Endgame (3 May 1999)

Ephiny, Queen of the Amazons, dies in a battle against the Romans, killed by Caesar's right hand, Brutus. Gabrielle must return as the new Queen to the Amazon territory, where she has to ... See full summary »

Director:

Garth Maxwell

Writers:

John Schulian (creator), Steven L. Sears,

Stars:

Lucy Lawless, Renée O'Connor, Stephen Butterworth

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Lucy Lawless	...	Xena
Renée O'Connor	...	Gabrielle
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stephen Butterworth	...	Carminus
Jeremy Callaghan	...	Pompey
Danielle Cormack	...	Ephiny
David Franklin	...	Brutus
Jennifer Sky	...	Amarice
Karl Urban	...	Julius Caesar
Nicole Whippy	...	Chilapa
Tony Wood	...	Xelifus

Storyline

Ephiny, Queen of the Amazons, dies in a battle against the Romans, killed by Caesar's right hand, Brutus. Gabrielle must return as the new Queen to the Amazon territory, where she has to decide whether she forgives Brutus or not. However, Brutus is not the only menace: Pompey is also planning to attack them.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 May 1999 (USA)

Company Credits

Did You Know?

Goofs

Xena must have been a truly remarkable person for not only was she present at the Trojan war, as we have seen in a past episode, but she also had the honor of knowing Julius Caesar. Considering that the Trojan war is historically placed at about 1194 BC-1184 BC and the aforementioned historical figure from about 100 BC - 30 BC for Xena to have survived over 1000 years is utterly amazing. Talk about your well kept woman!

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Quotes

Gabrielle: You would make a better Queen than I.
Chilapa: But you have wisdom that I don't have.
Gabrielle: There's a trick to that. When you need to make a decision, think of Ephiny. Do what she would do.

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Crazy Credits

Pompey's reign came to a head during the production of this motion picture.

User Reviews

Endgame (well, what else?)

As the season ramps up towards the climax, the endgame begins with a promising, intense dim-light battle between the Romans and the Amazons. Brutus kills Ephiny in front of a new face, Amarice --

"Man, that Amarice is one hot redhead!" Excuse me, who are you? "I am the Subjective Me." Ehh... "That's right, I have a say in this too." Okay...

So, Amarice finds Gabrielle. The impression is that this happens quite quickly and easily, as Amarice succeeds while Ephiny still remains fresh. How? Luck? Magic? Contrived Coincidence™ trope, more likely. Anyway, Gabrielle returns to her tribe and they prepare to track the Romans who captured some Amazons to be sold as slaves. The Amazon nation has split into tribes and Amarice is from another tribe, where they do things differently, as she states to Xena. Xena then takes a small party and confronts Brutus in a rather brutal battle where Brutus' men are killed and he is captured.

"Yeah, some great violence here, although its bloodless, boo!"

Brutus is brought before Gabrielle and questioned about the whereabout of Pompey. Amarice tries to kill Brutus, and is promptly locked away. Xena uses her usual pressure points moves on Brutus and squeezes the info from Brutus. Gabrielle then lets her live (she's following the Path of Peace, remember?).

Gabrille pardons Amarice, and plans to do the same with Brutus. Amarice does not understand, but Xena does - The Way of the Warrior is not the only one. Meanwhile, Pompey is preparing for the arrival of the pirates, who'll provide him with money to buy weapons to use against Caesar. However, Xena ambushes a group of Pompey's men, who refuse to surrender. A massacre ensues. So far, not dull at all.

"Not dull? This is great. That Amarice chick, I am so into her use of twin daggers. Man, she sure is brutal, stabbing like a machine. I especially like her signature move, when she strikes one dagger to both sides of the victims base of the neck. And the best kill comes at the end, when Xena throws her sword into a Roman who *already* has not one, but *two* swords sticking from his chest. It's like some crazy Steven Seagal Corpse Kill move! No blood, put plenty of points for sheer brutality and refreshing lack of dodgy wire-fu."

Xena lets one man to get away to inform Pompey, who is naturally furious. Pompey decides to lead a leave no one alive attack on the Amazons. Meanwhile, Brutus and Gabrielle have a rather interesting discussion, where Gabrielle proposes a treaty of peace to Caesar. Brutus accepts on Caesar's behalf. Good for the Amazon's who now have to prepare to fight Pompey. Apparently this involves war-dancing that is almost as pointless as the "rave" is Matrix Reloaded. Or was it Revolutions? Whatever. Brutus then suggests that Xena sell him to Pompey, who could sell him to pirates and not risk losing his army in a battle with the Amazons. But then one of Caesar's legions arrives from the direction opposite of Pompey. Man, information sure travels fast! What are they using? Pigeons?

Xena releases Brutus and lets him take command of the legion. Brutus then commands them to attack Pompey's flank. Xena goes on an amok run against Pompey's forces - don't they have archers? Pompey is informed about the approach of Brutus' forces, but he refuses to disengage from the Amazons - and faces Xena one on one. Of course, Xena beats him, put Pompey pleads to be let live so that he can continue to fight Caesar. Then, for some completely irrational reason, Pompey then gets the Chronic Backstabbing Disorder™, which proves to be his last action. And I don't remember them teaching us in school that Pompey was killed by Xena...

"Whatever! A rocking brutal battle! I think there are more kills in this episode than the whole season before it. This rules!"

Brutus returns to Caesar, who - surprise, surprise - rejects Gabrielle's peace treaty. Brutus finally sees that Caesar is too unpredictable and that Xena was right when she warned him about trusting Caesar. To wrap things up, we get a ceremony in memory of Ephiny and Gabrielle giving the crown to another Amazon. Amarice wants to tack along Xena and Gabrielle. All in all, better than average episode, not played for laughs, one of the more realistic episodes in the whole series. Some beautiful fight choreography and good music also. A 6/10.

"6/10? C'mon, this is more like an 8! One of the rare episodes that did not bore me and was full of kick ass fights! You Objective frakker! Agh, sometimes I hate you."