A Day in the Life – Director: Michael Hurst/Writer: R.J. Stewart
This one starts with thugs attacking Xena and Gabi’s campsite early in the morning. Xena wakes up and uses the cooking utensils to pound the attackers, while Gabi sleeps through another fight. When more thugs show up and head for Gabi, Xena wakes her (by squirting water on her) and she joins the fight. Xena takes the last three guys out with the frying pan, denting it all to shit. Gabi isn’t happy about the busted frying pan, but Xena’s more concerned
with why they were attacked. One thug (who’s very familiar with Xena’s Pinch) says Zagreus sent them to make sure she was out of the way so he could sack Piedmont, a nearby village. On the way to Piedmont, Xena and Gabi get lost and run into a guy named Hower, who tells them a giant is threatening his village of Laurel. Gabi figures they’ll have to deliberate for a while to choose which village to help, but Xena flips a coin and says they’re going to fight the giant.
On the way to Laurel, Xena and Gabi play Twenty Questions, with Gabi trying to guess the identity of someone Xena killed … which could take a while. We also see Gabi trying to surprise Xena with an attack (which is probably part of Gabi’s training), but Xena’s too quick for her. Since they missed breakfast they stop to fish, although Gabi points out they have no way to cook them since they no longer have a functional frying pan. Gabi realizes Hower is in love (or infatuated) with Xena and warns her; apparently, this happens quite a bit … Gabi thinks it’s
the leather that attracts them. Gabi pisses Xena off by cleaning the fish with her chakram (since Xena threw their best cutting knife at a warlord last week) and Xena sends Hower to give Zagreus a message to stay out of her way. On the way to Laurel, Xena takes a shit and wipes her arse with one of Gabi’s scrolls, which really pisses Gabi off. They set up a fake sign, to direct the giant away from Laurel’s true location.
In Laurel, they meet Minya, who totally fangirls out over Xena (though she 
has no clue who Gabi is, calling her Muriel). Xena and Gabi relax in a hot tub together and discuss how to beat the giant. Gabi suggests they use mirrors to reflect the sun in the giant’s eyes, like they did with Goliath in Giant Killer. Xena doesn’t like repeating plans, but grudgingly agrees to try it. They also talk about how to handle Hower and end up having a splash fight in the tub. When Hower returns, Xena sends him to give Zagreus another message and Minya realizes Hower is hot for Xena. After another unsuccessful ambush, Gabi trades Xena’s whip to Minya for a new frying pan, which really makes Xena mad. Xena points out Gabi
only traded her whip to get back at her for using her scroll as toilet paper and Gabi can’t really deny it. Xena heads out to find Hower, who tells her Zagreus is on his way to Laurel now … which is just what Xena planned. They find one of the giant’s footprints (with a squashed hedgehog in the middle of it) and Xena realizes the giant they’re dealing with is Gareth, the giant from Giant Killer who killed Goliath’s family.
Xena and Hower return to Laurel, where Xena tells them Gareth is the giant 
who’s been threatening the village (and Hower confesses his love for Xena). A storm is moving in, so Gabi’s mirror idea won’t work, but Xena figures they can use the storm to their advantage. Since Zeus’s thunderbolts can kill giants, they just need a way to bring lightning down to hit Gareth. Xena builds a kite, but has trouble getting it to fly. She eventually gets it airborne, leaving Gabi to look after it while Xena goes to talk to Hower; of course, Gabi immediately loses hold of the kite string. Xena tells Hower he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in
Tartarus with her, but his ardour is undimmed. After evading yet another Gabi ambush, Xena sends her to talk to Hower, but Gabi doesn’t get anywhere either. Xena finally gives Minya some advice on how to win back Hower’s affections. While waiting, they hear the sounds of a big fight and Xena reveals her plan was to bring Zagreus’s army and Gareth together in the same place, so Gareth could wipe out Zagreus’s forces.
Zagreus shows up pissed off at Xena’s trickery and Minya appears—dressed 
in leather—and decks him. That turns Hower on and they take off for some banging. Xena tells Gabi there’s a giants’ burial ground close by and she’s going out to intercept Gareth near there. She and Gabi apologize to each other and make up before she leaves. Xena hides in a tree and attaches the kite to Gareth’s belt when he goes by, running ahead of him toward the burial ground. Gareth chases her, the kite trailing in the air behind him, and when lightning hits the kite Gareth is
fried to a crisp, allowing Xena to avenge Goliath’s dead family. That night, Xena and Gabi look at the stars and Gabi finally gets a hit in on Xena, whacking her in the face with her staff. Gabi is mortified, but then she starts wondering if Xena let her get the hit because she felt sorry for her. (I think Gabi did legitimately hit Xena, but when her self-doubt kicked in, Xena played along so Gabi wouldn’t get too cocky … and maybe just to mess with her a bit.)
