Chakram

This episode opens with a rehash of IDES and FALLEN ANGEL.

At a temple (of the Chakrams) we see Ares and Kal, who are gods of war….more on this later. Ares tells Kal that force never works with Xena. Ares admits he stole the Dark Chakram and gave it to Xena. This is the first time we have heard of more than one Chakram. Who made them, and how did Ares steal one?…and from whom? WHY were they made? The Light Chakram is said to have the power to kill gods, so the two war-gods want it.

Kal sends a priest named Caleb into the temple to get the Chakram. He goes in and sees dead bodies that are burned. He picks up the Light Chakram and bursts into flame, dying. The Chakram was on a pedestal with an indentation for it…the Dark Chakram spot was empty, but the outline was there.

The ruins: Joxer cannot believe the girls are alive. Now was the time to tell Gabby he loved her, but he does not. Amarice helps Xena with a blanket and she saved the two pieces of the broken Chakram. Xena looks puzzled and meek, and is feeling stiff from being dead. This is one of the times when Xena does not know what the Chakram is…The Furies, and The Ring Trilogy are other times..

Why doesn’t Xena remember but Gabby does?

Town: Gabby wears her new duds, and Xena has some too, and her hair has some beads in it .Gabby has two small tridents called sais which she bought for Xena, who always used a sword. Some thugs attack, to capture Xena, and Gabby, who has never used the sais, is great with them, knocking the bad guys down and out. Xena just stands there and does not know how to fight. Gabby seems to have learned how to do Xena’s karate-moves, too. Joxer tries to fight, but Amarice does a much better job. All four escape by lowering a portcullis.

The ruins: Gabby asks what is wrong with Xena. Xena can’t remember Alti, Callisto, or even Caesar. She also cannot remember violence, and Eli can’t get her to remember her own death.

Amarice says Xena lost her fire---her edge. Gabby says it is Xena’s “self”…Eli blames himself.

NOTE! Eli says Kal is the “war-god in this region.”…WHAT? Since when have we ever seen “other gods and goddesses”’ in Other Regions? This is never explained. This must mean there are other Athena and Aphrodite-types, not to mention other Hades, etc. This one statement just turned the whole show on its head.

Eli is going to take them to see an old friend named Caleb to find out what to do…Ares watches invisibly.

In the woods, Eli says knowledge is power. Joxer tells Eli that he is in love with Gabby. Gabby tells Eli that her path is not the way of love. She says Xena is lost without her dark side. Amarice is captured in the woods by Kal and some thugs. He also has Xena and wants her to get the Light Chakram for him. Amarice fights and is thrown into a tree. She tries again and is hurled into the tree again and knocked out. Gabby finds Amarice in the woods at dark. She leads the group to Kal’s place…again Ares spies on them. How do they know where Kal’s place is?

Kal: ”I was on my way to be the greatest war-god of them all.” Xena asks what she has to do. Ares arrives and he and Kal circle each other with Xena watching. They use weapons but cannot hurt each other. Xena escapes in the confusion. Xena saw a circle on the wall, with a slight memory of what a Chakram is.

New temple: they are at the temple of Caleb at the top of a waterfall. Xena says Caleb is dead…how does she know? Eli looks thru Caleb’s scrolls to find an answer.

Xena is undressing to get into the hot tub while Joxer waits on the other side of a screen. Joxer asks Xena what to do about saying he loves Gabby…Xena says ”just tell her…with no strings”. He leaves, and Xena says,” or you could just kiss the girl.”

Ares enters and Xena seems to know him from somewhere. The naked Xena stands up and tries to understand while Ares stares at her nakedness. He still offers peace for the world thru force if she joins him. Gabby enters and scolds him for taking advantage of Xena’s situation. Ares says “since when have you become so hard?”

Joxer asks why Ares is with Kal, the other war-god. Amarice asks Xena, “what is it with you and war-gods, anyway?”

I want to know how come NOBODY ever said a thing about OTHER war-gods until this episode, and everyone seems to have known it for years.

Eli learns from the scrolls that the Light Chakram will restore Xena…it can also kill a god, so now they all know why Ares and Kal want it. Later, at Kal’s place, Ares and Kal call a truce.

At the temple, Xena holds the broken Chakram and seems to be asking a god for guidance. She wants to know if she should be a warrior again. Gabby asks if Xena is praying. She says to Xena that violence is vital, and Xena must have her light and dark side to achieve balance. Quite a change from Gabby’s infernal prattling about her “way’ of love.

Xena and Gabby watch Amarice do a tightrope walk into the temple area. The armored guy cuts the rope and Amarice falls, only to get up fighting. Gabby has a few firepot-bombs, which scatter some of the guards. Joxer, Eli, and Xena enter and Gabby and Amarice fight. Gabby kills a few guys..she is good with a sword or sais.

Xena goes inside and sees the dead bodies. She picks up the light Chakram and she is not hurt as all the others were….why? Next, the rest of her group enter the temple and bar the door. Amarice thought to pick up the broken Chakram.

When Ares appears, Xena cannot kill him…

Joxer, in the confusion , tells Gabby he loves her. She has no time for a response.

Ares tells them he will let them all go if Xena gives them the Chakram. Xena wants to destroy it, but Eli says the scroll says if the two Chakrams are joined, the power to kill gods will go away. The war-gods will no longer need to bother them. The guards break in as Xena places the dark Chakram on the cutout. It reforms and the fight begins. Ares tries to go by Eli, who sort of intimidates him.

Xena uses the Chakram to kill Kal…Ares wants it, but Xena joins the god-killing Light Chakram with the dark, and now has the New Chakram, sort of a regular one with an “S” shaped handle in the middle. Xena, now her old self, smiles and kills with the new weapon. It can separate and go in different directions, and she kills a bunch of guards.

Ares asks why did she balance it and Xena says nobody deserves that kind of power. Ares leaves, snarling. Eli leaves, and says Greece is a long way off. He wants to study Caleb’s scrolls.

Xena says she is her rotten old self. Gabby says timing is everything.
Xena: Not everything.

Note: Why is Xena the one to not be killed by the light Chakram?
Who made the Chakrams? How and why did Ares steal the dark one? Why didn’t the owner go after him? Why does he give it to Xena? Why not steal the light one, too? Where does the weapon get its power and how does it work? Is it mind-controlled?

It was disappointing that we will never know how the Chakram works….Callisto and Gabby were the only others to use it, unless we want to count Princess Diana’s fooling with it one time. Also, we see the broken dark Chakram in The Xena Scrolls, and when it is put together again, Xena’s spirit invades Mel Pappas’ body….Was Xena’s spirit in it all along? When it broke again, Xena’s spirit left, which meant she was dead….again.