Xena Reviews: Season 2, Episode 17

The Execution – Director: Garth Maxwell/Writer: Paul Robert Coyle

This one starts with Xena and Gabi arriving at a village in response to a summons by Meleager. Gabi is extolling Meleager’s virtues (specifically, how he saved Poteidaia in The Prodigal), which seems to be getting on Xena’s nerves. They can’t find Meleager and Gabi gets upset when Xena suggests they check the tavern, since Meleager swore to her he’d quit drinking. When they ask about Meleager, they’re attacked by townspeople. Once they pound their attackers, they learn Meleager is being tried in court and burst in just as sentence is about to be passed. Gabi gives a rousing speech in defense of Meleager (without even knowing what he’s charged with), but the judge (Arbus) says the verdict is already in … Meleager has been found guilty of murder and is sentenced to be executed.

Meleager tells Gabi he wasn’t even in town when the murder happened and she believes him. She wonders if Judge Arbus could be crooked, but Xena says she’s heard of him as being a fair and impartial judge. Arbus is known for insisting on a fair trial for Volker the Vicious, even though the people wanted to tear him apart. (Of course Volker ended up being executed anyway, but at least the trial was conducted fairly.) Xena’s skeptical about Meleager’s alibi, but she trusts Gabi’s instincts, so she goes to see Arbus. She finds Arbus giving the crowd assembling for the execution shit for turning it into a spectacle. Xena questions Meleager’s guilt and Arbus introduces a woman (Rena) who saw the victim (Kalamon) stagger out of a barn mortally wounded, followed seconds later by Meleager with a bloody sword in his hand. Gabi tells Xena Meleager was with a one-eyed man during the murder, but because of the witness, Xena figures Meleager’s lying to spare Gabi’s feelings. When Xena suggests Meleager might not be telling the whole truth, Gabi gets upset and runs off. Later, she brings Meleager his last meal, knowing the guards will eat all the food and drink the wine. Once they’re asleep from the food and booze, Gabi steals the key and unlocks Meleager’s cell. He takes off and tells Gabi she’d better get out of town too, but she ends up getting caught by a guard. Xena is in the stable and notices a bloody saddle, but before she can examine it, she hears a commotion and finds a mob trying to tear Gabi apart for freeing Meleager. She rescues Gabi and Arbus calms the mob. Xena swears she’ll bring Meleager back but insists Gabi come with her and Arbus agrees. Xena tracks Meleager, with Gabi protesting his innocence all the way. They catch up to him near a forest and Gabi urges him to run. Before Xena can follow, Gabi blocks her path and says Xena will have to go through her to get to Meleager.

Instead of fighting Gabi, Xena just flips over her and runs Meleager down in the forest. Xena kicks his ass and tells him Gabi will be in trouble if he doesn’t return. When Gabi catches up to them, she’s ready to fight Xena to help Meleager until he tells her the truth … there is no one-eyed man. Meleager was in town and he’s pretty sure he stabbed Kalamon. He can’t remember the details because he was drunk, which devastates Gabi. Xena says they’ll make camp and head back to town in the morning. In camp, Xena warns Gabi about putting people on pedestals and tells her she should make peace with Meleager while she still can. Gabi does talk to him, although we don’t get to hear their conversation. The next day, they’re discussing the murder and Meleager describes the sword (which he never threw away), and that has quite an effect on Xena. Before she can tell them why, a guy from the village tries to kill Meleager with crossbow bolts, but Xena catches all three of them (the last one in her teeth!) and pounds the bowman. She tells him she’ll bring Meleager in when she’s ready, but asks Meleager to take her to the cave where he hid out because she wants to see the sword he supposedly killed Kalamon with. When Xena sees the sword, she tells Meleager he’s innocent after all … because she killed Kalamon.

Xena tells Gabi and Meleager how she happened upon Kalamon attacking an unarmed man (last winter when Gabi was at the Academy) and stabbed him. Kalamon’s horse must’ve headed back to the stable, where he ran into the drunken Meleager. Nobody knew Kalamon was already dying from Xena’s sword. She mentions sending the guy Kalamon was attacking (Elysha) to a hiding place she and her men used to use. If he’s still there, his testimony could back up her story and clear Meleager. In town, the executioner arrives and Arbus tells him there’s been a delay. Arbus leads a posse out to find Xena and Meleager. Xena goes to her old hiding place and finds Elysha, who tells her he’s afraid of being targeted again because he knows something big … Judge Arbus knew Volker the Vicious was innocent but executed him anyway. Arbus’s reputation was made on that case, so he has to keep the truth from coming out. In Meleager’s cave, he dictates his will, leaving everything to Gabi. Arbus and his men show up and capture Gabi and Meleager.

