Rating: 
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: As far as drama and action are concerned this series finale of Xena is as good as it gets. Lucy Lawless and costar Renee O'Connor give some of thier best work here. Director and producer Rob Tapert creates a lush visual version of Japan set against a loose retelling of the film "A Chinese Ghost Story". The directors cut is even better, it contains 16 minutes of restored footage to the film.
Rating: 
Summary: FOREVER XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS & GABRIELLE BRAVEHEARTED BARD
Review: FRIENDS OF XENA THE MIGHTY WARRIOR PRINCESS...PREPARE TO CRY!SUCH A HEART BREAKING...ENDER...AS IT SEEMED TO SO MANY XENA/GABRIELLE FANS IN THE SERIES "FINALE", JUST LOOKING AT THE SHOCKED DISBELIEF ON GABRIELLE'S AND XENA'S FACE'S NEAR THE END OF..."A FRIEND IN NEED"...SPEAKS VOLUMES FOR THE NEED OF A LIFE RESTORING JUSTICE SEQUEL FOR XENA AND HER BELOVED GABRIELLE...COULD THIS REALLY BE THE END?!
"THAT IS NOT RIGHT!" GABRIELLE EXCLAIMS TO HER SOUL-MATE...AS SHE DISCOVERS THE HORRIFIC TRUTH!...THAT ALL HER EFFORTS, TRIALS AND HEROIC DEEDS TO RESTORE XENA BACK TO LIFE...AS HAD EARLIER BEEN ALL BUT ASSURED... WERE IN FACT NOTHING BUT A DECEIT AND A STALL TACTIC OF AKIMI!
THE "OH SO INNOCENT"...AKIMI KEEPS COMING BACK TO MIND...FOR IT WAS AKIMI, AS WELL AS HER MALVIOLENT FATHER...AT WORK HERE...WHO TOOK XENA AWAY FROM GABRIELLE...IN FACT.
KNOWING THESE PERTINANT REVELATIONS ABOUT THIS NOW...XENA'S FUTURE PRODUCERS MAY BE USE THIS AS A GATEWAY TO A GREAT XENA & GABRIELLE MOVIE SAGA IN THE FUTURE.
We cant help but feel for Xena...and Gabrielle...as we too came along with them to the "saving waters" on Mt. Fuji in Japan...in the "final" episode of XWP... wherein Xena could have been saved...only in reality to have Xena's fondest hopes for Gabrielle and herself sadly dashed...One cannot help but mourn the pain with her surviving loved one Gabrielle...Yet it is just as important to remember about the many valuable and heartfelt lessons in their adventures/lives...and the true gladness of just having had the chance to have known them at all...Their caring ways for the downtrodden and weak...in a land crying out...for hero's such as them...for a Hero as magnificent as Xena...She shall never truly die! Whether Xena is ever to return in the corporial form or not...in any as yet to be found scroll to be shown on film or television...it almost would not matter if but for the fact that Xena seems to have died an almost un-Xena like death due to the so "decietfuly innocent" Akimi...who first tricked Xena...and then Gabrielle...into her "sob story" of "the forty thousand souls" who threw their own lives away by what they in reality brought down upon themselves! Xena wrongly gets to take the blame and lose's her life needlessly for the selfish Akimi...NOT for "The Greater Good" as seen in what should have just been a good season ender...but not the series ending, and not to "nit-pick" but where was the Xena/Gabrielle interaction screen time together we fans had certainly come to exspect for "The Serie's Ender"?...as was not seen...when the Wicked and EVIL Akimi...seemingly took over control of Xena...and made her all but forget about her soul-mate Gabrielle in "A FRIEND IN NEED".
As we all know...Xena and Gabrielle exist in an alternate reality...or universe...if you must, of "fiction/fantasy"...but it's one with a message...a message of love...one that can never die...maybe we must miss them for the time being...but also with hope for a reunion of Xena and Gabrielle in a yet to be found scroll. In what turned out to be one of the last episode's of the series entitled..."Many Happy Returns" Gabrielle reads gently to Xena these words of love famed poet Sappho penned on Xena's behalf for Gabrielle on her birthday.
"There's a moment when I look at you And no speech is left in me. My tongue breaks, then fire races under my skin And I tremble, And grow pale, For I am dying of such love!"
