Xena Reviews: Season 6, Episode 18

When Fates Collide – Director: John Fawcett/Writer: Katherine Fugate

This one starts with a flashback to Destiny, where Caesar had Xena crucified on the beach. Turns out Caesar has escaped from Tartarus (things have gotten a bit lax since Xena killed Hades) and chained up the Fates so he can change his own history. He decides to reweave the Fates’ Loom to make it so he didn’t try to kill Xena all those years ago. The scene shifts to Rome where Caesar and Brutus are discussing emissaries from Lao Ma. A black-clad warrior woman rides in, scattering the soldiers and riding right up to Caesar and Brutus. It turns out to be Xena, who is now Empress of Rome … and Caesar’s wife.

Caesar tells Xena he’s brought a playwright from Greece for tonight’s entertainment. He meets with Lao Ma’s emissaries, but they’re murdered by the High Priestess of Rome … Alti. That evening, Caesar and Alti are bored by the play (which seems to be based on Fallen Angel), but Xena is very moved by the story of self-sacrifice in the name of love. When the playwright turns out to be Gabi, Caesar gets worried. (Alti doesn’t recognize Gabi, but she definitely notices the intense look shared by Gabi and Xena.) As Xena and Gabi discuss the play, Brutus tells Caesar he’s worried that Lao Ma will send assassins. Caesar assures Brutus he knows how to deal with assassins, so Caesar obviously has full memories of his alternate life. Later, we see that Caesar and Xena’s marriage doesn’t have a lot of love in it (physical or otherwise) and Caesar leaves her alone in their chambers. Xena and Gabi (whose quarters are right across the atrium from Xena’s) share another smoldering look, but it’s interrupted by Alti, who attacks Xena because she sees her as a threat to her own ambitions. Alti uses her power to draw on memories of Xena’s past, but the memories come from Xena’s former life (specifically Ides of March, The Way, Between the Lines, When in Rome, Coming Home, and The Quest). The memories distract Xena and Alti gains the upper hand.

Caesar and Brutus show up in time to stop Alti and Caesar’s ready to kill her right there. Xena stops him, saying she wants to kill Alti in the Forum, so Alti is taken to the dungeons. The next day, Caesar tells Xena that Alti implicated Gabi (and Lao Ma) in her plot, but Xena doesn’t believe Gabi was involved. She goes to see Gabi and we see that Joxer (or someone who looks just like him) is a Roman soldier in this reality. Gabi denies being involved with any plot and Xena believes her, saying that anyone who believes love is worth dying for probably isn’t an assassin. Xena talks to Alti and finds out Caesar lied. She asks Alti to use her power and has more visions of her alternate life (from Ides of March, Destiny, When in Rome, Adventures in the Sin Trade II, Forget Me Not, The Way, One Against an Army, and The Abyss). Xena also gets a scene of Alti and Caesar banging (which I’m assuming is a memory of something she actually witnessed) and of Caesar screwing with the Fates’ Loom. Xena and Alti both realize that Caesar has changed history. Joxer comes to tell Xena they’ve taken Gabi to be crucified.

Xena stops the crucifixion, letting Caesar know she’s aware of what he did. She promises to join him in conquering the world if he lets Gabi go, so he agrees. It’s obvious Xena and Gabi have fallen in love, but Xena tells Gabi to go back to Greece and her simple life in a vineyard by the sea. Alti (who Xena freed from the dungeons) tells Caesar that Xena will never be a willing partner to him now. She offers to take Xena’s place and Caesar tells her to kill Gabi first. Alti catches Gabi outside the city and uses her powers (which have been boosted from feeding on Xena’s alternate-life memories) to torture Gabi, showing her visions of the life she was meant to have (from Sins of the Past, The Greater Good, Tale of Two Muses, Between the Lines, The Abyss, Them Bones Them Bones, The Way, Ides of March, and One Against an Army). Xena shows up to stop Alti, but before she can kill her a bunch of Caesar’s men show up. Xena gets crossbow bolts in the arm and leg and Joxer gets Gabi out of danger while Xena is dragged back to the palace. In Rome, Caesar kills Brutus and Joxer sneaks Gabi into the dungeons to see Xena. Xena tells Gabi about Caesar changing their destinies and she and Gabi declare their love for each other. Xena says she and Caesar’s fates are linked so she has to be crucified, just like she was in her previous life. She tells Joxer to get Gabi out of Rome safely and she’s dragged out to be crucified.

