Forgiven (Xena episode)
| Xena: Warrior Princess episode | |
|---|---|
| “Forgiven” | |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 14 |
| Guest star(s) | Shiri Appleby (Tara) |
| Writer(s) | R.J. Stewart; Jim Prior (editor) |
| Director | Garth Maxwell |
| Production no. | #V0415 |
| Original airdate | 1998 Feb. 16 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "One Against an Army" | "King Con" |
An obnoxious kid (Tara) who keeps saying she's bad and wants to be redeemed is trying to work with Xena, but she's driving Gabrielle nuts.
Disclaimer
"No street-talking, cat-fighting, barroom-brawling juvenile delinquents were harmed during the production of this motion picture."
Commentary
Although it starts out as a return to the lighter more humorous episodes, and certainly contains a great deal of humor, "Forgiven" actually is a continuation of the darker tone that Season 3 of Xena: Warrior Princess generally took, focusing on "The Deliverer", "Gabrielle's Hope", "The Debt" parts 1 & 2, "Maternal Instincts", "The Bitter Suite", and "One Against an Army". The tone is created by several references to Gabrielle's own guilt, as well as by the kid's own repeated slipsliding in her efforst to reform.
The lynchpin moment that sets this episode firmly into the "dark" sequence, though, comes at the end of the episode, when Gabrielle and Tara seek priestly or divine forgiveness to help them forgive themselves, and Xena turns her back on them and walks away. "What's Xena doing? Doesn't she wanna be forgiven?" Tara asks.
Although the writers left it ambiguous, and as a likely harbinger of future episodes and arcs, it can also be read as an affirmation of Xena's stance in Warrior... Priestess... Tramp, that the gods aren't responsible for our actions, and we have to take matters in our own hands; in this case, their forgiveness is not what is key. Xena's stance is also a reminder that Xena doesn't depend on the crutches of religion or religious symbolism, but on her own actions; in this sense, it is simply an affirmation of her strength. However, a darker reading suggests that Xena may have given up her quest for forgiveness, and is charting her course solely by personal feelings -- her love for Gabrielle; this is suggested by the previous episode, One Against an Army, in which Xena says she's done even atoning, and can focus on saving Gabrielle's life now; Gabrielle's call alone is what recalls Xena to her duty to save all of Greece from the army.
Intertextuality
Final scene where Xena walks away is reference to John Wayne film "The Searchers".