A Solstice Carol – Director: John T. Kretschmer/Writer: Chris Manheim
This one starts with King Silvus sentencing a family to the poorhouse for non-payment of taxes and for celebrating Winter Solstice, which Silvus has banned. Silvus also passes sentence against an orphanage that hasn’t paid its taxes. The King’s assistant (Sinticles) reluctantly records the sentences, though it’s obvious his heart isn’t in it. In the market, Gabi is excited about Solstice and is coming up with elaborate rules for her and Xena buying each other’s presents. Xena humours her, but is taking it much less seriously. A kid steals Xena’s chakram and she and
Gabi track him to the orphanage, where the chakram has been used as the topper for the Solstice tree. Sinticles and some soldiers come in to warn the woman who runs the orphanage (Melana) that it’ll be shut down at midnight if all the back taxes aren’t paid. The soldiers see the Solstice decorations and decide to arrest everyone, but Xena wraps them up in ribbons using her chakram. Melana tells her and Gabi about the Solstice ban.
Xena’s ready to tie Sinticles up with the soldiers, but Gabi recognizes him as 
a famous toymaker; she had one of his toys (a wooden lamb that bleated when you pulled the tail) when she was a kid. Sinticles says King Silvus wasn’t always bad, but turned into an asshole when his wife Analia died on Solstice Eve thirty years ago. Gabi tells the story of Croesus and how he came to a tragic end, but suggests to Xena that maybe they could change Silvus’s fate without getting too violent. Xena is skeptical but willing to go along for Gabi’s sake. She sends Gabi for supplies and cajoles Sinticles into helping her break into the castle. Gabi ends up
spending all their money to buy a donkey that was on his way to the tannery to be skinned. Xena gets into King Silvus’s room and gives him shit for evicting orphans and banning Solstice. Silvus accuses her of being a bleeding-heart Solstice lover (which is ironic since Xena’s actually pretty ambivalent about the spiritual aspects of Solstice) and calls his guards. Xena swings out of the room and busts through a boarded-up window on the floor below, landing inside a dusty old room with a Solstice tree.
Xena explores the room and sees a painting of Silvus and Analia, realizing 
he must’ve closed off the chamber after she died. Gabi is having trouble with the donkey (Tobias) until she figures out she can control him by whistling, like Xena does with Argo. Xena goes to see Sinticles and finds out he’s been changing numbers and words in his books to give people lighter sentences. Sinticles says he doesn’t want to help her because he’s afraid of going to prison, but she points out he’s already risking prison by tampering with the sentences and that he’s braver than he thinks. Gabi tells the orphans a Solstice story and introduces Xena to Tobias. Xena doesn’t give
her shit for spending all their money, since she found everything they need for their plan in the castle. Later that night, Xena appears in Silvus’s chamber as Clotho, one of the Fates, claiming to represent his past. She takes him to the dusty chamber and Gabi appears, floating in the air (thanks to a rope tied to Tobias outside), and pretends to be Analia. When a soldier outside whistles at a woman, Tobias reacts and Gabi falls on her ass, threatening to blow the whole scam.
Xena distracts Silvus so he doesn’t notice. Xena knocks him out with some 
drugged wine, but not before they find out Analia didn’t die thirty years ago … she walked out on Silvus. Gabi gets back to the ground to find Tobias still there but Sinticles gone. Luckily, Tobias is like Lassie and can lead her straight to Sinticles. In Silvus’s chamber, Xena appears as Lachesis, representing the King’s present. Gabi finds Sinticles at home and gives him shit for running out on them. She notices a bunch of toys he’s made (including the lamb she had as a kid) and figures they could take the toys to the orphans as Solstice gifts. Sinticles reminds her that’s illegal and says he can’t go to prison and be shut up in a small space. Gabi points out that he’s already shut himself off from everything by not helping people. Xena takes Silvus to the
orphanage (where nobody recognizes him because he’s dressed like a bum) and he’s surprised at the warm welcome they get. He’s not so thrilled when the orphans start talking shit about how terrible the King is. Gabi, Sinticles (disguised with a long white beard), and Tobias sneak through the streets to the orphanage, but notice a troop of soldiers heading there to shut the place down and realize they’ll need to find another way in. In the orphanage, the kids sing a Solstice carol, but Silvus isn’t ready to change his ways just yet. He tries to leave and runs into the soldiers, who don’t recognize him either.
