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I re-watched the Furies a few days ago, too. For such a touchy subject, I felt that I really needed to review it to get the whole picture of what was presented. Especially when we're talking timing of looks here and insinuation. And in the end, it does support my original point; that I do not believe Ares is her father but it's not completely certain. But many of the things you brought up, LK, are points I had thoughts on, too.

You're right about the look on Ares face. He looked floored. Could've been because he is not her father, could've been because he is . . . My personal favorite concept is that at this moment, he's rattling his brain. As you said, "Wait a minute, did I actually do her mom?" Honestly, before Xena showed up, was her father or mother anyone important enough for Ares to particularly remember sleeping with her? I'd think as a god, to some extent, he might get an itch, find some nameless mortal interesting for a moment, and then completely put it out of his mind. I think in some ways, the view point that he would certainly know whether he fathered a child or not is somewhat from a female-centric point of view. We know when we have kids because (certain technologies excepted) they tend to fly out of us at some point. It'd take a special brand of out-of-it not to notice that. But fatherhood is a bit different . . . there is a far higher probability of a one-night-stand from a couple years back having his kid. I'm not meaning to imply anything such as irresponsibility, but it's plainly the nature of the reproductive system. Fatherhood is a far more fluid thing, even when it might seem certain. Even with our paternity tests, the best result anyone can get is with a 99.9% certainty. Not 100%. As the saying goes, "Mommy's baby. Daddy's maybe." So considering the fact that Olympian gods are not portrayed as omniscient, there's a strong possibility that Ares couldn't be 100% sure, either.

Yes, when he says, "You don't really think I'm your father, do you?" I completely agree that feels as if he's certain he's not. But then when he says the equivalent of, "If I were your father, I'd be very proud of you," again puts it in the gray zone.

And even when he said, "I am NOT the father!" It could be tricky Ares using wording to his advantage. He says, "the father," not "her father." Technically, if he was trying to not outright lie to the Furies, that's vague enough for him to get away with it. Perhaps he was pretty darn sure, but as I said earlier, not 100% sure at that point and he didn't want to back himself into a corner.

Ares' use of the word 'jealous' when talking to her at the cliff was very odd. It definitely could've been as he said, a remark about the jealousy of a man who believes his wife is giving too much attention to their kid instead of him....But that seems rather circuitous for an otherwise direct conversation. And Xena's look could be taken either as an, "Aha! I can use that!" or a, "Wait! No...Could it?"

The whole thing about her father coming home suddenly from war is a bit iffy.... Especially since that's something her mum commented on before she knew what Xena's argument was going to be. I'd want to know if any other soldiers came home suddenly from war at the same time....The insinuation is certainly that no one else did...At which point, that is very odd and is strong mark in godly favor (or disfavor).

However, the end of it definitely made it feel as if the writers at least were backpedaling at full speed, because the conversation between Xena and mum definitely sounds as if it's working off the idea that Xena doesn't think Ares is the father. But her mum talks more about removing the father figure... still more ambiguous.

"that version of the script actually had Xena taunting Ares about how he'd had sex with Callisto in the body of his own daughter and how "kinky" that was. " Eeew. Nonetheless the fact that Ares then goes on to sleep with Eve. *Shudder* No. Just. No.

"I think even the Furies eventually realize he's not -- in Coming Home, Alecto's taunt is "you just killed your beloved, Ares," not "you just killed your daughter."" Essentially true. But we are talking Olympian politics here, they might've thought she was both beloved and daughter. And they knew the beloved thing was more important to him than the daughter thing.

Though, I agree. Outside this episode, there is nothing that supports the idea that anyone believes he's her father. And thank goodness for that, IMO.

Yeah, when I wrote that post, I debated for perhaps 3 minutes about whether or not to make any mention of it being Father's Day.

That actually seemed fairly unambiguous to me. When Xena says that she kept hoping that if she met her father, it would help her "understand herself," that seems to be more suggestive of a biological father -- someone whose genes (or "blood", as people would have said at the time) she shares -- than a father figure she barely remembers.

Agreed. I know I was a bit unclear and I prefer to be far more precise than I was in that post, but I was very tired when I wrote that. However, what I meant specifically, was that Xena's end of the conversation there, the stuff you quoted about understanding herself through meeting her father and such, was unambiguous. It was her mother's end of that conversation that was far more ambiguous. And since she'd have a bit more of an idea of what was going on there....

... Considering that she's holding Eve at that moment, and the relationship Eve and Ares go on to have.. It shouldn't be funny. But goodness help me, it is.