Xena finds the cave empty and heads for town. When Elysha realizes she’s taking him to see Arbus, he freaks out and takes off. Xena doesn’t have time to chase him, so she heads for town alone. Meleager says goodbye to Gabi and she insists he look at her right before he dies so the last thing he sees is a friendly face. Meleager is taken to the gallows and the executioner is called outside. After he leaves, we see Xena reach into his room and steal an extra executioner’s robe. They test the gallows and Meleager is hanged. When the executioner removes his hood, we’re expecting to see Xena, but it really is the executioner and it seems like Meleager really is dead. But maybe not … as Arbus is writing out the death certificate, Meleager pops out of his coffin and accuses Arbus of being corrupt and letting an innocent man die. As townspeople fill the room, Arbus goes a little nuts and starts yammering about justice, basically confessing that he let Volker die even though he was innocent, and almost did the same with Meleager. Xena forces Arbus to pardon Gabi as his last official act before being tossed in prison. Gabi is thrilled Meleager is still alive and Meleager explains how Xena hid under the scaffold and caught his legs on her shoulders to prevent him from dying of either a broken neck or strangulation. When Xena and Gabi leave the next day, Meleager is chopping down the gallows.

This episode is fine, but I don’t like it nearly as much as Meleager’s first appearance in The Prodigal (which is why this one is only #99 on my all-time list). There’s really nothing terrible about the episode, it’s just not all that exciting either. There are a couple of twists that make it more interesting (Xena turning out to be the killer, or the fake-out making us think Xena has replaced the executioner), but overall it’s just a good, solid episode, not a spectacular one. The whole thing with Arbus turning out to be corrupt and killing people to protect his reputation is a bit of a cliché … I’ve seen similar themes on various detective shows like Law & Order and Murdoch Mysteries. It might’ve been better if Arbus wasn’t actually crooked, just overzealous in his application of “justice”, but it might’ve been harder to explain his excesses in that case. The most interesting thing about this episode for me is how both Xena and Gabi turned out to be right and wrong at the same time: Xena was right about Meleager hiding something, but wrong about him being the killer, while Gabi was right that he was innocent, but wrong to take every word he said as the gospel truth.

Gabi and Meleager’s relationship continues to grow in this episode and we get more of the father/daughter dynamic we saw in The Prodigal. Meleager even says Gabi’s the closest thing he has to a daughter, which is why he bequeaths her all his stuff in his will. Gabi looks up to Meleager and believes him unquestioningly (even to the point of defying Xena), so when she finds out he was lying it really hurts her deeply. Xena’s point about Gabi putting people on pedestals in well taken, the unspoken part being that Gabi has done the same thing with Xena, and sooner or later, Xena worries that she’s going to fall off that pedestal and Gabi will be hurt again. There are a lot of parallels here with The Reckoning, where Gabi believed in Xena’s innocence without question (and without evidence) and was willing to risk her life to defend Xena, just as she does here with Meleager.

I think there might be some unseen ramifications from this episode; if we assume Xena is in love with Gabi (as I’ve pointed out in previous reviews) and that Gabi is now aware of it and is analyzing her own feelings toward Xena, that raises the question of why they aren’t getting together. I think Gabi is actually ready to pursue a romantic relationship with Xena by now, but maybe after the events of this episode it’s Xena who pulls back. I think Xena’s afraid she’ll fall off that pedestal and disappoint Gabi, or maybe she’s afraid her dark side will taint Gabi somehow. Either way, I think Xena might pull back from the idea of a romance, even though Gabi’s ready for it. We’ll see evidence of that in upcoming episodes, where Gabi will seem to be the one pursuing a relationship with Xena instead of the other way around.

Noticeable Things:

• Rena, the witness to Meleager supposedly killing Kalamon is also a Madame Defarge-type character, straight out of A Tale of Two Cities who sits knitting while waiting for Meleager to be executed. It’s a little weird that a zealous fan of the execution would also be the witness, but apparently the actress who was supposed to play the witness didn’t show, so they ended up using the same actress as Rena.

Favourite Quotes:

• “Whatever he did, I’m sure he didn’t do it.” Gabi’s eloquent defense of Meleager, before even knowing what the charges were.
• “He’s not a Cyclops, he’s just a one-eyed guy.” Gabi explaining to Xena about Melaeger’s alibi witness.
• “Ah, don’t worry about it … people in our line of work never get to be that age.” Xena’s response when Gabi remarks she hopes she’ll still be knitting at Rena’s age. Xena’s remark is unfortunately prophetic, at least for herself …