As we head into the fourth season of Xena Warrior Princess, a basic format arises: episodes that are part of the overarching Story Arc (and which are likely to be darker in nature) are interspersed with lighter, comedic episodes which can be rather hit-and-miss in their level of quality. The heights of the show were reached in season three, and though there are some gems strewn throughout the remaining three seasons (as well as plenty of emotional highs) it’s not an exaggeration to say that the best of the show is now behind it.
Season four in particular involves a lot of disparate ideas and concepts being thrown at the wall to see which ones will stick – and some of these can get pretty darn weird. This season also sees a drift away from Greece and its pantheon of gods in order to explore other countries and their belief systems for the sake of Xena and Gabrielle’s ongoing character development. It’s fun seeing these characters in new locales, but... well, you’ll see the downsides for yourself once we get to them.
In Sickness and in Hell
Having returned from Siberia and dealt with Hope once and for all, Xena goes looking for Argo, who she left behind for her own safety. But on being reunited, Xena is dismayed to find that Argo doesn’t respond to her call – and what’s worse, a local warlord has also set his sights on the valuable steed.
Meanwhile, both Xena and Gabrielle suffer from head lice and a nasty skin rash as they attempt to help Joxer defend a village from the aforementioned warlord and his band of Scythians.
This was certainly a much, much lighter episode than its predecessor, which basically revolved around trying to find Argo and a steady procession of gross-out/body humour jokes. On the one hand, I appreciated that female characters were allowed to engage in this sort of comedy (because you don't often see it). On the other hand, it’s still pretty gross.
There was a paper-thin plot in here somewhere, involving Joxer getting hired to protect a village and roping the women into helping him do it, along with Xena trying to win back her horse from another over-the-top warlord who apparently thinks he can rule the world if only he has Argo as his steed. I wasn't sure how straight the show was playing him when he stood in front of his camp and yelled "I’ll rule the world!" whilst lightning bolts struck behind him, as it almost seemed too good a special-effect to waste on somewhat who may have just been there for comic relief.
Um...there's not really much to say? There were a couple of silly bits (such as Xena tapping a guard on the shoulder and knocking him out despite already sneaking past him just fine; Xena deducting that the inn-keeper was in cahoots with the bandits since his was the only place that hadn't been destroyed) but mainly I was just a bit confused.
I assumed that all the goofy behaviour from Xena/Gabrielle was down to the fact they ate those berries Xena mentioned. And maybe it was and I just missed the explanation, because it was pretty weird watching Xena have a public meltdown over her horse. I was also under the impression that the Monty Python bunny was actually just Gabrielle's hallucination, but apparently... it was real?
I was kinda interested by the scene in which Joxer casually wanders into the caves where Xena and Gabrielle were bathing without either woman freaking out or trying to kill him. I guess Joxer has reached that point when he's considered trustworthy enough not to perve at them while they're semi-clad/nude? Come to think of it, he was milling about rather close to the bush that both women were diving into to do their business...
I guess I'm still a bit disorientated by the last episode, in which the Dahak Saga is seemingly wrapped up and followed with a storyline about head-lice and trying to find Xena's missing horse. I know this show veers wildly between dramatic/comedic tones, but... yeah. Talk about jarring.
A Good Day
Xena and Gabrielle help a Greek mercenary called Phlanagus to defend his village from Roman soldiers who are pillaging for food. Knowing that Caesar is currently embroiled in a power-struggle with his rival Pompey, Xena concocts a plan to force their two armies into a quick, decisive battle that will hopefully destroy both of them and spare Greece the ongoing consequences of their presence.
As the episode unfolds, Xena leads the armies of Pompey and Caesar into various traps, though the latter realizes her tactics and launches countermeasures. While Xena is busy fighting the two men in a series of underground caves, Gabrielle realizes that the retreat of Caesar’s forces is a feint and orders the attack.
In the battle that follows, Gabrielle has the chance to save Phlanagus’s life with a spear-throw, but due to either bad aim or an unwillingness to take a life, she’s unable to take down the Roman soldier that kills him.
Still, the bigger-picture plan works and Caesar/Pompey’s armies are left in ruin. The two men survey the damage and head back to Rome to continue their feud there as Xena tries to comfort Gabrielle for having been unable to take a life and/or save a life.
Another Rome-centric episode, which generally bodes well, though I don't think anything will be able to top When in Rome..., which is my favourite episode of all time. Perhaps coincidentally, this is also a Gabrielle-centric episode, and it strikes me that that's usually the case when dealing with Rome episodes (somewhat ironically considering it’s Xena who has the more personal ties to Caesar). But in both this episode and its predecessor, it seems to be Gabrielle who is put through the moral crisis wringer.
So, the setup is pretty good: Pompey and Caesar’s rivalry has spilled into Greece territory and Xena decides to get rid of their armies by pre-emptively forcing each one into battle, thereby driving them out before they can do more damage to the countryside. In short, she chooses the lesser of two evils – though that still means dealing with the consequences of the lesser evil: leading men into battle and watching them die.
