Past Imperfect – Director: Garth Maxwell/Writer: Steven L. Sears
This one starts with Xena (finally) telling Gabi about the vision Alti showed her of them being crucified by Roman soldiers. Xena’s pretty freaked out, but Gabi refuses to believe it. They go to a town called Actus to warn the people (and the Roman soldiers)
about an army that’s about to attack. They get stuck in Actus when the invaders start lobbing flaming catapult shot. Xena is being overprotective of Gabi because of the vision and ends up getting slammed into a gate. That triggers a memory and she realizes whoever is attacking Actus is using the same tactics she used against Corinth years ago.
We get more flashbacks to the Battle of Corinth; Xena and Borias were at 
odds and had split the army into two factions (Xena’s being much more powerful). Xena was still pursuing the Ixion Stone to fulfill her destiny as the Destroyer of Nations, as Alti had promised her. Borias wanted her to concentrate on the impending birth of their son and forget the Ixion Stone. Xena wanted to take Corinth to ensure her ass was covered when she went after Athens. Xena’s slave (and possibly lover) Satrina told her about her former master, who poisoned the grain supply at Rhodes before trying to tunnel under the walls to collapse them. Xena wasn’t too impressed with the tunnelling idea, but the poison grain thing worked for her. In the present, Xena realizes whoever’s besieging
Actus has poisoned the grain, making half the soldiers sick. She remembers messing with Corinth’s water supply and wants to check to make sure Actus’s water is okay. Again she tries to leave Gabi behind, but of course she refuses. They check the dam upriver and are attacked and Xena has another memory of Borias trying to make peace with the Centaurs and of her throwing corpses into the water supply. They’re forced to retreat, leaving Actus’s water supply unprotected and Xena sees a claw-shaped mountain like the one in Alti’s vision.
Xena tells Gabi about the mountain, but Gabi still refuses to freak out over 
it. We get another flashback of Xena trying to kill Kaleipus (one of the Centaur leaders) against Borias’s advice. Borias saved Kaleipus (although he lost an eye) and they took off together, leaving Xena to declare both the Centaurs and Borias as her enemies. In the present, Xena knows someone is using her own tactics against Actus and wonders how she can out-think herself.
Xena’s still paranoid about Alti’s vision, but Gabi won’t let herself believe it, since one of them has to keep a clear head. Xena finds enemy soldiers tunnelling under the walls and goes in to check it out. She’s hit by a dart
loaded with the same drug Satrina used when Xena was giving birth years ago. Xena realizes Satrina is the one leading the opposing army and Satrina comes in to gloat as Xena keels over from the drug. We get more flashbacks as Satrina explains how Borias led an attack on Xena’s camp trying to get her out so their son could be born under somewhat normal circumstances. But Satrina betrayed Borias and told Dagnine he was there to kill Xena.
With the tent on fire, Xena gave birth to Solan while Dagnine and Borias 
fought outside. Dagnine ended up stabbing Borias in the back with his own sword (as he said in Orphan of War), but Borias did get a last look at his son before he died. In the present, Xena reveals that she knew Satrina was leading the army (the poisoned grain gave it away), so she took an antidote to the drug ahead of time. Xena pounds Satrina, but refuses to kill her, not wanting to taint Borias’s memory. Satrina’s men rush into the tunnels, but Gabi leads the men of Actus against them. When Gabi gets in trouble, Xena lets Satrina go to help her. Satrina
tries to collapse the tunnels, but Xena cuts the rope so only the first section collapses … right on top of Satrina. (It’s left ambiguous as to whether she’s dead or not, but she never appears again.) Later, Gabi assures Xena that Alti’s vision isn’t a prophecy and that their destiny is in their own hands. Xena recalls giving Solan to Kaleipus (and we get a different version of that scene than the one we saw in Orphan of War), and Gabi comforts her as she relives the pain of losing her son.
This isn’t a bad episode, but for me it suffers from the same flaw as all 
flashback episodes: no Gabi in the flashback scenes (which is why it’s only #113 on my all-time list). It probably could move up a bit on the list, as we do get some good insights into Xena’s character, especially in the flashbacks. Xena was fixated on her destiny as the Destroyer of Nations, but Borias would’ve preferred just being a husband and father. He says he and Xena saw something in each other and ended up confusing love for power, but he believed they could get back what they’d lost once the baby was born. On some level, Xena might’ve believed that, which is why she resisted it so
much. When she gives Solan to Kaleipus, she repeats Borias’s words to her about Solan being a target and learning things from her that a child shouldn’t know. In the end, I think Borias coming back for Xena (and getting killed for it) convinced her to do what was right for their son (and she went from being the Destroyer of Nations to the Warrior Princess).
Gabi does get some great scenes in this episode. She’s the level-headed one who refuses to believe the vision, while Xena’s totally freaked out by it. I
assume Xena wouldn’t be worried about any old vision, but one of Gabi dying is too much for her to handle, especially after the last time Gabi almost died. The role reversal is interesting, since Gabi’s usually the one who believes in prophets, while Xena is more dismissive. There’s a parallel with the past, where Xena believed in the power of the Ixion Stone to help fulfill her destiny, while Borias said it
was just a myth. But Gabi is great here, refusing to hide away because of the vision and standing up to Xena when she tries to protect her. Gabi’s the strong one here, keeping Xena anchored in reality and comforting her when she’s overwhelmed by all the dark memories of Borias and Solan. I think Gabi’s strength here shows that she and Xena are truly equals now, not just mentor and sidekick.
Noticeable Things:
- Steve Sears has said that the Battle of Corinth was kinda like the Battle of the Five Armies in The Hobbit, with different forces (Centaurs, Amazons, Xena, Corinthians) all coming together in one massive battle. All the armies had terrible losses, which might be another reason Xena gave up her ambitions to rule the world.
- After the fight at the dam, Xena sees a mountain that looks like the one in Alti’s vision. I’m assuming this isn’t the same mountain we
eventually see, since that one is in Italy, not too far from Rome. I can’t imagine Satrina attacking villages in the heart of Roman territory, so this has to be in one of the provinces. There could very well be two mountains shaped vaguely like claws, and maybe Xena’s paranoia makes her see this one exactly the way it was in the vision. - Borias’s sword here looks different from the one Solan had in Orphan of War. Borias must’ve snuck off to get the Ixion Stone (and put it in the sword) after he saved Kaleipus from Xena, which suggests the Ixion Caverns aren’t too far from Corinth.
Favourite Quotes:
- “You became an enemy the moment you thought there was love.” Xena letting Borias know she’s not ready to settle down and raise a family.
- “Xena, I don’t believe in your vision. I can’t afford to! Now, either I prove you wrong and we go on from here, or I prove you right and we die. But either way, I will not continue like this.” Gabi showing her strength of character.
- “Funny thing about destiny … you can’t ignore it, can’t rely on it.” Gabi letting Xena know that their future is in their hands, not dependent on some vision.