The next three episodes are a mixed bag in the sense that two make several questionable creative decisions and the other is genuinely my favourite Xena Warrior Princess episode of all time. It’s the show at its cleverest and wittiest, whilst maintaining a fairly solid plot and forcing its two leads to confront serious ethical quandaries.
All of the Rome-centric episodes can be relied upon to be of above-average quality, but When In Rome somehow manages to be a cut above the rest: drawing on events past and present (mostly in regards to Caesar), concocting a fairly intelligent Rescue Plot, confronting Xena and Gabrielle with their recent trust issues, and stacking the cast with solid guest stars.
The episode makes it onto numerous “best of” or “top ten” Xena episode lists, but I’m probably alone in making it my #1.
Forgiven
Plot: Xena promises the priests of Apollo that she’ll return their sacred urn, stolen from their temple by thugs. Before the mission begins, Gabrielle is attacked at a tavern by a sixteen-year old girl called Tara, who announces she’s there to take her place as Xena’s sidekick. Hearing that Tara knows the location of the thieves’ hideout, Xena allows her to tag along, even though she and Gabrielle have taken an intense dislike to each other.
This is a frustrating episode since it’s a really, really good idea that simply isn’t delivered properly.
The good idea is that Xena and Gabrielle would temporarily team-up with a third member – a teenager looking for some redemption, who reminds Xena of herself when she was young, and is definitely something of a bad girl.
This is backed up with a second good idea: that Xena would be eager to take her under her wing, while Gabrielle would be more stand-offish. That provides a nice role-reversal between the two leads that sheds some light on their characterization. Throw in a decent actress playing the guest-star (Shiri Appleby), and you've got the makings of a solid episode.
The problem is comprised of several crucial missteps, the biggest one being Tara's introduction.
First impressions count. There's a trope called the Establishing Character Moment that lists the myriad of ways in which writers chose to introduce their characters to the audience, knowing that first impressions are very important to the audience's understanding of a character.
In that case, I've no idea why they would have thought it was a good idea to introduce Tara by having her viciously (and I mean viciously) attack Gabrielle when she's just sitting there, minding her own business and harming nobody. I mean, that's what villains do, right?
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| You can still see the scratches on her face! |
And to top it off, on a show where Gabrielle can be dragged behind Xena's horse for miles and then walk away without a scratch on her, the makeup artists make the decision to keep Gabrielle's facial injuries on throughout the entire episode so we don't actually forget just what Tara did to her. She bit off a part of her ear for goodness sake!!!
It actually makes Xena look like a terrible, terrible person for letting Tara tag along on their quest after inflicting such serious injuries on her travelling companion. If someone brutally attacks my little sister in public in an attempt to impress me, I call the police and have them arrested. Nothing about Tara's actions or Xena's response to them made any sense, period.
If only Tara's introduction had been toned down, I would have really liked seeing stone-cold Xena immediately getting along with the new girl, whilst warm-and-loving Gabrielle bristles at the newcomer. Instead, Xena just comes across as staggeringly insensitive, especially when she lets Tara take Gabby's sleeping place.
If I let Tara's introduction go, I could have kind of enjoyed the simmering jealousy between Tara and Gabrielle, Tara's arrogance in trying to impress Xena, and the gradual warming up of Tara and Gabrielle to each other. I think Shiri Appleby was quite good in demonstrating the "front" that Tara puts up in order to hide her vulnerability, and the scene in which she collapses sobbing into Xena's arms could have been pure Narm, but was actually really effective.
Yet all this good character development in which Tara learns to appreciate Gabby and tone down her obnoxiousness, is rendered null and void when the climax reveals she was in cahoots with the thieves the whole time, and was planning to betray these women as soon as she had her hands on the urn. And yeah, she changed her mind soon afterwards – but it still throws a shadow over all the nice interaction that came before that.
Plotwise, it was pretty standard stuff, what with its "find the MacGuffin" storyline, which means that the character interactions should have been what kept a weaker story afloat. At least the urn did lead to that really lovely scene at the end in which Gabrielle and Tara kneel down in order to seek forgiveness for their past sins, and Xena can't bring herself to join them. My take was that after all the terrible things she's done, she feels she doesn't have the right to have it all wiped away by a simple ceremony. There's just too much to atone for. (That or she can’t make herself believe that forgiveness can be obtained from a jug).
