Xena Reviews: Season 2, Episode 20

The Price – Director: Oley Sassone/Writer: Steven L. Sears

Xena and Gabi are fishing in the wilderness when Gabi reels in a dying Greek soldier, who tells them his unit was attacked by the Horde. Gabi has never heard of the Horde, but Xena immediately freaks, telling her they have to run. After a quick skirmish with some Horde fighters, Xena and Gabi steal a Horde canoe and flee down the river.

While they’re resting, Xena tells Gabi how her army ran into the Horde years ago and almost got wiped out. Xena describes the Horde as unreasoning animals, with no compassion and no motive other than killing anyone in their path. Xena warns Gabi that things are going to get worse before they get better and that she might have to go to extremes to get them out of trouble. While paddling downriver with the Horde right behind them, they see more Greek soldiers crucified on shore. Gabi wants to help them, but Xena insists they keep going. They pick up a Greek soldier fleeing from the Horde, but soon realize they’re nearing a huge waterfall. Xena’s ready to fight when they reach shore, but a group of Greek soldiers ambushes the Horde, allowing the canoe to land safely. The soldiers take Xena, Gabi, and the wounded soldier to the garrison fort where they’re stationed, which is surrounded by the dead and dying from both sides. Inside, the guy they rescued dies, exhorting the soldiers to get as far away from the Horde as possible. Xena and Gabi notice that the troops manning the fort are so demoralized they’re close to mutiny. Gabi is surprised at how unreasonable they are, but Xena says you can’t reason with dead men.

Gabi hears dying Horde outside the fort saying “kaltaka” and one of the Greek soldiers tells her it’s probably their war god, since they call to him even as they’re dying. Xena uses her reputation to rally the troops (and slaps some of them around), giving them back some shred of hope. Gabi takes over medical duties in the infirmary and the two highest ranking officers (Mercer and Menticles) realize they have Xena helping them and accept her as commander, since the troops have already rallied behind her. Mercer tells Xena they’re almost out of supplies and that there are no reinforcements coming. (The guy she and Gabi rescued was bringing help, but those were the dying soldiers they saw along the river.) Xena gets ruthless and tells Gabi anyone who can fight has to get up on the wall, even commandeering the bodies of the dead to make it look like they have more men. Xena tells Gabi to give food and water only to the men who can fight, which doesn’t sit well with Gabi since she has no desire to choose who lives or dies. Xena sends some men out to lure the Horde into an ambush inside the fort. The Horde are defeated and Xena kills the last one with an axe in the back as he’s running away. The Greek troops cheer Xena’s victory and Xena’s enjoying the adulation … until she sees the look on Gabi’s face.

Xena and Gabi argue about Xena’s tactics, but Xena ignores Gabi’s objections and tells her this is a war and they have to do whatever they can to win. Xena has a plan to get help, slipping down to the river under a smokescreen from some bombs she’s cooked up. Menticles points out the troops will lose faith if Xena leaves, so she tells Mercer he’ll have to go, cautioning him to sneak through the forest before heading for the river. The ruse works and Mercer gets out, but Xena is missing. Turns out she used the smokescreen to go out and bring back a Horde prisoner for interrogation. (Apparently, this scene was originally supposed to have Xena naked and covered in mud, slithering around like an animal to retrieve the Horde soldier, but I guess they thought better of it.) Xena interrogates the prisoner, almost killing him with the Pinch, but relenting when Gabi implores her not to kill him. Afterwards, Xena gives Gabi shit for undermining her in front of her “troops” and Gabi asks what happened to the Xena she knows. Xena says losing that part of herself is a price she’s willing to pay to beat the Horde. Gabi figures out that “kaltaka” is the Horde’s word for water when the prisoner begs for some and she decides that losing her humanity isn’t a price she’s willing to pay. She goes out to the battlefield to give water to the dying Horde soldiers. Xena freaks when she finds out but it’s too late … Gabi is already surrounded by Horde.

The Horde think Gabi coming out unarmed to help their dying meant a truce, so they’re just there to retrieve their wounded. Xena realizes what’s happening and sends some Greek troops out to do the same. Xena tries to get Gabi back inside, but Mercer shows up badly wounded (not having followed Xena’s advice on which path to take). Xena’s not sure how long the truce will last and Gabi says she should be happy, since she’s got the all-out war she wanted. That shocks Xena back to normal and she sends men (with food and water) to help Gabi in the infirmary. Xena figures out part of the Horde code of honour and lets the prisoner go with a challenge for the Horde leader. Xena apologizes to Gabi (and almost says she loves her) and naturally Gabi is very sweet and understanding about the whole thing. Xena goes out to fight the Horde leader, knowing that defeating him will cause the Horde army to retreat. Xena wins but leaves the Horde leader alive. As she’s walking away, the Horde leader starts getting worked up, but before he can attack Xena from behind, he’s killed by his own men. The Horde take off and Xena tells Mercer they won’t return. Mercer says the Greeks are abandoning the fort and Xena thanks Gabi for everything she did, saying that if there’s ever true peace between the Greeks and the Horde it’ll be people like Gabi who make it happen.

