Well! I'm not really quite sure what to make of this ep. A bit of a roller-coaster, eh, from the opening music to the closing "I forgive you, Gabrielle...
I liked that opening music (Narara's theme, is it perhaps?) the instrument featured sounds very like the Indian Shehnai, of which I own a few examples, and on which I've been known tootle from time to time - although it may be some middle-eastern instrument of similar type... an external double-reed pursed between the lips, played through a simple wooden tube with finger holes, and with a bell shaped metal mouth piece - basically a small, modern member of the shawm family.
And as we hear it play we see a lone rider on a dark horse (hint, hint - remember that comment about how Xena switched from a dark horse to a lighter one after she reformed...) riding over hills through a lush landscape. Is anyone else reading possible significance into Najara being accorded the honour of this opening shot...?
And then she meets three men ambling along a path, who complain that "our men" are being destroyed on the other side of the hill. Err yes.... so why were they just wandering away from the fight - lost interest, did they?
Interesting exchange of fancy horse manoeuvres as Najara and Xena engage for the first time - Najara somehow hangs right off the side of her horse in order to knock Xena sprawling, and, not to be outdone (yet...) Xena does one of her patented flying leaps, to descend from the air and unseat Najara. Some more vigourous combat ensues (with Gab right in the thick of it again, as she seems to generally be this season), culminating in Najara poised to try and impale Gab and Xena poised to give her a chakram in the throat for her trouble (which would have made this an *awfully* short ep...)
But Najara has a djinn problem... (so do I, but more of that later) - and she pauses in mid stroke, communes with her inner voices, and then apologises profusely to X & G. End of teaser.
So why did Dack & co. start the fight with X & G? "We thought they might be on their way to Zoros." Err.. seems like a pretty thin excuse. After all, they all speak English, don't they (ridiculously enough)? So why couldn't they have just asked?
Najara's costume looked impressive, but did anyone else think that it started to actually make Xena and Gab's attire look practical for fighting in? I mean, X & G may show rather a lot of skin for warriors, but at least they can move! Can you imagine trying to fight in an ankle length leather skirt? For that matter, can you imagine riding all day in it in a hot country? Pffeww! And earrings! I know first hand the dangers of dealing with an excited cat wearing dangling earrings like that... I *certainly* don't think they'd be a good idea in any kind of a fight!
And what is the mission that Najara invites X & G to join her on? "To fight evil wherever we find it." "Can you be a little more specific?" Fair question... but the original answer sounds pretty much like X & G's own standard operating procedure. Except now, aren't they on their way somewhere? Is anyone *ever* going to tell us about that??? At least now we know exactly where they are - in Phoenicia, which corresponds roughly to modern western Syria, Lebanon, maybe as far south as Israel. The Phoenicians were known as great sea-faring people in the ancient world - remember we encounter Hasdrudaal the Phoenician when Xena negotiated with him in Britannia for a passage back to Greece, in Gabrielle's Hope. If Xena and Gab are actually making for India, it's hard to see why they'd be in Phoenicia, unless they started out by taking a boat - going straight overland from Greece to India the direct route is through Turkey and Iran (I've actually done it, in my time...) - to get to Phoenicia, you'd have to swing needlessly far South.
Was Najara scary? I certainly thought so! But still, as Gab said, I didn't quite know what to make of her. Where do the Djinn come from? "The Light. They're sent to me so that I can fight the Darkness. It's quite a Responsibility!" (Did anyone else feel that Narara was definitely the type of person who spoke her words capitalised... if not in italics?) And that campfire singing? Scary man! It reminded me of the evangelicals I used to hang out with in my youth (I was their pet atheist... in some ways I haven't changed that much) - and I'd have been scared of *them* too, if they'd carried swords and known how to use them. "Oh there's so much Good to be done, and so little time to do it!"
