Xena Reviews: Season 2, Episode 7

Intimate Stranger – Director: Gary Jones/Writer: Steven L. Sears

This one starts with Xena tracking Theodorus and the rest of Callisto’s gang to bring them to justice. She runs into her mother (Cyrene), who makes her feel guilty for letting Callisto die in the quicksand last episode. “Cyrene” turns out to be Ares in disguise and he piles on the guilt even harder. Xena wakes up and realizes she was having a nightmare, but soon figures out she’s still dreaming when Gabi turns into Callisto. Xena wakes up again and asks Gabi if she thinks she murdered Callisto. At first, Gabi is supportive, but then she gets all passive-aggressive and judgmental, letting us know this isn’t really Gabi. Xena wakes up for real this time (hopefully), but she’s still wracked with guilt over Callisto’s death.

While tracking Theodorus and the gang, Xena mentions her dreams and Gabi says she used to get her best stories from her dreams, but hasn’t been able to dream since Perdicus died. So I guess Callisto didn’t just kill Gabi’s husband, she killed her artistic spirit. They find Theodorus’s trail, but Xena realizes someone else is following the gang. Yeah, it’s Joxer and he’s already been captured. Theodorus and the others have strung him up and are beating the shit out of him, but when they hear Xena’s war cry they take off. Xena frees Joxer (by dropping him on his face) and tells Gabi they’ll rest before following Theodorus and the others. Xena’s afraid to sleep, but finally succumbs and sees a vision of Callisto beckoning her into the woods. Xena follows and Callisto explains that they’re in a kind of Netherworld, a world of dreams between the real world and the Afterlife. Ares shows up and tells Xena he wants Callisto to lead his armies now instead of her. They play on Xena’s guilt and she finally admits she murdered Callisto (at least in her own mind). That allows Callisto to send Xena spinning into Tartarus in her place … and in her body. Callisto wakes up in Xena’s body and tells Gabi they have to go to Amphipolis because Callisto is targeting her mother. Meanwhile, Xena (in Callisto’s body) wakes up in Tartarus.

(From now on,whenever I refer to Xena just remember that she’s in Callisto’s body, and when I refer to Callisto she’s in Xena’s body.) Argo knows something is wrong with “Xena” and is nervous around her. Gabi’s a little freaked out too because Callisto tells her she should’ve killed Callisto when she had the chance. In Tartarus, Xena convinces Hades of the body-switch and he gives her 24 hours to set things straight, otherwise someone will be condemned to Tartarus regardless of whose body is whose. Callisto trains Gabi to fight with lethal intent, goading her by talking about Perdicus and “pretending” she’s Callisto in Xena’s body. Gabi does get mad and attacks, but feels sick about it afterwards. Callisto tells her hatred is a good thing and attaches the breast-dagger to the end of Gabi’s staff. Callisto goes into the woods to meet Ares and he gives her shit for messing around with Gabi, warning her that all she has to do is avoid Xena for 24 hours. Callisto has her own plans and doesn’t like being pushed around, but she does end up banging Ares. When she gets back from her sexing, Callisto sends Gabi ahead, saying she wants to hide Argo somewhere to keep her safe. As soon as Gabi’s gone, Callisto taunts Argo and ends up stabbing her.

Xena finds Argo and realizes Callisto wounded her to make Xena finish her out of mercy. But Xena uses herbs and tree sap to heal Argo. Joxer shows up and tries to protect Argo from “Callisto”, but Xena uses the Pinch to convince him her body-switching story is true. Callisto goes to Theodorus’s hideout and he figures they’re safe as long as they don’t resist, since Xena doesn’t kill unarmed people. But this isn’t really Xena and Callisto slits Theodorus’s throat, taking over the gang. She sends them to capture everyone in Amphipolis and bring them back to the caves alive. Callisto and Xena meet up in the woods and fight. Xena gets the upper hand, but Gabi shows up and sees “Callisto” about to kill “Xena”, so she holds her staff (with the dagger on the end) to Xena’s throat.