This is a great episode, one of my favourites (it’s #7 on my all-time list). I’ve heard Lucy doesn’t like this one too much because Xena comes off looking stupid and ignorant. I agree that Xena wouldn’t normally be racist, but in this case I think her fear of the Horde overwhelms her good sense. She knows what the Horde are capable of and couldn’t defeat them with a strong army around her, so she’s scared of what might happen now (and probably more worried about Gabi than herself). Apparently, Xena was even more intense and unreasonable in earlier versions of the script, but Steve Sears toned it down after Lucy complained. But Xena’s not perfect, so I don’t have a problem with her letting her instincts take over when facing the Horde. And she does change throughout the episode, starting out believing the Horde are unreasoning beasts only interested in killing, but eventually realizing they have their own Warrior Code and figuring out to how to use that to end the fighting.

I think Xena’s fear of the Horde brings out her Dark Side, which is always lurking beneath the surface. Xena has been trying to fight against those baser instincts (she even tells Gabi that it’s “a part of me I didn’t think I’d need anymore”), but when things get intense, her way of dealing with it is to let that side of herself come to the surface. We’ll see in future episodes that Xena feels most comfortable when she’s leading an army into battle, conquering and laying waste to her enemies; basically, fighting is her “safe space”. Fighting (and winning) are her goals, no matter the personal cost. In her heart she probably knows it’s wrong, but can’t bring herself to abandon the Warrior’s Way for the Path of Peace. She’s basically reverted to a creature of Will, ignoring emotions in favour of actions.

Gabi is just the opposite, trusting in her emotions and always searching for a peaceful way to resolve things. Because Gabi is willing to look for common ground, she finds it more often than not. Xena’s willing to give up her good side, her humanity, in order to defeat the Horde (though Steve Sears speculated that if the fort were overrun, Xena would grab Gabi and take off, leaving the Greeks to their fate). But Gabi isn’t willing to sacrifice her own humanity (or Xena’s for that matter) because she knows if you give up your soul in order to win a war, you’ve already lost. Before heading out to give water to the dying Horde troops, Gabi vows that if she’s going to die, she’ll die her way … helping people.

As in many other episodes, Gabi and Xena are mirrors of each other here, for good and ill. While Xena goes overboard with her aggressive tendencies, in the end she’s right that the conflict can only be resolved by fighting. Gabi was right to believe there was another way besides mindless violence, but was naive to think everything could be settled with words. Gabi’s problem is that she’s never really seen this side of Xena before (at least, not to this degree), so she doesn’t know how to deal with it. But in the end, she brings Xena’s good side back just by being herself, risking her life for something she believes in. That example pushes Xena to be a better person, something Gabi’s been doing all along and will continue to do for the rest of the series. Xena’s Dark turn here fits with my theory about her pulling back from having a romantic relationship with Gabi for fear she might hurt her (or corrupt her with her Darkness). But Gabi’s willing to take the risk and I think she shows Xena that when she goes out to help the Horde wounded. Gabi’s willing to risk her life (and her heart) for something she feels is right; how long can Xena resist someone like that?

Noticeable Things:

• During the fishing scene, Gabi comes up with an early Theory of Evolution, postulating that humans originally came from the ocean. The Greek philosopher Anaximander had a similar theory … maybe he stole it from Gabi? (Gabi also apologizes to the fish she catches, saying she’s only doing it out of necessity and promising he’ll go to a far, far better place.
• This episode has a real Beau Geste flavour to it, with the handful of soldiers in the besieged fort, and putting corpses on the wall to fool the enemy.
• In the scene where the Horde soldiers surround Gabi as she’s ministering to their wounded, they’re holding axes, one of which is dripping with blood. Steve Sears pointed out that they should’ve been unarmed, since they thought it was a truce, but I guess Oley Sassone thought the blood-dripping axe would make a dramatic shot right before the act break. (For that matter, I don’t think you’re supposed to give water to people with abdominal wounds, but I guess it wouldn’t matter if they were dying anyway.)

Favourite Quotes:

• “This is war! What did you expect, glamour?” Xena letting Gabi know how serious things are. Apparently Lucy ad-libbed the word “glamour”, thinking it helped hammer Xena’s point home (and I agree).
• “No. You understand hatred, but you have never given in to it. You don’t know how much I love … that.” Xena apologizing to Gabi and almost telling her she loves her.
• “No, you do what you have to do, but we’ll walk down that road together.” Gabi refusing to leave if Xena defeating the Horde leader doesn’t end the conflict.