I'll admit, I was getting a little confused as to what exactly her plan was at certain points of the story, but then – that wasn't really all that important. The focus was on the human cost of what she was doing, and writer Steven Sears has always been very good at making an audience care about characters and situations in a short amount of time. Phlanagus's death could be seen coming a mile away, yet it still hurt when it happened.
Gabrielle was great in this episode (at least in terms of her characterization) precisely because there was no way this episode could have taken place at any time BEFORE this point in the show. This was a portrait of Gabrielle as a woman who had taken lives before and (despite her gentle nature) was prepared to do so again for the sake of the greater good, and in order to get the job Xena had set for her done. It was a perfect example of someone who was in too deep to back out of it, and who had gotten to that place after a long journey of difficult experiences and tribulations (that is, she wasn't just thrown in the deep end). This is obviously not what she signed up for when she first decided to tag along with Xena, but the inevitable culmination of the years spent with her.
In other words, it felt like a very natural continuation of Gabrielle’s character and her relationship with Xena. Once again she is forced (well, not "forced" exactly, but put into a position in which she feels she has no choice) to act against her nature and use violence to achieve her goals, whilst Xena once again finds herself feeling vaguely responsible for the "corruption" of her friend's goodness, but seeing no way to prevent it other than sending her home. Which of course, she will never do.
So this was very much the episode in which (for Gabrielle), the act of warfare and killing became mundane – even when there's nothing mundane about it at all. When she killed Meridian it was all tears and nightmares and guilt and anguish. When she had Crassus executed she was thoughtful and depressed and reflective. But now... despite her sorrow, this largely felt perfunctory.
Her innocence is long gone, and she's still not accustomed to killing – but I think the events of this episode made her realize that she crossed a certain line a long time ago, that this is her life now, and now SHE'S the one responsible for telling young people how to deal with death and the taking of a life.
Speaking of which, I'm not entirely sure what to make of her spear-throwing attempt to save Phlanagus's life. She sees that the Roman is about to kill him, she aims her spear, throws with an anguished cry... and misses. Hmm. I'm not sure what the show was going for here: that she made the decision to kill the Roman but missed anyway? That she couldn't bring herself to kill him and so messed up the shot on purpose? If it was the second, I'm afraid I don't buy it. She was clearly taking lives in battle before this point, yet she can't do it to save the life of a good man? Unless I missed something, I can't help but feel that it would have been more powerful for Gabrielle to have successfully killed the Roman, though I suppose from a Doylist point-of-view, the writer wanted the pathos of Phlanagus's death.
So yeah... not sure what to think about that scene, other than in worked in the sense that it made me think about it.
Amidst all this, the drama with Caesar and Pompey almost seemed incidental. It was nice of them to show up, and they had some good continuity in mentioning Vercinix, but I find I don't have much to say about them. Phlanagus was a nice one-off character whose death (as I said) managed to pack a punch (though I did wonder how it was that despite not seeing his wife for five or so years, his five-or-so-year-old son recognized him instantly.
I'm rather torn on some of the slow-motion battle scenes: they were wonderfully dramatic at first, with the women's hair billowing everywhere and the fires burning in the background, but the director was indulging a bit by the end, because they seemed to go on forever!
In short, a good episode with an interesting point to raise. Is there ever such a thing as "a good day of fighting"? Xena thinks so, but more important than any answer, this was the episode when the question became a reality for Gabrielle.
A Tale of Two Muses
What do you get if you blend Footloose with Riverdance? This episode. Xena and Gabrielle team up with Autolycus and Tara in order to bring music and dancing to Melitia, a town where strict religious reforms have banned all forms of physical expression.
There's not really much to say about this episode as it was as light as a feather, though fun enough to watch. It gave Bruce Campbell a chance to playact as a fire-and-brimstone preacher, and there were several prolonged dance numbers, and... that was it really.
On a vaguely serious note, I actually think that Xena's plan to overthrow the extremist government by taking their rules and beliefs to an absurd level was extremely risky given the nature of ... well, extremism. And it's a wonder she didn't pick this up for herself given the way the citizens initially cheered on the nonsense of what "Philipon" was saying. Remember when the crowd madly cheered for Borat when he declared: "may your warlord George Bush drink the blood of every Iraqi man, woman and child" at the rodeo?
Oh, and Tara was in this. Much like Meleager in the past, I'm not entirely sure why they felt the need to bring this character back. I mean, at least Meleager was (I assume) generally liked by the fanbase, whereas Tara was decidedly not. I never hated her, and it was actually quite nice to see that she'd gotten her life on track and found some measure of happiness, but it was still a rather random inclusion. She really could have been anyone given what the plot demanded of her, though I suppose they simply seized the opportunity to bring back a familiar face and give her some closure.
And it ends on a big dance-number that was pretty cute. It was nice to see Xena and Gabrielle just hanging out and having fun for a change.
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