Crusader

Hmmm, methinks we have a new nemesis. One who, when you get right down to it, might be as psychopathic and even more dangerous than Callisto was. Where Callisto's face was fair and actions brutal, Najara's talk is sweet, wrapping her twisted ideas in enough sugar to make the average villager hug her instead of running away screaming. And instead of being obsessed with Xena, this one's focus is solely on Gabrielle. I'm betting we'll see Najara again - her final shot was awfully similar to the last look we got at Callisto in her introductory episode. Batten down those hatches, this chick might make things reeeaaalll twisted.

Important question: what ARE the djinn? They must be telling Najara something - she pegged Xena and Gabrielle pretty well and knew about Xena's death visions. In real history, djinn were spirits (like genies) that could influence people in all kinds of interesting ways. What are these things that are feeding Najara tidbits of ideas? Hey, Naj: just because something's a spirit don't make it trustworthy. "Ooo, a spirit! Are you a good spirit?" "Uhm, yes, absolutely. I'm a very good spirit. Do everything I say." "Oh, OK!"

I might have taken Najara a bit more seriously if she didn't sound so much like an airport Hare Krishna. Lines like "So much good to be done, and so little time to do it"? Pardon me while I gag. That over-idealism, though, is just the kind of thing that goes right to Gabrielle's soft spot. You'd think after that little snafu in Brittania she'd be a bit more cautious about becoming a cultie.

Najara's goofy talk was interspersed with some SERIOUS competence, both in her fighting and in her manner. I loved the way she flipped that sword around when she offered it to Xena and took it back. I bet she can do some neat party tricks.

Was Najara's horse named Buttercup? (mmph snicker)

Najara is obviously built to be a shadowy reflection of Xena (or vice versa). Same battle skill, same leadership ability, same focus, complete with battlin' sidekicks, faithful horses, and war cries. But where Xena is emotionally closed off and filled with guilt and remorse, Najara is open, can't wait to hug and kiss the villagers she saves, and never feels a shred of doubt or sorrow - even when she should. As Gabrielle notes, Xena may have the more obvious problems, but hers are a lot less damaging in the long run.

That was quite a horse stunt that Najara pulled when we first saw her. I couldn't even tell how Xena got hit; she must have been knocked over by sheer "what the heck is that supposed to be?" force.

Why was it so ominous that Najara caught the arrow headed for Gabrielle? Xena was going to catch the arrow; Najara just got to it first. It wasn't as if Xena had failed to protect Gab. I didn't think the fact that Najara could protect, too, was so astonishing, but the music and reaction of Xena sure made it look like it was supposed to be.

We saw the second of Alti's visions in the fight between Najara and Xena. And for all Xena's cynicism about Miss Sweetness-and-Light, she asks her opinion about the death vision. And finally entrusts Gabrielle to her, although she quickly regrets that choice. Gabrielle's not the only one who got suckered.

Who says that it takes big changes to alter the death vision? Gabrielle's haircut on the cross is exactly like Najara's. Did the death vision already get changed by Gabrielle deciding not to go with Najara?

Xena decides to sneak away from Gabrielle for her own good just like Gabrielle did so long ago in Ties That Bind. Thankfully, both ideas were equally short-lived. Gabrielle weighs the problem of how she can reconcile her aversion to killing and sticking around with a killing machine, and Xena decides to end the debate for her - and bow out. With the death vision haunting her, Xena figures, by getting out of the way, to stop the past harm she's visited on Gab and the future death she could bring. It's tough to watch. It's one of those "heart in the right place, execution waaaayyyy off course" moves that's wonderfully sweet and painfully stupid at the same time. And Gabrielle will probably never even realize Xena tried to do it, just like Xena never seemed to find out what Gab tried in Ties That Bind. Ah, well.

The splits Xena does in the first fight with Najara are the same that we see her do with such wincing pain in Tale of Two Muses. Guess Xena's been doing some stretching since then. Cute break-dancing move Najara uses to take out the table legs. Hammer time!

Najara and Xena's two fights are both over Gabrielle, pure and simple. Sure, there's the niggling little issue about who we're allowed to kill when, but the swords don't get drawn until Gabrielle gets added to the equation. Then things get bloody. And when Najara claims victory the first time, Gabrielle knows darned well who the prize is supposed to be. She offers herself up to keep Najara at bay - if she hadn't, Miss Sweetness would likely accuse Gabrielle of an insincere conversion and shish-ka-bob the two of them. So Gabrielle goes with Najara, and in a great exercise in futility tries to offer a little reason to make Najara rethink her ideas. It gets nowhere, and the moment Xena shows up, Gabrielle's ready to motor, even with Xena a little wild in the eyes.

In case we were missing the subtlety-of-a-sledgehammer discussions between Xena and Najara about who the bard belongs with and why, Gabrielle's flower garland looks a lot like the one she wore for her wedding in Return of Callisto. Are you feeling like a wishbone yet, Gab?

Xena won the first fight against Najara, then turned her back on the down opponent and got laid low by cheap shots. She gets beaten into next Tuesday (and needs a trip to the dentist - shudder. "I hate that"? How many times has this happened!?), and her attacker takes off with the bard forcefully under her wing. "She likes killing too much" (Mizz Pot, meet Mizz Kettle)," "she beat you up so badly," and toss in a little bard-napping. Three ways to GUARANTEE to honk off the Warrior Princess.

From the moment she woke back up, Xena had snapped. The ol' dark side was firmly in control. But a funny thing has happened since the last time Xena's warlord tendencies have made an appearance. That dark side now listens to Gabrielle - and knows darned well how important she is. And even more amazingly, Gabrielle works with Nasty Xena. Dark-n-dirty Xena cheats in the final fight, big time. She puts Gabrielle in an elaborate fake danger setup to distract Najara and administer some serious butt-kicking, with Gabrielle's full help. Najara can't protect Gabrielle this time (was Xena also paying her back a bit for that arrow-catching business?), and Najara's about to find out how well the djinn can help her fly, until Gab reins Xena in.

Runner-up line of the episode goes to Nasty Xena for "Ooo. That's gonna hurt." I just loved the "Ooo." Gab takes a close Honorable Mention for the line "Uhh, Xena? Can you get me off this thing?" while offscreen smacking-around is going on.

But for the score point, Najara wins out in the end: "That would hurt (Gabrielle), and I don't ever want to do that. That's your job." Oh, OUCH! That's gonna leave a mark on Xena's ever-present guilt complex.

Return to the Wool-Gatherings.

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