Episode 84 season 4 #15
"The Way"
Interviews:
Evidently there was controversy when this ep was aired over its depiction of Hindu dieties, specifically Krishna. They go into this controversy in the interviews on the DVDs, so feel free to check it out.
As for the ep itself... this is from Whoosh.org:
TRANSCRIPTION OF SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
THE WAY was pulled from circulation for a few months after criticism about how Krishna was portrayed in the show. THE WAY returned to circulation on 08/30/99 in a revised edition and was appended by the following announcement from Lucy Lawless, Sunil Aghi, and Renee O'Connor.
Lawless: In today's episode Xena prayed to Krishna the supreme godhead of Hinduism. We hope that we have portrayed it in a revered and respectful way.
Aghu: My name is Sunil Aghi. I am the community activist and president of the Hindu American political foundation.
O'Connor: More than a billion people throughout the world practice the Hindu religion.
Aghi: An accurate portrayal of our deity is important to us, but an even more important goal is to enlighten people of other faith about Hinduism.
O'Connor: With understanding comes tolerance.
Lawless: If you would like to learn more about this great religion please visit your local library or Internet web.
More interesting was how "lesbianism" was folded into this controversy, and for more on that I again refer you to the discussion at whoosh.org
If you too are offended by the characterization done by this show,
I'll see you when we next do "The Play's the Thing".
The
other controversy with this ep was its
graphic violence. Canada supposedly had trouble with someone's arms being cut off. I wonder why they didn't have trouble with someone's
head being cut off... but yet again, I
digress.
And the ep begins quietly enough, after "last week's" trial with "Alti" and the discovery of our friend's future lives as a warrior and the mother of peace.
Gabrielle's Voice: "I love rivers."
Xena's Voice: "They're all right, if you don't have to get to the other side."
Gabrielle's Voice: "There's a certain inevitability to a river. Nothing stops it from finding its way."
Xena's Voice: "You ever hear of a
dam? Beavers?"
Gabrielle's Voice: (Trust me, you can hear the smile in her voice) "Why do you do that?"
Xena's Voice: "What?"
Gabrielle's Voice: "You shoot me down while I'm doing my philosophical stuff."
Xena: "Whaddya mean?"
Gabrielle: (more seriously) "Xena since I met you, I've been on this spiritual quest. I've been looking for the meaning to it all. Why don't you ever ask those questions?"
Xena: (Just as serious, as she twirls her own staff/walking stick) "As a matter of fact, I've been thinking a lot about reincarnation since we came to India."
Gabrielle: "You see? Maybe being a warrior isn't the right karma for you. Maybe you should look to peace."
Xena: "Hmm-- maybe violence isn't the answer to anything.
(Suddenly she stabs her staff into the river they are walking along, and spears what appears to be an eel. She throws it up on the riverbank, and it turns into a demon with a frightful mask. She's skewered him to the bank with the staff) Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h! Why are you following us?"
Seems a bad guy... Indrajid, doesn't want them getting to the avatar and so this demon and several of his best buds are to stop them. A fight ensues, and XENA of all people LOSES FOCUS! She turns to see a demon come up behind Ganrielle, but Gabby handles him easily. Unfortunately when Xena was distracted her own enemy got a blade on her, opening up her shoulder, which definately got her attention.
Later by the trademarked campfire, after the fight, Gabrielle is tending to the wound and Xena opens up about her crisis of faith.
Xena's Voice: "We've gotta beat Indrujid to this avatar, whatever that is."
Gabrielle: "An avatar is a deity in human form. They're usually destined to save humanity from a great evil. What's the matter?"
Xena: "It's this wound. That demon should never have gotten a blade on me."
Gabrielle: "Xena, you're only human. Everybody loses focus sometimes."
Xena: "It's not just that I lost focus. It's why. A few days ago, I saw my future life.
You saw it, too. I'm destined to be reborn as
some kind of a saint."
Gabrielle: "But that's wonderful, isn't it?"
Xena: "Yes, but
if I already earned that karma
can I still mess it up? Maybe I was shown my future life for a
reason. Maybe I'm supposed to change the way that I'm living this life, here and now. But, either way,
a warrior cannot ask these questions in the heat of battle. When the kill is there, you have to take it. If I can't do that, I can't be a warrior, anymore."
Teaser ends.
The 2 friends go off to find the avatar, and to their surprise, its someone they know... "Eli". Unfortunately, Eli doesn't seem to want to know them, and he flees from their approach. He's aware that Indrujid is searching for him, and he doesn't want them around fighting to protect him.
Actually, pretty selfless, if you ask me.
But the girls will have none of it, and they insist on walking him to the port city where they'll all catch the first ship home.
Their first night together is notable for two things... the first is my smile that the
bedroll politics seem to have changed since
season 3's "Forgiven". Gabrielle isn't sleeping next to Xena, but next to Eli. The second, is that Xena maybe able to sense the nonhuman entity tracking them all day, but she's not always too keen on separating the good guys from the bad ones. Thank the gods the one that put her into an arm lock was one of the good guys!
