XWP: The Debt I
Here we go! The moment I've been waiting for! Quite possible the best episodes the Xena crew ever put together! Hurry! C'mon!
1) The Debt opens with Xena reaching out for Gabrielle in her sleep and waking up when her arm finds emptiness.
Lady likes to cuddle.
Gabrielle is nearby, gazing at the stars and, presumably, contemplating her life. The time line is murky, but it hasn't been that long since Gabrielle gave birth to Hope and sent her, unknown to Xena, down the river to safety.
What's great about the scene is how quiet it is, how it takes the previous two episodes into account, recognizing that everything is certainly not normal for Gabrielle and certainly not normal between Gabrielle and Xena.
2) Because Xena and Gabrielle are incredibly easy to track down in the middle of the Grecian forests, their night time talk is interrupted by a Chinese man, who cryptically tells Xena, "The Green Dragon has become too large and must be made small" right before he dies and the forest becomes a scene straight out of . . . I don't know. A martial arts movie. (I've only seen a few so they aren't readily available for me to name check.)
Xena defeats the men, of course, but gets herself into gear. The Chinese man's news (in the form of a riddle) has deep meaning for her and she has to go to Chin.
3) Part of the appeal of The Debt is how beautifully it's shot. The production values really went to a place never before seen on the show (and I would argue never again replicated to quite the same standard), so it's all really good looking. Still, this episode could look like it was shot on a cell phone in a basement and I would still love it because . . . FLASHBACKS!
Holy frak, I love the flashbacks. I love them so hard I don't even know what to do with myself. Because I have a serious thing for Evil!Xena and The Debt is the first time we really see Evil!Xena in action.
4) So what's Evil!Xena's story?
Well, after Caesar crucified her, broke her legs, and killed M'Lila, Xena honored her word to live life with the purpose of death, and made her way east, basically wreaking all sorts of havoc all over the place. She, at some point, met up with Borias (who we had learned about in Orphan Of War and is Solon's father and a hero of the centaurs), and decided to go kick some ass in the land of Chin.
We first see them in flashback in the middle of their army, beating the shit out of Ming soldiers on this beautifully stark plain, which must be trying to be north west China, maybe? And it's brutal. They basically slay all of the soldiers and Xena, just because she can, runs a guy through with her sword even though he's surrendered. She goes to do it to his companion before being stopped by Borias. Xena main mission is to be as scary as possible and kill often, but Borias argues that there's no point of being scary if there's no one left to be frightened, and tells the long Ming soldier to go back and let Ming know that Borias and his army are interested in forming an alliance with him against the House of Lao.
It's such a cool scene and we get such a great idea of how Xena has morphed since we last saw, in flashback form, in Destiny. Then, she was not much more than a pirate. A fierce pirate, to be sure, and doing a lot of damage, but she wasn't unhinged. She was actually quite rational. This Xena is totally off her rocker and incredibly brutal. She asks Borias for the bodies of the slain soldiers and cuts off the heads and puts them on pikes.
Yikes. Xena's solution to all her troubles? "Kill them all!"
5) So Borias tries to align with Ming in order to raid Lao's land, but Xena is, as one might expect, completely disrespectful of Ming, who, in traditional fashion, doesn't really want to deal with a woman.
Xena is a pretty gender blind show and it's rare that gender specific roles ever come up, but they do feature quite prominently in the Chinese episodes. I find that interesting. I don't know much about gender roles in Ancient Greece, but it's not like China was the only place where women were treated like shit. I mean . . . Caesar is a little bit of an ass, but the Roman episodes certainly don't showcase the ridiculous ways women were treated in that society. So it's a strange kind of focus in these episodes that we don't really see again.
But anyway . . .
6) What I love about Xena's complete and total disrespect of Ming and the way she tries to scare Ming's son, Ming Tien, is how incredibly immature she is. I mean, obviously Xena is immature. No one goes off the deep end like she did in Destiny without having a severe case of crazy and immaturity. But there's something almost childishly naive about her here. There's no rational to her attitudes and actions. She's just kind of flitting around.
Really, she's just a big bully. It's just too bad for the world that she's a big bully who is more than a little lethal.
7) After Ming leaves, alliance broken because of Xena's lack of restraint (she calls him a pig), we get more insight into her relationship with Borias.
It's a curious thing that Borias would let her in on the meeting at all. He has to know that it's not a good idea to have Xena around when important negotiations are going on.
