Xena Reviews: Season 6, Episode 4

Who’s Gurkhan? – Director: Michael Hurst/Story: Rob Tapert/Teleplay: R.J. Stewart

This one starts with Gabi, Xena, Eve, and Virgil visiting Poteidaia to see what’s happened to Gabi’s family in the last 25 years. They find Gabi’s sister (Lila) on the old homestead, but soon learn that Gabi’s family haven’t fared much better than Xena’s since they’ve been gone. Lila’s daughter (Sarah) was taken by a raider named Gurkhan to be part of his harem in the walled city of Mogador in North Africa. When Gabi and Lila’s parents (and Lila’s husband) went to get her back, Gurkhan had all three of them beheaded. Gabi freaks out and when Xena says they can go find Sarah in Mogador, Gabi says she wants to kill Gurkhan for what he’s done.

They set out on a ship to Mogador and Gabi is resolute in her desire to kill Gurkhan, which worries Xena and Eve since Gabi’s no killer like they used to be. Eve tells Gabi that no one outside the palace even knows what Gurkhan looks like, and that his security inside is impregnable. Gabi gets seasick and Xena gives her something to cure it. Xena already showed Gabi how to cure her seasickness with pressure points, so I’m thinking this nausea is actually brought on by Gabi’s natural tendency toward peace rebelling against her desire to kill Gurkhan in cold blood. Xena doesn’t want Gabi to live with that kind of regret, so the “seasickness cure” she gives her is actually a drug to knock her out. Xena heads into Mogador, forcing Virgil to play a slave-trader so he can sell her to Gurkhan in the slave market. The plan goes awry when three different guys claiming to be Gurkhan show up at the slave auction and the bidding gets fast and furious. Xena is bought by Gurkhan, but still has no idea who he really is.

When Gabi wakes up on the ship and realizes what Xena did, she’s pretty pissed off. She decides to emulate Xena’s tactics and forces Virgil to help her. In the harem, Xena makes inquiries about Sarah, but is told they’re not allowed to talk about the other wives. She pisses off Gurkhan’s Number One Wife, who wants to bear his heir and won’t tolerate too much competition. Virgil (still pretending to be a slaver) brings Gabi in to give her to Gurkhan as a “gift”. Gabi does a sexy dance for Gurkhan and as she gets closer to him, Xena notices she has a dagger concealed behind her back. Xena jumps Gabi and knocks her out to keep her from killing Gurkhan (and being killed in turn by his guards), pretending she’s jealous. Xena is knocked out by the guards and taken to the dungeons.

While Gabi goes crazy worrying in the harem, Xena is tortured in the dungeons, using thoughts of Gabi to keep her mind focused on their mission. She doesn’t break and convinces Gurkhan she was just jealous of Gabi because she wants to be Number One Wife. He believes her and sends her back to the harem where Gabi tends to her wounds. Gabi is starting to wonder if Sarah’s even there, but Xena is certain she is. Xena tells Gabi she won’t stop her from killing Gurkhan if she still wants to. Xena is invited to dance before Gurkhan and her sexy dance impresses him so much he agrees to grant anything she asks for … so she requests Sarah’s head on a plate. Gurkhan agrees, but Xena is shocked to find out that Sarah is the Number One Wife.

Xena talks Gurkhan into including Gabi in their sex romp and when he agrees, Xena paralyzes him with the Pinch, giving Gabi the chance to avenge her parents. But Gabi can’t bring herself to kill someone in cold blood (saying it would make her like him), although she does beat the shit out of him while he’s helpless. Xena and Gabi go to the dungeons to see Sarah and Gabi tells her who thy are. Sarah feels so guilty about everything she’s done in the last eight years, but Gabi convinces her it wasn’t her fault and that what’s left of her family still loves her. They leave Gurkhan in Sarah’s place in the dungeon (hooded and dressed in some of her clothes) and liberate the women from the harem before leaving. Gurkhan’s guards accidentally kill him, thinking he was Sarah and freak out when they realize what they’ve done. On the way home, Sarah is still feeling guilty and wonders what sort of reception she’ll get from Lila after all the terrible things she’s done, but Gabi tells her she’s in good company when it comes to living with guilt.

This is a pretty good episode (#41 on my all-time list) that continues the theme of Xena and Gabi catching up on things since they awoke from their 25-year sleep. Xena’s homecoming didn’t go so well and this one isn’t much better, although at least Lila’s still alive. It’s interesting to see everyone working together to find Sarah, although Eve and Virgil take secondary roles. Virgil plays the slaver pretty well, although he comes off a bit goofy at times; it’s kinda like they’re using him as a Joxer replacement, but it doesn’t quite have the same feel to it. Once they get inside the palace, it’s really Xena and Gabi’s show and it’s cool to see Xena trying to keep Gabi from becoming a killer, since Xena knows what it’s like to live with that on your conscience.

Guilt seems to be a theme of the episode, with Sarah worrying that her actions as Number One Wife (which were obviously done out of necessity) have tainted her forever. Xena seems very affected when Sarah is talking about her guilt, especially when she says she had to be more vicious than her competition to survive … which is probably exactly what happened to Xena when she first started out, wanting to defend her home from raiders and ending up worse than the people she as fighting. But Gabi is very understanding towards Sarah and I wonder if Xena thinking about what might’ve happened if she’d met Gabi earlier and had someone show her that sort of compassion and understanding?

Another theme here is the dehumanization of women, with the harem girls (some of whom see being owned by Gurkhan as a way out of the shitty life that awaits them back home) and both Xena and Gabi using their bodies to get close to Gurkhan. They both do sexy dances, but Gabi’s is maybe a little bit aloof, since she’s just using it to get close enough to stab Gurkhan. Xena’s dance is obviously patterned on Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils from the Bible, complete with demanding someone’s head on a platter at the end. But while Xena is being tortured, she has a vision of Gabi dancing that sustains her and keeps her from breaking. I think Gabi’s dance is more intimate because it’s for Xena alone, and it’s done out of real love not simple expediency. While Xena is being tortured, Gabi waits in the harem looking miserable, almost as if she’s sharing Xena’s pain. Maybe they really are feeling each other’s pain and emotions, because of the soul connection between them.

Noticeable Things:

• Mogador (now called Essaouira) is a real place on the coast of what’s now Morocco.
• In the harem, Xena meets a girl named Yeo, who says she’s from a land beyond Chin that Xena’s never heard of. She’s talking about Jappa, which Xena’s actually quite familiar with.
• There’s a scene where Xena seems to be showing Gabi how to use an opium pipe.
• When Xena’s being tortured, the other harem girls seem to be aware that she and Gabi know each other. I can’t help wondering if they have some idea why they’re there, especially since Xena and Gabi openly discuss killing Gurkhan in front of a slave girl and she doesn’t seem too bothered (and obviously doesn’t warn Gurkhan).

Favourite Quotes:

• “There’s nothing you can do to change the past. You can only work to make the future better.” Xena giving Gabi some advice about revenge.
• “So you slept for 25 years? You weren’t really dead.” Lila trying to wrap her head around Gabi’s sudden reappearance. Gabi’s reply is “Not that time.”
• “Are you ever in the right company.” Gabi letting Sarah know that she, Xena, and Eve are all experts when it comes to guilt.