OK, first off, let me say that I'll assume other reviews dealt with the rationales behind various military maneuvers in Endgame. I certainly hope so, because that's one area of analysis I long ago decided would hurt my brain too much. I will note such instances below by DAM (Don't Ask Me). Second, I am greatly saddened by the loss of both Ephiny and Solari. I would've been stunned, had I not been spoiled by the header someone posted. That out of the way, I will say that what I liked most was the continuing development of the X&G tag team, with the warrior frequently checking the bard's "feel" for things before making her own moves.

We begin with a DAM battle scene, in which two of our favorite Amazons perish. Notably, the enemy officer who kills Ephiny seems moved by the courage and skill of the Amazon queen whose eyes lock with his own as she dies. We then switch to X&G bantering about the latter's possibly adding a fishing net to her arsenal of nonviolent defense mechanisms. It seems she's been practicing on rocks. She gives a quick demonstration, successfully ensnaring Xena. The warrior smiles patiently and then characteristically points out that the true test must involve real situations and reactions.

The WP is about to demonstrate her own theory on her partner when a figure somersaults over her and lands in a fighting stance protecting Gabrielle. Turns out Amarise is another Xena wannabe, only she's not quite as awed by the real Xena as Tara was. "I thought you'd be taller," she remarks rather cheekily to the former Destroyer of Nations. Xena indulges the young Amazon (whose gall probably reminds her of another budding warrior she's known) and assures Amarise she's quite willing to "surrender" to Gabrielle. Amarise is reassured to hear this, as she informs them that Ephiny is dead and "We need our queen to lead us." The queen and her champion exchange the first of many meaningful looks, no doubt recognizing that they are not quite the same women who performed those roles in the past.

At the Amazon village, Gabrielle seems overwhelmed by the bloody evidence of the recent battle. She looks to her champion for initial strategy. Xena responds by barking out orders, then turns to the queen and asks, "Is that correct, Gabrielle?" Indeed, though she is no Amazon, Xena uses "we" when referring to how things are done in Gabrielle's tribe. Having determined that the enemy is none other than Caesar's right hand, Brutus, Xena leads a party of Amazons to capture him and (in a manner to music eerily reminiscent of the infamous opening to Bitter Suite) drags him back to the village. Alive.

Xena looks to the queen for instructions. Gabrielle isn't too thrilled at her champion's method of transporting captives, but merely flinches when the WP puts the pinch on Brutus. Brutus talks. Xena starts to walk away without restoring the flow of blood to his brain, until Gabrielle disapprovingly yells, "Xena?!!!" An apparently high ranking Amazon named Chilapa shouts, "No! Let him die, Xena," according to Amazon customs. Xena gently nudges past her and obeys Gabrielle. The queen reminds everyone that it is her decision to make, ordering that Brutus be jailed. The queen and champion exchange "Now what do we do?" looks, as they feel their way through this new challenge.

During all this, X has had to keep Amarise from trying to kill Brutus herself. Gabrielle angrily sends the renegade to the brig, too, then pardons her. Xena also seems to see some value in the kid (or at least wants to keep her under her wing), so takes her on the mission to rescue the Amazons from Pompey. Amarise pouts, "I don't get it… You and Gabrielle? Are you really going to let her just pardon Brutus?" Xena says they'd basically have to commit mutiny and chain the queen up otherwise, which Amarise says works for her. Xena says Gabrielle is not the "weakling" Amarise thinks she is, that even though Xena sometimes disagrees with her partner's methods, she's come to understand her. She says it's not about one skirmish, but about the "war and hatred" that Gabrielle's resisted her whole life. "This is one more battle, and she's got her own way of fighting it." The pot then tells the kettle that it's wrong to think you can find simple answers "at the point of a sword" and hopes Amarise lives long enough to lay down her sword and find those answers within herself. Uh huh.

Xena proceeds with her "do as I say, not as I do" instructions by slicing, dicing -- even thricing -- Romans unlucky enough to get within a mile of her. Oh, yeah, somewhere along the line she's figured that Pompey wants to sell the Amazons as slaves to finance his overthrow of Caesar, and that Brutus unwittingly got entangled with the Amazons when he was really after Pompey. (Another DAM.) The rescue party returns victorious. Soon as we see the line of defense Xena comes up with (i.e., Pompey's men hanging around on crosses, waiting to be skewered and roasted by their coworkers), we know Gabrielle ain't gonna like it. Sure enough, the queen is appalled. "What is this?!!!" Amarise gleefully describes in graphic detail the planned Pompey-Q, much to Xena's annoyance. But Xena won't back down this time, having vowed to do whatever it takes "to preserve Ephiny's tribe." A tension filled Rubber Meets The Road Moment occurs. X&G look at each once again. Which one will give?