Xena convinces Gabi of the body-switch by asking about Gabi’s dreams. Callisto guesses that Gabi dreams of revenge, but Xena knows Gabi hasn’t dreamed at all since Perdicus died. Gabi realizes “Callisto” is really Xena, but the distraction allows Callisto to escape. Gabi tells Xena about the people of Amphipolis being kidnapped and Xena knows Callisto’s going to burn them to avenge her own burned village. In the cave, Callisto threatens Cyrene (who quickly realizes this isn’t her daughter no matter what she looks like). Ares shows up to give Callisto shit for ruining his plans, but she doesn’t give a damn about leading Ares’s army and never did; all she wants is to hurt Xena, so Ares tells her she’s on her own. Xena, Gabi, and Joxer start tossing flasks into the cave, coating everything in oil. Callisto’s men freak out and take off, not wanting to be burned to a crisp. (I’m not sure if they were throwing real oil or fake stuff; if it was real, the plan could’ve backfired pretty easily, burning all the hostages as well as Callisto’s men.) Xena and Callisto fight, but Xena’s 24 hours are almost up. As she begins to fade, she uses the same dart Callisto used on her back in The Greater Good. The drug brings Callisto into the Netherworld, where Xena uses Callisto’s own strategy against her. Callisto has always claimed she feels no guilt for anything she’s done, but when she’s confronted by her dead mother, she starts to feel guilty. Callisto’s mother says she has to take responsibility for her own actions and when a crowd of Callisto’s victims surround her, the guilt overwhelms her and she’s sent spinning off into Tartarus. Xena ends up back in the real world … but still in Callisto’s body. After proving her true identity to Gabi again (by repeating some of their campfire conversation from last season), Xena and Gabi are faced with the reality that she’s stuck in Callisto’s body, possibly forever. Xena gives Gabi the option to leave, but Gabi promises to stick with her. Gabi says she finally started dreaming again and tells Xena about the dream she had of Perdicus.

This is a great episode; originally, it was just outside my top ten, but now it’s #8 on my all-time list. This episode hinges on Xena’s guilt (as does the whole series, really), specifically her guilt over letting Callisto die last episode. As I mentioned in that review, it doesn’t really matter if Xena was justified in letting Callisto die (and I believe she was), what matters is how she feels about it. Xena feels guilty and that leaves her vulnerable to the body-switch. Hades even says that the dreams of the guilty can be used as a conduit for the dead. But as we see, Xena’s not the only one who feels guilt over what she’s done; for all her moral superiority, it seems Callisto harbours some guilt for her own actions too; maybe that’s what allows her to be redeemed eventually. Originally, Xena was supposed to end up in her own body at the end of this episode. But Lucy’s accident (she was injured performing a stunt on the Tonight Show) necessitated some quick changes and they ended up leaving Xena inside Callisto’s body. In fact, Lucy doesn’t appear at all in the next episode, it’s Hudson Leick playing Xena (in Callisto’s body) … yeah, I know it’s confusing.

It’s interesting to see Callisto’s interactions with Gabi in this episode. She tries to stir up Gabi’s anger over Perdicus’s death, but Gabi seems to have moved beyond that and her one moment of real anger makes her feel sick afterwards. It looks like Callisto is striking at Xena by hurting those she loves: trying to corrupt Gabi, wounding Argo so Xena will have to finish her, and almost killing Cyrene. Neither Lucy nor Hudson liked their own performances as “each other” (though neither of them had anything bad to say about the other’s performance), but I thought they both did a good job. They each nailed the physical mannerisms and facial expressions perfectly and the voices were pretty close too (although Lucy’s “Callisto-in-Xena’s-body” voice sometimes sounds a bit like Meg to me).

Noticeable Things:

• Joxer sure can take a beating, but this is the second episode in a row where he does something heroic (standing up to “Callisto” to save Argo). Xena thanks him (twice), but in future episodes she goes back to treating him like an idiot again.
• Hades is pissed off that Ares is interfering in his realm by helping Callisto escape. I wonder if Hades gets a measure of revenge by helping Sisyphus steal Ares’s sword next episode? It isn’t mentioned, but it would certainly make sense.
• Right before the Xena/Callisto fight in the woods, Joxer is knocked out (rather cheaply) when Xena catches the chakram Callisto threw. It seems a bit stupid, but it’s basically just plot necessity; if Joxer was awake, he could’ve told Gabi about the body-switch (or confirmed it when Xena told her), which would’ve killed the dramatic moment where Gabi holds the dagger to Xena’s throat thinking she’s Callisto.

Favourite Quotes:

• “This is such a mess. You wish you hadn’t killed her, Joxer wishes he had killed her, and I wish she’d never been born. I guess Callisto won after all.” Gabi summing things up for Xena.
• “Of course if anything happened to Gabriel, pretty Xena would be crushed, wouldn’t I?” Callisto (in Xena’s body) sounding crazy in first and third persons.
• “I sing the song of Perdicus, the boy I knew, the man I loved.” Gabi, letting Xena know her dreams (and poetic inspiration) have come back.