But Najara is certainly *very* canny... she knows exactly how to play her hand. Whenever Xena or Gabrielle question or challenge her, she immediately comes up with the most disarming response... as in the "trust" dialogue after the campfire song, where she offers Xena her sword and command of her army, cautions Gabrielle not to trust her too readily, and concludes "Wonderful! I can't tell you how much I love the challenge of winning your confidence!" This lady may be one egg short of a soufflé, but she's sure smart as whip!
So G says to X: "You're a tough sell..." "I'm not going into any village with any army unless I'm sure I'm doing the right thing!" Yep, I'm definitely with Xena on that one. And then we have Gab's "I don't know what to make of her..." And oooh, that *look* from Xena!
"It's too quiet!" (Well at least nobody got an arrow in the chest...) Xena's reconnaissance technique doesn't seem very subtle - she just wanders into the middle of the village, hears a lot of noise from a barn, and goes and opens the door...
At Xena's signal, Najara calls her horse, and leads her troops into battle. I believe Najara's horse is called "Fedokar" - she calls it by name twice in the ep... unless this is meant to be some word with a mystery meaning. I think it's just the horse's name.
Xena and Najara kill a *lot* of people in this attack, compared to the traditional X:WP battle (let alone the HTLJ ones, where, at least until recently, hardly anyone ever got killed). I tried counting, and I made it Xena 9 and Najara 6. Dack killed a couple, too. Gab, of course, managed to effectively remain her usual non-lethal self...
And Najara moves one more pace onto Xena's territory with the arrow-grabbing. Comparisons with Callisto's chakram grab, anyone? See my summing up on this issue below... Great facial acting from LL and ROC again here!
More of Najara's patent line here... "Let us help you!" "Don't let hatred poison your hearts. Now go to your homes and live good lives!" Interesting that one... the first part is something Xena herself might well say - but Xena would *never* say the second part! And through all this Gab keeps, er, "looking" at Najara....
That darned crucifixion scene again! Well I suppose it *would* rather prey on X's mind... "It's a great curse to have seen one's own death." And Xena now confirms quite explicitly that Gab doesn't know - so this *hasn't* been dealt with in one of those famous "off-camera chats" that Steven Sears is always telling us about. "Do you think it can be avoided?" *Very* interesting that Xena regards Najara enough to ask her this - of course Najara's demonstrated powers of insight are undeniable... "I believe our Destiny is in our hearts." (Well Xena has previously said our fate is in our own two hands...) But it is going to take "drastic measures" to alter this future....
Najara looks a lot better without that hat. And isn't her hair basically the look Gab is sporting in the crucifixion scene? Ouch! I wonder what *that's* about?? It can't be a coincidence, surely? On a more mundane level, someone mentioned that Najara, sans chapeau, looked rather like Ellen Degeneres, and I'd have to agree...
Another fascinating little interchange. About the attack on Marot's slave centre, Najara says "Would you like to join me?" carefully looking at both G and X. G raises her eyebrow interrogatively at X. X carefully keeps her expression *absolutely* deadpan, giving *nothing* one way or the other. G says "Yes", and looks at X again. X gives a weak little smile and says "Sure.." Well *that* couldn't be spelled out much clearer could it? Surely we've all experienced these dynamics at some point in our lives (well, except those of us who are very young...) - it's the classic triangle, and Xena's playing the part of the completely uncertain, "I just want whatever will make her happy..." lover. (Believe me, I've played that one a couple of times myself...)
More of the same in the next scene. "Swans. Looks like they're headed for Koota Lake. Let's go see them up close!" And Gab mounts up on Fedokar (come on! how significant can you get?) Of course, Najara invites Xena too - "Will you join us?" "No thanks. I'm not one for bird watching." Been there. Done that. And let's face it, best intentions or not, it hurts, don't it?
