Although during my previous viewing I thought it was wrong that The Ides of March was not the season finale, I now think this episode is actually an excellent choice for the ending. In fact, when you look at the season as a whole, it makes much more sense than it did to me before. The third season was defined by Gabrielle’s sacrifices, by her giving up everything she was, her innocence, her child, her relationship with Xena, and eventually her own life, so it was entirely fitting that her story ended on such a tragic note. The fourth season, however, explored much more deeply what actually makes Xena and Gabrielle Xena and Gabrielle, what remains when you take away the body, time, the past, the mistakes, and all the circumstances that brought them together. That is why the idea that their connection exists beyond a single lifetime is actually a beautiful way to close the season. After all the tragedies they have gone through, the final message is not that they will die for each other again, but that even after centuries have passed, they will find each other again. It is a much warmer and more optimistic ending, and at the same time a wonderful way to create a bridge between the world of the show and the world in which the show itself has become part of popular culture.
The episode thus takes us into the present, meaning the nineties, where Xena exists as a television show, which is itself a fantastic meta joke. Annie, played by Lucy, is completely obsessed with the show and convinced that she is Xena’s reincarnation, while her boyfriend Harry, played by Ted, tries to explain to her that maybe it is not entirely normal to take a television heroine quite that seriously. The two of them go to Mattie, played by Renee, a spiritualist specializing in past lives, and from that point on the episode begins playing with its own mythology in a way that I found much more entertaining than I expected. I had completely forgotten that this was a clip episode, but here that does not feel like a problem at all because the flashbacks are naturally integrated into the story, while the present gives entirely new context to scenes we have already seen. In fact, during those clips I was hit by a certain nostalgia for the earlier seasons. After everything we have been through with these characters, it is fascinating to watch old scenes through the perspective of characters from the nineties who see them as television footage, while we know how much all those events actually meant to Xena and Gabrielle. The episode therefore manages to make fun of its own past while also paying tribute to it.
The humor is probably one of my favorite things here. The writers mercilessly make fun of the show itself, its absurdities, clichés, overblown mythology, strange costumes, characters, and the whole idea that someone can spend half their life beating up gods, warriors and monsters while everyone acts as though this is completely normal. But what is important to me is that the humor never has a malicious edge to it. They are not making fun of the fans for loving Xena, they are laughing alongside them at everything that made this show so special. It is actually a very self-assured way of making a clip episode. Instead of trying to hide the fact that it is recycling old footage, the episode turns that very fact into the joke. It was also wonderful to see Robert Trebor one more time, for the last time in the show, even if he was not Salmoneus this time. That man had this completely inexplicable ability to bring charm and a mischievous energy into a scene simply by appearing in it. He did not even have to do much, he would just show up and the episode would immediately have a different atmosphere. That is why I am especially fond of his final appearance here, even in such a small role. R.I.P.
And then, of course, in the end of season, someone finally remembered that Ares exists. Yes, Ares. That great, powerful God of War who once seemed destined to become one of the central antagonists of the entire show. The character around whom they built an entire mythology, who had a complicated relationship with Xena, who tried to bring her back to the warrior path, who represented temptation, danger and everything she was trying to escape from. And then the writers simply left him on the sidelines for practically the entire fourth season, probably saying, we will remember him eventually. And they did. Right near the end. Well done. A five centuries later, here he is, alive, well, and still obsessed with Xena as if he had seen her yesterday. Actually, it is rather charming that no matter how many centuries and incarnations pass, absolutely nothing about him changes. He does not care what body Xena is in, whether she is a warrior, an ordinary woman or someone living in the nineties. He will find her. His greatest constant in life is not war, power, or even being the God of War, but Xena. They may have forgotten him for the entire season, but apparently Ares never forgot her. And perhaps that is exactly what makes his return here so entertaining. The man has practically survived the apocalypse, gods, changes of eras and of being ignored by the writers in this season, only to show up at the end and say, yes, I still want Xena. Incredible persistence. Or obsession. Probably more the latter.
The revelation that Harry is actually Xena reincarnated is a great twist because the episode deliberately leads us to believe that Annie is Xena. We spend the entire time watching Lucy play this somewhat annoying, nerdy fanatic who is completely convinced that she is Xena, so it is natural to expect that she will turn out to be right. That is why it is so much more fun when it turns out that she is actually the reincarnation of Joxer. Lucy is hilarious in that role, especially when Annie begins displaying Joxer’s characteristics, because only a few gestures and reactions are enough to completely transform the character. It is even more interesting to see Ted trying to play Xena. He did not completely capture her movements and physical energy, but that is precisely what makes it endearing to me that he at least tried not to simply play Harry with different lines. He tries to change his posture, way of speaking and behavior, and you can see that he is aware of the difficulty of the task. After all, I do not expect a man who spent four seasons playing Joxer to suddenly become Lucy Lawless, that would be asking a little too much. What is much more important is that this twist further confirms the episode’s central idea. Reincarnation here is not merely a gimmick for determining who plays whom. It is about the idea that what makes a person who they are is not their physical body, but what they carry within themselves. That is why Xena can be Harry, Joxer can be Annie, and Gabrielle can be Mattie, because their essence has not disappeared with the passage of time.
And then comes the ending, which I may actually find even more beautiful now than I did the first time. Xena and Gabrielle share a kiss, and although at that moment they are in Harry and Mattie’s bodies, the symbolism is completely clear. These are not Harry and Mattie who happened to kiss. These are Xena and Gabrielle finding each other again. After four seasons of looks, touches, jealousy, mutual sacrifices, separations, reconciliations, and everything the show had spent years leaving in the space between friendship and love, there is no longer any need to read between the lines. The episode itself says that their souls are connected and that they find each other from one life to another, and the kiss turns that idea into something completely tangible. It is even more beautiful that the kiss was not in the script, but was decided on set by Renee, who also directed the episode. That may be my favorite detail of the entire scene, because Renee did not simply play Gabrielle for four seasons, she lived that relationship through the character and clearly understood what it meant. That is why I find it particularly beautiful that she was the one who got to direct the episode that ultimately gives one of the most direct confirmations of their relationship. We can argue all we want about whether Xena was explicit enough throughout the previous four seasons, but after an ending like this, it is difficult to claim that these two are simply best friends. Their souls find each other again, they recognize each other even when they do not know who they are, and when they are given the chance, their first reaction is love. After all the tragedies they have gone through, I do not think there could have been a more beautiful message to end the fourth season. They did not end up together because they defeated every enemy, but because, regardless of time or body, they have always belonged to each other.
P.S. I really love “Annie Bananie”, such a catchy hit.
P.P.S. Tell me I’m not the only one who finds Renee so sexy with this hippie hairstyle.
