and agrees with Xena.

Varia tells Eve she looks familiar. Varia want to fight her but Eve walks away.

Eve joins Xena and Gabrielle in Ares' tent. She says she should lead his army, not Xena. Xena
suggests that once they have the Ambrosia, they should split it four ways. Ares looks happy.

After he leaves his tent, Xena, Gabrielle and Eve change into the Furies. They want vengeance on
Xena for killing the gods. But if Ares dies the path will be cleared for them to rule mankind.

A soldier brings Ares new armor, but the Furies looking like X,G,&E buzz around him (only Ares can
see them), making him seem to be insane to his men as they argue. Back in his tent, the real Xena
and Gabrielle come in and everyone is confused. He tells them there is going to be a war and Xena
guesses the Furies are making him act like he lost his mind.

Outside Ares sees the Furies as XG&E, and Xena and Gabrielle. But he goes along with the Furies and
he and him men leave to battle the Amazons.

Xena throws her Chakram to cause a landslide at a narrow pass and it fills with boulders that have
to be cleared away.

In the Amazon camp, Varia and Eve compare battle scars. Varia talks Eve into teaching her defensive
moves. When Eve shows her best move, Varia recognizes it and knows she is Livia. When X&G return to
the camp, Eve has a collar with ropes attached and being held by Amazons, who want to kill her.

Xena tells them Ares' armies coming and they need to run away. Marga says they will stay and fight.
She tells them Livia's army attacked them at night. Eve confesses she sold them into slavery.
Gabrielle challenges Marga to save Eve. Marga says that after the fight is finished they will deal
with Eve, and has her tied up in a hut.

Varia threatens Eve as Xena comes in. Xena tells the that even though Eve's actions were
unforgivable, she is still her daughter. She asks Eve why she never told her and she couldn't
because of how much the Amazons mean to X&G. Xena says she knows how hard it is to say I'm sorry to
someone you love. She then apologizes to Gabrielle for hitting her with her Chakram. Gabrielle says
she knew it was the Furies and Xena was only saving Eve's life.

Ares is urging his men to work faster clearing the pass. Fury-Xena appears and makes fun of Ares
for being so pathetic. He argues and fights her even though his men can't see her.

Once again Xena tries to talk the Amazons out of fighting Ares' soldiers.

The Amazons confront the soldiers and Ares. He dismounts and tells Marga if they will give him the
Ambrosia he'll think about being nice. Xena shows up and she and Ares have a fist fight. Xena gets
on her horse and rides off. Ares follows. Without Ares to lead them, the soldiers back off and run
away. Ares chases Xena on horseback.

Gabrielle unties Eve and they grab a bunch of furs.

Xena and Ares stop to fight at the edge of a mostly ice covered lake. She throws her Chakram at
him but misses. They fist fight again. Xena is mostly winning but a solid punch knocks her into the
lake and she comes up under the ice. Ares watches her as she dies. The Furies leave his head and
laugh at what he's done. Just then, the Chakram returns and kills all three of them at once.

Ares dives into the water and brings Xena to the shore. Gabrielle and Eve run up and try to warm
Xena to bring her back to life. Gabrielle breathes into her mouth and she wakes up in time to catch
the Chakram..

Ares is sitting on a hilltop feeling sorry for himself. Xena comes up to look at his beat up face.
He mentions how good her right jab is. She kisses him and says he was always bad for her. He
suggests now that he's mortal he might have a chance with her, like 1000 to one. She say maybe one
billion to one.

He tries to teleport but can't, and walks away.

.......

Not a bad beginning to Season Six. Tied up a few loose ends from "Motherhood." Xena apologizes to
Gabrielle for almost killing her with the Chakram. Ares is faking being a god. And Eve (much like
Xena) is starting to suffer the consequences for her violent past.

Couple of pretty good lines.

Xena and Gabrielle at the beginning -

~Gabrielle- "Maybe he [Ares] wants to see you again. After all, he does have a thing for you."

~Xena: "Nah, he wants something."

~Gabrielle: "My point exactly."

~Fury-Xena: "Do I have to be up to something? This greater good thing gets old, right?"

~Ares: "Never tried it."

~Fury-Xena: "Sure ya did. Aren't you regretting giving up your godhood? Having to
depend on others to do things for you? Bleeding like a stuck pig?"

~Ares: "Well, now you mention it."

~Fury-Xena: "And to ask me for help?"

~Ares: "Yeah -- that sucked."

Noticed that it looked like Eve was using Hapkido when she was fighting the soldiers.

Pretty handy thing, that Chakram - throw it away and it comes back just at the right
moment to destroy your enemies!

Since they cut the scene in "Motherhood" of Xena killing the Furies, I guess the writer
(Melissa Good) decided they still needed killing.

I also noticed that at the beginning almost all the soldiers were carrying shields, but
when they were fighting the Amazons, not a shield to be seen.

Didn't expect Xena to be one of the Furies. I like being surprised like that. I thought
Xena just had yet another elaborate plan with dozens of details that could go (and do) wrong.

So, the Amazons have Ambrosia. Where did they get it, and where do they hide it? Dig a
hole somewhere? No secret temples or caves that I could see (wouldn't be secret if they were in
plain sight, I suppose).

Gabrielle challenging Marga to protect Eve - way to go!

Ares, with the goofy, satisfied smile on his face, standing between Xena and Gabrielle
kind of reminded me of Joxer.

Varia looks like she is going to be a handful.

Will Marga get to put Eve on trial? Or will the three of them quietly slip away in the
night?

Kevin Smith did a good job with the loony Ares.

Also, a new set of clips during the opening credits. Well, a few old ones still there of Xena. Kind
of odd seeing new clips after five years.

..........

There was an interview clip with Lucy, Renee and Rob (mostly). And a separate one with Adrienne.
Rob said the final goodbye scene was cut in "Motherhood" due to time constraints (what's new?) but
everyone liked it, so they used it in this episode -

Xena: "You never give up, do you?"

Ares: "Ow. I guess I'm finally gettin' to ya."

Xena: "You always got to me-- but you were bad for me, Ares. You still are."

Ares: "Xena-- is there even a chance we could be together one day? I don't know, maybe,
you know-- one in a thousand?"

Xena: "More like one in a billion."

Ares: "So you're sayin' there _is_ a chance."

He also said the title referred to them coming home to Greece, and X&G coming home to each other.

Lucy said she wouldn't be quite so quick to accept Eve as Xena did if she were doing the episode
now. She didn't think Xena would be quite so forgiving of a woman she barely knew.

Adrienne said the destroyed Amazon forest was really a (my words). She said every
twenty five years trees are harvested and then replanted. And when (whoever) found out about it,
(s)he decided it would be perfect to use.

A pretty good beginning to a new season. A solid 8 out of 10.

6-01 Coming Home .... 8

Total Average ........ 8