So I'm watching Xena this morning on Roku and one of my favorite episodes "Path of Vengeance" was on, and I had to stop and watch it, and I noticed something I never noticed before. I had to use pics from Amazon subs, for context because I couldn't find this scene ANYWHERE, and they changed 'Chin' to China in the subtitles, but I'm just giving context to the scene. Anywho...

It was the scene when Eve revealed she was going to go off alone to Chin to spread the message of Eli. Xena offers to escort her the rest of the way because Eve was leaving right now, and I guess Xena was full of emotions because of the time lost between them, and afraid because she just saved her daugther from execution. Eve is still being persecuted for being Livia just as Xena was persecuted for her past wherever she went (only Xena was willing to defend herself in most cases and had Gabrielle step in when she wasnt willing to, whereas Eve was full pacifist & didnt believe in defending herself for her crimes). I'm sure at this point, Xena also wanted to spend more time with her daughter as a mom, but Eve is on a mission and doesn't want to be distracted. Eve declines and said "no, this is something she had to do alone." And Ganrielle nods in approval, and has this serendipitous, bitter sweet smile, while Xena looks heart broken and sad as she buries her head in her hand, holding back tears. Gabrielle looks up lovingly at Xena to make sure she's okay and holds it together, and then as Xena begins to cry as she watches her daugther walk away, Gabrielle just gives a shrug and a smile, like "well, what can you do, kids. She has a mission to fulfill." BRUH!! But this moment came full circle & so many scenes came flooding into my head when I rewatched this lol.

I've seen this episode so many times, but I don't know why I didn't catch this before, but Xena is in the EXACT spot, exact scenario she left Gabrielle, when they had one of their biggest, most controversial falling outs that lead to their trust being broken. When Xena had to leave Gabrielle for Chin, to repay a debt to Lao Ma & Gabrielle had to watch Xena walk away into the sunset of the unknown! Only this time it was Eve leaving for Chin to repay a debt of salvation to Eli, by spreading his message, and now it was Xena watching her daugther walk off into the sunset of the unknown! In THAT moment, all Xena could do is be a supporting mom and let her go & respect her decision, like Xena expected Gabrielle to respect her decision...and Gabrielle gave a nod and a badazz smile like an approving dad sending their kid off because there's mutual respect and understanding 😭, but I bet Gabrielle had SO much emotions in that scene! She was remembering when Xena left her and how she felt, and how interesting life comes back around, but she she also seemed so proud of Eve in that moment because it probably reminded Gabrielle of when she first left home to follow Xena on a mission to find herself!! This interaction was only a few seconds but it got me a little teary eyed this morning because it was so beautiful and I never caught it before 🥹.

The writing on this show was so awesome, and genius, but what makes it great is the fans who piece together the little details that were probably unintentional sometimes, but still makes so much sense in context 😭😭. It was this tiny unspoken gesture from Gabby that made me even catch all that this time around & I just wanted to share, because I have literally no one else to share this moment with who even watches Xena & no one else would probably care 🤣.