scifi.ign.com review by Jeff Lundrigan

Xena, A Friend in Need
Six years, 134 episodes, and countless battle cries later, our favorite Warrior Princess rides off into the sunset.

June 26, 2001

Series Xena: Warrior Princess
Episode: A Friend in Need
Airing Date: Week of 2001-06-18

Sci-fi Bits: Soul eating demons
Juicy Bits: The big kiss-off
Featuring: Lucy Lawless as Xena; Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle.

Six years, 134 episodes, one warrior, one bard. One pisser of a way to end it all. It's a damn shame too, because for most of the running time, "A Friend in Need" is a corker. It certainly starts out as a fitting end to a series that's come to mean more to me than I'm really comfortable admitting in mixed company. Sure, I could've done without yet another evil deed from Xena's past coming back to haunt her -- almost literally -- but then, that's Xena: Warrior Princess. I could roll with it. In this case, a dead girl named Akemi needs Xena's help to free her soul from its enslavement to Lord Yodoshi, a demon ghost who feeds on the souls of others (and a chance for Rob Tapert to visually quote himself, cranking up his Evil Dead shaky cam for another run through the woods). So Xena and Gabrielle head for the Land of the Rising Sun.

After that, there's a lot of grief and pain. There's also love -- quite a bit of love, in fact. Although in the end, it doesn't seem to matter. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Accentuating the positives for a moment, I have to admit there's a lot to like here, and for an hour and fifty minutes, I was having a great time. The action is top notch, and Yodoshi is pretty creepy (well, until he actually has to speak out loud -- after that his stiff, declamatory delivery is a little less than frightening). Akemi turns out to be more than a bit manipulative, but she's so earnest and innocent, you kind of forgive her. Also, for all its supernatural trappings, the episode is deeply character driven -- not, ultimately, in the way it should be perhaps, but I do appreciate that Xena and Gabrielle act in a way we can at least understand, and nothing they do comes entirely out of left field.

One last battle.

Although it's not as rare as it once was, Xena still displays a surprising amount of vulnerability here, even during the flashbacks as Evil Xena. When it becomes apparent she's going to have to die in order to get close to Yodoshi, she takes a moment to teach Gabrielle The Pinch and, for all intents and purposes, say goodbye, and it's a genuinely moving scene. I also have to say that having her die by charging into an army single handed, going down swinging, is perhaps fitting.

And Gabrielle...where do I start? If there's one thing this episode makes clear (and, as it depressingly turns out, it's necessary for this episode to make it clear), it's that the journey Gabrielle began when she left Poteidaia behind has reached its end. She's become the hero she once dreamt of being, one that few can match. "Grown up" is far too weak a term.

I don't think Lawless and O'Connor have ever been better either. Both actresses are clearly giving it everything they have, and it pays off. O'Connor in particular has some very difficult scenes, and performs every single one of them with heart wrenching authenticity. There's some truly beautiful work being done here, and I for one appreciate the commitment it must have taken.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, one last time: Few shows have ever been as perfectly cast as this one, and I don't think for a second it would have been as special, as emotionally moving, or as meaningful without Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. The relationship between Xena and Gabrielle was what gave this show its heart, and Lawless and O'Connor gave it life and kept it beating strong. Theirs was a unique chemistry, the likes of which I doubt we'll ever see again. Thank you both, so much, for six memorable, often wonderful years.

A kiss is just a kiss.

And if there's one other thing this episode makes clear, it's that Xena and Gabrielle love each other deeply, and I appreciated that (although, one last time, they use that word "friend" in a couple of spots where it sounds really lame, and something else would have been more appropriate -- wouldn't cave in even this once, huh?). They even kiss -- it's a bit of a cheat the way it happens, but after six years, I didn't expect much more (hoped, maybe, but certainly didn't expect). They've been through so much, and often all they had was each other. I think, more than anything, it's why I kept watching. You don't find a love like this too often on TV, so it was nice to have that underscored and acknowledged here at the finish. However, that's also one reason why the ending pissed me off.

Frankly, after everything they've been through, they deserved a happy ending. Frankly, I think we deserved a happy ending.

Intellectually, I can see the point. This brings everything the show began with to full fruition: Xena finds redemption, and Gabrielle becomes the hero she always wanted to be. That doesn't make it hurt any less. Of course, maybe that's the point too.

Um, ouch.

In fact, I could have handled Xena staying dead if the reason for it didn't also undermine the core that theoretically drove this show: love and forgiveness. Because ultimately, love doesn't redeem Xena. She willfully decides to stay dead at the last minute because, in order for the 40,000 souls to "find grace," they must be avenged. So I guess all that talk about love and forgiveness, about good deeds and redemption, none of that really mattered? Oh sure, there's a bit of lip service there to the idea that Xena wouldn't be willing to do this if it weren't for Gabrielle, but in the end it works out as little more than another convenient Xena guilt trip. Revenge, apparently, is the way to atonement after all.

Frankly, that sucks.

I also can't shake the impression that the whole thing was pretty arbitrary. After Yodoshi is defeated and the souls are released, Akemi herself floats by saying, "You redeemed us all... You redeemed yourself." And yet, two minutes later, this is forgotten, and some detail nobody mentioned up until then is suddenly pulled out of nowhere. I understand this episode underwent some heavy editing to get it to fit into its time slot, so maybe something got lost. It's still dumb.

The only thing that made it remotely palatable was the final scene -- Gabrielle, alone, talking with Xena's spirit, knowing the warrior will always be with her, smiling. They are soulmates. They will be together again. In the meantime, there's a lot of greater good to do. Perhaps not the worst place to leave Gabrielle. Bittersweet, yes, but not entirely bitter.

But Gabrielle alone is not really the image I'd have hoped would be the last one we'd be left with. I think at the end of the day, "A Friend in Need" is all too typical of six years of Xena: Warrior Princess -- a unique, often brilliant show that still managed to fumble as often as it carried. Looking back, I can say it's been one long emotional rollercoaster, with lofty highs followed by painful lows and the occasional wrenching twist for good measure.

Farewell.

Still, maybe that's part of its charm too. Who knows? It's a question I'll be pondering for a while, I think. I've got all 134 episodes on tape (actually I'm missing, of all things, "Warrior...Princess...Tramp," for reasons that are too complicated to explain), and I'll probably still be watching many of them for years to come. It's also worth noting I've met a lot of wonderful people as a direct result of Xena fandom, I've read some wonderful fanfiction (written some, too), discovered I even have some fans of my own (wasn't that a kick) and, honestly, had a great time.

So it's not the way I'd have ended it. I've decided I'm not going to let it get me down. Now, where'd I put that tape with "One Against an Army" on it...


--Jeff Lundrigan says goodbye, and thank you.