While Xena is hammered to the cross, Caesar and Alti are banging in his chamber, but Alti pulls out a dagger and stabs Caesar. We get another cross-cutting scene (like in Ides of March), with Xena being nailed to the cross at the same time as Alti kills Caesar. Meanwhile, Gabi rides to the Fates’ temple and finds them chained and the Loom all fucked up. She decides that living in such a chaotic world isn’t worth it, so she sets the Loom on fire, destroying everything. Xena gets the satisfaction of seeing Alti (who came out to gloat after killing Caesar) explode just before the universe ends. Gabi finds herself in a forest (wearing her usual clothes) and soon runs into Xena. Their greetings are pretty casual for two people who just destroyed and rebuilt the cosmos, but it’s obvious they remember everything that happened … and that they prefer the world the way it was meant to be. Gabi gets on Xena’s horse (in a scene reminiscent of Sins of the Past) and they ride out of the gloomy forest into the light of a new day … and a new world.

This is a great episode (#2 on my all-time list) that shows how powerful the connection between Xena and Gabi really is. Caesar tries to change his fate, but can’t change Xena and Gabi’s feelings for each other, which draw them together and create sparks as soon as they meet. Gabi tells Xena she’s never felt real love before and I think Xena could say the same. She certainly doesn’t love Caesar (and probably never did) and his changing history has wiped out a lot of other potential loves from Xena’s past. She would never have met Borias, Lao Ma, Akemi, or Draco; she would still have met M’lila, but getting involved with Caesar would’ve precluded that relationship. (She probably let M’lila go back to her own people.) Xena also doesn’t have the chakram, which means she never got involved with Ares (though I’m sure he took notice of her). She seems to be a decent person, well-loved by her troops, and certainly not the Destroyer of Nations, so Caesar’s crucifixion of her is probably the main reason she went evil in the first place.

That suggests that Xena’s essential nature is good, showing that no matter what happens she’ll always be that good person somewhere inside. Caesar tries to change his (and everyone else’s) destiny, but can’t overcome his own true nature any more than Xena can. Caesar can’t keep himself from betraying Xena again, just as Alti can’t curb her own ambition, and Gabi and Xena can’t deny their love for each other. Everyone acts according to their true selves; Xena is heroic, Gabi is a peace-loving bard, Caesar betrays those closest to him, Alti craves power. Even Joxer ends up being a soldier whose instinct is to save Gabi. And in the end, Xena and Gabi’s connection is so strong that Gabi would rather destroy the world than live in it without the love she and Xena were meant to have. Xena’s last thought is how much she loves Gabi, so I wonder if their love was the anchor that pulled the world back together the way it was supposed to be? Some fans think this should be the real ending of the series, since it could theoretically take place anytime. I’ll talk more about that when we get to A Friend in Need, but it’s certainly a nice thought.

Noticeable Things:

• Both Joxer and Xena thought Gabi’s play could’ve used a few more fight scenes.
• Apparently, there was supposed to be a kiss between Xena and Gabi in the dungeon. Katherine Fugate said it was in the script but wasn’t actually filmed because Rob Tapert wanted to save the kiss for the final episode. According to Fugate, the kiss was supposed to happen just before the guards come to take Xena out to be crucified. There is a shot where Gabi has her hands up by Xena’s face, then in the next shot her hands are down by her lap. I think that’s probably where the kiss was supposed to occur.
• Joxer’s character isn’t named here, but the transcripts over at Bitch of Rome refer to him as Barnabus, but I don’t know where they got that name from.

Favourite Quotes:

• “That’s what we all dream about, isn’t it? Someone who looks so deeply into our soul that they’d find something worth dying for.” Gabi impressing Xena with her depth of feeling.
• “When I’m with you this emptiness I’ve felt my whole life is gone.” Gabi letting Xena know how much she loves her.
• “I’ll love you forever.” Xena letting Gabi know the feeling is mutual.
• “So be it.” Gabi telling the Fates she’d rather destroy the world than live without true love.