But what's really interesting to me is how abusive their relationship is. Borias hits her, pushes her down. The two of them are having sex on a horse, out in the open, and when he's done with her, he pushes her off and goes to tend to his duties.
It's not like Xena is an angel and treats Borias well, because she definitely doesn't. She's just as abusive to him. But what fascinates me about this is how Xena lets him get away with it. And, even more so . . . How she actually seems to get off on it.
8) After Xena totally fucks up the talks between Borias and Ming, Borias tries to make an alliance with the House of Lao so they can go against the House of Ming. To do this, he meets up with Lao Ma, wife of Lao Tzu, too sick to attend.
Again, the role distinctions between men and women are featured. Lao Ma apologizes that Lao Tzu had to send his "insignificant wife" to speak for him. And Borias, at first, is obviously taken aback and probably a little insulted that he has to negotiate with a woman.
9) I'm sure he gets over it, though, because the next thing you know, he's totally all over her. On top of that, Xena's completely high on opium and is getting more and more full of rage as she watches Lao Ma and Borias interact. Because she's Xena and she has no idea how to show any kind of restraint, she flings her dagger at Lao Ma's hand, telling her that Lao Ma is reaching for her piece of meat.
Silly Xena. Lao Ma doesn't want your man meat.
Later that night, after Borias leads Lao Ma to her yurt and leaves, Xena creeps out of the shadows, looking to pick a serious fight.
Again, she's not much more than a bully.
She's at a distinct disadvantage, though. And not even just because she's crippled in her leg from Caesar's punishment (she's often hobbling on a crutch in these episodes). But you know that Lao Ma?
Is a fucking Jedi Master. Or something! She has eyes in the back of her head and can move objects with her mind. Like the Force! Except that it's actually qi. She kicks Xena's ass to kingdom come, blasting her out of the yurt unconscious. Lao Ma tells Borias she's going to leave, that an alliance between them would no longer be appropriate.
Before going, she whispers to Xena, "Fill yourself with desire and see only illusion. Empty yourself of desire and understand the great mystery of things." Fancy words but not likely to make an impact on her evil victim.
10 ) Borias has finally had enough and kicks Xena out of the camp. Xena, ever resourceful, decides to take matters into her own hands. She goes off and kidnaps Ming Tien, the little boy that is the heir to the House of Ming.
When she tells Borias and lets him know her demands, he calls her insane.
And she is! It's so great! She's completely crazy. I mean, she doesn't get her way so she basically goes and does the most extreme thing she can do in response. She doesn't stop and contemplate the actions that got her thrown out. And she kidnaps Ming Tien without even thinking how it might cause Ming and Lao to ally with each other against her and Borias. Because this Xena is incapable of restraining her will (which will come up in the second half of the two-parter). She doesn't think about consequences. She just acts. And when she acts, she's going to act big. She just can't stop herself. It's another example of how immature she is.
11) Unfortunately for Xena, though, Borias betrays her to Ming and, after they know Ming Tien is safe, they knock Xena out. She becomes a prisoner of Ming's to do with whatever he wants.
12) So Xena has been telling Gabrielle all of this as they make their way east. They're trying to get to a port city so that Xena can take a boat to Chin. When they finally get there, Gabrielle decides that she can't go to Chin with Xena. She knows that Xena is planning on killing the "Green Dragon" the Chinese man told her about in the beginning, and refuses to help Xena, in any way, commit a murder.
What's confusing about this to me is why Gabrielle doesn't trust Xena enough to know that killing the Green Dragon would be for the greater good. Why is this different than the times Xena has had to kill since they got together? I mean, Xena kills someone in almost every episode. I don't know why Gabrielle views this as different. I mean, it's more pre meditated than normal, but why doesn't she assume there's no just cause?
Whatever her reasons, Xena gets on that boat alone.
13) Back in flashback land, Xena's locked in a cage. Ming and his party meet up with Lao Ma in the woods. She gives little Ming Tien a handkerchief that has . . . A GREEN DRAGON ON IT! (Which we find out after the fact because Ming Tien is kind of mean and throws it away without even looking at it.) But Ming Tien is the Green Dragon. That means he's the only Xena is going to Chin to kill.
Interesting.
14) Anyway, Ming's plan for Xena is to set her loose in the forest so he can hunt her with her dogs.
Pretty harsh punishment, and incredibly inhumane, but it's not really like Xena is often concerned with humanity, so maybe it's very fitting.
Either way, Lao Ma rescues her before the dogs can kill her and takes Xena to her residence.
