6-07 The Rheingold

(or Rhinegold)

`First air date was Nov. 13, 2000.

The episode starts out with Xena sitting beside a campfire at night. She wearing different armor
and a helmet with wings on it. Something is moving in the woods around her. She looks at a large
gold ring, then has flashbacks of pouring molten gold into a mold and casting it. Flashback is over
and a monster comes up behind her and she fights it, driving it into a cave with iron bars. As she
wraps a chain around the bars to lock it, the monster grabs her arm and pulls it between the bars.
When she snaps a lock with two birds on it and she pulls her arm out, the ring is gone. She yells
to the monster that even though it has the ring it can never use its power because the chains will
hold it for eternity.

She then climbs onto a horse, it gallops up into the air, and she rides off.

Fast forward thirty five years to the "present."

Xena and Gabrielle are in a tavern eating. A man comes in and stares at Xena. She asks if he wants
something. He says his name is Beowulf and puts a rusty looking lock with two birds on it down on
the table. Xena tells Gabrielle she has to talk to the man.

Later, in their room, Gabrielle accuses Xena of still keeping secrets from her. But she says being
a friend is letting her keep her secrets. They go to bed. The next morning Xena is gone but leaves
a note saying she's gone to take care of unfinished business. And it is so dangerous she doesn't
think she will survive and can't ask Gabrielle to die with her again. And her love for Gabrielle is
endless.

Gabrielle follows, writing on a scroll as she does. She writes she's been traveling north for
weeks, farther than she's ever been before. She comes into a (Norse?) village and sees a tapestry
with Valkyries on it. One of them has long dark hair. Gabrielle asks a man to explain the meaning.
He can't remember the name of the woman, but a blond woman (named Brunhilda) who's been watching
Gabrielle, tells her it's Xena. Gabrielle wants to know about her, and the woman tells her Xena's
reign of terror ended 35 years ago.

Brunhilda says Xena came in from the distant land of Chin. In a flashback, Xena finds
Odin, the Norse god, tied to a tree and asks who he messed with. He says he did it to himself
because of all the strife he sees. Xena tells him it's what makes life worth living. As she talked,
he regained hope and made Xena a Valkyrie.

Xena eventually came into conflict with Odin's lover - Grinhilda, the leader of the Valkyries.

Norse soldier are running from other soldiers. They are outnumbered. Xena and Brunhilda see them
and Xena convinces them to fight for Odin and they watch as they are slaughtered.

In Odin's banquet hall in Valhalla, Xena is next to Odin. Brunhilda comes and complaining about
having to escort the dead soldiers to Valhalla. And theirs was a useless death over greed. Xena
says greed is one of the fundamentals of life. Odin agrees and Brunhilda leaves. Odin is sad,
saying he loved her once. Xena says he can live without love.

Gabrielle feels sorry for Xena. She tells Brunhilda she and Xena are friends. She wants to know
what else Brunhilda can tell her. Brunhilda tells her to camp there and she'll return that night.

Gabrielle is writing again, saying she knows Xena is trying to correct some great wrong. She hears
noises in the woods. Brunhilda attacks her. They fight and Gabrielle causes her to get cut with her
own sword. Gabrielle is knocked down, and Brunhilda says she was testing Gabrielle to see if she
(Brunhilda) was worthy to fight along side Xena.

They talk and Brunhilda tells Gabrielle she knows the woods and can help her find Xena. The next
day as they walk Brunhilda continues her story of Xena -

Odin has taught Xena how to make fire with her mind but she wants more. Then she asks Odin about
the Rheingold. He doesn't want to tell her. She says how can she give her love to him if he won't
trust her. He tells her the Rheingold is dangerous to anyone who has forsaken love.

Grinhilda tells Odin Xena is looking for the Rhine (Rhein) Maidens and wants to know how she knew
about them. Then she says he told her because Xena pretended to be in love with him. She wants
command of the Valkyries back to go after her.

Xena is on a flying horse going down the Rhine (Rhein) River to find the Rhine Maidens. Grinhilda
and three Valkyries ride after Xena. One circles around in front of her and Xena knocks her of off
horse. She uses two swords to take out two more. She and Grinhilda fight side by side then they
both fall. Tree branches break their fall to the ground. Xena recovers first and gets her sword.
She starts to kill Grinhilda, but just knocks her out, then rides off the find the Rhein (Rhine)
Maidens.

Xena dives into the water and comes up where the three Rhine maidens are swimming. One says she
loves Xena already. Xena whispers that she wants her to show her something. The maiden doesn't want
to but Xena asks how can she be a Rhine Maiden of she doesn't see it. They dive down and swim
underwater for a very long time. When they come up in a cave, Xena goes to a chest and opens it. It
contains a lump of gold - The Rhinegold. She takes it, elbows the maiden -- giving her a very
bloody nose, and swims away with it.

Next are the scenes of Xena melting the gold and making the ring. Brunhilda says Xena put the ring
on and became invincible.

Gabrielle says Xena wouldn't need the ring because she's the best fighter there is. Grinhilda says
Gabrielle must love her very much. Gabrielle says she's her best friend, but it has a price.
Grinhilda says a price worth paying, and Gabrielle agrees, and hopes Xena feels the same way.

Cut to Xena and Beowulf walking to somewhere. He is taken with Gabrielle's beauty but says neither
will live to see her again.

Brunhilda asks if Gabrielle knows why Xena has come. When she mentions Beowulf's name and the lock
with the two birds (ravens - the symbol of Odin), Brunhilda says she knows why she came north, and
she is on a suicide mission.