And Xena is *so* weak and uncertain again. So unsure and full of doubt. And it's *so* hard to separate her suspicions of Najara from the jealousy she can't deny. So she just can't trust her judgement, and her legendary "focus" has deserted her. ....You'll have to excuse me - as some of you probably know by now, I suffer from a *very* severe case of identifying with the Warrior Princess!
But Xena follows, anyway. It can't hurt to keep an eye on Gab, now can it?
Gab opens up to Najara, and explains her problems to her. Najara agrees with Gab's enthusiasm about the hospice idea, and suggests she go ahead: "I don't mind if you start without me." "You see if I do that, then Xena and I have to go our separate ways... She's not the hospice type!" "Well perhaps you need to commit totally to your life with Xena" OOOOH! Anyone else writhing, and thinking about metaphors involving snakes and grass by this point? And Najara has killed before? (Err... c'mon Gab, you just saw her in action yesterday!) "Yes. As little as possible. But sometimes it's inevitable..." (This, BTW, is a blatant lie on Najara's part, isn't it?) "You need to make a full commitment to the Light." And the swans finally come... how symbolic! (Although *we* never get to see them, I notice!)
Have we *ever* seen Xena this uncertain? She is *so* torn! She just doesn't know what to make of this. But despite her own misgivings and her own unhappiness, she overrules her suspicions of Najara, and makes the decision to try to leave Gab with her. I can't say I was surprised by this. I've been predicting for some time that Xena would try and leave Gab... she wanted to get Gab back and to make sure Gab was safe. But increasingly she is unhappy with the danger and pain that come to Gab from life with her, and the crucifixion vision is the deciding factor... can she really, for Gab's sake, stay with Gab anymore? So she makes her plan to head out and take on Marot alone.
A digression for a moment here. I've seen that some people spell this name Marat. The closing credits are not really clear enough to distinguish between an "a" and an "o" readily. But *surely* they wouldn't call a minor character Marat? After all Marat is an extremely famous figure from the French Revolution (the "Marat Sade", David's "The Death Of Marat" etc...) It would be like calling a minor warlord Robespierre and then having all the cast pronounce it "Rabbeespore"...
"They need you there to make sure those children are safe..." "Ah, now I understand. You don't plan to return after your mission against Marot. You want a place to leave Gabrielle." "I see such joy in her eyes when she talks to you about your mission. She's been looking for meaning - I think you can give it to her. It hasn't always been good for her, being with me. I seem to hurt her." "I know she forgives you. I promise I'll do everything I can to justify your trust." "You better! Thankyou." Ah, it makes you weep, doesn't it. Xena is so uncertain here. She's wrong, and part of her *knows* she's wrong, but she just can't trust it. She's choosing to go against her own feelings and her own instincts, because she's *decided* it should be better for Gabrielle. A dangerous situation...
"Goodbye, Gabrielle." ...And by this point, was there a dry eye in the house?
"I want to forgive you and love you as brothers! Just let the Light in and the Darkness will be gone!" This is one *scary* dude! And honestly, Gab is *such* a sap! "I want to be initiated into the way of the Light..." You'd have thought she'd have learned *something* from last time - I mean look what following an unctuous type into some ill-defined new religion got her into then!
Marot's announcement about Najara's habits seemed a bit contrived, but hey... they've got to move the plot along *somehow*, so I'll excuse them throwing in the odd expository captive now and then.
Another classic Gab bit, when Xena braces Najara about killing her prisoners: "Definitely not!" "You see Xena..." "I liberate their souls." I'm sorry (and I *do* love her), but that is *so* Gab!
