Ryan

Well I am completely shocked, this was another great episode, and wonderful conclusion.

Everytime I read episodes from the Shipper Seasons I just wish they were really part of the show. I would have loved to see this as an episode. I liked the whole idea of Xena "retiring." Plus the whole Nero arc was wonderful. It was cool how Sabina got tied into everything, and man do I love that character! She's like a sane Callisto and I love how her character develops. The Ares/Xena stuff was good too and I love how their is still a little tension between them. What were they fighting about again?

So...great job LK and Sais, and everyone else involved in the episode (Tango I think).

Kim

I liked the Roman's personally, but man, this episode is wonderful! Nero was great, characterisation was wonderful.... does this little Part-time A/X shipper have complaints!? No sir-ee Bob.

I am happy with the turn that Sabina took too, that was wonderful. But what I was most happy with was their acknowledgement that she would do right by Siran, but that was about it.

Drinks for all the writers!!

Aurora

This was an excellent episode.

I loved how Agrippina was portrayed as Xena's conscience, showing us Xena's inner thoughts, in a way. That was a great touch to the episode.

I really liked Sabina here, too. I can see Siran being to Sabina what Gabrielle was to Xena. The resemblance there was clear.

The Xena/Ares stuff, as little as it was, was great too, as always. As Ryan said, there is definitely tension there, tension that I think has been building since WE WHO ARE ABOUT TO DIE.

It was interesting to Xena retiring, to see her so lost and wanting to give up completely. Of course, we'd knew she'd come back, but still, it was nice to see that change and helplessness in her nature for a while.

And the entire Nero storyline, how it has been building, has definitely been a high point of this season. It's been so complex and yet has stayed true to a bit of the history of the actual Nero, which is great, to put some historical events and weave them into XWP.

Wonderful episode, LadyKate and Sais!!

CausalFan

A worthy follow-up to episode 16 - full of sound and fury, but in this case, signifying a great deal, at least to Xena and Gab.

When I read these eps, I find myself thinking that it really was too bad that RenPics never saw fit to use Nero in their shows - he's a much more interesting villain than mad, bad Caligula. LK and Sais captured him well; the vainglory, poetic pretensions and furtive intelligence remind me a lot of Peter Ustinov's portrayal of him in Quo Vadis?.

I liked Agrippina's appearance as Xena's conscience as well - she's not a stereotypical X:WP Bad Guy by any means, and in many ways she epitomizes the moral conundrums that Xena was increasingly faced with in the later seasons.

Sabina continues to develop in a very interesting way. I don't know if she'll come over from the Dark Side altogether (at least, I hope not!) but the evolving relationship between her and Sirian gives extra depth and color to the storyline.

Oh yeah - there was a lot of fighting in this ep as well, which is always a plus in X:WP! More importantly, though, the fighting was integral to the story, and was balanced well with the other elements.

Excellent job - well worth the wait!

DD1007

Wow! It took me forever to get to read the new episode but I finally did. The last one got me worried about Xena's ideas of retirement and I was really glad to see the Warrior Princess back to action with all her weapons. To me, the good part of Xena's short time retirement was her talks with her vision of Agrippina. I loved that!

I don't know much about Sabina because I still didn't read all the episodes of the Shipper Seasons, but I definitely like what I've seen of her so far. It seems she's a bad girl who can care about someone without becoming a do-gooder just for that. The only thing I regret is that she didn't beat the crap out of Siran when she run back to the Roman prison after her rescue, which I think would be well deserved, and didn't leave Petronia and Felix to the hungry kitties. Every time they talked about the Elijians non-violence ways I wanted to throw them to the lions myself. Besides, I love animals and I think that would have been a happy end for them.

Thank you for more this one S2C, LK, Tango and Aurora!

SerenitySea

Can I just say "wow!" Because the past two episodes were stellar! You guys did an awesome job. Really.

I loved that Ares knew she was coming back, he just didn't know when; but yet another facet of the X/A 'ship we love so much--he knows her. Deep down, more than anyone else--even Gabrielle had her doubts--he knows her.

It's nice to see that some things never change.