Paradise Found

In this prelude to the India arc, we return to the themes of Gabrielle's spiritual quest, Xena's dark side, Gabrielle's residual guilt regarding Hope, and Xena's fear of the death vision. Jeremy Roberts (most known in my mind for his fantastic role as the Assassin Thersites in A Fistful of Dinars) plays Aden, a monastic individual who claims to be able to remove all of the pain and hurt and darkness -- but doesn't reveal the cost involved.

Aden (likely an intentional play on "Eden") is a peacefully creepy character. He was reminiscent in some ways of Najara from Crusader. At first he sounded so right, but like Xena, I had the feeling he was too good to be true. It is never really explained what he is -- is he a powerful mystic, a deity type, or a monster? This ambiguity doesn't detract from the story however, as what he is isn't as important as what he's doing.

The most important image in the episode is the yin-yang bed. This symbol from the far east represents the unity of creation, and how what appears to be duality (whether good/evil, male/female, light/dark) is, in fact, merely aspects of the whole. The light spot in the dark half, and the dark spot in the light indicates that there is a fragment of the opposite present. There is nothing that can be done about this except accept the order of the universe.

This can represent our heroes. Gabrielle sleeps and relaxes on the white half. In the show, she is the 'light' -- but she does have that fragment of darkness within her that gives her the strength to endure. This darkness frightens her, and her spiritual quest is an attempt to deny that darkness. This quest is doomed to failure however, unless she realizes that her ultimate salvation will come from within.

The show often talks about inner peace, and inner strength. All of the cults and groups Gabrielle has fallen in with (since Khrafstar in The Deliverer) have promised that peace from either an outside source, like Khrafstar's "Deliverer" or Najara's "Light", or a separation from the darkness within, for example Aden's meditations and "letting go".

Xena, on the other hand, is the opposite. She is a dark character, struggling to hang on to the light within. This light has nearly died several times because Xena has personified it in Gabrielle, and it waxes and wanes based on her relationship with Gabrielle. Xena has come to accept darkness as part of her combined being -- indeed, it has saved their lives numerous times (the first being all the way back in Dream Worker).

There are strong similarities here to The Bitter Suite. Both Xena and Gabrielle remark on the resemblance to Illusia, and even the music as they first approach Aden's house strongly resembles the "drawing out" music that underscores the first sequences in Illusia.

I was initially bothered by the dramatic physical transformation when Xena gave in to her dark side in the climactic moments of this episode, but it does make sense, given how thought and reality existed side by side in this realm.

This episode is full of great moments. There are pleasant ones between Xena and Gabrielle in the opening and closing tags (including a return to the playful banter we get a taste of at the end of Daughter of Pomira). There are disturbing ones, like Xena's slaughter of the menagerie. There is also top-notch editing, including the whole massage/vision bleed through. In my book, this episode is a fine piece of work, and an excellent addition to the core story arc of the season.

Back to Top