This episode puzzles me. Every time I watch it, I ask the same questions. I just don't get it.
The episode starts out with a quote from the Xena "Blue" scroll, author unknown. Uh…wouldn't the author more than likely be Gabs? Gabs seems to be wearing one of my living room curtains now. I kinds like the way Xena is kinda shy about showing off her new clothes. Gabs teases by saying, "You know what they say, when in Rome…" Xena just gives a disgusted, "Oh, please…" That outfit really isn't Xena at first. But Gabrielle says it's "casual"… And sexy. Xena still doesn't look comfy though. Until she does her flip. I actually kinda liked the thing on her head. Of course, anything is better than the no bangs look with me! Gabs sums it up nicely, "It says a lot." The necklace Xena has on is rather garish, though. Xena and Gabs have to buy stuff by holding up the proper number of fingers. Xena is murder with a wet towel! She even works a little magic with it, and it becomes stiff as a stick. Naima is way mysterious. Whose birth was Xena remembering when she did her little time travel thing? Was it her own, or was it Solan's? That evil chick with the sword in the future word REALLY resembles Alti. Why did they leave the spear there after all those years? Decoration? Or did Xena embed it so deeply that no one can get it out? What's the point in making Xena an old woman? Is that supposed to be ironic? And here's where I start getting confused. Does Xena always look like an old woman to the others? If so, why didn't they keep her looking that way the whole episode? It was too weird seeing Lucy as the young Xena when she was supposed to be the older Armenestra. Is that Borias's music that is playing? It sounds like his music from The Debt. Xena in a future life, will be Armenestra, the Mother of Peace. When she is pulled up on the horse, it's obviously a stunt double. Gabrielle asks Naima where Xena is. At first, I thought Naima's response was the L for "loser" sign! Gabrielle freaks out a little when Naima starts demonstrating the Wonder Twin power. She looks like she wants to run off and hide. So now Alti wants to be the Destroyer of Nations. Figures. Gabs gets over her fears quickly, and now, she's trying to catch Naima's magic lines. Xena gives the understatement of the year, "Well, I'm not much of one for waiting around." And then, when she's working on Shakti, "Well, we're not of the woods yet. Grit your teeth. Ooh, there's not many people who can take a crossbow bolt through the shoulder and still keep their arm." Of course, Gabs is the good looking young Shakti. The symbol for woman is on Naima's wall. Coincidence? Pretty cool special FX sends both Xena and Gabs to the future. Gabs/Shakti covering her chest is one of the most genuinely moments of the whole series, in my opinion. So does Xena see Gabs as Gabbers now? Or does she see her as Shakti? WE see her as Gabrielle. Love Gabs': The mother of peace?
Anyway, they see a funeral taking place. They are wearing India garb and are
barefoot thru the whole episode. Xena is a bit squeamish about her new duds,
but Gabby is fine with hers.
The funeral guys toss the dead man into the flames. It looks as if the body
is made of Styrofoam and is wrapped in shrink-wrap. It actually bounces as
if weightless. Next, we see that a woman is about to be tossed after him, except she is
still alive. Nyima is the woman and appears to accept her fate. She is lifted up, as
stiff as a board when Xena tells them to stop. She asks what crime was
committed. The leader says it is their custom and law that she has to join
her dead husband in death. Xena punches him and says the law is about to be
broken.
Note: Again, Xena meddles in another culture and country's laws, thinking
she can call all the shots and knows it all.
Xena fights empty-handed and she tells Gabby to take the woman away. Gabby
hits a couple guys with her staff and Xena punches and kicks. Xena uses a
wet towel and knocks guys around, then stretches it and it becomes a staff,
which she uses as if it were made of wood. Unbelievable! What a stupid stunt
by the show. There is no explanation of how this can be done.
Xena throws a spear into a pillar, and the spear is a bit loose hanging
there. More about this later.
Why do all the priests and guards stand around, then give chase after a
while? Why not attack in force? Gabby's hair looks great, and for the last time.
