Xena Reviews: Season 5, Episode 18

Antony and Cleopatra – Director: Michael Hurst/Writer: Carl Ellsworth

This one starts with Cleopatra considering whether to ally with Marc Antony or Brutus, since each of them needs her navy to win their civil war. Unfortunately, Cleopatra gets a scroll from Rome that contains a poisonous snake. She’s bitten, but before dying she manages to send her handmaiden (Shiana) with a message for Xena. Xena decides to help Cleopatra for old time’s sake and starts by wrapping herself in chains and being delivered to Antony in a rolled up carpet.

Despite Xena’s rather bold way of introducing herself, Antony doesn’t seem too interested. (Of course, he actually believes she’s Cleopatra.) Brutus comes to warn Cleopatra about Antony (and a third rival named Octavius) and is stunned when he runs into Gabi dressed as an Egyptian handmaiden, since he knew Gabi and Xena were crucified by Caesar. Xena brings Antony to the palace and has Shiana distract him while she meets Brutus (as herself, since he would obviously know she’s not Cleopatra). Brutus tells her not to trust Antony or Octavius, and Xena promises to pass the message on to Cleopatra. Xena goes on with her seduction plan, but is surprised when Antony refuses to join her in the royal bath.

That night, Octavius sneaks into Cleopatra’s room and he and Xena are almost burnt to death by fire-bombs. Xena gets them both out and Octavius offers an alliance between them to keep Antony or Brutus from taking over the Roman Empire. Xena stops Antony from killing Octavius, who she has thrown in the dungeon. Gabi warns Xena not to get too close to Antony (since he’s kinda her type), but later has to break up a sexually-charged fruit tasting. Antony asks Xena to meet him later at the pyramids and Xena assures Gabi she’s in control of the situation, but Gabi’s not so sure (and neither is Shiana).

At the pyramids, Antony tells “Cleopatra” he doesn’t want her navy, only her love. They start getting romantic but are interrupted by some Romans who try to kill them. Xena has to hide her fighting ability to stay in character, but Antony doesn’t have much trouble taking down their attackers. In fact, he seems to enjoy wasting them and Xena has to stop him from killing the last guy so he can take a message to Brutus that his plan failed. Gabi talks to Octavius, who tells her he wants to undo the evil Caesar did by creating a Pax Romana, a peaceful empire under Roman rule. Gabi later tells Xena that she believes Octavius’s heart is in the right place and Xena tells her that Antony is too bloodthirsty to be in charge of the Roman Empire, but wonders if he might consider an alliance with Octavius. Xena runs the idea past Antony, but he wants to eliminate anyone who’s ever stood against him, right down to the last soldier. Xena offers her navy, saying they can trap Brutus’s forces between them. But later, Xena reveals herself to Brutus, letting him know she’s aware that he had Cleopatra killed. Brutus admits it and Xena offers to use Cleopatra’s navy to help him against Antony. Brutus is suspicious, but Gabi offers to go with him as a guarantee against a double-cross.

Xena embarks on Antony’s flagship and Gabi goes with Brutus on his. Meanwhile, Shiana goes with Octavius and the navy, planning to attack both the Roman fleets after they start fighting each other. Brutus’s ship rams Antony’s and the crews engage each other, not noticing until it’s too late that Cleopatra’s fleet is attacking both of them. Brutus feels betrayed by Gabi and starts kicking the shit out of her, forcing her to kill him. And when Antony finds out Cleopatra is really Xena, he attacks her and she’s forced to kill him too. Octavius prevails over his rivals and vows to keep his promise to bring peace, and to honour Cleopatra’s memory by allowing the Egyptians to have a say in their own government. Xena still feels bad about killing Antony, but knows it was necessary.

This is a pretty good episode (#45 on my all-time list), showing how far Xena’s willing to go to keep Rome from being taken over by a bloodthirsty tyrant like Caesar. And I think Xena sees some of her old self in Antony, especially when he revels in killing the assassins; she knows the world doesn’t need another Destroyer of Nations gaining power. Fans debate whether Xena had real feelings for Antony; I’d say she was definitely attracted to him (he is her type, as Gabi pointed out), but she’s too in love with Gabi to genuinely fall in love with him. I think Xena felt guilty for tricking him and there may have been the germ of some feelings here, but once Antony revealed his true colours, Xena knew she couldn’t love someone like that. She gave him a couple of chances to curb his bloodlust, but he wasn’t willing to compromise. And I think there may have been a Donnie Brasco sort of thing happening too, where Xena was undercover and got caught up in her role, getting too close to be objective. Gabi sees it happening and tries to rein her in (although there’s certainly some jealousy on Gabi’s part too) and she’s not the only one; in the scene where Xena agrees to meet Antony at the pyramids, Shiana looks troubled and surreptitiously checks with Gabi to see if she wants her to actually deliver the message.

And Gabi is certainly more objective than Xena when it comes to Antony and keeps Xena focused on the plan. But Gabi herself has a bit of a blind spot when it comes to Brutus and she ends up having to kill him. Renee said she didn’t think Gabi was expecting to fight Brutus when she volunteered to accompany him, but that sounds a little off to me. Gabi would have to know Brutus was going to feel betrayed and wouldn’t be happy about it, so you’d think she’d realize she might have to fight him. Maybe she figured she could talk her way out of it, appealing to the mutual respect they had towards each other. But Brutus has changed (as Gabi points out) and has become more ambitious, more like Caesar (as his assassination of Cleopatra proves), so Gabi probably had no chance of getting through to him. Her assessment of Octavius seems more accurate and we’ll be seeing him again soon.

Noticeable Things:

• In her previous appearance Cleopatra was played by Gina Torres, but I assume they went with an actress who looked more like Lucy so Xena’s masquerade would be more believable.
• In real history, Cleopatra supposedly had herself delivered to Julius Caesar rolled up in a carpet. I think the chains were all Xena’s idea, but apparently Lucy got a rash from the metal against her skin.
• If you’re wondering where Eve is, Xena mentions that Cyrene came with them and has Eve with her in Alexandria. Xena and Gabi probably needed some romantic time together, so they brought Cyrene as a babysitter.
• Gabi’s fake handmaiden name is Eris, the name of the Amazon who put the moves on Xena last episode.
• In real life, Marc Antony and Cleopatra both died in 31 BCE (thirteen years after Caesar’s death) and Brutus died in 42 BCE. Also, the guy who will become Emperor Augustus was named Octavian, not Octavius.
• Apparently the Natalie Merchant song that plays over the food seduction scene was originally just a placeholder for the rough edit. But the producers thought the song fit the scene so well that they ended up using it.

Favourite Quotes:

• “Are you going to flirt him to death?” Gabi questioning Xena’s strategy to deal with Antony.
• “I’ll have him on his knees … figuratively speaking, of course.” Xena assuring Gabi she knows exactly how to handle Antony.
• “Until he begs for my navel.” Xena making a Freudian slip when telling Gabi how long she’s willing to tease Antony.
• “When I killed Cleopatra, I crossed the Rubicon of blood.” Brutus showing how much he’s changed … and stealing a line from Caesar.