Xena Reviews: Season 5, Episode 6

Purity – Director: Mark Beesley/Writer: Jeff Vlaming

This one starts with Xena, Gabi, and Joxer on their way to Chin. (I’m not sure when Joxer joined them; he wasn’t there last episode, so he may have followed them, or maybe they arranged to meet him after seeing the Amazons.) A half-dead monk stumbles into camp with a scroll written by Lao Ma saying that “The Hawk and the Dove must be made One with the Wisdom”. Xena isn’t sure who the Hawk and Dove are, but figures the Wisdom refers to Lao Ma’s book of philosophy, which Xena hid in a monastery last time she was here. They find a bombed-out village near the monastery and arrive just as the monastery is being attacked by soldiers with explosives. Xena and Gabi fight the soldiers (Joxer disappears during the fight, naturally) and are helped by a young woman named Pao Hsu, who claims to be Lao Ma’s daughter.

Pao Hsu tells them a northern warlord named Go Kun has found the secret of black powder, a powerful weapon long forbidden in Chin. They go to the monastery, but Lao Ma’s book is gone, taken by someone during the attack. Xena gives Joxer a random book and tells him to put it in her saddlebags, but not to let anyone see him do it. Xena knows black powder contains sulphur and coal, but there’s another ingredient she’s not sure of, so she sends Joxer and Gabi to the market (since black powder was supposedly invented by a cook) to find it. Xena and Pao Hsu track the book thief and Pao Hsu seems bitter that her mother gave her away as a child. She resents Xena for knowing her mother better than she did, although she seems to think their relationship was like mother/daughter instead of lovers (and Xena doesn’t correct her). They realize they’re being followed, so Xena sends the horses away on a false trail, but she holds onto the saddlebags. Gabi and Joxer scour the market (and we see Joxer is terrible at bargaining), changing clothes to blend in better. Joxer pisses off the locals by asking about black powder and he and Gabi are grabbed. Xena and Pao Hsu track the thief to a cave and find out she’s Pao Hsu’s identical twin sister, Kao Hsin.

Xena convinces Kao Hsin to hand over the book, which she puts in her saddlebag. Xena confronts Pao Hsu (who turns out to be the evil twin), letting her know she’s been onto her bullshit for a while now. They fight and Pao Hsu grabs the book from the saddlebag and takes off. Xena’s not too worried, since she switched the book with the one from the monastery that Joxer stuck in there. When Pao Hsu finds out she has the wrong book, she orders Go Kun to find the real one. He figures it’s a waste of time when his army could be conquering Chin, but Pao Hsu insists. Kao Hsin worries they’ll have to destroy her sister to stop her, but Xena says Pao Hsu will end up destroying herself. Gabi and Joxer are imprisoned in stocks (with a little water torture), but Gabi manages to get some black powder from Joxer’s pants with her foot—don’t ask—and blow the lock on her shackles. Xena and Kao Hsin go to the old palace and Xena remembers meeting Lao Ma all those years ago. Gabi and Joxer run into Pao Hsu and follow her, since they don’t know she’s their enemy. Xena and Kao Hsin discuss Lao Ma’s philosophy of purity and Xena points out that Pao Hsu has her own purity … the purity of hate. Pao Hsu shows up outside with Joxer and Gabi captive.

Joxer and Gabi are tied up with a bunch of black powder barrels around them (it’s a scene straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon) and Pao Hsu says she’ll blow them up if Xena doesn’t hand over the book. Kao Hsin hands it over and Pao Hsu lights the powder trail anyway before taking off. Xena supposedly only has time to save one person and Joxer insists she save Gabi first but looks kinda pissed off when she does. She ends up saving them both, although Joxer gets a bit singed. They try various formulae until Joxer figures out the missing ingredient: saltpetre, used as a meat tenderizer in India. Kao Hsin thinks they’re finished since her sister has the book, but Xena convinces her they can still win if they work together. They meditate and have a vision of Lao Ma giving Kao Hsin and her sister up as kids to protect them from their brother, Ming Tien. Meanwhile, Pao Hsu masters the telepathic power from reading the book, impressing the hell out of Go Kun.

