FORGIVEN

Review by: Lord Nelson
lrdnlson@capital.net

Forgiven is an episode that I found extremely tought provoking. It neither has the overwhelming emotional power of the Rift nor the poignancy of One Against Against An Army. What it does have in abundance is a kind of contemplation of Xena's character and what she must do to fully reach her great destiny. This is indicative of RJ Stewart's my frankly continuing fascination with Xena's inner life. RJ directly confronts Xena with two things, the possiblity of faith in a higher power and herself as a child. The fascination of this episode comes from the facts that at this moment, Xena IS ready to accept what she once was by showing the brat Tara real concern, but she is NOT yet ready to accept the forgiveness of a higher power for her own sins. In The Bitter Suite, Xena asked for and received forgiveness from those close to her that she'd hurt during her violent and lost past. Now she is faced with the next stage in her spiritual development. She is faced with the opportunity to stare deeply into the darkness within herself, accept it, and forgive herself with the help of something greater than herself. All of this is wrapped up in a quest story. The quest is for the very SYMBOL of forgiveness, the Urn of Apollo. This is wonderful insight into the process of spiritual healing, and it is done with gentle and compasionate writing.

The story starts out with a group of robbers stealing the Urn of Apollo from a priest of Apollo during a ceremony of annointment of forgiving oil. The priest searchs out Xena and Gabrielle and asks them to get the Urn back. The dialog is important.

Priest: "You see the Urn of Apollo gives a new start to so many people."

Xena: "No urn can do that. That comes from within."

P: "Not all of us are strong enough to face the jaws of our own conscience alone. People come to me who are close to being driven mad by remorse and guilt. Soldiers who have killed too often in battle. Rich men and women who have nightmares about what they did to accumulate their wealth. The urn gives them strength to face those demons within. Do you understand?"

Xena looks uncomfortable. Almost scared.

Gabrielle: I understand.

X: We'll get your urn back.

This dialog sets the tone for the entire episode. Xena clearly doesn 't believe in something higher than herself and she certainly doesn't have the strength to look inside for the ultimate answer for her redemption.

Tara, interesting name that. It is the same name of the home of another great, conflicted female hero, Scarlett O'Hara from Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind." Tara is at a violent, willful, girl with raven hair and a powerful resemblence to Xena. We first meet her in a bar where she picks a fight with Gabrielle and proceeds to beat our bard up badly. This scene is very violent and I believe it is so to make a point. This was who Xena once was. Xena admits that Tara reminded her of herself. Xena was a wild, violent, angry, driven girl who, like Tara hung out with the "Young Bucks". Xena even says that if she'd had some guidance at Tara's age, she'd been better equipped to handle what would happen to her. Xena is immediately drawn to Tara because, like the girl, she too thinks she's a lost cause.

Gabrielle is dubious. After all Tara did try to bite off her ear. Gabrielle is very angry at the girl and is only willing to go along because Xena is open with her about her feelings. Before, Xena would have preremptorily told Gabrielle that Tara was going along, but here, Xena is extremely solicitous of Gabrielle's feelings. However, as Xena is the tactical expert Gabrielle rightly defers to Xena's military opinions and obeys orders.

Tara is headstrong. She has something to prove and she constantly disobeys Xena. She nearly exposes Xena to the gang that took the urn and this episode leads to a vital confrontation between Xena and Gabrielle.

G: "OK, I get what you're saying. I'm being too hard on her."

X: "Well it's understandible. She did try to bite off your ear."

G: "Heh! It's not hurting as much now so I can be civil to her."

X: "Thanks."

G: "If you can say with a straight face that you believe in her, it'll go a long way with a confused kid like that. It did with me. It's easier to believe in yourself after someone else has believed in you first."

X: "Thanks."

This dialog is so important because I feel it has great signficance for Xena. It is an acknowldgement by her greatest friend that Xena's love is important to her. It is a major validation for Xena, and watching Xena's reaction throughout the conversation she is clearly greatly moved by Gabrielle's consideration and wisdom. This echos Xena's desire to be like Gabrielle as expressed in One Against An Army and it is a poigniant and effective moment. It also raises a great truth about Xena. Xena genuinely believes that she is a lost cause and she doesn't want anybody else to feel the way that she does---such is the depth and the fear of her own self loathing. The last line of dialog will have consequence throughout the rest of the season, I'm sure.