Inside the hut, there is no other way out. Nyima weaves a bunch of light
beams as Xena says 'I don't know what you think you're doing.' Gabby guards
the door as Nyima, with tattoos, sends the lights to Xena. Xena then is sent to the future where a hurried Nyima tells her that Xena's soul is in trouble from the future and she must fix it now. Xena arrives as an old Indian woman in a new incarnation. She looks about 70 years old, and if you add the few years Xena has left per the show, plus the 25 years she and Gabby were asleep in their frozen state, the woman is about 100 years
into the future. Why isn't Xena a Greek anymore? This journey is to save Xena's karmic soul.
Xena is there in the square as a war-lady herds captives into a bunch. Xena
sees that it is the same village she was just in, and even the spear, after
a hundred years, it STILL sticking out of the pillar, in the way of traffic.
Incredible. The war-lady is Alti, looking as different as Xena does, but
with a flash of light, they recognize each other. This flash does not work,
since we see them as they always were anyway.
Xena is Arminestra, a woman of peace, and Alti wants her power. There is a
sudden attack with the (yawn) fireballs...why these fireballs all the time?
They just happen to miss the good people. Who else but the Greeks had Greek
fire?
Xena is rescued by a young man who gets wounded in the shoulder by an arrow.
Xena grabs a sword and wants to fight. Alti cuts a guy's throat with the
BLUNT edge of her curved sword. Seeing Xena, Alti says, "she's mine!"
Gabby, in the past, looks for Xena. Nyima must be a magician, and she makes
the lightshow again, impressing Gabby.
Alti is near burned bodies on poles. She tortures a man by making him relive
past pain to make him tell her where Xena is. Alti wants to be the Destroyer
of Nations...in SIN TRADE, she wanted Xena to be it.
Nyima: Each line (of light) has a place and meaning. The gist: Evil is in
the future, and Xena's karmic cycle will end plus all the good she could
have done. She must defend herself in the future. Ny can see Xena and Gabby
in future lives. Note: This one line destroys the Elysian Fields, Tartarus, heaven and hell
in future eps. We now know that only Xena and Gabby, and not the rest of the
characters on the show will come back. Hades rules for others.
The Secret Weapon is the Mehndi. Ny tells Gabby what she must do to help
Xena.
'Shottsi" is the guy who saved Xena. Xena removes the crossbow bolt from his
shoulder and says not many people can take a wound in the shoulder and keep
their arm. Oh no? What about Gabby in ARMY and Ulysses?
Ny: The key to the Mehndi is to trap evil and bring it back to the present
where it can be defeated. To create it, Gabby is given a box with a stamp
for ink and a container of ink or paint to make certain designs. Ny hides it
in the secret wall drawer where there is the symbol for "woman", a circle
with a cross underneath. Gabby knows to get it when she gets to the future.
Ny sends the light thru Gabby and Gabby goes to the future.
Shottsi looks around and covers his naked chest. It is really Gabby in the
future as a MAN! Note: Her spirit is that of a woman since she covers her chest. In DEJA VU, Xena is in a man's body and lives as a man, never knowing it until Maddie
regresses her memory.
Alti lives off fear. Gabby asks Xena, whom she doesn't recognize, about a
tall dark-haired woman. Now another flash of light and they know who the
other is. Gabby sees 'herself' in a reflection as Xena did and accepts her
new look. Why is there karma for the Greeks? Don't they have the Fates?
Alti's evil moves onto future lives. Now Xena is a peace-lady and Gabby is a
warrior. Xena about Alti:"If we capture her, her men will take revenge." Huh? Since
when did this bother Xena in so many past shows?
Alti steals every scene. She needs a young girl as a sacrifice. Xena and
Gabby sneak up to save the girl. Gabby:If we fail, it all ends here...forever. How does she know this?
Xena tells a guy to fetch the box, which after 100 years is not only in the
same hut, but behind the wall drawer, and in good shape. The paint/ink is
still perfect. Unbelievable.
Alti knows it is Xena but does not know how Xena got there or who sent her.
The karmic circle contains Alti's power, and she says she has generations of
power to take. Fear is the key.
Xena: The gods exploit us.
