Xena Reviews: Season 4, Episode 2

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

This one starts with Xena and Otere in an Amazon sweat lodge. Xena tells Otere how she first met Cyane and the Northern Amazons and we get the first of a series of flashbacks. Xena spies on Cyane while she’s in a sweat lodge (and seems rather attracted to her), but falls through the roof. Cyane is naked, but pulls all Xena’s clothes off at lightning speed and starts pounding her. Xena grabs a robe and takes off, but Cyane does some tree-running and catches up to Xena, preparing to kill her.

Borias shows up and stops Cyane from killing Xena, promising he’ll honour the alliance they’ve been discussing. Xena’s impressed by how easily Cyane took her down and wants to learn some of her moves, so she agrees to be nice to the Amazons. In the present, Xena declares Yakut the new shaman and tells her they need a new holy word to free the spirits of the dead Amazons to cross over into Eternity. Xena says they have to fight Alti in the Spirit Realm and shows Yakut a ritual that’ll free their spirits. But Alti is summoning the spirits of the dead and sends them to attack the Amazons when they’re in a trance.

Xena exhorts the Amazons to fight off the spiritual assault and they do, waking from the trance. Xena realizes they’ll have to try another tactic against Alti and the Amazons head for Alti’s territory. We get another flashback as Xena recalls Cyane asking her to join the Amazons. Cyane thinks Xena is a bad influence on Borias and that he’d turn good without her, which kinda pisses Xena off, but she definitely seems intrigued by Cyane’s offer. Alti urges her to reject Cyane’s invitation, saying Xena is meant for bigger and better things and craves power, just as Alti does. (And she tempts Xena with the possibility on getting revenge on Caesar.) Cyane beats Alti in a spiritual duel (which really impresses Xena) and tells her again to make the right choice. In the present, Xena and the Amazons break for the night and put spells around the camp to keep Alti out. But their spells aren’t quite complete and Alti slips in as a spider. The spider attacks Xena and she sees Gabi’s face on it; one of the production crew said that was the worst special effect in the entire series, and it is pretty goofy. But Gabi manifesting like that galvanizes Xena to fight back, and it worries Alti because she can’t figure out who Gabi is, or why she has such a strong influence on Xena.

Alti shows Xena how she cursed Solan in the past, making it so he’d never know the love of his parents (which was technically true, at least while he was alive ). The spider bites Xena, leaving her in kind of a coma, so the Amazons just bring her along as they continue toward Alti’s lair, which is near the Amazon resting place where Cyane and other Amazons died. Xena wakes up and they reach the resting place, finding the skeletons of dead Amazons all over. Xena decides to tell them everything and we get the last flashback. Xena interrupts an Amazon death ceremony and tells Cyane she killed the Amazon they’re honouring. Xena starts wasting the Amazons (and has numerous traps set up, so she must’ve planned this betrayal for a while), using the skills Cyane taught her to kill them in the trees. She kills Cyane too and Alti collects blood from the dead Amazons, turning their Light into Darkness on which she can feed, which is what’s preventing their spirits from crossing to Eternity now. In the present, Xena knows they have to defeat Alti and find the new holy word to set the Amazons’ spirits free, but because she just confessed to wasting Cyane and the others, the Amazons aren’t exactly ready to trust her. She uses the Pinch to knock them all out and finishes by using it on herself.

Xena absorbs all the other Amazons’ spirits and Alti’s spirit shows up to fight her. (Alti’s body is back in her hut.) Xena’s probably a better fighter, but Alti’s more used to the Spirit Realm, so she gets the upper hand. She uses her powers to show Xena parts of her future, saying that if Xena experiences her own death in the future, it’ll kill her now. (We get scenes from future episode A Good Day and Crusader.) Alti finally shows Xena a scene of her being crucified on a snowy mountain by Roman soldiers, hoping that’ll finish her. But Gabi is there being crucified too (and telling Xena she loves her), so it actually gives Xena the resolve to fight back, since if Gabi is dying in the future, she must be alive right now. Xena impales Alti on a tree, killing her in the Spirit Realm and in real life. Xena wakes up and brings the other Amazons back, telling Yakut their new holy word is Love. That allows Cyane and the other dead Amazons to finally move through the Gates of Eternity. The Amazons celebrate and Xena tells Otere that Alti’s prediction came true, since Otere has taken Xena’s place as leader of the Amazons. Xena heads back to Greece to find Gabi.

I like this episode better than the first part (this one is #96 on my all-time list), but it still suffers from that one’s major fault … no Gabi. But Gabi’s influence is felt throughout this one, as Xena atones for her past by helping the Amazons find a new holy word and rest in peace. It seems kinda obvious that the new holy word would be Love, but Xena’s always had a blind spot when it comes to that, so I guess it makes sense it would take her a while to figure it out. The best thing about this episode is seeing how happy Xena is when she figures out Gabi is still alive. Theoretically, seeing herself in the future should’ve told her that Alti wasn’t going to kill her here, but I suppose the future always has a certain malleability about it, so it wouldn’t be good to get too complacent.

And now we know why Xena isn’t an Amazon; I guess Cyane represents one more chance Xena had to turn her life around that she just refused to take. Xena says Alti cursed Solan because she knew he would’ve turned Xena away from her Darkness and that’s probably true (which explains why she gave him up later). And Xena turned against the Amazons (and Borias) because they were civilizing influences on her and she wasn’t ready to be civilized yet … she was having too much fun living by pure Will and accumulating power. Xena probably thought love (or even friendship) would make her weak, but now—thanks to Gabi—she knows love can be stronger than anything, including courage (which is why Love became the Amazons’ new holy word). So Gabi is still helping Xena even though she’s not even there.

Alti assumed seeing Gabi’s death would drain Xena’s will to live, but it strengthened it because it showed her that Gabi’s alive now. Alti is confused—and maybe a little scared—by Gabi because she represents love. Gabi resides in a part of Xena’s heart and soul that Alti can’t access, no matter how strong her powers are. Someone like Alti can never understand the kind of selfless love that Gabi embodies, so she’s powerless against it. So Gabi ended up doing what Alti was afraid Solan would do, turning Xena away from the Darkness for good.

Noticeable Things:

• When Xena’s in a coma, Otere wonders if all Xena’s power has transferred to her, so Yakut tests that theory by backhanding her in the face.
• Xena says time passes differently in the Spirit Realm, which explains why she had time to fight Alti and get back before any of the Amazons died from the Pinch.
• The vision Alti shows Xena of her and Gabi being crucified will be seen at the end of the season, but it’ll look slightly different because it’ll be re-shot. This scene was done just for this episode and I’m pretty sure Renee is wearing a wig since her hair hadn’t yet been cut in real life.

Favourite Quotes:

• “You’re a murderer because you still think an act like one.” Cyane being brutally honest with Xena about her sins, past and present.
• “She’s goodness and innocence, Alti, and she’ll live inside me forever. She frightens you because she represents what can defeat you.” Xena describing Gabi pretty well.