Surprisingly, Brutus provides a way through the impasse. Gabrielle seems to have impressed him with an earlier proposal of a treaty between Xena and Caesar/the Amazons and Rome. (DAM. All I know is that X thinks maybe Brutus might be the weak link in Caesar's armor.) He also seems sincerely interested in avoiding more unnecessary Amazon deaths at the hands of Pompey, whose army is approaching from the north. "Trade me to Pompey," he offers. Gabrielle says it'll get him killed. Xena has her own objections. Before they can decide, they learn there's yet another contingent of soldiers marching from the south. Brutus says he was supposed to meet up with and command them later. Xena declares that, in getting to Pompey, Caesar intends "to obliterate us." (Actually, I think this all makes some sense, but DAM just in case.)

Brutus believes trading him is the only option to avoid a massacre. In a rare moment of … self-revelation?… Xena says she's had choices since she first captured him, the implication to me being that -- as she said at the end of The Convert -- it took her partner to create those choices. The WP surprises everyone by freeing the man she nearly killed -- sending him "back to Caesar" -- to lead the other troops against Pompey as planned. She then orders Pompey's men to be taken off the crosses. They're not needed there anymore she says, adding (with a look to Gabrielle), "We don't kill just for the sake of it." Right, Gabrielle?

More DAM fighting ensues, with Xena ordering the Amazons to fire, attack, pull back, and hold the line; asking Amarise to protect Gabrielle (which the kid does rather well); then sending her horse-riding double off on a stirring charge through Pompey's troops. With her champion gone, the queen takes command, first telling the Amazons to hold their positions to give Xena more time, then letting them loose with the battle cry, "For Ephiny!" Meanwhile, her champion has literally cut through Pompey's men to reach her main quarry. She fells him under her ferocious attack, raising her sword for the kill, when he yells, "Wait!" And, by golly, she does!

The warrior listens with barely restrained rage as Pompey plays to her presumed preoccupation with Caesar, coyly arguing that he's a necessary "balance" to her nemesis. She turns to leave, just as she did at first with the Green Dragon (and Callisto and Najara). She's probably thinking she shouldn't kill him in cold blood, but that self-defense is OK. (Right, Gabrielle? Heh. Seems the WP is developing her own brand of passive aggression.) Brutus prepares to stab her in the back, just as she knew he would. She wheels with a powerful horizontal swing of her sword. "It's not about balance anymore," she snarls. We heard but didn't see his body fall, so I'm not totally sure he's dead. But, like Ming Tien, he sure doesn't rebut Xena's closing comments.

When next we see her practically swaggering up to Brutus on Argo, I now have a pretty good idea what's in the bag hanging from her saddlehorn. Brutus has told his men to stay out of Amazon land, but still believes Caesar is Rome's best hope for democracy. Xena warns him to leave her name out of it. Her voice dripping with bitterness and irony, she derides his faith in Caesar's loyalty, reminding him of all the "friends" - including herself - whom Caesar has betrayed. "But maybe you're special," she sneers, dropping her wrapped "gift" at his feet. Later, he presents the bag to Caesar, who takes a brief look inside, turns up his nose and critiques Pompey's hair cut. Then he contemptuously burns Gabrielle's peace treaty. Brutus finally begins to understand his ruler's obsession with power. He says "no" to Caesar's question about rumor that Xena was in the area. When Caesar thanks him for being "a loyal friend," the Right Hand's expression leaves little doubt as to the unofficial origins of "Et tu, Brutus?"

Back among the Amazons, Gabrielle gives her royal mask to Chilapa. The Amazon once again questions Gabrielle's decision, but this time because she has learned she lacks Gabrielle's wisdom. And though Gabrielle tells her she'll be OK if she keeps in mind what Ephiny would do, we know that it is Gabrielle’s heart that makes warriors into leaders. Unfortunately, Amarise didn't quite get that message. All she learned was what she saw Xena do, rather than "the philosophy behind the words." Not why Xena did it, which was (for the most part) in service to a cause, tempered (generally) by the wisdom of her partner, with decisions (mostly) that supported both military and humanistic goals.

"Xena doesn't give many second chances, little girl," Brutus told Amarise while both languished in detainment. Well, maybe not when she was "I," back in the days when she herself thought she would not - did not deserve - that. But as "we," her soulmate opened her eyes to unimagined potential and opportunities - among them the chance to be unconflicted as a warrior in the fight for good and protector of a woman of peace. As she holds the former queen, who's finally allowed herself to grieve after relinquishing formal responsibility for the nation whose future she helped ensure, Xena seems determined to give Gabrielle as many chances as she needs to get it right for herself, too.