The most important scene is After Tara tries to take matters into her own hands and gets herself and Gabrielle captured by the Red Valley Gang. After Xena rescues them, Gabrielle detonates. "I'm gonna kill'er. I'm gonna to rip out her throat. I'm gonna eat her eyeballs." Then in a move that is extremely wise herself, knowing that Gabrielle's judgment is clouded by anger Xena leaves the two alone. Tara takes a log to Gabrielle, but Gabrielle just knocks the tar out of her little antagonist with her staff. This does two things. When Gabrielle defeats Tara she finally admits how much she hates herself by crying about how bad she is, and Gabrielle finally vents her anger clearing her judgment. Xena comforts Tara and reminds her that she's not bad. Gabrielle now realizes it too. Tara finally tells them both about the death of her mother and her abuse at the hands of her alcoholic father. Xena squashes the girl's self loathing by saying, "You want to compare bad deeds? I'll bury ya." Now that the air is clear, Tara sees the truth of Xena's and Gabrielle's loving relationship. She finally finds out that Xena doesn't have the franchise on goodness and that she often needs Gabrielle's judgment to decide.

Tara later asks Gabrielle if the urn has any kind of power. Gabrielle replies "For people who need to forgive themselves in order to move on in life, this urn can be very meaningful."

The final scene takes place in the temple once the urn has been restored to it. Tara, who used her new knowledge of self to try to reform her boyfriend, who turned out to be a murderous criminal, now is convinced of her own basic worth. She along with Gabrielle submits to the forgiving annointment. In a stunning shot, Xena, who is standing in the door in front of the setting sun, shows how deeply conflicted she is about accepting the sacrament. With her face impassive, but her eyes ablaze, she turns away and walks into the sun. Tara has presented her with the possiblity that she can forgive herself for her past, but Xena isn't ready to accept that possibility. Xena just cannot yet accept Xena. The burden this woman carries is truly immense. It is a sad yet hopeful moment for the sun Xena walks into isn't forbiddingly red, it is brilliantly yellow. Her future is bright, but Xena doesn't know it yet.

We now see RJ Stewart's love and admiration for the characters he's writing. This script is a success as both a loving study of Xena's character and as an action adventure. It is chock full of wonderful moments: Xena's realization of her resemblence to Tara, Gabrielle's invention of Charades, Tara's saying good night to ARGO (Argo said good night back! How sweet can you get?!), and Tara's quest for what good means by her asking of Xena and Gabrielle Tara is a character with surprising depth. With guidance the little hellion will gain great things in her life. The dialog is often very trenchant and penetrating leaving behind a great sense of reality and truth. Xena has learned from the rift how important the truth is and that it can heal as well as her medical skills. This is terriffic stuff!

The acting is as you would expect from Xena: Warrior Princess---excellent. The role of Tara, which could have degenerated into superficial scenery chewing is handled with great verve and sensitivity by Shiri Appleby. This is yet another guest star on Xena that shows great range. The show's reputation for high quality performance is bringing out the good ones, and Shiri is a REALLY good one. She has charisma and a subtly mobile face. She's generous too. Her turns with both Lucy and Renee are just winning. Not only do I want to see Tara again, I want to see Shiri too. Special mention must be made of Renee here. Never more has Gabrielle been more fiesty, combative, wise, sweet, loving and theatrical. This is probably the finest writing for Gabrielle I've seen and really points out why she's such a great character. Renee is fabulous here at showing ALL of Gabrielle's faceted personalty, and she does a lovely bit of silent movie acting (with appropreate music from Joe LoDuca!) during the charade game. This is a great actress working with a great part, and the joy Renee brings to the role is glaringly evident. Lucy is super too. She's very introspective playing Xena in this episode. You can see Lucy driving Xena deeper into her own soul to discover her attitudes and need for forgiveness. She does it with microscopic movements of her body and face. Lucy also shows how much about love Xena has learned. Xena can now totally leave behind her powerful body language and fall into the people she cares about. Wonderful! As One Against An Army is, this is another writer's and actor's episode---excellently handled.

All in all, Forgiven is a very good Xena ep. The action adventure part of the story is clearly a framework for the spiritual work Xena must do. As a mission, Xena has been on far harder and more exciting. However, Xena couldn't be on a totally world shattering job every day, but the underlying story is so good that the every day nature of the search for the urn can be totally overlooked. Forgiven is another achievement in a season of achievements.

LordNelson

 


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