In a stable, Xena's rudely awakened from her slumber by a rooster crowing and Joxer entering/being his usual annoying self (though he's nice enough to bring Gabrielle goose eggs), we learn Gabrielle's not a morning person (her "I'll rise, but I refuse to shine." is how I am) and Joxer gets hit with a horseshoe from above resulting in him literally having egg on his face (Gabrielle NOT telling him she doesn't even *like* goose eggs, as he volunteers to get more, is a d!ck move). A Montague/Capulet-like feud plays out in town, leading to Joxer bravely/foolishly intervening and then dying in Gabrielle's arms as a result (this is a prime example of the show expertly turning on a dime from humourous to serious). Speaking of arms, Gabrielle falls asleep in Xena's while Joxer's body burns on a pyre...though Joxer fans shouldn't fear, as he's very much *alive* by morning.
Xena's actually relieved, amusingly giving him a noogie/doing a shadow boxing-like maneuver (complete with comical facial expression) and thinking it was all a dream...until Joxer's hit with the horseshoe again (this time on his foot, after Xena tells him to step back). Gabrielle's attempt to understand Xena's explanation is amusingly confusing, Joxer gets philosophical/intuitive as he theorises they're all just part of someone else's thoughts/imagination, then faints upon hearing of his own bloody death...but springs back up at the mention of Gabrielle crying over him. She and Xena answering "Yes." in unison to him asking whether they think he'd be stupid enough to get between two guys with swords is funny, but what's *not* funny is this time around one side of the fighting families punish Xena for seemingly 'siding' with the other by killing ALL the horses in the stable (after the horseshoer refused to tell them which was hers). Thankfully, we're spared seeing the carnage. Xena's heartbroken reaction's enough.
Joxer nobly takes the blame for Argo's death (clearly Xena's more upset by it than she was by Joxer's), but luckily Argo's ALIVE when the day restarts. Xena tries to spare Joxer from getting egg-face, but his continual questioning her leads to the same result. She's frustrated at again having to explain the day repeating and knows the warring families have something to do with it. Joxer says 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend', suggesting they can be the enemy that brings the families together (understandably, numerous people have bonded over their mutual hatred of him in the past). Xena learns one family member, Casca, got hit by a cart and resolves to save him. The next time around, Joxer doesn't even get to finish his "Rise and shine!" greeting, as Xena knocks him on his ar$e whilst rushing to rescue the old deaf Casca...which she *does*, but his hat isn't so lucky.
While Gabrielle's again attempting to understand everything, Joxer suggests Xena staying awake all night as he sings to her (which I found pretty funny, as well as her losing patience with him whilst trying to remain calm/polite). Xena denies any Fates/Ares/food/poison darts/Bacchae bites involvement regarding her behavior, leading to the famous "Is that a hickey?" question from Joxer (Gabrielle's reaction answers that). Apparently saving Casca changed nothing, the families still fight over anything/everything and this time Gabrielle dies. Whilst grieving, Xena tells herself it'll be alright. The amusing sound coming from the pile of hay, when Xena sticks her hand into it the next morning, confirms Gabrielle's alive. Joxer seeing them embracing/wanting to get in on the 'group hug' (when he's clearly not invited) is great too. Although I hate animal violence, him suggesting that the rooster's to blame and Xena offing it with her chakram (complete with resulting explosion of feathers) is pretty funny, as is Xena's angry yelling when this doesn't fix things.
In one loop, Xena informs Gabrielle of Joxer's affections and he's embarrassed, but naturally neither of them remembers this later. Family feuds keep happening despite Xena's best efforts to stop them; she learns someone's used fatal night's bane poison and Joxer gets to put his plan/annoyingness to good use in having the families come together to shoot arrows at all three of them. But not even DEATH is enough to put Xena out of her misery. What follows is the BEST moment of the episode, which is her just finally being fed-up with Joxer and burying her chakram in his chest (knowing full-well he'll be fine). Without an explanation for this, Gabrielle's understandably shocked, the moment's clearly played for laughs and obviously this was intended to give all Joxer-haters what they'd wanted ever since his introduction. While it *could've* been viewed as 'mean-spirited', it's well-done/actually hilarious. As is the next loop starting with Xena leaving the stable after having tied up Gabrielle/Joxer to keep them out of trouble (Gabrielle's face is highly comical).
This time around Xena does some serious investigating, trying to find out who bought the night's bane and being subjected to crunchy/unappetizing-looking muffins as she finds out how the two families are connected. With this new information, the following loop begins with Xena happy/enthusiastic, her amusingly answering Gabrielle's/Joxer's questions before they've even asked (particularly of note is her expression when answering one question with "Yes, *both* ways.") and making peace between the two houses. Xena's *convinced* this fixed everything...so, naturally, when she loops again, her EPIC temper tantrum is understandable. Even better is her seemingly having gone crazy, as she leans on her head whilst upside down and explains the events thus far to Gabrielle/Joxer who just sit there with the same comical expressions on their faces from morning till nighttime. Xena learns that a Romeo/Juliet-like couple (plus Cupid) are responsible for the time-loop, while her math/geometry skills and chakram are the heroes of the episode that finally break the time-loop. Xena grabs Gabrielle's turnips, which Joxer brought instead of eggs, and the episode ends with a freeze-frame of them laughing at him after he's hit in the head by a hammer instead of a horseshoe.
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