Xena Reviews: Season 4, Episode 18

The Convert – Director: Andrew Merrifield/Writer: Chris Manheim

This one starts with a warlord named Kryton and his men desecrating a temple and kidnapping the novitiates. Xena, Gabi, and Joxer show up to stop him, but since Gabi’s a pacifist now, and Joxer’s never been much of a fighter, Xena has to handle them all herself. Joxer takes the dagger from a stabbed acolyte and they head outside to find Kryton and the novitiates. Kryton is pounding someone for information and Xena starts kicking his ass. (Gabi makes a non-violent contribution to the fight by blowing dust from a compact into the guards’ eyes.) Gabi is stunned to find out the woman Kryton was pounding is Najara and Joxer tries to help her, but he’s still holding the dagger, so when Xena kicks Kryton towards him, Joxer accidentally stabs the warlord to death.

Joxer is in shock (this is obviously his first kill) and Xena’s not happy to see Najara again, especially when she finds out she escaped from prison. Gabi’s a bit more understanding, especially when the novitiates say Najara didn’t fight back against Kryton. They head for town, where everyone is eager to buy drinks for Joxer, calling him a hero for killing Kryton. Najara tells Gabi she’s given up fighting, which Xena finds hard to believe. Joxer finds out Kryton had a son and wants to tell him about killing his father, which Xena thinks is a bad idea. Najara tells Gabi she met Eli and has been following his Way of Love, which impresses Gabi since she’s trying to follow the same path. Najara warns her that Xena is leading her in the wrong direction and that she’ll soon have to choose between Xena and her own soul.

Joxer’s feeling so guilty he’s hallucinating Kryton taunting him and Xena says living with the guilt is just part of being a warrior. She’s changed her mind about Kryton’s son, saying that Joxer telling him what happened will help with the guilt. Gabi tells Xena about Najara following Eli’s path and Xena worries about Gabi falling for Najara’s bullshit. She warns Najara not to hurt Gabi, but Najara plays on Xena’s guilt over Alti’s vision, saying hurting Gabi is what Xena does. At the Academy, they meet Kryton’s son Arman, who believes his father was a hero (thanks to some bullshit stories a nurse told him). He thinks his father wants him to join his heroic crusade, and Xena lets him know Kryton is dead, Arman swears to kill whoever wasted his father. They invite Arman to travel with them, so they can keep an eye on him and figure out how to tell him the truth abut Kryton. But Joxer’s changed his mind, not wanting to disillusion Arman about his father’s true nature, even though Xena and Gabi urge him to tell the truth.

Najara keeps working on Gabi, trying to convince her she’s changed and mentioning the hospice they talked about starting before. Some punk shows up to kill the guy who killed Kryton and Joxer pretends it wasn’t him. The punk knocks Joxer and Arman around until Xena kicks his ass. Gabi thinks they should let Najara go, since she’s changed her ways. Xena’s not convinced, saying that Najara will turn violent really fast if Gabi ever says no to her about something. Joxer tries to tell Arman the truth but can’t. Later, Najara tells Arman his father was a scumbag and Joxer killed him, so Arman goes after Joxer.

Xena takes Arman down and Gabi says if he really wants to avenge his father, leaving Joxer to live with the guilt is the best way. Arman sneaks out of camp later and runs into Xena, who tells him to stop worrying about the dream version of his father he has in his head and accept the reality that Kryton was scum. She says Arman is already a hundred times better than Kryton ever was, but Arman leaves anyway. He returns the next morning to warn Joxer that Kryton’s men are coming to kill him. Xena fights them, but she’s wounded and when Gabi tries to go help her, Najara freaks out and gets violent with Gabi. Gabi gives Najara a face full of powder and Xena confronts her. They have a weird vine-swinging fight and Najara gets the dagger Joxer used on Kryton (which Arman dropped earlier), but Xena ends up stabbing her with it. Najara (who’s now comatose) is taken back to prison and Gabi thanks Xena for supporting her non-violent path, which Xena is happy to keep doing.

This is a pretty good episode (#73 on my all-time list), though I don’t like it as much as Najara’s first appearance. Najara is still bad (or nuts, as Xena says), and she’s even more obsessed with Gabi this time. In the earlier episode, I said I didn’t get much of a romantic vibe from Najara’s interest in Gabi (except maybe near the end), but she’s definitely hot for Gabi now. I’m not sure if it’s genuine attraction, or if Najara just wants to take Xena’s place in Gabi’s life … in every possible way. (She’s basically acting like a stalker here.) Najara knows which buttons to push, using Eli’s philosophy and the fact that Gabi believes in redemption to make Gabi feel sympathy for her. But Xena was right … as soon as Gabi defied Najara, she went back to her violent and self-righteous ways. Of course, it was Xena being hurt that made Gabi want to get involved (just like in The Way); when Najara said Gabi had to choose between Xena and her own soul, she obviously didn’t know that Xena is part of Gabi’s soul, so that’s no choice at all. I wonder if Gabi being wrong about Najara helped her realize that she might be on the wrong path (as we’ll see in a couple of episodes).

The other major storyline in this episode is Joxer dealing with his first kill. Ted does a really good job showing Joxer’s guilt and eventual acceptance. You could argue that killing Kryton was completely accidental, since Xena’s the one who knocked Kryton onto the dagger Joxer was holding. But just as with Gabi killing Meridien, the details don’t really matter, it’s how the person feels about it, and Joxer obviously feels guilty (especially after he learns about Arman). It’s interesting that Joxer has always wanted to be a warrior, but now he’s regretting doing something that most warriors take for granted. He ends up being a reluctant hero for killing Kryton, who Arman thought was a real hero; maybe their mutual disillusionment is what bonds Joxer and Arman (and we’ll see Arman again next season).

Noticeable Things:

• Gabi’s powder compact was supposed to be a way to let her participate in the fights without actually fighting, but it’s never used again after this episode. It’s an interesting idea, but not too practical. I notice they had her use the powder in the first fight to establish that she had it, so it wouldn’t be a surprise later when she used it against Najara.
• There’s a scene where Gabi’s treating Najara’s wounds in a pond that seems like a twisted parallel to the hot tub scenes Xena and Gabi usually share.
• I guess having Najara in a coma at the end was a way of leaving things open for a future return, but this is the last time we’ll see her.

Favourite Quotes:

• “You know what, Xena? You’re always in everybody’s business.” A drunken Joxer, speaking truth about Xena’s tendency to meddle.
• “New outfit, new religion, same old whacko underneath.” Xena summing up her feelings about Najara’s new peaceful ways.
• “It’s funny, it seems that when push comes to shove, the only choice is to shove back. But with this path that I’m on, I can’t do that.” Gabi realizing that maybe the Way of Peace isn’t for her.