A Good Day – Director: Rick Jacobson/Writer: Steven L. Sears
This one starts with Roman soldiers ransacking a Greek village for food. A villager named Phlanagus, who enlisted in the Roman army as a mercenary, tries to stop them, but the Romans are determined to get everything they can. Xena and Gabi show up to help, pounding the Romans and forcing them to retreat. Phlanagus introduces his wife (Nogolin) and son and thanks Xena for getting rid of the Romans, but Xena says she actually wants the Romans to fight here.
Xena knows Caesar amd Pompey are itching for a big fight, but if they dig in on Greek soil, they might fight for years and bleed the country dry. But if she can trick them into slaughtering each other’s armies, they’ll be forced
to go back to Rome empty-handed. Phlanagus would prefer the peaceful life of a fisherman, but agrees to help. As they’re gathering volunteers, a young boy (Temecula) asks Gabi if he can help fight. She’s reluctant, but his skill with the bow convinces her to let him join, since they need someone to send signal arrows. The pass out of the village is guarded by Pompey’s troops, but Xena has a way to draw them 
off. She tells the villagers to pack their stuff up and to burn the place to the ground, leaving nothing for the Romans. They’re reluctant, but Nogolin kicks things off by torching her own house and pretty soon the whole village is in flames. Xena dresses some men as Roman troops and uses a double-sided banner to draw Caesar and Pompey’s men to a hill where they end up fighting each other. That gives the villagers the chance to escape and Xena captures Pompey’s artillery pieces too.
Caesar and Pompey are both pissed off about being played by Xena, but they don’t realize she has more tricks up her sleeve. Gabi helps Nogolin organize
a hospital area and gives Temecula advice about killing, telling him it changes everything (as Xena once told her). Xena and Phlanagus sneak into Caesar’s camp and Xena eavesdrops on his plans, learning he has an extra legion he’s keeping in reserve. Caesar has another secret plan, but Xena doesn’t get to hear it because Phlanagus is captured.
Xena saves Phlanagus, but misses the second part of Caesar’s plan. Xena 
tells Gabi what she learned and asks her to take charge during the attack, since Xena will be taking care of Caesar and Pompey. But Gabi doesn’t want to be responsible for sending men to their deaths and Xena accepts that. Pompey responds to overtures from Xena and goes to meet her in the woods. Caesar shows up to capture them, but it’s all part of Xena’s plan. She signals the captured catapults to start firing and she, Caesar, and Pompey end up falling through the ground into some tunnels she’d scouted out earlier.
Temecula tells everyone Caesar’s army is retreating, but Gabi knows it’s a trick. She goes out to warn Phlanagus and he says Xena told him to obey Gabi’s orders, so it looks like Gabi’s in charge whether she wants to be or
not. She orders the men (still dressed as Roman soldiers) to keep fighting, knowing they have to bring the two armies together so they can eliminate each other. In the tunnels, Xena keeps Caesar and Pompey fighting her (and each other) to give their armies time to wipe each other out. Gabi leads the villagers against both armies, trying to bring them together to fight. When Caesar’s men seem to retreat, Gabi pursues them, knowing they have to keep Caesar and Pompey’s armies 
fighting each other. But down in the tunnels, Caesar reveals that this “retreat” is a bluff to draw the other soldiers forward and surround them. Xena gets worried about Gabi and the villagers, so she leaves Caesar and Pompey fighting each other in the tunnels, heading up to the battle to find Gabi. During the fight, Phlanagus gets in trouble and Gabi throws a spear at the guy who’s about to stab him … but she misses by a mile and Phlanagus is killed. Temecula avenges him seconds later, but Gabi is devastated. Xena finds Gabi cradling Phlanagus’s body and tries to comfort her. Caesar and Pompey realize the sounds of
battle have stopped and head up to see who won, but get a shock when they find both armies annihilated. They realize Xena played them and they have no choice but to head back to Rome and regroup. After Phlanagus’s funeral, Gabi feels guilty, not just about Phlanagus but about being involved in the slaughter, and Xena tells her that everything happens for a reason. Gabi tries to believe her and goes to tell Temecula about the Greater Good.
This is a pretty good episode (#36 on my all-time list) and is another key 
episode in Gabi’s journey from innocent village girl to the Battling Bard she’ll eventually become. Xena’s the catalyst in this episode (playing Caesar and Pompey against each other perfectly), but it’s really about Gabi’s growth as a warrior and a person. Gabi doesn’t want to be responsible for leading men to their deaths, but she’s the only one Xena trusts to take her place. Xena says Gabi knows how Xena thinks and knows how Caesar operates, so she’s the best choice as substitute leader. Xena’s right and Gabi does figure things out, but she also decides to lead the men herself, not sit back in safety behind the lines. That’s just like Gabi, not willing to order
others to take risks she won’t take herself, and Xena must’ve known that because as soon as she hears about Caesar’s double deception she goes to look for Gabi … on the battlefield. Xena knew Gabi would be leading the troops herself because her conscience wouldn’t let her do any less. This episode makes a great triple bill with Amphipolis Under Siege and To Helicon and Back, showing Gabi’s progression as a war leader over three seasons of the show.
Gabi actually makes a pretty good war leader here, leading the men into 
battle and not letting them fall for Caesar’s tricks. If it wasn’t for her, Xena’s plan wouldn’t have worked and Xena knows that. She tells Gabi that everything that happened was for a reason and that any day of fighting you live through counts as a good day. Gabi tries to accept that and ends up telling Temecula the same thing, becoming a mentor to him like Xena is to her. Xena probably feels a little guilty for pulling Gabi further off her path, but Gabi’s path is always going to coincide with Xena’s and I think she’s willing to walk it, no matter how painful it might be sometimes
(and we’ll see more of that all season long). Xena’s already feeling guilty about Alti’s vision of Gabi being crucified beside her and when Xena’s standing in Phlanagus’s burning village, that scene was one of Alti’s visions too. (Plus, Xena’s probably remembering other villages she burned in her warlord days.)
There’s a lot of debate about whether Gabi actually meant to kill the soldier 
with the spear to save Phlanagus (even Renee said she didn’t think Gabi was really trying to kill the guy). Personally, I think she was trying to kill him, otherwise why would she have bothered to throw the spear? Steve Sears said the same thing, pointing out that Gabi deflected a thrown spear with her staff earlier in the episode, showing she’s got the reflexes. Sears said that Gabi’s mind knew what she needed to do, but her heart just wouldn’t let her and she flinched at the last second, causing her to miss … which makes sense to me.
Noticeable Things:
- There’s a different actor playing Brutus here … and he won’t be the last.
- Apparently, there were quite a few scenes cut from this episode. The scene where Xena asks Gabi to lead the troops was longer, with Gabi showing her perspicacity by analyzing the Roman encampments. When Gabi’s leading the charge, she says “Take the wall!”, but there is no wall; apparently, there was supposed to be a wall, but the budget didn’t support it.
- When Gabi leads the charge, she’s carrying a sword, which seems strange for her. Steve Sears explained that she used the sword as a rallying point, to prove to the villagers that she was serious about leading them into battle. But if you watch carefully, you can actually see her stick the sword into the ground during the charge, and she only uses her staff to fight all through the battle.
Favourite Quotes:
- “I know, otherwise I woulda had more helmets.” Xena’s response to Pompey’s statement that there were only two guards in the woods as she drops two helmets at his feet.
- “I should talk to Temecula. I should tell him that—that what he did was for the greater good, and there is a reason for it. It was a good day of fighting.” Gabi trying to come to terms with her choices … and their consequences.