A Fistful of Dinars – Director: Josh Becker/Writers: Steven L. Sears, R.J. Stewart
This one starts with a ruffian (Klonig) attacking another guy (Lycus) and stealing his pouch. Xena shows up and Klonig tales off. Xena catches him, but their scuffle is interrupted by an assassin (Thersites), who kills Klonig and takes Lycus’s pouch. Apparently, Lycus, Klonig, and Thersites each have one clue that leads to a great treasure, which means Thersites now has three of the clues. Xena gets the pouch away from him and reads the paper inside the pouch before swallowing it, so now Thersites can’t kill her since she has a piece of
the puzzle he’s missing. Xena mentions that a guy named Petracles has the fourth clue and tells Thersites she’ll get it. Thersites agrees to meet her later and she goes back to Gabi, who tells her Lycus is dead. Xena tells Gabi about the four clues and the vast treasure of the Sumerians. But Xena and Lycus knew something the others didn’t … the treasure hoard contains the Titans’ Key, which leads to a stash of Ambrosia. If Thersites gets that, he could become a god and be unstoppable.
Xena tells Gabi the Ambrosia is in a temple in Mount Poulis, a volcano that’s 
about to erupt (which explains why Lycus wanted to go after the treasure now … the volcano might throw the Ambrosia out where anyone could find it). Xena tells Gabi that Petracles is a lying scumbag who uses people for fun; he’s also Xena’s ex-fiancé. Xena and Gabi go see Petracles and tell him about the treasure. He agrees to come with them and tries to use his charms on Gabi. She’s ready for it, since Xena warned her, but she does seem kinda fascinated with Petracles. Xena gets worried and warns Gabi again, but Gabi resents Xena treating her like a kid.
The three of them meet up with Thersites, who isn’t thrilled they have to cooperate to find the treasure (and sees no value in having Gabi around, since she doesn’t have any of the clues). They’re interrupted by Thersites’ current employer (Marleus), who’s pissed off that Thersites hasn’t fulfilled the contract killing he was hired to perform. Marleus has some thugs with him and intends to kill Thersites … and his companions.
Thersites kills Marleus with a spring-loaded dagger concealed up his sleeve and the thugs run away. They cross through some hostile territory and Gabi 
is almost killed when Thersites causes a rope bridge to collapse. Later, Xena warns Thersites about putting Gabi in danger and he wonders why Xena is even there, since she doesn’t seem to give a damn about the treasure. Gabi talks to Petracles about Xena and he admits he treated her badly, but he ends up putting the moves on Gabi. She’s kinda into it, but comes to her senses. Xena realizes what happened and warns Petracles to stay away from Gabi. He hints that he might’ve changed from the man she knew, but she doesn’t buy it; she tells him she threw the wedding bracelet he gave her into a fire and he admits he sold his for weapons. Thersites listens to their argument while pretending to be
asleep. Klonig’s clue directs them to a temple of Demeter, where they have to get a jewel from the altar. Gabi goes in (since she’s good at talking) with Thersites, the two of them disguised as visiting worshipers. The priest isn’t too friendly until Gabi offers a donation … maybe that’s a comment on religion and how it tends to become beholden to money? Xena and Petracles fake an attack on the temple, giving Thersites time to grab the jewel. But he knocks the statue over and he and Gabi are caught red-handed.
Xena and Petracles rescue them and they take off with the jewel. The map Xena swallowed leads to a rock face near Mount Poulis. They put the clues 
together and figure out they have to wait until sunrise for the sun to shine on the jewel. After a sleepless night, they find a cave entrance and end up falling into the treasure chamber. While Petracles and Thersites start grabbing the loot, Xena and Gabi look for the Titans’ Key, but Thersites finds it first. He realizes what it is (since he’s Sumerian and the Key has Sumerian writing on it) and grabs Gabi as a hostage, dragging her out of the chamber toward Mount Poulis.
Petracles seems genuinely worried about Gabi, but Xena still doesn’t trust him. Xena reveals that there’s a hidden passage to the Ambrosia room under Mount Poulis, but she was leery of using it since it’s so dangerous.
The Hall of Silence has to be crossed without making any noise, at the risk of bringing the ceiling down on their heads. They almost get impaled by stalactites, but make it to the Ambrosia room just as Thersites and Gabi come through the front door. Petracles pretends to want an alliance with Thersites so they can both become gods, but it’s a ruse to get Gabi to safety. Thersites stabs Petracles and fights Xena. She ends up killing him with his own concealed dagger and he dies 
within reach of the Ambrosia. Petracles dies too, after telling Xena how sorry he is about how he treated her all those years ago. He gives her his pouch, which turns out to contain the wedding bracelet he said he sold. Xena realizes he really had changed, but it’s too late now. Xena and Gabi throw the Ambrosia into the volcano, thus returning it to the gods. Considering what happens next season, maybe Xena should’ve kept a little back for herself.