15) She hides Xena in her tub, which is lucky, because the dogs manage to track Xena's smell to Lao Ma's house. Ming and Lao Ma go back and forth on a few issues. We find out that Lao Ma used to be a courtesan before she was given to Lao Tzu to be his wife. She obviously detests the guy, which is probably one reason she's helping Xena hide (though she also tells Xena in the forest that she can see into Xena's soul and knows that she's capable of great things). But Ming won't fucking leave and Xena can't hold her breath much longer so . . .
Underwater kisses.
Yep. The Debt is a pretty gay episode. Not quite as gay as The Debt II, but close. Because Lao Ma has to give Xena air and they basically film it as a make out session with luminous lady voices scoring it.
It works, though. Xena gets enough oxygen to keep her cover and Lao Ma buys herself some time to get Ming the hell out of her house.
16) He finally leaves and Lao Ma and Xena precede to get even more Sapphic. She bathes Xena and brushes her hair. Dolls her up in Chinese finery and everything. (And god do I hate Xena in that outfit. So unflattering.)
It's all very sensual. It's probably supposed to be. What's interesting is that Xena lets Lao Ma take charge. I mean, she did get her ass kicked by Lao Ma, so she probably knows fighting won't help her out, but she just kind of takes it. She's so obviously not used to the gentle treatment, either. She's kind of letting it happen with this look on her face that says, "This is super strange and this lady is being nice to me and I don't trust her but I do."
17) We zoom back to the present. Xena's in Chin and coats herself in this sexy black paint and gets her camouflage on. She makes her way into the castle and stealths across the hall. She finds her way to Ming Tien's bedroom, gets her dagger ready to kill him, and just as she goes to plunge the blade into him, the bed covers are pushed aside to reveal . . .
GABRIELLE?!
What?
Guards swarm Xena and Ming Tien emerges. He knew what Xena was planning. He knew because Gabrielle told him.
Wait, wait. So . . . Not only did Gabrielle somehow get to Chin before Xena did but she also betrayed her to Ming Tien?
Holy frak.
I don't know about you, but I'm super excited to see how this all goes down. What the heck is Gabrielle doing? Are Xena and Lao Ma going to make out already? What's Ming Tien going to do to Xena now that she's his prisoner? I hope The Debt II is as good an episode as this. I'm giving The Debt 5 out of 5 airlocks.
1) The Debt opens with Xena reaching out for Gabrielle in her sleep and waking up when her arm finds emptiness.
Lady likes to cuddle.
Gabrielle is nearby, gazing at the stars and, presumably, contemplating her life. The time line is murky, but it hasn't been that long since Gabrielle gave birth to Hope and sent her, unknown to Xena, down the river to safety.
What's great about the scene is how quiet it is, how it takes the previous two episodes into account, recognizing that everything is certainly not normal for Gabrielle and certainly not normal between Gabrielle and Xena.
2) Because Xena and Gabrielle are incredibly easy to track down in the middle of the Grecian forests, their night time talk is interrupted by a Chinese man, who cryptically tells Xena, "The Green Dragon has become too large and must be made small" right before he dies and the forest becomes a scene straight out of . . . I don't know. A martial arts movie. (I've only seen a few so they aren't readily available for me to name check.)
Xena defeats the men, of course, but gets herself into gear. The Chinese man's news (in the form of a riddle) has deep meaning for her and she has to go to Chin.
3) Part of the appeal of The Debt is how beautifully it's shot. The production values really went to a place never before seen on the show (and I would argue never again replicated to quite the same standard), so it's all really good looking. Still, this episode could look like it was shot on a cell phone in a basement and I would still love it because . . . FLASHBACKS!
Holy frak, I love the flashbacks. I love them so hard I don't even know what to do with myself. Because I have a serious thing for Evil!Xena and The Debt is the first time we really see Evil!Xena in action.
4) So what's Evil!Xena's story?
Well, after Caesar crucified her, broke her legs, and killed M'Lila, Xena honored her word to live life with the purpose of death, and made her way east, basically wreaking all sorts of havoc all over the place. She, at some point, met up with Borias (who we had learned about in Orphan Of War and is Solon's father and a hero of the centaurs), and decided to go kick some ass in the land of Chin.
We first see them in flashback in the middle of their army, beating the shit out of Ming soldiers on this beautifully stark plain, which must be trying to be north west China, maybe? And it's brutal. They basically slay all of the soldiers and Xena, just because she can, runs a guy through with her sword even though he's surrendered. She goes to do it to his companion before being stopped by Borias. Xena main mission is to be as scary as possible and kill often, but Borias argues that there's no point of being scary if there's no one left to be frightened, and tells the long Ming soldier to go back and let Ming know that Borias and his army are interested in forming an alliance with him against the House of Lao.