In an interview which Lucy Lawless gave in an Auckland New Zealand newspaper...when asked if she "...would be willing to don the Xena gear for a future project?", Lucy replied, "Sure, It would be great to come back as long as it was done right....while there hasn't been any substantial offer as of yet...sure I'd do it...."we all loved the show very much. And you know as well as I do that they will eventually resurrect that character again, she's far too great a character not to resurrect. So they will find a way to do that. Xena will return...."it must be a possibility. I mean, someone took out a full page cover ad in Daily Variety to promote The Director`s Cut, and for a TV Show that`s been cancelled to have a full page ad in a trade publication, that just blows my mind...." I`m sure as time goes by and I`m finally feeling some normalcy in my life I'm sure I`ll be open to it." Lets see that it happens by supporting "THE RETURN OF XENA AND GABRIELLE" movie that millions are talking about on the web who want to right the terrible wrongs commited on Xena and Gabrielle in this sad yet heartfelt final show...for Xena is truly a hero who died before her time. Buy it, but be prepared to cry long and hard.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment beyond the telling
Review: After five years of loyal fans asking for a DVD collection of Xena, one episode is released. The episode chosen was voted the second most hated episode of the series according to a Whoosh.org poll. An episode that even Lucy Lawless acknowledges emotionally hurt many of the show's most faithful viewers. ....
I want to love this series. I really do. But for some reason the people who own this show seem to want to actively alienate their own fan base. The premise and promise of this series is love and loyalty and respect and honor between people that transcends life and death itself. I refuse to buy this product because it violates that belief.
Rating:
Summary: BUY THIS DVD!
Review: Granted, A Friend in Need was not the best 2-part Xena episode we've ever seen. But if we buy this DVD, maybe it will encourage TPTB to release what we really want -- boxed sets, or at least some of the better episodes (The Debt, A Day in the Life, Destiny, The Quest) on DVD. A message to TPTB: Buffy's 1st season boxed set is a top seller right now. This could have been Xena, if you had released it on DVD a few years ago. Release Xena boxed sets now, while Xenites are still showing enough interest in the show to spend money on it.
Rating:
Summary: Renee is the true star
Review: I'm not sure why I bought this, sort of like turning the knife in my back that Tapert put there. I guess I'm sucker for behind the scenes stuff.This final goes down in history as the worst there is. Tapert makes up for nothing, other then lining his pockets. Also having to painfully read or watch Ms. Lawless coldly flip her fans (in her interviews) that made her a success off. Unless money is needed. This gets one star from me and that's because Renee O'Connor's acting was what made this sick ending manageable. So hope Tapert and USA Studios enjoys milking the fans out of more. To bad this great series that could have been as big as Trek had to die out...
Rating:
Summary: Xena:Warrior Princess This Is Not The End
Review: I have never seen a better series berfore in my life. Although I have only seen it once, I feel as though I am connected. I am sure others would agree that if they have seen it once they would like to see it again and just capture the moments. When Xena died I felt a part of me go with her. I want to see her entire series all over again. I may not have brought a DVD or book yet but it seems i will soon. Gabrell and Xena belonged together forever but now Xena is gone. I watch Hercules every day now and hope that an episode with Xena will show. I LOVE YOU XENA!!!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing ending to a great show
Review: I got this version (I think). From other reviews I thought the director's cut- which I definitely got was supposed to end with Gaberielle alone, not with Xena's ghost on the boat with her. Either reviews are wrong and the director's cut does end this way or somehow the dvds labeled director's cut really aren't the director's cut- atleast not the original. COULD SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHICH OF THESE IS RIGHT??
I never saw the finale on television, so I don't have anything to compare my to. If there are two versions of the finale, a dvd with both versions should really be released.
This episode was pretty good. I was expecting somewhat more from a finale, but it was no where near as bad as some say. Alot of this series was about redemption and forgiveness. The episode going back and forth from the present to flashbacks of something that happpened when Xena was evil was very interesting and a great idea for the finale- goes to show how far Xena has come.
Given the circumstances, Xena did the right thing in the end- for others AND for herself- she already had to live with doing so much evil in the past, then finding out that what she did resulted in so many deaths and that the she had to stay dead in order to save their souls, what choice did she really have? And Xena had to die way before Gaberielle considering that previous episode where they have to travel forward to another of their incarnations- the person Xena was was very old, and the person Gaberielle was was really young. So, obviously Xena had to die first in order to be reborn first. I don't think that it was really necessary for Xena to be beheaded though, seeing her the way Gaberielle saw her after she was killed (those of you who have seen this will know what I am talking about) was really awful.
Rating:
Summary: A must have for any Xena fan
Review: This is a must have to finish out any Xena collection. The DVD version was fabulous with commentation from the people who made it. The commentation helped to explain what the creators were thinking at different stages of the episode.
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