This is a pretty solid episode (it’s #88 on my all-time list), although it’s not really a stand-out compared to some of the later ones. We do learn some more about Xena’s past here, specifically that she and Petracles were
engaged. I’m not sure when they would’ve known each other; Petracles said they were very young and confused power with love, wanting to dominate each other instead of being equals. Once Petracles won Xena’s heart, he didn’t want her anymore. That could mean it happened before Xena met Caesar (when she was still open to love), or it might be post-Caesar, which would explain why she saw love as some kind of contest to be won … her relationship with Borias was much the same. I’m leaning toward this happening before Caesar; I don’t think Xena 
would trust anyone enough to marry them after Caesar betrayed her. In Destiny, we’ll see Xena using sex to get to Caesar but ultimately kinda falling for him, which could be exactly what happened with Petracles; maybe she didn’t quite learn her lesson. Petracles ended up keeping her wedding bracelet, so I guess he realized he was wrong a long time ago … or realized he really did care for Xena.
Gabi’s role in this one is interesting. Petracles puts the moves on her and she almost seems into him, despite all Xena’s warnings. Was Petracles sincerely interested in Gabi, or was he just using her to figure out Xena’s
plans? Or to make Xena jealous? Petracles must’ve known Xena would never trust him again, so I can’t see him trying to make her jealous. Maybe he really was into Gabi (and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be, Gabi’s certainly very attractive), but I find myself thinking he must’ve had an ulterior motive; maybe I’m assuming Xena’s estimation of his character is right, even though it seems to be proven wrong in the end. On Gabi’s side, I think she may be somewhat attracted to 
Petracles (and fascinated by the guy who could hook Xena), but maybe some of it is just resentment that Xena keeps warning her about him. Maybe Gabi wanted to prove (to herself as well as Xena) that she was perfectly capable of resisting Petracles’ charms. (She might’ve also been a little flattered that a guy who used to love Xena was now attracted to her.) In a way, Petracles almost qualifies as a boyfriend-of-the-week for Gabi, except I’m not convinced she’s ever really that into him.
Noticeable Things:
- The title is taken from the Sergio Leone spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars, but the plot (with several people having clues to a buried treasure) is more like another Leone classic, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
- Gabi doesn’t have her staff in this episode, nor does she do any fighting, even though this was filmed after Hooves and Harlots and Black Wolf, where she does fight. Maybe the staff Ephiny gave her got broken (it was pretty elaborate) and she hasn’t gotten a new one yet.
- Gabi doesn’t seem too afraid of Thersites … she even slaps him
around a few times (after the bridge crossing, in Demeter’s temple, and in the cave). Maybe she figures he’s not a threat since he claims to only kill for money. Of course, he does end up threatening to kill her later on. - Even without fighting, Gabi is still helpful: besides talking her way into Demeter’s temple, Gabi comes up with the first answer when they’re figuring out the clues, and she’s the only one with the presence of mind to light a torch when they fall into the pitch-black treasure room.
- In Demeter’s temple, Gabi tells the priest they’re from Nonamia, across the great water.
- Xena apparently knew Lycus (who was her friend), Thersites, Petracles, and Klonig from way back. She and Lycus were the only ones who knew about the Titans’ Key but they never went after it (or the Sumerian treasure); maybe Xena was distracted by all her other warlord stuff, or maybe she and Lycus made a pact not to seek the treasure and she kept her word.
- As far as I can tell, Mount Poulis isn’t a real place. This episode was
filmed right before Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts and there’s a reference at the start of that episode to Mount Poulis, so watching this one before that episode might make sense. I that’s the case, this episode probably takes place in Asia Minor somewhere, not that far from Troy. One of these days I might do a post on the geography of the first season and how it affects the continuity of the episodes.
Favourite Quotes:
- “Who … rather, what was that?” Gabi’s question to Xena after meeting Thersites the first time.
- “You can keep your crown.” Gabi conceding that Petracles is better at charming people than she is after he reminds her he talked Xena into marrying him.
- “I could use a shot.” Thersites in Demeter’s temple when the priest offers sacramental wine. He quickly changes it to “It’s sure hot” after Gabi elbows him in the ribs.