Xena: Season 2, Episode 12: "Destiny"

OK, so, as you can see, a few days have passed since I last.. you know, posted. There have been some rather huge developments. I've:

1) Filed my taxes and am proud to say that I owe nothing and am receiving a $42 refund, making me the richest woman in all of Brooklyn.

2) Renewed my lease for another year. I seriously checked the box that said, "I am moving out May 31st," and mailed that shit in. Then my landlord called me and said, "are you sure?" I don't know what happened, but right then something clicked and I said, "no, I'm not. Please sign me up for another year." And the rest is history.

3) I quit my job on Monday, because I found a better job that started Tuesday, but my old boss doesn't know that. My old boss would monitor every single thing we did, including watching us through surveillance cameras and viewing the websites we visited. Of course, I checked Hey, Girl once or twice to scan for mistakes. My boss said a few things once that made me realize that he visited and read this blog, probably out of fear that I was blogging instead of working. (For the record, that never occurred.)

The week before I quit, I called in sick one day, went on an interview for this... awesome new job that gives me full benefits, much higher pay, and less work. They hired me the next day. Out of a very real fear that my old boss wouldn't pay me because I couldn't give him two weeks notice, I quit my job Monday night after I got paid and cashed my check. I feel terrible for quitting the way I did (I've never done that before in my life), but in my defense, my boss was asking for it.

Now. Where's the beef?

So, as you may know, "Destiny" is one half of a two-parter. (Part 2 is "The Quest.") If you've been keeping up with my stuff, then you'll remember my policy on two-parters: I watch them consecutively, no matter what. No matter if it's 4:00 AM on a work day, I'm late for a baptism, I'm being kicked out of my house, or my electricity just got shut off and I have to go to someone's house to complete the job. If it's "to be continued" then I'm continuing as directed.

I was wondering when the one where Xena gets smashed by a tree would be coming, and here it is, in “Destiny.” Man, this episode is loaded. It’s so good. I love episodes where we learn about Xena’s past and this episode is chock full of it. We find out what her beef is with Caesar, that she’s toootally been crucified (and had her legs broken? Geez.) and most importantly, where she learned the pinch. This shit is gooood, girl.

With this ep, we have a little bit more info on Xena's age. The story goes: TEN years ago, this thing with Caesar happened. We see at that time, that Xena already made a name for herself, having just defended Amphipolis and built a powerful army. She couldn’t have been any younger than about 17 or 18 at that time, right? (Maybe she was older, even.) I think that makes her 27 or 28 in the current parts of the episode. And how old is Gabrielle? Callisto, herself, looks like just a kid of about 9 in the battle at Cirra. My guess is Gabrielle must’ve been about 7 years old when Caesar, M'Lila and Xena's crucifixion happened. Age gaps. AWEsome.

There's some serious subtext going on in this episode; not so much in the way of sex, but in the way of feelings, I guess. For instance, let's consider Gabrielle's thoughts to Xena at the end of the episode, beautiful as they are. I try to imagine my best friend and I in this same situation. I don't know if these are the thoughts I would be having, if I knew that she was dead and could hear me. I don't know if the thought, "I need you," would go through my head. Perhaps, "No! No! Don't die, girl!" but not, "Remember your destiny. I know I'm a part of it. Don't die, because I need you, and I can't go on without you." Don't get me wrong, I love my best friend dearly, but.. you know?... I would say, "I need you" to the love of my life, for sure. Probably. More than likely.

SPOILERS: My reviews are full of them! I'll try to note when I'm about to spoil the series by posting [SERIES SPOILER] before said item [END SPOILER] after. Please don't read the review, unless you've seen the episode under discussion or don't care if I spoil it. 

CLICK HERE for full page view.

  CLICK HERE FOR bigger VIEW! 

EXTRAS:

1) G: “So this is Cirra. It’s beautiful.” (Love how she says this while standing next to a human skull.) X: “To me, it’s the ugliest place on Earth.” - Pretty deep, Z.

2) C: “Divide and conquer, my friend. You divide a woman’s emotion from her sensibilities and you have her.” – Did Julius Caesar actually say this? God. I wish I had the drive to fact-check it.

3) C: “Of course. Each event in our life is part of a great plan. There are no accidents. Only destiny.” X: “And who shapes this destiny? The gods?” C: “Perhaps. Or it’s the blood in our veins, our souls, our desires, our will. They’re all in it together, weaving a tapestry we call ‘destiny.’” - Despite the fact that Caesar is an utter bastard in Xena, what he says here is amazing.

4) X: "Ask her why she saved me?” (He asks M'Lila; M'Lila answers him.) N: “She says it’s not your time to die.” X: “Well, if not now, then when?” – Veeery nice pacing from this question 10 years ago to Xena’s current situation at the hands of an older Niklio. Right after she asks, "when," the director takes us to that when. It was very good, this.

5) M: “You have a destiny, Xena. But you have to choose it.” X: “I did choose it. I chose evil.” M: “Now that you know evil, were evil, you can fight evil." - It takes one to know one. I agree with this. This show...

6) After M’Lila dies and Xena’s music starts, I got the chills.

7) That guy getting his face burned off was fucked up.

Don't forget to like the Xena Movie Campaign on Facebook!

Click HERE for an updated calendar/watching schedule.

 Xena Movie Review Templates: COLOR or Black & White

 Thanks for reading!