It's such a cool scene and we get such a great idea of how Xena has morphed since we last saw, in flashback form, in Destiny. Then, she was not much more than a pirate. A fierce pirate, to be sure, and doing a lot of damage, but she wasn't unhinged. She was actually quite rational. This Xena is totally off her rocker and incredibly brutal. She asks Borias for the bodies of the slain soldiers and cuts off the heads and puts them on pikes.
Yikes. Xena's solution to all her troubles? "Kill them all!"
5) So Borias tries to align with Ming in order to raid Lao's land, but Xena is, as one might expect, completely disrespectful of Ming, who, in traditional fashion, doesn't really want to deal with a woman.
Xena is a pretty gender blind show and it's rare that gender specific roles ever come up, but they do feature quite prominently in the Chinese episodes. I find that interesting. I don't know much about gender roles in Ancient Greece, but it's not like China was the only place where women were treated like shit. I mean . . . Caesar is a little bit of an ass, but the Roman episodes certainly don't showcase the ridiculous ways women were treated in that society. So it's a strange kind of focus in these episodes that we don't really see again.
But anyway . . .
6) What I love about Xena's complete and total disrespect of Ming and the way she tries to scare Ming's son, Ming Tien, is how incredibly immature she is. I mean, obviously Xena is immature. No one goes off the deep end like she did in Destiny without having a severe case of crazy and immaturity. But there's something almost childishly naive about her here. There's no rational to her attitudes and actions. She's just kind of flitting around.
Really, she's just a big bully. It's just too bad for the world that she's a big bully who is more than a little lethal.
7) After Ming leaves, alliance broken because of Xena's lack of restraint (she calls him a pig), we get more insight into her relationship with Borias.
It's a curious thing that Borias would let her in on the meeting at all. He has to know that it's not a good idea to have Xena around when important negotiations are going on.
But what's really interesting to me is how abusive their relationship is. Borias hits her, pushes her down. The two of them are having sex on a horse, out in the open, and when he's done with her, he pushes her off and goes to tend to his duties.
It's not like Xena is an angel and treats Borias well, because she definitely doesn't. She's just as abusive to him. But what fascinates me about this is how Xena lets him get away with it. And, even more so . . . How she actually seems to get off on it.
8) After Xena totally fucks up the talks between Borias and Ming, Borias tries to make an alliance with the House of Lao so they can go against the House of Ming. To do this, he meets up with Lao Ma, wife of Lao Tzu, too sick to attend.
Again, the role distinctions between men and women are featured. Lao Ma apologizes that Lao Tzu had to send his "insignificant wife" to speak for him. And Borias, at first, is obviously taken aback and probably a little insulted that he has to negotiate with a woman.
9) I'm sure he gets over it, though, because the next thing you know, he's totally all over her. On top of that, Xena's completely high on opium and is getting more and more full of rage as she watches Lao Ma and Borias interact. Because she's Xena and she has no idea how to show any kind of restraint, she flings her dagger at Lao Ma's hand, telling her that Lao Ma is reaching for her piece of meat.
Silly Xena. Lao Ma doesn't want your man meat.
Later that night, after Borias leads Lao Ma to her yurt and leaves, Xena creeps out of the shadows, looking to pick a serious fight.
Again, she's not much more than a bully.
She's at a distinct disadvantage, though. And not even just because she's crippled in her leg from Caesar's punishment (she's often hobbling on a crutch in these episodes). But you know that Lao Ma?
Is a fucking Jedi Master. Or something! She has eyes in the back of her head and can move objects with her mind. Like the Force! Except that it's actually qi. She kicks Xena's ass to kingdom come, blasting her out of the yurt unconscious. Lao Ma tells Borias she's going to leave, that an alliance between them would no longer be appropriate.
Before going, she whispers to Xena, "Fill yourself with desire and see only illusion. Empty yourself of desire and understand the great mystery of things." Fancy words but not likely to make an impact on her evil victim.
10 ) Borias has finally had enough and kicks Xena out of the camp. Xena, ever resourceful, decides to take matters into her own hands. She goes off and kidnaps Ming Tien, the little boy that is the heir to the House of Ming.
When she tells Borias and lets him know her demands, he calls her insane.