Well now... I'm sure *vast* amounts of verbiage are going to get expended about this fight. And I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to resist contributing my share. Xena certainly didn't seem to be fighting very smart... even I know that you don't try and fight your way up a staircase to an opponent. And when Xena did the stilt thing, did anybody else think "Jackie Chan"? But then turning her back at the end was plain dumb again... we don't expect this sort of thing from our WP! "In the name of the Light, I smite the Darkness!" "What??!!" - from Gab, that is... well did she still expect Najara to play nice? At least she came through - and she understood enough where Najara was coming from to know how to save Xena (which proves that she isn't as naive about what's going on as she sometimes pretends to be, still). First the "you'll have to kill both of us" thing. Then "Najara, you and I will walk out of here together." "You're just saying that to protect her." "Xena's dark side frightens me. I need to move on. But I could never live with someone who killed her. There would be no going back from that." Yes, it seems like Gab understands Najara pretty well. And walk out, they do...
I have to admit, I was *most* unhappy about Xena's defeat. And her tooth. But I'll return to this in my concluding mumblings, below... "I hate that! I got my butt whipped, didn't I?" (I loved the nodding children...) "Well it serves me right for trusting someone who talks about being *good* all the time!" Oh yes! This is my Xena! She's waking up, she's getting her focus back. "She's a tough girl. But she's got a weakness. It's the same one I've got..." Smiles, I can only say "evilly", at self in mirror... Some *very* tricky stuff here. Xena's desire to do good, to act for the best, nearly got Gabrielle and her into a whole mess of problems here, indeed nearly got her killed, and possibly Gabrielle too. Whereas the return of the evil Xena here (and who can deny that that's what we're seeing peeking through) signifies a return toward balance, a better chance of resolving the situation. So this might almost be seen as a restatement in much more dramatic form of the principle introduced in Dreamworker - that the evil Xena is the "key"... not that Xena should go back to *being* evil, but that Xena *needs* to acknowledge, accept and work with the "evil Xena" in order to *be* "Xena". Xena's famous "focus" is a very strange thing - and it just can't function if she tries to second-guess herself, to be a self-conscious "do-gooder". And although they grow somewhat more like each other over time, Xena and Gabrielle's relationship is based precisely upon the *difference* in their personalities... and I don't believe that can, or should, ever ultimately be bridged.
Ah well, back to the plot! So Gab, of course, interrogates Najara about her "problems". Hand them over to the "local authorities". "What if the local government supports slavery?" "Don't you think those people deserve a fair trial?" (A *stunningly* anachronistic concept.) "But some fools may find them innocent." (Najara is starting to sound like Charles Bronson here...) "I'm sure I've made mistakes before. But all I've done is send them to the Light. The Eternal Powers will correct any mistakes I've made." (Actually this "kill 'em all and let god sort 'em out" attitude has frequently been expressed historically, especially by warriors fighting in the name of one or other of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions...)
And Xena sneaks right in. "I lost one of those good chewing teeth, but other than that, I'm fine." BTW, does Xena *know* how come she's still alive? Is anyone going to tell her?
Gab is quite ready just to leave. But "No. She's too dangerous a girl to leave on the loose. She likes killing too much!" (Pot, kettle, black, anyone?) "But she beat you up so badly..." "Well that's another reason!" Xena is definitely looking a bit wigged-out here. Indeed I think it would be fair to say that she's let the "evil Xena" closer to the surface here more than she has at any other point since her encounter with Hercules, other than... you know what...
Now I *know* they wanted to make sure we saw the "tracks" that Xena left from where she knocked out Dack & Co... but didn't anyone else laugh out loud at those great holes, right through the underbrush to the mud?
And the climactic fight is.... basically a replay of the Xena vs. Callisto "ladder fight" with Xena playing the Callisto role. Except, of course, that Gab was standing on a bridge. But I guess Najara wasn't supposed to be able to see that (mind you, I only figured that out when I rewatched the ep - the first time, I was just confused). "You see, it's a little more difficult with a millstone like her around your neck, isn't it? You probably wouldn't care if one of your soldiers died - they'd just go up to that big old light in the sky. But you might *miss* Gabrielle, huh?" Wooah! And what is Gabrielle supposed to feel about this? She doesn't seem to mind playing along though - "Najara, hurry!" "If you don't mind my saying, your focus is a little off..." This is a really weird scene, all round. Xena's deliberately playing the "evil mad warlord", but she's not entirely playing, now, is she? And Gab is luring the woman she was, well let's face it, recently thinking of leaving Xena for, to her defeat. And Xena would have killed Najara, wouldn't she? Or do you think, if Gab hadn't been there, that Xena's own "inner light" would have stopped her before Najara actually dropped? Anyhow, we'll never know for sure, because Gab herself was there - "Xena, don't kill her!" "Looks like she's saved both our lives today..." And how come there were cuffs and chains conveniently in easy reach at the edge of the precipice?
