Callisto – Director: T.J. Scott/Writer: R.J. Stewart
This one starts with a blonde warrior leading an attack on a village. She’s pretty intense, wasting men, women, and children indiscriminately, but spares one old woman. She tells the old woman to spread the word about what happened and claims to be Xena.
In a tavern, the real Xena (and Gabi) run into a guy named Melas whose
family died in the village raid. He attacks Xena, but she takes him down easily and assures him she’s innocent. Melas mentions other raids between there and Corinth, so Xena and Gabi hit the road to figure out what’s going on. They run into some refugees who look at Xena with fear and hatred (though if they saw Callisto destroying their village and believed her to be Xena, it’s weird they’d recognize the real Xena 
now). One of the refugees is a guy named Joxer, who claims to be a mighty warrior and offers to join Xena in her destructive rampage. Xena can see he’s just a wannabe and tells him to get lost. Melas attacks Xena again and she ties him to a tree. Gabi tries to use logic, but Melas is too consumed by hate to listen. They find a village under attack and see that Callisto is leading the raiders. Callisto surprises Xena by catching her chakram.
Xena and Callisto fight and Xena realizes Callisto is the one who shot her with the dart last episode. Callisto tells Xena she “made” her by destroying a village called Cirrha, a name Xena recognizes. After an indecisive fight,
Callisto takes off (with the chakram) and Xena uses the Pinch on Callisto’s lieutenant, Theodorus. He says Callisto’s going to kill the Oracle at Delphi and blame Xena. Melas has finally realized Xena didn’t kill his family and offers to help stop Callisto. Xena doesn’t really want his help, but figures she can keep him from getting killed if he’s with her. In Callisto’s camp, Theodorus tells her about Xena interrogating him, which Callisto expected; she seems to know exactly how Xena thinks. Joxer shows up, offering to join Callisto’s group and she tells 
him to bring Gabi to her. Joxer heads out and Callisto figures he might succeed, but even if he doesn’t it’ll be a distraction for Xena. The famous campfire scene is next, where Xena opens up to Gabi, telling her how she raided Cirrha years ago and the town accidentally ended up burning down, killing most of the people. Gabi tells Xena the cycle of hate and revenge has to stop and makes Xena promise not to turn evil if anything happens to her. They show up at Delphi and separate to look for Callisto. Joxer attacks Gabi (repeatedly), but she kicks his ass (repeatedly). Callisto is there in disguise and throws the chakram at the Oracle’s head.
Xena deflects (and retrieves) the chakram and chases Callisto, catching her
near the seashore. Gabi comes to tell Xena that Melas is organizing a lynch mob and Callisto is eager to face it, since she knows it’ll add to Xena’s guilt. Xena is ready to let Callisto go, saying she can change just like Xena did, but Gabi points out that Callisto’s heart has been eaten away by hatred. Callisto confirms that by swearing to kill everything Xena holds dear if she’s freed. Xena takes Callisto to prison and guards her 
from the mob. Callisto isn’t grateful, still taunting Xena and making her feel guilty. Joxer jumps Gabi again and she pounds him again, but this time she actually talks to him, suggesting he might do better as a fisherman than a warrior. The mob start the prison on fire and Xena tries to get Callisto out, but Callisto turns the tables and leaves Xena inside the burning cell, escaping from the mob and grabbing Gabi on the way out of town.
Xena jumps out through the roof and finds out Callisto has Gabi. At Callisto’s camp, she strings Gabi up and has a bunch of ladders prepared for
when Xena shows up. Joxer comes to the camp, still looking for a place to belong, and Callisto orders him to kill Gabi. He can’t do it and he and Gabi are both tied up. When Xena arrives, Gabi is hoisted into the air again and a torch is set against her rope, threatening to send her crashing to the ground. Xena and Callisto fight on the ladders and Xena ends up making a teeter-totter and cutting Gabi loose so she can catch her. Gabi lands on the teeter-totter and Callisto is thrown 
up in the air, grabbing what’s left of Gabi’s rope. Theodorus takes the torch away, but Callisto orders him to let the rope burn. Xena lowers Gabi to safety and catches Callisto when the rope breaks. Later, Gabi tells Xena she’s glad she saved Callisto and Xena says it was the right thing to do. But Callisto doesn’t feel the same way and is already thinking about revenge. In hindsight, considering all the grief Callisto will cause later, Xena probably should’ve let her die.