(Hanuman the monkey diety comes up to eyeball the sleeping Eli., Eli wakes up just as Xena comes to the rescue)
Xena: "Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h!"
(tries to fight Hanuman, but to no avail as he picks her up in a "bear" hug)
Hanuman: "Please don't hurt me. I meant no harm."
(Proving immortals have a sense of humor)
Xena: "Put me down."
(Xena, on the other hand...)
Hanuman: "Of course."
(And so he does)
We learn the Hanuman's last charge was the avatar Rama, and he helped him defeat Indrujid's father. At his urging, they bring Eli to the great temple to ask Krishna for help. On the way Xena has a heart to heart with Hanuman, and Gabrielle with Eli about his newly discovered "truth".
Gabrielle: "What is the truth?"
Eli: "So, you really wanna know?"
Gabrielle: "Yeah."
Eli: "It's life, that we must revere it, wherever we find it to bring peace to this world. I have to teach mankind a reverence for life."
Gabrielle: "So if someone were to walk up to you and knock you down... "
Eli: "... then I'd get up."
Gabrielle: "But if they knocked you down again. "
Eli: "Then I'd get up again, if I could. But under no circumstances would I fight back. If I did I would simply be perpetuating the cycle of violence that has ravaged the Earth for centuries. That cycle has to be broken, Gabrielle. And the truth is that that can only be done through nonviolence."
Gabrielle: "So, that's the truth."
(Says the lady carrying a fighting staff)
High above in the tree tops sit Hanuman and Xena, looking for Indrujid's henchmen, and Xena turns philosophical.
Xena: "Hanuman, you've been walking the Earth for centuries, now. How do you know what is the right code, or-or lifestyle, or... ?"
Hanuman: "... way."
Xena: "Yes, how do you know what's the
right way for you?"
Hanuman: "My way is the way of obedience and loyalty. I can see it's not your way. You're
too proud."
Xena: "What happens when a person gets stuck
between two ways?"
Hanuman: "That is not good. For each person there can only be one way."
The quartet finally reach the temple, and Xena ushers her companions inside as she tries to shoe away the villagers gathering about the temple, before Indrujid arrives.
Gabrielle: "The statue with the flute, is that Krishna?"
Hanuman: "Yes, though he can appear in whatever shape he chooses. He's the ultimate manifestation of the supreme deity."
Gabrielle: "Hanuman, no offense. You see, Xena and I aren't used to waiting around for the gods to bail us out."
Hanuman: (Kneeling in prayer) "Eli's words have troubled you, haven't they, Gabrielle?"
Gabrielle: "How did you know what he said to me?"
Hanuman: "I have been following him for weeks. I know his words touch anyone with an open heart."
Gabrielle: "So, what do you think of his message."
Hanuman: "His way is the
ultimate way. Few can follow it. Those that do truly walk with the spirit."
Suddenly Eli senses Xena is in trouble, and the three go running outside to save her. Unfortunately, while outside they are vulnerable to Indrujid who swoops down upon Eli and gathers him into his flying carpet prison. For some reason, he does the same with Gabrielle, and flies off to the Demon land leaving Xena in his dust.
Needless to say, Xena is NOT pleased. Nor does she like to hear Hanuman's estimation of their odds in the Demon land without some serious backup.
Xena: "Well, your friend Krishna didn't show."
Hanuman: "We need to get his attention."
Xena: "And how do we do that?"
Hanuman: "With these gods sometimes you've got to try something unusual."
Xena: "Like what?!"
Hanuman: "I pray to him all the time. What Krishna needs is for someone to call upon him who doesn't respect gods, doesn't trust them, doesn't like them, someone who thinks she doesn't need them."
Xena: "You want
me to pray."
And as Xena gets ready to pray, Gabrielle is trying to break out of their new prison.
Eli: "Be patient. We'll be all right."
Gabrielle: "I don't think that's very realistic. This is an evil man!"
Eli: "He's not a man at all, Gabrielle. He's the incarnation of evil itself."
Gabrielle: "Is
that supposed to make me feel
better?"
Eli: "He and I may be here in mortal bodies, but our war is a spiritual one. I'm sure that if I can stay faithful to my way, I can defeat him. His is the way of evil. Mine is the way of..."
Gabrielle: (Throws her hands in the air) "
love! I know that. I
know that."
And then we intercut between Xena kneeling in prayer at Krishna's altar, and Gabrielle sitting in prayer across from Eli, her staff separating them. Soon Indrujid comes to taunt Eli, as Gabrielle keeps herself quiet and prayerful. Xena for her part is distracted by a sound she thinks is Hanuman behind her... until she realizes its
not and stands up to draw her sword on...
...Krishna!
Krishna: "You must open up your heart to me if you're going to tap into the strength that will allow you to defeat Indrujid."
Xena: "I thought that's what the prayers were for."
Krishna: "That got my attention. Now you have to go one step further. You have to embrace
the way."
Xena: "The way? I've heard about the way in Greece, Ch'in, Anatoli, and now India. I don't get it. The way is
not for people like me."
Krishna: "You're wrong. You're very close to the way now. However,
missing it by the width of a hair--
is the same as missing it by the height of a mountain."