This is a great episode and I currently have it at #11 on my all-time list. It was in the top ten but I ended up moving Return of Callisto and Intimate 
Stranger up, which pushed this episode (and Old Ares Had a Farm) down a couple slots. This is definitely a classic though, giving us a look at what day-to-day life might be like for Xena and Gabi. Minya asks Gabi about what she leaves out of her scrolls and this is probably an example of that; Gabi leaves out the minutiae and mundanities of daily life, and I get the feeling there are plenty of days like this between adventures. Xena and Gabi probably have tons of unrecorded adventures, not to mention regular activities like training and food gathering. This episode makes it feel more real, seeing the boring shit they do in between
the grandiose deeds. It also shows how comfortable they are with each other, and how close; they get along for the most part, but when disagreements come up (as they do) they handle it and their relationship is stronger afterwards. There are other episodes with this vibe (like Kindred Spirits and Many Happy Returns), but this one really shows us what a typical day is like for Xena and Gabi, and it could probably fit in any season.
Speaking of their relationship, some fans see this episode as confirmation (and how!) of Xena and Gabi’s romance. I’m not sure about that; I definitely believe they have a romance (eventually), I just think it’s still a bit early for 
that. If we go by what’s happening in surrounding episodes, it doesn’t fit; why would Xena and Gabi be in full-blown romantic (or sexual) mode here, but not in subsequent episodes? I absolutely believe Xena and Gabi end up as a couple (and I wholeheartedly approve), but I think they’re still figuring things out at this point. Xena just demonstrated her true feelings for Gabi a couple episodes ago, and Gabi just decided to try and put Perdicus behind her last episode, so it seems premature for them to be already in a romantic relationship here. It’s possible they could be sleeping together without being in love, but I’m not sure if that fits either. I think Xena can separate sex and love, but I’m not
sure Gabi can … at least, not at this point in her life. As for the hot tub scene and some of the more suggestive dialogue, that’s not really compelling evidence to me. The hot tub scene was played pretty straight (no pun intended) and the dialogue can be thought of as meta-references, put in to tease the audience. (Even Gabi’s famous line “She likes what I do” wasn’t in the original script; Renee came up with it between takes and everyone thought it was funny so they put it in.) The romantic feelings between Xena and Gabi will start to be more evident as the season progresses and I’ll point out those instances as they occur.
Noticeable Things:
- The final fight between Xena and Gareth was actually left over from the Giant Killer episode, which ran long. I’m not sure if the whole kite thing was part of that episode or not; you can see the kite trailing behind Gareth when he chases Xena, but I suppose it could’ve been added in later. Gareth does get fried by lightning though, so maybe the kite was there all along.
- Xena fighting with the frying pan kinda reminded me of Rapunzel in Tangled. And Gabi’s constant sneak attacks on Xena were a lot like how Kato used to attack Inspector Clouseau in the later Pink Panther movies.
- The scroll Xena uses as arse-wipe is part of Girls Just Wanna Have
Fun; I guess Gabi is a few episodes behind in her writing. - Gabi complains about Laurel being like every other village they’ve been to, which sounds like more meta-commentary. She mentions she’d like to see a line of birch trees outside a village just once, which almost seems like an inside joke of some kind.
- The different sections of the episode are illustrated with title cards in Ancient Greek; unfortunately, the writer mixed up two Greek letters (nu and upsilon), so the words don’t always make sense.
- During the Twenty Questions game, Gabi’s incorrect guesses include
Actyminius, Toxeus, Dagnine, Mezentius, and Sinteres. The answer ends up being Theodorus, which is kind of a cheat since Callisto actually killed him … but Xena says it counts because Callisto was in her body at the time. - When looking at the stars, Xena sees a Big Dipper, while Gabi sees a Bear. The Ancient Greeks actually did call the constellation the Great Bear, so Gabi is right.
Favourite Quotes:
- “Can we cook with your juices?” Gabi tossing out an unintentional (?) double entendre while giving Xena shit over the busted frying pan.
- “No, she likes what I do.” Gabi explaining why Xena wouldn’t consider settling down with some dude.
- “Yeah, but I think that’ll just attract a kinkier group.” Xena telling Gabi why switching from leather to chainmail might not solve the problem of guys falling for her.
- “He’s running. I’ve never seen him run for anything but a meal.” Minya realizing the new spring in Hower’s step is caused by his feelings for Xena.