While Xena and Kao Hsin enter Go Kun’s camp to confront Pao Hsu, Gabi and Joxer prepare to fire rockets to wipe out Go Kun’s supply of black powder. But Go Kun and his men attack them and Gabi is forced to fight them all alone (kinda like Xena did with the Persians in One Against an Army) to give Joxer time to fire the rockets. Of course, he screws it up and Go Kun’s men fire rockets at Xena and Kao Hsin instead. Pao Hsu fire energy bolts at Xena and her sister, but their own purity of mind protects them. They tell Pao Hsu that Lao Ma sent them away because she loved them and that breaks the purity of Pao Hsu’s hatred, leaving her vulnerable. A couple of rockets land on her and another one hits the ammunition tent, blowing the whole camp to hell. Gabi is freaked out, but Xena and Kao Hsin walk out of the flames completely unharmed (and Kao Hsin even saved her mother’s book). Since the black powder is all gone, they say goodbye and Xena tells Kao Hsin she’s a worthy successor to her mother.

This is one of those episodes that’s not really terrible, but it’s not really great either (which is why it’s down at #121 on my all-time list). It’s technically not that bad, so it might move up a bit on my list. The main story does get a bit muddled at times, and the whole thing with Xena being able to access the power here even though she can’t most of the time is a bit confusing. It seems like Xena can only use the powers in Chin (like she did in The Debt II), so maybe it’s the proximity to Lao Ma that does it. While Pao Hsu’s purity comes from hate, Xena and Kao Hsin’s comes from compassion, something Xena says she learned from Lao Ma (although it took her another decade to put it into practice). At first, everyone assumes the Hawk and Dove referred to in Lao Ma’s note are Pao Hsu and Kao Hsin, but it turns out to be Xena and Kao Hsin. There’s a parallel with Xena and Gabi, who could also be the Hawk and Dove, although Gabi’s gotten more hawkish this season.

Maybe the reason this episode doesn’t resonate too much is because it’s more about the twin sisters (and Lao Ma’s legacy) than it is about Xena and Gabi. Marie Matiko does a great job playing both sisters, differentiating between them with her voice, facial expressions, and general mannerisms. That’s why it’s not really a shock when Pao Hsu turns out to be the bad guy, because you could see her bitterness and resentment bleeding through even when she was pretending to be good. The whole thing about Lao Ma’s legacy is fine, but not really that compelling to me. I think Kao Hsin senses the connection between her mother and Xena (although she doesn’t seem to realize they were lovers either), which is why she trusts Xena enough to hand over the book on first meeting her. But ultimately, I just don’t care that much about Lao Ma and her philosophy, so this episode isn’t one of my favourites.

Noticeable Things:

• Gabi has apparently gotten over her jealousy of Lao Ma, since she goes to the palace and accepts Xena’s friendship with Kao Hsin without a problem.
• When Joxer adopts native garb, his hat looks more like a sombrero than a Chinese hat; it looks like he’s trying out for a remake of Three Amigos.
• After Pao Hsu lights the powder trails to blow up Gabi and Joxer, it takes Xena about a minute to save them both. But Pao Hsu is already at least a mile away when the powder barrels explode. Those are some damn fast horses she and her men have.

Favourite Quotes:

• “That’s the first time I ever had three feet in my pants.” Joxer’s remark after Gabi uses her foot to retrieve the black powder he shoved down his pant leg. Naturally, Gabi is mortified.
• “People who want the world end up their own worst enemies.” Xena telling Kao Hsin that her sister will destroy herself, speaking from experience.
• “It’s all in the wrist.” Xena explaining how she switched the books, in what I can only assume is a reference to Big Trouble in Little China.