This is a great episode, a genuine classic (and #16 on my all-time list). It introduces two characters who will be important throughout the series, Callisto and Joxer, and firmly establishes that Xena’s burden of guilt is so big that she can’t ever imagine being rid of it. Callisto is kind of a proxy for
all of Xena’s victims (most of whom were nameless to her) and the damage she did to them. Even if she didn’t kill women and children on purpose (a point that will be tested in some future episodes), she left a lot of widows and orphans in her wake. Callisto’s entire family burned in front of her and while that’s technically not Xena’s fault, she still feels the guilt for it. Callisto has trained herself to be like Xena (right down to being able to use the chakram) and expects Xena to feel guilty for all the atrocities Callisto is committing … and it works. Xena’s never really been held accountable for everything she’s done; she’s 
making amends in her own way by helping people (which is probably better than just rotting in prison or being dead, as Gabi will point out in Locked Up and Tied Down), but the fact remains that Xena has never faced traditional justice for all her crimes. She’s even willing to let Callisto go in the hope she might change, and saves her life in the burning prison and again at the end, even though Callisto has promised she won’t change and will do everything she can to hurt Xena. We’ll see the consequences of Xena’s clemency next season.
This is also Joxer’s first appearance and he’s definitely in character; a wannabe warlord (trying to live up to the family tradition), who really doesn’t have the killer instinct. He’s played as a joke here (and in his next
few appearances), but shows some substance when he refuses to kill Gabi. Basically, Joxer just wants to be accepted and have friends and he isn’t too particular about who those friends are. I know a lot of people hate Joxer, but I like him. I think he adds some much-needed humour to the show, and later on we’ll see there’s more to him than just the comic stooge persona we see here. It’s interesting that most of his interactions here are with Gabi and he’ll eventually end up falling in love with her. She won’t reciprocate those feelings, but he will become a very important part of her life (although she never quite stops slapping him around).
I have to talk about the campfire scene, which is one of the iconic scenes from the series. There are so many great things about it: Xena actually 
opens up to Gabi and lets herself be vulnerable (I can’t imagine Xena crying in front of anyone else). Once again, Gabi is Xena’s conscience, making her promise not to go nuts if anything happens to Gabi. My favourite part is right at the end of the scene, when Xena tries to push Gabi away and says she wants to be alone. Instead of leaving, Gabi just puts her head on Xena’s shoulder and stays there, probably staying with her like that all night. It’s like Xena’s saying, “Leave me alone now, I want to wallow in my guilt and grief” and Gabi’s saying, “You can wallow if you want, but you’re not doing it alone.” When Gabi told Xena she wasn’t alone back in Sins of the Past, she meant it.
Noticeable Things:
- There’s some debate about Cirrha and where it’s meant to be, but I’m assuming it’s the town of Cirrha (or Kirrha) on the west coast of Greece. That’s what the Xena RPG says and it makes sense to me, although some people think the place in question is Seres (or Serrai
or Siris), which is in the Strymon valley not that far from Xena’s hometown of Amphipolis. But since this episode mentions them being close to Corinth, I’m assuming Callisto is from Cirrha (which is on the Gulf of Corinth); it makes sense she’d pick a place close to home to enact her revenge on Xena. In real life, Cirrha was the port for Delphi (a few miles away), so when Xena chases Callisto from Delphi to the seashore, they could be quite close to where Cirrha used to be. (Although when Xena and Gabi visit the remains of Cirrha in Destiny next season, it doesn’t seem to be on the coast. Maybe the Cirrha that Xena destroyed was inland a bit and was later rebuilt on the coast.)
Favourite Quotes:
- “Now, listen, I’m fierce and I have a lust for blood. As a matter of fact, if a couple of days go by and I haven’t shed some blood, I get very depressed. Blood and me go together like a horse and chariot. I once
bathed in a tub of blood. My nickname is ‘Bloody Joxer’.” Joxer introducing himself to Xena, trying to impress her. - “No, I don’t.” Xena’s response when Callisto asks if she sleeps well at night.
- “You see, you created a monster with integrity, Xena. Scary, isn’t it?” Callisto refusing Xena’s pity and not allowing her to salve her conscience by letting Callisto go.
- “No. No look, you promise me. If something happens to me, you will not become a monster. There’s only one way to end this cycle of hatred and it’s through love and forgiveness.” Gabi acting as Xena’s conscience again. Years later, one of the writers would say that Gabi was being naive here, but at the time it was exactly what Xena needed to hear.
- “People like us should listen to people like Gabriel.” Xena telling Melas that Gabi’s philosophy of forgiveness is probably better than the endless cycle of hate and revenge