"Er, Xena... Can you get me off this thing?"
And so, Najara is handed over to the "local authorities" for trial. And honestly, I've got agree with crazy N herself in doubting how effective a solution to anything *that* is.
"Did you tell her about the vision?" "No. That would hurt her. And I don't ever want to do that. That's your job." Ooooh!
"I forgive you, Gabrielle."
***
So, what do you say? Najara sure looks like a "Callisto Replacement" to me! And although she does some of Callisto's tricks (cf. arrow catching / chakram catching), she different enough that no one could accuse her of just being a rehash. Najara looks to be carefully calculated to be just the ticket... she's essentially equally matched in power to Xena, and her motivations are strange enough, her "extremism in the name of The Light" an ambivalent enough idea, with enough depth to it that an awful lot can be done with the character, and with her and Xena's opposition. Then throw into that the element of jealousy over Gabrielle, and Gabrielle's attraction to Najara. Oh yes, I think we've got our "new female adversary". And the clincher for me is that Crusader was written by R. J. Stewart, who, those of us who pay attention to such things will remember, was pretty much single-handedly responsible for writing the character of Callisto - he wrote Callisto and Return Of Callisto... essentially I don't think the writers of the later eps in which Callisto featured handled her as well as her creator R.J. did. And of course, the way Najara was left at the end of the ep was a classic way to leave a returning adversary... "neutralized" you say? It is to laugh!
So anyone want to bet that we won't be seeing Najara again?
***
Much of what I felt about this ep I've gone into whilst discussing the details, above. But there are a couple of points I think need further comment.
Firstly, what about these Djinn? I have a bit of a problem here, myself. As a psychological portrait, I have no trouble at all accepting Najara - heck I've know people pretty close to that (though not as good at sword fighting in long leather outfits...) But the Djinn are clearly not simply a figment of Najara's imagination, since they supplied her with all sorts of information that she would have no normal way of knowing. "Djinn" by the way, is just an Arabic word for a spirit, with no real moral connotation one way or the other - although if anything Djinn in Arabic stories are often mischievous and not to be trusted, more like Robin Goodfellow than angels. The word Genie (as in bottles, and I dream of...) is just a corruption of Djinn.
So how are we supposed to interpret this. Are the Djinn *really* good spirits informing Najara's life. In which case, why don't they do something to guide her away from her excesses? Or are the Djinn malign spirits, deliberately misleading Najara? But in that case, you'd think they could easily have made her worse... Or does Najara just have some sort of psychic ability, which she projects onto the Djinn, in the manner of a split personality?
I can't say that I really find any of these answers very satisfactory, so this element of the characterisation of Najara bothers me rather. And this is not a superficial nit-pick... it cuts very much to the heart of her - how much good is there in her, how much gift does she have? And on the other hand, how dangerously deluded is she? I would have been a lot happier grappling with these questions without having to worry about the nature of the "Djinn". For now, I think the best I can do is to suppose that the Djinn are just some sort of muttering spirits that have chosen to speak to Najara, neither especially good nor especially bad, just telling her about things she wouldn't otherwise know... and that the rest of her make-up is just the product of her own psychology, and how she has dealt with the presence of the Djinn.