In summation – really good idea, but not pulled off at all well.
King Con
Plot: Joxer is badly beaten after winning big at a gambling den, so Xena plans to take down the casino’s owner Titus and his son Leo, the men responsible for Joxer’s injuries. She tracks down Rafe and Eldon, two conmen who tricked Joxer out of his earnings and his sword, and strongarms them into helping her. As they put their complicated plan into effect (it’s basically The Sting) sparks begin to fly between Xena and Rafe, though neither are sure how much they can trust the other.
First of all, the guy who played Leo once came to my high school as part of a drama troupe that taught us about sex-ed. And then he sang The Rainbow Connection in the voice of Kermit the Frog. So there's that.
If last episode was a nice idea that just didn't work, this was a bad idea that kind of worked.
That is to say that I liked the idea of a young, bratty teenager temporarily joining Xena/Gabrielle on their adventures, whereas the idea of a Hustle/Leverage scenario being imposed on these particular characters doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would Xena bother with card tricks and elaborate cons when she could just burst in and set the place on fire? It seemed completely out of character for her.
Perhaps if there had been some sort of need for secrecy and trickery that went beyond "because this is what the plot requires" it could have worked a lot better, but for the most part it didn't really feel like a Xena episode.
And can we PLEASE stop giving Xena one-shot love interests that are utterly unsuited for her and that Lucy Lawless clearly has no interest in whatsoever? I think they've done a reasonably good job with the het love interests so far: there's a lot of crackle between her and Ares/Draco/Borias (we know she likes bad boys), and I thought that she and Marcus had great chemistry for what little time they had together. As for Hercules... well, I haven't seen enough of them together to say, but at this point it feels like she's moved on from him. Never in a million years could she travel with him, let alone settle down.
But Ulysses flat-out didn't work, and neither did Rafe (oy, was that really his name?) And at least Ulysses had physical prowess in battle, which was something that Xena could respect – but this guy? Maybe they were trying to go for a battle of wits and again, maaaaaaybe that could have worked if it had been staged a little better... but it wasn't.
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| This was honestly the best picture I could find of him. |
Okay, but other than all that, I could sit back and enjoy the gambling atmosphere, particularly as it reminded me of that episode of the BBC’s Robin Hood with a similar premise. I'll admit that the true loyalties of Rafe's friend kept me guessing for a while, and some of the cons were fun to watch, even if they were convoluted (Xena demonstrating to Leo that he should hide his winnings "downstairs" instead of in his non-existent cleavage).
But I'm not entirely sure that Joxer made a particularly good impetus for Xena's vengeance streak (doesn't she barely tolerate this guy?) As a comparison, imagine if Gabrielle had been beaten up. Xena would have just walked in there and crippled everyone without any need for a plan that made no sense anyway. How does one get a card out of one's hair without anyone noticing anyway?
Also, what was with the Almost Kiss with Rafe even though she KNEW he had a bet going on with his friend to see if he could get her to kiss him? If they hadn't been interrupted, he would have won that bet! And she disrobes in front of him, why exactly? The actor was cute enough, and he managed to straddle the thin line between charming and slimy, but the character just didn't fit this show. I doubt we'll be seeing him again.
When in Rome...
Plot: The cold open depicts Gaul warrior Vercinix being captured by Roman forces, which is followed by Xena rescuing a Roman general from an execution. Dragging him back to Gabrielle, she identifies him as Crassus and lets him know that she intends to trade him for Vercinix, who is scheduled to be publicly executed at the upcoming gladiatorial competition to honour Julius Caesar.
On board the ship to Rome, Crassus strikes up a rapport with Gabrielle, and leaves her questioning what Xena’s real motivations are in striking against Caesar in this way: does she want to help Vercinix, or is it about seeking revenge against her ex-lover?
Xena strides into Caesar’s palace and – in front of Pompey, the third point of the governing triumvirate – offers a trade of hostages. So that Caesar can verify Crassus’s life, Gabrielle offers to stay in the palace while Caesar travels to the ship, knowing that the real plan is to smuggle Crassus into the jail cells and switch him with Vercinix while everyone’s attention is elsewhere.
