Crusader – Director: Paul Lynch/Writer: R.J. Stewart
This one starts with a woman riding across some grassy hillsides. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to think this is Xena, but it really doesn’t look like her and she’s not riding Argo. The woman hears that some of her men are being pounded over the hill, so she rides to the rescue. It’s Xena and Gabi doing the pounding and the woman (who’s a pretty formidable fighter) is about to kill Gabi when she stops fighting and starts mumbling to herself. She then kneels and begs Xena and Gabi to forgive her.
The woman introduces herself as Najara and says she’s a warrior for the Light, fighting evil wherever she finds it. Her men mistook Xena and Gabi
for slavers, but Najara has some kind of communication with spirits she calls the Jinn, who tell her Xena and Gabi are good people (and apparently the Jinn can give her insights into their character). Najara invites them to join her in stopping a slave-trader named Marat, whose men have taken a nearby village. Gabi and Najara bond, as Najara’s philosophy of doing good and forgiving people for their mistakes 
appeals to Gabi. Xena’s still suspicious, so Najara offers to let her lead Najara’s men against the village. Xena’s wary of that (it probably reminds her too much of her warlord days), but does head in to scout the village first. She finds slavers attacking the villagers and signals the others. Najara and her men come in to help and they pound the slavers. It’s interesting to see that Xena and Najara are both killing their opponents, while Gabi obviously isn’t. A slaver shoots an arrow at Gabi, but it’s caught … by Najara.
Najara tells the captured slavers they can join the Light, which impresses
Gabi even more. Xena’s still worrying about Alti’s vision of her and Gabi being crucified. Najara knows about the vision (which suggests the Jinn are real, not just figments of her imagination) and tells Xena she’ll have to do something drastic to change destiny. Najara invites them to help liberate the next village from Marat’s men and they accept. Najara and Gabi discuss opening a hospice, but Gabi’s reluctant since it would mean she’d have to 
leave Xena. Xena watches their conversation (we know she can read lips) and decides Gabi might be better off staying with Najara and helping establish the hospice. Xena volunteers to ride ahead and find Marat (who’s not with his men in the next village), but isn’t planning on coming back. Najara guesses her intentions and subtly encourages her to leave. Xena says goodbye to a sleeping Gabi and takes off.
As Najara and Gabi plan their hospice, Gabi asks to be initiated into the
Light. Xena finds Marat, who mistakes her for Najara. Xena learns that Najara gives captives three days to convert to the Light and then kills them if they refuse … and even the converts can be killed if Najara doesn’t think they’re serious enough. Gabi joins the Light, but Xena returns to tell her what she found out about Najara, who doesn’t deny killing prisoners, claiming she’s liberating their souls. Gabi’s 
devastated to find out Najara’s a killer and tries to leave with Xena, but Najara won’t let her. Xena and Najara fight and it looks like Xena wins, but Najara comes back and kicks the shit out of her. She’s about to kill Xena when Gabi throws herself over Xena’s body and tells Najara she’ll leave with her willingly (pretending she’s had enough of Xena’s Dark side) if she spares Xena. Najara agrees and they leave.
Xena wakes up and figures out what happened. Gabi tries to reason with
Najara, but she’s a true zealot and has an answer for everything. Xena draws Najara out of the cave she’s camping in and sneaks in to find Gabi. There’s a deep chasm in the cave and that gives Xena an idea. When Najara returns, she finds Gabi tied over the chasm with a flame burning the rope. (From her angle, Najara can’t see that Gabi’s 
standing on a plank, so she’s in no danger of falling.) This time Najara is distracted worrying about Gabi (which is probably why Xena lost the first fight) and gets her ass kicked. She ends up hanging onto the edge of the chasm and Xena’s about to send her to her death when Gabi asks her to spare Najara … and Xena does. Later, Najara is arrested for massacring a village, but she still insists she’s in the right … and forgives Gabi for turning on her.
This is a really good episode (#19 on my all-time list). Najara is an interesting antagonist; at first, she seems to have a lot in common with
Gabi (who’s drawn to her philosophy of doing good), but ends up being a zealot who dispenses her own brand of justice, not caring if some innocent people end up dead in the process. (Kind of a “kill ’em all, let the gods sort ’em out” view of things.) R.J. Stewart said Najara is kind of like Joan of Arc, but more dangerous because she really does hear the Jinn and thinks that can justify anything she does. Najara obviously sees Gabi as a source of the Light 
(maybe the Jinn pointed her out?) and Gabi really trusts Najara, which is why she’s so devastated when she finds out the truth. (Renee played that scene perfectly … the look on her face is just crushing.) Najara ropes Gabi in with her hospice talk, since Gabi’s always wanted to heal people’s pain, not just physical but spiritual. A lot of that probably has to do with her wanting to ease Xena’s pain, but this whole season is about Gabi trying to find her proper path in life.
And Xena falls for Najara’s bullshit too, enough to want to leave Gabi with her. Obviously, Xena is trying to keep Alti’s vision from coming true, which
is why she tries to leave (kinda like Gabi did in Ties That Bind), but she should know Gabi would come after her once she realized what was going on. Xena says she seems to hurt Gabi, but they’ve actually hurt each other and the fact they still love each other means that Xena should stop worrying about whatever pain she might’ve caused Gabi and think about how much they need each other. When Xena wakes up after losing the fight, I think she lets her Dark side come to the surface. You can see the change in her expression and hear it in her voice, 
plus she refers to Gabi as a liability and a millstone around her neck. I think even the Dark part of Xena loves Gabi, but that side of her would see that love as a liability, where the good side of Xena’s sees it as an asset. Some fans wonder if Xena’s jealous of Gabi and Najara, especially in the scene where she’s watching them by the lake. R.J. Stewart said there was a little jealousy there, but mostly concern since Xena still didn’t know Najara too well at that point. I think maybe Xena’s bothered because Najara can connect with Gabi in a way Xena can’t, through the Light in their souls.
Another thing fans debate in this episode is whether Najara’s feelings for Gabi are romantic or not. I personally don’t get a romantic vibe between
them (unlike in Najara’s next appearance), but it’s possible she’s leaning that way toward the end. Xena loses the first fight with Najara because she’s distracted by her concern (or love) for Gabi, and the same thing happens to Najara in the second fight. So maybe she was starting to have romantic feelings for Gabi, or maybe that was just her way of taking Xena’s place in Gabi’s life. Of course, there’s no romantic feelings on Gabi’s part, since she’s obviously in love with Xena. She 
pretends to care about Najara to get her to spare Xena’s life, but I don’t think there’s any genuine feeling there. Some fans thought Gabi walking away without a backward glance was harsh, but I think she had no choice; if she’d shown too much concern, Najara would’ve known she was lying and killed Xena, so Gabi did what she had to do to save the person she loves. And it goes both ways, since it only takes a few words from Gabi to get Xena to spare Najara, which tells me that even in Dark mode, Xena loves Gabi completely.
Noticeable Things:
- When Najara calls her horse it sounds like she’s saying “Buttercup”, but I think it’s actually “Baraka”.
- This episode is said to take place in Phoenicia.
- We see another of Alti’s visions come true when Xena’s fighting
Najara. - In the scene when Xena says goodbye to Gabi as she’s sleeping, Gabi’s hair is pulled back behind her head in a way that makes it look like she has short hair, like in Alti’s vision. I have to assume that was done deliberately by the director.
Favourite Quotes:
- “It hasn’t always been easy for her being with me … I seem to hurt her.” Xena being too harsh on herself, as usual.
- “Looks like she saved both our lives today.” Xena after heeding Gabi’s request to spare Najara.