The second point still bothering me is how I feel about Xena being defeated by Najara. I imagine those who have been saying that they wished Xena were portrayed as more mortal and fallible must be pleased by this. It certainly seems to make the oft floated idea of Xena possibly being a demi-god considerably less tenable. Xena has taken her knocks over the years, certainly. But we've never really seen her beaten in a fight like this. Not the present, "reformed" Xena, anyhow. Cyane certainly took Xena back in the sweat-hut - but that was relatively early in her development. And Hercules beat her - but he's definitely a half-god, with superhuman strength, and even he only beat her because that boy jumped her from behind in the middle of their fight. I'm certainly not saying that I can't believe Xena could ever loose a fight... one way or another, of course she's going to loose fights in her life. But this seemed a bit... strange - she seemed to loose too easily. Of course, as I said above, the critical factor was probably that she had been heavily conflicted, had lost her legendary focus, and presumably she hadn't properly regained it for this fight. It still niggles me a bit though. And I'm sorry about her tooth... if anything's a symbol of mortality, it's teeth - the various cuts and bruises she's suffered all healed up, but you loose a tooth, and it's gone for good. It doesn't mend. And the ultimate inability to mend is what mortality is all about.
***
A couple of points about the folks involved in this ep:
Marot, the boss slave-trader may well have looked familiar to you - he was played by David Te Rare, who is well known in the Xenaverse for his appearances as Theodorus (Callisto's, not Xena's) in Callisto, RoC & IS.
Roy Snow, who played Dack, Najara's lieutenant, has appeared before as the Athenian Captain in TDHD (getting spectacularly killed in the opening scene).
Najara herself, Kathryn Morris, has never appeared on X:WP before. You might have caught sight of her as a psychiatric patient in As Good As It Gets, or an anxious mother in Prophecy II (saw the first Prophecy - Christopher Walken as a fallen angel... is that typecasting, or what?) She also played a featured role in the series Pensacola: Wings of Gold, and appeared in eps of Silk Stalkings and Poltergeist: The Legacy.
The ep was directed by Paul Lynch, whose only other outing directing X:WP was OAAA.
The writer was R.J. Stewart, who I believe now holds the record as the most credited writer for X:WP... he wrote The Titans, Prometheus, ACAOTPB, AFOD, MB, Callisto, RoC, Warrior...Princess...Tramp, ADITL, Ulysses, The Furies, Gabrielle's Hope and Forgiven, plus being credited as Teleplay Writer for SOTP, Destiny, The Debt 1 & 2, and AITST 1 & 2, and as Story Writer for The Quest, both Debts and both parts of AITST.
***
The disclaimer was:
Xena's best chewing tooth was not harmed during the production of this motion picture.
***
And what about the Herc, Darkness Rising? Well it was better than I expected, largely because it had Morrigan in it, and the Dahak nonsense didn't surface until about a third of the way into the ep. I'm sorry, but it did nothing to make me feel any more kindly towards the Dahak factor. It was nice to see Michael Hurst again, but basically I thought his role was silly. I just find Dahak tedious and ridiculous. One minute he's all powerful, he can just zap in and kill whoever he wants to and nothing and nobody can do anything to resist him. The next minute, he can't even seem to open a jar of pickles without help! What are we supposed to make of a "character" (using the term *very* loosely) like this?? It still boggles my mind that the people who gave us so many great things in the Xenaverse should take up and pursue such a daft and misguided idea as this...
And I wasn't *at* *all* happy with what they did to Nebula! To hell with that! Even apart from the Dahak factor, that whole plot about her "seeing Iolaus" and going "mad" was pretty stupid. Given all that's gone on in their country recently, why would the courtiers assume their Queen was mad because she saw and was attacked by spirits? Duh? I mean what just happened to their previous king? It's not as if they're living in Kansas!
And now Dahak's bound back for Greece, with Herc, Morrigan and Nebula in pursuit. Well at least Xena and Gab aren't in Greece (hopefully! unless TPTB are messing their timelines up again...)
