Xena Reviews: Season 5, Episode 19

Looking Death in the Eye – Director: Garth Maxwell/Writer: Carl Ellsworth

This one starts in the future, with a somewhat elderly Joxer buying one of Gabi’s scrolls from some shady vendor in a tavern. Meg’s not too happy about it (maybe jealous because he still carries a torch for Gabi), but a couple of their kids are happy to have him read the story. The rest is told in flashback, where it fits into the regular fifth season storyline.  Xena and Gabi visit the Fates to ask about the prophecy of Eve’s birth bringing the Twilight of the Gods. The Fates say that when Xena dies Eve will cause the Twilight. (Actually, they say “Only in the essence of death will the child find salvation and the Twilight be set in motion.” That wording will be important later.) Gabi isn’t happy with that idea, but Xena embraces it, saying she needs to die to save Eve.

Xena, Gabi, and Eve are attacked by Hades (wearing his Invisibility Helm) and Athena. Xena destroys the Helm and she and Gabi get away with Eve. They take refuge with Octavius, who’s now in command of the Roman armies, and Xena uses poison salve to tend her and Gabi’s wounds. In Olympus, the gods argue about the Twilight and Ares brings Celesta (the embodiment of Death, and Hades’ sister) to the meeting. She refuses to take Xena or Eve before their appointed time and Athena wonders if Celesta expects to escape the Twilight, since Death will exist as long as mortals do. Later, Xena attacks Hephaestus in his forge and gets the shit kicked out of her. She’s close to death and Celesta shows up to take her.

Turns out that’s just what Xena wanted. While Gabi keeps Hephaestus busy, Xena uses his chains (which can bind even the gods themselves) to neutralize Celesta and get her candle (which means nobody can die until she gets it back). Xena and Gabi dump Hephaestus in a pit and take off with Celesta. They meet up with Octavius, who was looking after Eve. In Olympus, Athena gives Ares shit for killing Eli and they find out about Celesta’s capture. Xena gets mad at Celesta for taking so many of her friends and family: Marcus, Solan, Lyceus. Xena mentions Celesta’s brother Hades and asks how she’ll feel if he dies. That makes Celesta cry, but Xena doesn’t have much sympathy for her. They realize that Athena will strike against their friends and Gabi goes to warn Joxer, but Athena shows up to grab him.

To save Joxer, Gabi tells Athena that Xena’s heading for the ocean and Athena brings Gabi as a hostage. Celesta’s candle is almost out when Athena shows up to trade Gabi for her. Xena complies, but Celesta takes off, saying she has other souls to harvest. Xena and Gabi take off in a cart with Eve and Ares shows up to help them, but when Xena tells him she’ll never give him what he wants, he leaves. Athena’s warriors herd them towards Athena, Hades, and Hephaestus. The gods blast the wagon, knocking it off a cliff. Joxer shows up, having followed their trail and he watches in horror as the cart catches fire and tumbles off the cliff. Xena finds Eve’s body in the burning cart and freaks out, getting even more despondent when she finds out Gabi is dead. Xena’s ready to kill herself, but Ares shows up to stop her. As the other gods watch from the cliff top, Xena takes poison from the same vial of salve she used to heal her wounds earlier, telling Ares the gods get all three deaths instead of just one.

Athena and company vanish and Ares teleports Xena and Gabi’s bodies away. Joxer is devastated, but Octavius shows up with Eve and tells him the whole thing was a ruse. Xena knew the gods would hound them as long as Eve was alive, so she switched Eve with a fake baby back in camp after collecting Celesta’s tears, which she and Gabi used to simulate death. That fulfilled the Fates’ prophecy about the “essence of death” and once the effect of the Tears wears off, they can live in peace since the gods think they’re dead. But Ares taking their “bodies” away wasn’t part of the plan, and Octavius isn’t sure what to do. Ares takes Xena and Gabi to a cave and seals them in icy tombs. He admits Gabi knew how to love Xena better than he did, but still loves Xena in spite of everything. After laying Xena’s weapons next to the tombs, Ares seals the cave and vanishes.

This is a really good episode (#28 on my all-time list) that tidies up some long-running plots and sets up the new status quo. Running around with a baby was just too unwieldy, so this sets up a good way to get rid of Eve without killing her. And it sets up the resolution of the Twilight storyline that’s been running for most of this season. In fact, this episode is mostly set-up for the final three episodes of the season. It’s cool to see Xena and Gabi getting the best of the gods, although this won’t be the last we see of them. Xena and Gabi act like a real family here and it’s nice to see Gabi going toe-to-toe with gods like Hades and Hephaestus. (She kills a couple of Athena’s warriors with her sais too.) Xena’s speech to Celesta about loss was good too, especially how she paralleled losing Lyceus with Celesta’s possible loss of her own brother (although Gabi points out that an immortal like Celesta can’t really understand that sort of loss).

Of course, Ares wasn’t in on the plan and screws things up in the end. (Joxer wasn’t in on it either, but Athena going after him actually helped make Gabi’s capture—which was part of Xena’s plan—more convincing.) Ares obviously loves Xena and finally realizes why he had no chance with her: he couldn’t accept the good part of her. Ares only wanted the Dark part of Xena, while Gabi was willing to take the good and the bad, giving Xena unconditional love. When Ares brought Celesta to Olympus, her presence immediately started the gods arguing amongst themselves, which seemed to amuse Ares. I can’t help wondering if that was his intent all along.

Noticeable Things:

• Future Joxer and Meg (who we don’t see) have at least two kids (and we’ll find out in the next episode that they have even more), but Meg said she couldn’t have kids. Maybe they’re adopted, or maybe Aphrodite took pity on them and made Meg fertile.
• When talking to the Fates, Xena says that mortals make their own destinies … and the Fates don’t contradict her, which is interesting if you think of that as an overarching theme of the show.
• Joxer and Octavius seem to know each other pretty well here, but I don’t know when they would’ve met. Obviously between episodes somewhere.

Favourite Quotes:

• “Well, Athena, you can call off your search. We found Hades for you.” Xena being a smart-ass to Athena after knocking the Helm of Invisibility from Hades’ head.
• “So, if you’re the god of arts and crafts, what do you do for a hobby?” Xena being a smart-ass to Hephaestus.
• “When you sacrificed yourself for others you were hers, but when you kicked ass, you were mine.” Ares laying out the difference between his love for Xena and Gabi’s … and still kinda missing the point.