Beowulf and Xena come up to a large barn, tavern, or inn and there are dead, bloody bodies
everywhere. Beowulf says the beast killed 23 men including friends and two brothers. Others were
dragged off to its cave to be eaten alive. Xena tells him whatever happens she's with him. He tells
her the beast's name is Grindl. Xena says she created it.

Brunhilda wants to stop for the night but Gabrielle want to travel on. (I suppose Gabrielle's horse
couldn't carry both of them). Brunhilda says she hopes they won't run into Grindl. It was supposed
to be held in an abandoned mine held by the raven lock. And hinted the ring Xena made allowed it to
finally escape.

Grindl attacks the barn/tavern. It is wearing the gold ring. Both Xena and Beowulf stab and cut it
and both are thrown around. Xena throws her Chakram and it sticks into its neck but it doesn't die.
It throws Beowulf against a wall and everything falls down on him. It turns to a bloody Xena as she
is down and she can only look up at it.

After daybreak Gabrielle and Brunhilda get to the building. They go inside and find Beowulf. He
says Grindl dragged Xena off and doesn't know if she's alive or dead.

Gabrielle finds Xena's breastplate covered with blood.

To Be Continued.

...........

Seven for seven - another terrific episode!! And Part One of three parts.

(Before I get any farther into the comments about the story, I want to mention the people and
places. Maybe someone can reconcile them for me.

(Odin is king of the Norse gods (Norway and maybe including Scandinavia). Beowulf is Scandinavian
(who "lived" in the 6th century!). But the farthest north the Rhine (or Rhein, take you pick) River
flows is the Netherlands, nowhere near Scandinavia.

(But - OTOH, this IS the Xena-verse, so I guess things are okay after all!

(Okay back to the comments.)

And yet another adventure Xena had ten years ago (plus the twenty five years she and Gabrielle were
sleeping. This HAS to be some kind of running joke with the writers!).

So we now know what happened after Xena left Chin, and after Solan's birth and Borias' death..

More of Darth Xena. She does that SO good. And her seduction skills were never better - shed a few
tears, snuggle close, and Odin was putty in her hands!

And just watching as the soldiers died fighting against overwhelming odds.

I noticed that when Gabrielle got into bed, she still had her boots on and her sais were in place.
I guess it wasn't cold enough for them to have to share the same bed.

You would think that after all this time Xena would realize there is no way Gabrielle was going to
be left behind. And it was nice to see Gabrielle chronicling her journey as she went. She was
writing right to left. (Originally the Greeks wrote either right to left, or alternated right to
left then left to right. But 500 BC it was all left to right. So I guess Gabrielle was "old OLD
school.")

I get the feeling Brunhilda isn't quite as she seems. She was eyeing Gabrielle a bit too much when
she first hit town, even before she knew who she was and why she was there.

I also noticed that when Xena and Beowulf entered the building, the last guy we saw had an
axe sticking out of his chest. Someone missed Grindl, I suppose - collateral damage.

I kind of liked Beowulf, and for a change he was smitten with Gabrielle rather than Xena.

Right at the beginning, Grindl looked a lot like Hope's offspring, The Destroyer, until we got a
better look at him during the final fight.

I guess the ability to kill gods doesn't automatically guarantee the destruction of a beast
that is invincible. Even the Chakram didn't do the trick. Maybe if Xena had the time to really aim
she could have taken its head off. But she sure took a beating.

Some very good dialog, very telling -

Gabrielle: "She's my best friend. I know her like I know my own heart."

Brunhilda: "A friendship like that is something to be envied."

Gabrielle: "It has a price -- like everything."

Brunhilda: "A price you love paying."

Gabrielle: "Yeah."

In Xena's note : ".Whatever happens - know that my love for you is endless."

And of course, when Gabrielle wrote, "My dear friend's curse is to spend the rest of her life
seeking a redemption she'll never allow herself" it pretty much sums up this entire series.

It's about time that we finally got to hear that their journeys actually take some time. Gabrielle
wrote: "I've been following her now for weeks."

Odin tied himself to a tree (Xena said he was crucified, but he wasn't). So - just how was that
supposed to make things better? If he didn't like what he was seeing, why not go farther north, or
head south to the land of the pharaohs? Or go to Greece and have some fun with Aphrodite. Call out
Ares (maybe take over Mt. Olympus?).

Why did Xena not kill Grinhilda when she had the chance?

I liked most of the flying-horses sequences, particularly when they were running right at the scene
then took off. Very well done.

.............

The interview clip was with RJ Stewart (writer), Eric Gruendemann, and Rob. Eric said Brunhilda's
role (in his episode) was to explain Xena's back story and to give Gabrielle someone to travel
with. RJ said the story came directly from Gabrielle's scroll. Rob was talking about the "rubber
monsters" (The Destroyer and Grindl). He complimented the director for only showing as much as was
needed to make it look not-so-rubbery but more monster-like.

But this interview should have come after "The Return of the Valkyrie" because they talked about
who Grindl really was, some of what happened in the next two episodes, and showed brief clips from
"The Ring" and "The Return.."

...............

All in all, a very good episode. And a good cliffhanger for the next episode.

8.5 out of 10,

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

6-07 The Rheingold .... 8.5

6-06 The Abyss ..... 8

6-05 Legacy ....... 9

6-04 Who's Gurkhan? .... 9.5

6-03 Heart of Darkness .... 9

6-02 Haunting/Amphipolis . 8

6-01 Coming Home ..... 8

Average .......... 8.6