Having drugged Crassus and pretending to be drunk herself, Gabrielle and Crassus pull off a standard Captured on Purpose ploy and get thrown in jail where Vercinix is waiting. Gabrielle initially plans to leave Crassus with his signet ring so that he’ll be easily identifiable to the guards and get released, only for Vercinix to tell her that Crassus was indeed responsible for a horrific massacre of innocent lives, spurring Gabrielle to withhold the ring.
Xena has meanwhile deliberately let herself get captured and thrown into the gladiator arena, where she provides enough of a distraction for Gabrielle and Vercinix to get away safely. Crassus is brought out in the place of Vercinix, and though Caesar recognizes him, orders the execution to go ahead. In the stadium, Gabrielle watches silently with the ring on her finger.
The final scene has Xena and Gabrielle somberly discussing the events on board ship, wondering what it has cost them both.
This is it you guys: my all-time favourite Xena Warrior Princess episode. Others may be objectively better in regards to their content, characterization or significance to the overarching story, but I don’t think you’ll find another that’s as well-written, morally complex, or that captures the quintessence of Xena like this one does. I love almost everything about it, especially the continuity in regards to each woman’s emotional journey.
First things first, I was amazed at how effective the opening sequence was. They had only a short time to make us care about Vercinix – a character we’ve never seen before and never will again – and they pulled it off. I’m not even sure how, but they established that he was brave, had a cool wife, and that his cause was just. This isn’t some random schmuck that Xena and Gabrielle have to save, but a worthy character in his own right that makes us immediately invested in his wellbeing. The actor was pretty good looking too, so that didn’t hurt.
Meanwhile, Crassus made for an excellent quasi-villain, which was another challenge considering he had to share the screen with Julius Caesar. I give the actor full credit for playing a dodgy character subtly enough that the audience would have been genuinely questioning his worth. In his manipulation of Gabrielle, there’s just enough truth mingled in with the lies to make you wonder what his game is.
Clearly he's trying to save his own hide, but then – who wouldn't in that situation? Even when he escapes in the boat, he doesn't make any sort of move to hurt Gabrielle sleeping nearby, and the two of them seemed to form a genuine rapport over the course of the episode, even when you could tell he was deliberately pressing her buttons.
Furthermore, we've learnt from experience that Xena isn't always right - so what if she's wrong in this particular situation? The “did he/didn't he” question concerning Crassus’s mass executions was a matter of whose word you were willing to believe, and there was enough doubt in Xena's conduct and sincerity in Crassus's voice that you were genuinely left wondering.
And ultimately, he would have gotten away clean if it hadn’t been for Vercinix sharing his side of the story with Gabrielle and her decision to go back on her word (but more on that in a bit).
I loved that elements of real Roman history were incorporated into the episode. The triumvirate of Caesar, Crassus and Pompey was nicely described as a relationship in which all three participants: "hate each other, but need each other," which brought a whole new dynamic to the situation. Xena didn't just have to play against Crassus and Caesar, she also had their personal dislike/need of each other to work with. That was another great element of the story: that all participants in this little drama were desperately trying to figure each other out.
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| Also, this dress was AMAZING. |
But when it came down to it, the question really was: is Xena in this to revenge herself on Caesar, or to rescue Vercinix? All of her enemies ended up betting on Caesar, and in doing so she was able to get one-up on them and achieve her real goal: smuggle out Vercinix using herself as a distraction. I love this sort of political espionage. So many blindsides as Survivor would say!
Oh, and I recognised the actor that played Pompey as the guy who played that other guy back when Xena went blind. He definitely worked better here as a rather slimy villain – but again, it wasn't overplayed. He was clearly trying to get one over on Caesar, and in doing so genuinely seemed to want to help Xena, but remained just a little bit too oily.
Still, it was a great point in his favour when he refused to be ordered from the room on Xena's first arrival. That instantly put him in Caesar's league, even though he got a jab at him later with his introduction of Xena as "Magnus" with a pointed glance at Pompey.
