Xena Reviews: Season 4, Episode 1

Adventures in the Sin Trade – Director: T.J. Scott/Story: Rob Tapert, R.J. Stewart/Teleplay: R.J. Stewart

This one starts with a half-crazed Xena finding Hades to ask if she can see Gabrielle. Hades doesn’t know where she is and Xena figures Gabrielle must’ve gone to the Amazons’ afterlife after dying in last season’s finale. Hades doesn’t know where that is, but Xena does. She leaves Argo behind and heads out to find Gabi.

Xena’s really losing it, killing a deer and using its blood to enact shamanic rituals meant to bring her closer to the Spirit World. In a hallucinogenic trance, Xena remembers her life with Borias after they left Lao Ma’s palace. They’re thinking about taking on the Amazons, but Borias suggests they ally with the Amazons against the Centaurs, which would pave the way for them to take over Greece. They meet Alti, an ex-Amazon shamaness, and her apprentice Anokin (who Xena seems to like right away). Alti impresses Xena when she immediately knows she’s pregnant (something Xena hasn’t even told Borias yet). Borias doesn’t trust Alti, but she says she can help Xena achieve her destiny. In the present, Xena finds a dead Amazon and pounds the guys who killed her. She’s watched by a group of Amazons, led by Yakut and Otere. Xena takes the dead Amazon to burn her body, leaving an unconscious attacker behind, who the other Amazons capture. The dead Amazon reminds Xena of Gabi and she breaks down remembering all the things she and Gabi shared. Otere recognizes Xena from her childhood: Xena and Borias’s army raided Otere’s village and Anokin was killed, causing Xena to lose it completely. (Borias said Xena had only known Anokin for a month, so I have to wonder if they were more than just friends? Xena seems to like her women young and malleable.) Xena was so grief-stricken she almost killed Otere, but Borias stopped her. In the present, Xena kills her horse (which explains why she left Argo behind) and uses its spirit to cross over to the Other Side.

Xena awakens in the Spirit World and meets the spirit of the dead Amazon she burned. In another flashback, Xena travels to the Spirit World to see Anokin, but she wasn’t happy to see Xena, saying she corrupted her soul. Alti tells Xena there’s a way to get vengeance on the dead, but they’re interrupted when Borias wakes them from their trance. He’s concerned about Alti’s influence on Xena, especially since they killed someone to use his spirit to cross over. Xena doesn’t like Borias’s new familial feelings toward her and their unborn child, but Xena is drawn to Alti, who says she can become the Destroyer of Nations. (Alti also predicts that neither Xena nor Borias will name their son, which turns out to be true.) In the Spirit World, Xena runs into Cyane, a legendary Amazon queen who Xena killed years ago. In the real world, the Amazons surround Xena’s entranced body and Yakut prepares to kill her.

Otere stops Yakut, saying Xena needs to finish her mission in the Spirit World. They take her body back to their camp. Otere tells the others how Alti predicted that Otere would someday take Xena’s power and urged Xena to kill her. Borias stopped her, but Otere thinks Xena wouldn’t have killed her anyway because she knew Alti’s prediction had to come true. In the Spirit World, Xena finds out Cyane (and a bunch of other Amazons) are stuck there, not able to cross into Eternity because of something Alti did. Xena mentions Gabi and Cyane says other Amazons can cross over. Xena starts for the Gate of Eternity, but comes back, knowing Gabi would want her to help the Amazons. Cyane says their old holy word (“Courage”) won’t let them pass the Gate to Eternity and Xena says she’ll help them find a better word.

Xena wakes up in the Amazon camp and remembers Otere. Xena lets the captured guy go, telling him to let Alti know she’s coming for her. Otere tells Xena they can’t stand against Alti’s champion, the Berzerker. Xena leads the Amazons against Alti’s men and confronts the Berzerker herself. Alti uses a new power to pull memories of the past from Xena’s mind, making her feel the injuries again in the present. (Alti uses the beating from The Gauntlet, Callisto pounding Xena in Sacrifice II, and Xena getting her legs broken in Destiny.) Xena uses pressure points to numb the pain in her legs and kills the Berzerker, but the pain is still there. She realizes Alti’s spirit was in the horse, not the Berzeker himself. She knows Alti will be stronger the closer they get to her stronghold, but also knows they have no choice but to try and defeat her.

This episode isn’t bad, but it isn’t one of my favourites either. (It’s #101 on my all-time list.) Like all the flashback episodes, it suffers (in my opinion) because Gabi isn’t in it. This one’s even worse in that aspect, since Gabi isn’t even in the scenes set in the present. (In fact, they left Renee’s name out of the credits in the first two episodes, trying to keep the audience guessing over whether Gabi really was dead or not.) Xena does hear Gabi’s voice, which we could put down to her deluded state, but R.J. Stewart said Xena really was hearing Gabi in those scenes, so I guess their connection is strong enough by this time to make that possible. (Maybe Gabi is recovering in the hospice at this time, near death and calling out for Xena.) Xena really is out of it here, even before she gets into the shaman stuff. She’s basically running on the edge of crazy, missing Gabi so much she can hardly think straight. She’s ready to follow Gabi through the Gate to Eternity, not knowing what she’ll do on the other side or if she can get back … and apparently not caring too much. Just the fact that Xena chooses to use her shamanic knowledge to find Gabi (something she swore she’d never do again because of all the bad memories it brings up) shows how much she loves Gabi.

We get more on Xena’s past here, expanding on her relationship with Borias and the early stages of her pregnancy. When Borias professes his love for her, Xena tells him that love isn’t for people like them. I get the feeling she maybe did love Borias (or thought she could love him), but the idea of that scared her so much that she moved in the opposite direction, toward Alti’s influence. (Considering how devastated she was by Anokin’s death, it certainly looks like she was still capable of love.) Alti said that Lao Ma’s powers came from the Light, from self-sacrifice, but Alti wanted to harness the powers of Darkness, of pure will, anger, and hate … which definitely appealed to Xena at that point in her life. Xena was like a sponge back then, absorbing whatever knowledge she could to make her a better fighter, as we saw with M’lila, Lao Ma, and now Alti. (And with Cyane, as we’ll see next episode.)

Noticeable Things:

• I’m assuming not much time has passed since Sacrifice II, so I have no idea how Xena managed to find Hades so easily.
• Some fans have speculated that the Northern Amazons live in Siberia, but I think it’s more likely they’re in Central Asia, maybe east of the Caspian Sea. Xena’s journey takes her through hills, deserts, and steppes, which fits with Central Asia, and there were tribes in that region who used shamanic magic and hallucinogens.
• As Xena’s leading the Amazons against Alti’s men, we see that Xena is carrying Gabi’s scrolls with her.

Favourite Quotes:

• “She’s the only friend.” Xena’s reply when the dead Amazon says Gabi must be some friend for Xena to willingly cross into the Spirit World.
• “I hate the dead … you can’t take vengeance on them.” Past Xena complaining that she can’t inflict pain beyond the grave.
• “You know nothing would make me happier then seeing you again. You were my light. I just realized what it was that you gave me. A light of my own. There’s something I gotta do, something you’d want me to do. I love you.” Xena letting Gabi know (since the dead can hear the thoughts of the living) how much of an influence she’s had on Xena’s life. Of course, Gabi’s not dead, so she didn’t get to hear that sweet sentiment.