Xena: "I'm close? I don't think so. I don't have the patience of Gabrielle, the love of Eli, or the serenity of my mentor, Lao Ma. I'm just an angry, ass-kicking.. "
Krishna: "...
warrior."
[I love this description of
missing "the way" and will come back to it in a future ep
]
Xena: "Yes, a warrior."
Krishna: "You say that with disgust."
Xena: "Well, it doesn't rank up there with the saints, does it?"
Krishna"Xena you have seen what you're destined to be. In your next life, you will walk the way of the saint. However you will never achieve that life if you don't follow
the way you're on now."
Xena: "The way of the warrior?"
Krishna: "Yes you must not be hesitant to fight in a
just cause. It is better to die
following your own way,
than to live following someone else's. When you ride into combat act without attachment and carry with you the confidence that you
are fulfilling your calling in this life. Then you will know the way."
Xena: "I understand."
Krishna: "Then go. Rise up like fire and burn all that oppose you. And if you're following the path of the way call my name and the strength to defeat Indrujid will be given to you. Are you ready?"
Xena: "I'm ready."
(Krishna disappears and Hanuman appears)
Hanuman: "I'm ready, too.
Meanwhile, back in demon land, after threatening to torture Gabrielle before Eli to get him to join forces with the evil one, Indrujid decides to play with Gabrielle's mind. He presents her with an illusion of a bound and beaten Xena, calling to her for help. Gabrielle, against Eli's urging, drops her praying and picks up her staff to charge the demons menancing Xena. As she comes closer, she is ensnared by Indrujid who drops his false persona and taunts Eli with the weakness of his only disciple. He then proceeds to choke the life out of Gabrielle as Eli stands by.
A high pitched noise greets our ears and we see Indujid's hand neatly sliced off his arm by a chakram, and we see
OUR Xena has arrived.
And then a fight ensues like none we've ever seen... (seems like I've said that a lot in the
last 3 eps.) Indujid, like a starfish, answers the loss of one hand by growing 4 more arms, each wielding a weapon.
Gabrielle and Eli stand to the side as Xena tackles the 6 armed Prince of Darkness, the King of Demons. Unfortunately, she is NOT up to the task, as Indrujid nails her left hand to the wall with a dagger, and then slices off both her left arm and then her right. She falls to the ground, stunned and helpless, about to die from one last blow when Gabrielle breaks from Eli's side and uses her staff to attack Indrujid.
He is amused.
He takes the staff from her, and lights both ends on fire before turning them onto his attacker. Unfortunately for him, Gabrielle's distraction was
just what Xena needed, as she lay on the floor and called upon
Krishna to help her.
It was quite the transformation, to see Xena rise from the floor, dressed as one of the Indian goddesses from the walls behind her. She had 4 arms, her left hand still sporting the knife impaling it, and her face was covered in a black mask with a gold nose chain from her right nostril to her right (?) ear. She taunted Indrujid into the shadows with the sound of steel scraping on the walls, and a cat and mouse game ensued, with her using that knife stuck into her hand as a weapon, along with her axes.
Eventually she succeeds in killing him, separating his head from his neck as well as any gladiator would do in the coliseum. And once he died... Xena...
OUR Xena returned whole and with only two arms and no mask. She turned away from Indrujid's throne and walked away, with Gabrielle running to meet her.
Later, we see Eli walking down a dirt road, with many villagers and Gabrielle following behind.
Gabrielle: (Contrite) "Eli? I failed my first test."
Eli: "It's hard, the way of love. It may not be right for you. But if you choose to follow it you must do so with all your heart. You'll fail more than once. But don't give up hope. In the end you'll redeem the world."
Gabrielle: "Where are you going?"
Eli: "Home. I need to take the message to my own people. I believe they'll be the most receptive. Thank you, Gabrielle. You were the first one to understand me. I won't forget you."
And off he goes.
Gabrielle looks at her staff, and at the nearby river. She walks down to the riverbank and heaves the staff as far as she can into the river. Gabrielle looks very satisfied, which is more than can be said for Xena, who is watching from upstream.
Xena: "So, it's the way of love for you, huh?"
Gabrielle: "Yeah. Yours is the way of the warrior. I think I've always known that."
Xena: "And I've always known that it was wrong for you. I'm sorry I took you so far from your truth."
Gabrielle: "Don't be sorry. Xena, do you think I could have understoodthe power of selfless love if it weren't for our friendship?"
Xena: "Still, I think maybe you should travel with Eli for a while."
Gabrielle: "No. You and I stay together."
Xena: "Gabrielle, we're headed in opposite directions in life."
Gabrielle: "All rivers run to the sea. We'll end up in the same place; I'm sure of it."
(Pause.....) "Thank you."
Xena: "For what?"
(Placing her left hand on Gabrielle's shoulder)
Gabrielle: "For not mentioning
dams."
Xena: (smiles) "You're welcome."
Jai Ho: (All three India eps jumbled up together)
)
)
?)
)
)
: 
)
for good or ill. We never see Ephiny and Xena make up after TBS but presumably they must have. In the end Xena and Gabby find they have another groupie. 