And she is! It's so great! She's completely crazy. I mean, she doesn't get her way so she basically goes and does the most extreme thing she can do in response. She doesn't stop and contemplate the actions that got her thrown out. And she kidnaps Ming Tien without even thinking how it might cause Ming and Lao to ally with each other against her and Borias. Because this Xena is incapable of restraining her will (which will come up in the second half of the two-parter). She doesn't think about consequences. She just acts. And when she acts, she's going to act big. She just can't stop herself. It's another example of how immature she is.
11) Unfortunately for Xena, though, Borias betrays her to Ming and, after they know Ming Tien is safe, they knock Xena out. She becomes a prisoner of Ming's to do with whatever he wants.
12) So Xena has been telling Gabrielle all of this as they make their way east. They're trying to get to a port city so that Xena can take a boat to Chin. When they finally get there, Gabrielle decides that she can't go to Chin with Xena. She knows that Xena is planning on killing the "Green Dragon" the Chinese man told her about in the beginning, and refuses to help Xena, in any way, commit a murder.
What's confusing about this to me is why Gabrielle doesn't trust Xena enough to know that killing the Green Dragon would be for the greater good. Why is this different than the times Xena has had to kill since they got together? I mean, Xena kills someone in almost every episode. I don't know why Gabrielle views this as different. I mean, it's more pre meditated than normal, but why doesn't she assume there's no just cause?
Whatever her reasons, Xena gets on that boat alone.
13) Back in flashback land, Xena's locked in a cage. Ming and his party meet up with Lao Ma in the woods. She gives little Ming Tien a handkerchief that has . . . A GREEN DRAGON ON IT! (Which we find out after the fact because Ming Tien is kind of mean and throws it away without even looking at it.) But Ming Tien is the Green Dragon. That means he's the only Xena is going to Chin to kill.
Interesting.
14) Anyway, Ming's plan for Xena is to set her loose in the forest so he can hunt her with her dogs.
Pretty harsh punishment, and incredibly inhumane, but it's not really like Xena is often concerned with humanity, so maybe it's very fitting.
Either way, Lao Ma rescues her before the dogs can kill her and takes Xena to her residence.
15) She hides Xena in her tub, which is lucky, because the dogs manage to track Xena's smell to Lao Ma's house. Ming and Lao Ma go back and forth on a few issues. We find out that Lao Ma used to be a courtesan before she was given to Lao Tzu to be his wife. She obviously detests the guy, which is probably one reason she's helping Xena hide (though she also tells Xena in the forest that she can see into Xena's soul and knows that she's capable of great things). But Ming won't fucking leave and Xena can't hold her breath much longer so . . .
Underwater kisses.
Yep. The Debt is a pretty gay episode. Not quite as gay as The Debt II, but close. Because Lao Ma has to give Xena air and they basically film it as a make out session with luminous lady voices scoring it.
It works, though. Xena gets enough oxygen to keep her cover and Lao Ma buys herself some time to get Ming the hell out of her house.
16) He finally leaves and Lao Ma and Xena precede to get even more Sapphic. She bathes Xena and brushes her hair. Dolls her up in Chinese finery and everything. (And god do I hate Xena in that outfit. So unflattering.)
It's all very sensual. It's probably supposed to be. What's interesting is that Xena lets Lao Ma take charge. I mean, she did get her ass kicked by Lao Ma, so she probably knows fighting won't help her out, but she just kind of takes it. She's so obviously not used to the gentle treatment, either. She's kind of letting it happen with this look on her face that says, "This is super strange and this lady is being nice to me and I don't trust her but I do."
17) We zoom back to the present. Xena's in Chin and coats herself in this sexy black paint and gets her camouflage on. She makes her way into the castle and stealths across the hall. She finds her way to Ming Tien's bedroom, gets her dagger ready to kill him, and just as she goes to plunge the blade into him, the bed covers are pushed aside to reveal . . .
GABRIELLE?!
What?
Guards swarm Xena and Ming Tien emerges. He knew what Xena was planning. He knew because Gabrielle told him.
Wait, wait. So . . . Not only did Gabrielle somehow get to Chin before Xena did but she also betrayed her to Ming Tien?
Holy frak.
I don't know about you, but I'm super excited to see how this all goes down. What the heck is Gabrielle doing? Are Xena and Lao Ma going to make out already? What's Ming Tien going to do to Xena now that she's his prisoner? I hope The Debt II is as good an episode as this. I'm giving The Debt 5 out of 5 airlocks.