Another attack with the fireballs again...sigh. Why fire? Alti fights well,
and she is about to kill Xena when a guy gets hit instead. He gives Xena the
Mehndi Magical Makeup Kit and dies. Gabby kills a lot with her sword. Nobody is guarding the prisoners, and Xena lets them out. Xena is weak in this ep since she is old.
Alti captures Xena and Gabby. Gabby sleeps as Xena dresses her head wound.
Alti says she is in awe of Xena, and will kill the girls slowly on stakes
because she wants to feel their pain. Xena has the box...how come nobody searched her and took it?
Now the girls, unwatched by anyone, do a mutual painting scene, with neat
music. Alti looks on outside at the carnage as the girls finish the
intricate designs.
Past: Nyima is about to be burned by the crowd. This scene takes place as
the girls try to get Alti back into the past.
Where did Gabby get the halter top in prison, and why does she need it,
since she is a man?
Alti arrives to kill them and the girls make weird poses and weave lights
which send them and Alti back to the past in the village.
Ny is in the flames, but she, Xena, and Gabby all get out without getting
burned...not even their clothes are smoking.
Alti arrives a bit later spinning like a top....why? She is outside the
flames, too. Alti says she has another chance because she has all of her old powers now.
She uses Xena's past pain from other eps to hurt her now, as she did in SIN
TRADE. Her legs seem broken and her head is hurt from DESTINY. Xena is hurt
bad and then Gabby tries to help. Alti breaks the staff and pounds Gabby
with it. She then grabs Gabby's hair and makes her feel the pain from the
future crucifixion, plus all the other pain she ever had. Gabby screams, and
Xena throws the Chakram at Gabby's hair, cutting it and releasing Alti's
grip.
Note: Since we saw Xena able to make a lot of bank-shots with the Chakram in
BEEN THERE, why not just kill Alti with it? Why just cut Gabby's hair?
Xena:"You BITCH!"
Enter Nyima: Alti calls her the Darsham. I looked this up...it is nowhere. I
did see Dharma...right behavior and conformity to law...virute and truth.
Maybe TPTB meant this.
Ny weaves more light and and sends them to Alti, who acts as if she is
trying to hold back a stream of water. Gabby's and Xena's symbols glow, and
all three gang up on Alti. Finally! Why not work together from the start?
The Mehndi is Alti's enemy, not Ny. Xena makes a spiritual Chakram...Alti bats it away, as well as the second one. Xena makes two, and with all the other power directed at her, it is too much, and she explodes. Her skull comes at the camera.
Ny: You destroyed Alti in the one time she was most powerful. Xena will be
there to meet her in the future, and since Gabby's line is parallel with
Xena's, she will always be there with Xena in future lives. They are
separate lines, but forever connected.
"Mehndi contains truth" says Nyima as she turns into a ball of light and
goes. The crowd takes this all in as if it happens every day. As she leaves,
we see Gabby and Xena cured from their wounds, except Gabby's hair is still
cut. Is Ny a Devi, a healing spirit? Gabby has her tattoos, but Xena's are
gone.
At the end, the girls marvel that they will always be reborn. Note: They will die and go to heaven and hell in a few eps.
Gabby cut her hair even shorter...it looked awful, and I miss that the most
about her.
Gabby asks how she can recognize Xena in the future since they will look
different. Xena has a circle on her foot, and makes an 'x' under it, forming
the symbol for 'woman'. Gabby says she likes it, as if it is the first time
she ever saw it.
Xena:"No matter the way we look, we'll always remember the women we were."
NOTE: The woman symbol was on the wall of the hut, and it is on the hilts of
the Amazon swords as far back as HOOVES AND HARLOTS. This is true all six
years of the show.
Why does Nyima not fight being killed both times, and only helps at the end
after Xena and Gabby are crushed and tortured by Alti? Why didn't she just disappear in the beginning and avoid all the trouble for the girls?
The hut, spear, and paint should not have been there after a hundred years.
Too incredible, considering the wars and burning during that time. I wish
they could make house paint that lasted that long.
The girls are in India still, in another village. The intro had the
words,” from the Xena Blue Scroll: What we sow we reap in future
lives....author unknown." This was a cheat. We never heard more about this. We see that Gabby is not the only one writing about Xena.