Xena delays the soldiers and drags Silvus back inside, where he faints from almost getting killed by his own soldiers. Xena takes him to a back room and 
asks Melana to take care of him after noticing she wears the same medallion as Queen Analia did in the painting. Gabi and Sinticles come down the chimney with the toys and Sinticles is so happy to have overcome his claustrophobia he swears to do the same thing every year. Gabi figures the non-violent approach is over, but Xena has an idea. When the soldiers break in, Xena, Gabi, Sinticles, and the kids use the toys to fight them off. Silvus wakes up and assumes Melana (who’s wrapped up in a cloak) is Atropos, the final Fate come to show him his death in the future. He freaks out and promises to change his ways, running out to join the fight against the soldiers. After a final attack with stuffed animals, the soldiers take off and the King meets Melana, who turns out to be his estranged wife Analia. She believes he really has changed and forgives him
and he promises not to bother the orphanage (or anyone else) over unpaid taxes and to let people celebrate Solstice. Just outside of town, Xena and Gabi run into a man heading west with his wife and baby and Gabi gives them Tobias to make their journey easier. Xena gives Gabi her Solstice gift … Sinticles’ toy lamb, like the one she had as a kid. In all the excitement Gabi forgot to get Xena a gift (or maybe had no money left), which is ironic since Gabi was the one going on about gifts at the beginning of the episode. But Xena doesn’t mind, and says Gabi is her gift.
This is actually a pretty good episode (it’s #83 on my all-time list) if you can get past the sappiness and the predictability of another Christmas Carol pastiche. When watched randomly, this episode can seem a bit goofy, but if 
you watch it right before Christmas it’s actually kinda nice, and a pleasant alternative to the zillion other versions of A Christmas Carol. Xena seems to give in to Gabi’s non-violent approach a little too easily, but maybe that’s more evidence that Xena’s feelings for Gabi have deepened into something more than friendship. Of course, anyone familiar with A Christmas Carol knows just what’s going to happen here, but Silvus is a pretty good Scrooge (he kinda reminds me of Alistair Sim) and having the Fates (or Xena pretending to be the Fates) as the ghosts is pretty clever. The twist of having Melana turn out to be Analia isn’t much of a surprise, but it fits with the tone of the episode.
There are lots of little comic touches that make his episode fun, especially in the big fight at the end: marbles being used to make the soldiers slip and put in
stockings to use as flails (which Xena calls “great stocking stuffers”); catapults that shoot cream cakes; toy arrows (and a rubber sword that Gabi hands Xena); stars from the tree used as shuriken; Gabi using hand bells to knock out a couple of soldiers (to the tune of “Jingle Bells”); Gabi distracting some soldiers with her sexy hula hoop moves; Sinticles shooting a candy cane from a bow (and saying “Go ahead, make my day”); Xena using a Hercules doll to knock out a soldier and thanking the doll afterwards; and a soldier getting a toy unicorn 
horn jammed up his ass (which could potentially be fatal). The toy fight ends with everyone beating the soldiers with stuffed animals, sending feathers flying everywhere … which may have been one goofy joke too far, but overall it was pretty funny. Of course, there’s also the way Sinticles slowly turns into Santa Claus throughout the episode. There’s his name obviously, but he also wears a beard as a disguise, carries the sack of gifts on Tobias, slides down the chimney with the presents, and even says “Ho ho ho”.
A lot of people seem to think the couple at the end are Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus, but that makes no sense to me. There is a light that shines on the
baby’s face and the last shot of the episode shows a star in the sky, but I still don’t think this is the Holy Family. The guy says they’re heading west to catch a caravan, but if they’re going to Bethlehem they wouldn’t already have the baby Jesus (and what would Xena and Gabi be doing east of Bethlehem anyway?) And if they’re in Greece, where would they be taking Jesus that’s west of there? Rome? All Xena’s adventures take place in the pre-Christian era, so I have to assume this is 
just some kind of analogue (or foreshadowing) of Jesus being born near the Solstice. I think that scene really says more about Gabi’s character; she gives them Tobias without a second thought, after spending all her money on him and obviously caring about him a lot. It just shows how kind Gabi is and why Xena would fall in love with her. Like Xena says, Gabi’s generosity and selflessness are a gift that Xena receives every day they’re together.
Noticeable Things:
- The wooden lamb Xena gives Gabi will be seen again in Season 3.
- You’d think the guards would’ve been able to find Xena easily after
she swung out of Silvus’s chamber the first time; the rope she used would’ve led straight down to the chamber below and she did smash through the window. Maybe the guards aren’t that observant, or maybe they know that chamber is off-limits and didn’t want to mention it to Silvus. - Xena’s voice as Lachesis is a bit weird; Lucy said she was trying to do a Julia Child sort of thing, but it sounds a bit strange to me.
Favourite Quotes:
- “I didn’t know you did gift-wrapping.” Gabi when Xena uses her ribbon-festooned chakram to entangle the guards at the orphanage.
- “I completely agree with you … the plan fails, we punch faces.” Gabi telling Xena they can use the violent approach after they try her more peaceful way first.
- “Gabrielle, you are a gift to me.” Xena acknowledging how important Gabi is in her life.