And Karl Urban is as good as ever as Caesar, though this time he was thoroughly outplayed – right from his obvious astonishment when Xena managed to walk straight into his throne room, to the moment when he's forced to kill his ally in order to save face. Maybe to make up for it, they gave him all the best lines: "an old friend...enemy...I forgot where we left off," or: "you've been captured and chained by the woman I captured and chained," or: "divide and conquer – her friend is the key," or: "somewhere out there is an irritating blonde, about to follow a plan that no longer exists." He caught on pretty quickly to the Gabrielle connection, and despite getting it all wrong, you still can't call him a stupid villain by any means.
And then we have Xena/Gabrielle. This was all telegraphed beautifully, right from the look on Gabrielle's face when Xena gallops up dragging Crassus behind her. You can't tell me she wasn't thinking about the Gab Drag in that moment.
Then from that point on, the episode really put us through the wringer in making us question Xena’s motives and Gabrielle's trust in her. Is she really after Vercinix or is it her wounded pride/legs/heart that’s guiding her? Is Gabrielle right to question what she's doing after all the stuff-ups in the past? One little slip-up between the two of them and it would be Chin all over again.
And once again it's built around a pretty serious moral quandary. Gabrielle says at one point: "you're making me part of murder", but it's not quite that simple. The question is: "would you sacrifice a bad man in order to save a good one?" And then (even better) that actually changes by the end of the episode to: "would you refuse to help a bad man so that he doesn't harm any more innocents but live with the weight of his death on your shoulders?" That's just brilliant stuff!
I think the real beauty of it was that Gabrielle spends this entire episode fretting about what Xena may or may not do (after all, the last time she was obsessed with Caesar, Hope was born) and yet in the end it's she who makes the call to take a man's life (or at least, not to save it).
More pertinently, the choice that she makes at that point has no bearing on the plan. They've already completed their objective and saved Vercinix, and whether or not she leaves Crassus his ring makes no difference to anyone but herself. Of course, there was one obvious way out: give the signet ring to Vercinix and let him make the call as to whether or not Crassus should die, though I guess that would feel like passing the buck. (Though you could also say that Caesar was technically the one responsible considering he knew full-well who Crassus was).
Meanwhile, it would seem that Xena learnt her lesson in Illusia and has no strong feelings about Caesar anymore, either good or bad. In all her dealings with him her demeanour wasn't actually a cover – she really doesn't give a damn anymore (and obviously the assassination attempt was a bluff). And after she's achieved her purpose, she just leaves the city. Caesar must have felt that it was quite an anti-climactic end.
So Xena comes out with her hands clean and Gabrielle was morally compromised. Dayum.
Miscellaneous Observations:
Some elements of the plot were quite wonky, such as Xena’s effortless ease in getting in and out of Rome, or the incredibly lucky coincidence that all the prisoners were kept in the same cells, or that Xena would magically be able to see Gabrielle in a giant crowd of people as the signal to cut loose on the gladiators (they couldn’t have had her wave a flag or something?)
But hey, all the character stuff was so interesting and dense that it hardly mattered. There was so much great interaction between Xena/Caesar/Gabrielle/Crassus/Pompey; you could write an essay trying to capture it all.
And Lucy was on fire: blowing casually on Crassus's ring and hiding it in her cleavage, telling Caesar: “there's a sentence in there just dying to get out”, yanking her hand from Caesar's kiss, paring the apple with the knife among the nobles, stating she has to go to the bathroom and swaggering out – she did so much gorgeous character work just with her body language.
It would have been nice to have seen Vercinix’s reunion with his wife and kids (sadly this is the first and last time we see any of them) but the scene on the ship was good, with Gabrielle once again pondering the cost of travelling with Xena, and Xena having to cope with the change that she's had on her friend.
And I especially loved that the lives of two men (one good, one bad) rested in the hands of two women, that the triumvirate of Rome was toppled because of them, that the Distressed Dude was taken safely back to his wife, and that the show didn't feel the need to blow its own trumpet over any of these facts.
There were so many great power-plays here, with a real sense of scope and history and the fact that you never really know who's in charge at any given time. I also loved that everyone bet wrongly on Xena, believing her obsession with Caesar would top her concern for Vercinix, and the ethical implications surrounding Gabrielle’s choice to leave Crassus to his fate.
It is my favourite Xena Warrior Princess episode.
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