Rick's Studio

Well, it's kind of old news now, but since we're still in rerun season... I've written reviews of all the other Xenas this season, so now I'll review the two I didn't get to: the China episodes, beginning with "Purity":

First off, when the dying Chinese messenger arrives with a message from Lao Ma, I'm surprised that Gab is surprised to hear from someone who's been dead. After all, Gab's been dead, too, and in the Xenaverse, we all know how permanent "death" is!

Speaking of Gab--love the old winter coat, love the new green oriental pantsuit. The colors really bring out the colors in Gabrielle's face. I like seeing Gabrielle in different outfits, but somehow, I still miss seeing Xena in her Xena outfit. It's like seeing Batman wearing Superman's outfit. Or something like that....

Once again, seeing Xena fighting, I have to wonder how that kid's gonna turn out. Staying in shape is one thing, but getting kicked, doing summersaults, being thrown in the air by a gunpowder explosion, well!... I guess it'll be ready to inherit his/her mother's skills.

There is the Gabrielle putting her foot down Joxer's pants scene. I thought this was the best part of the show. I see Gab's new warrior skills have also improved her flexibility. I think enough was said on this at the time.

Biggest glitch department: when Pao Tsu lights the fuse to blow up Gab and Joxer, it only takes her and her soldiers about 30 seconds to get what appears to be a mile or so away from the blast. Those Chinese appear to have perfected the "sprint" as well as gunpowder!

And speaking of gunpowder, so Joxer's a warrior (more or less), musician, lover (of Meg at any rate), cook, and now a chemist, reinventing gunpowder from a spice rack. I'm starting to think he's the one with "many skills". When was the last time we heard Xena say that?

And so we get to the final battle scene. With Xena pregnant, Gabrielle again steals the show at this point. Yeah, Xena's got the fireball action going with the sisters, but the highlight was watching our Gab fight off a group of troops with no help from Joxer, thank you very much.

Conclusion: reviewing the above comments, I see not much of any depth. So I guess it's no wonder I found the episode a little so-so (as XWP goes), especially considering all the Lao Ma tie-ins. Perhaps some of the episode was blunted by the talkiness of the dialogue. A lot of sitting about discussing philosophy and family history. Let's have that baby already and let it rip! The costumes were excellent, but I had to wonder about Joxer. He fits in nicely in comedy episodes, but here in a virtually straight drama, he seems out of place, like a brain-damaged idiot rather than a well-meaning blunderer (I think there is a difference). I don't dislike Joxer at all: he's been in many of my favorite episodes (and I gotta relate to anyone with an unrequited crush on the Gabster). But it seems like he's being stuffed into episodes that don't really need him this season. I guess he's supposed to take up some narrative slack for Lucy during her pregnancy. I miss Amarice, who I think would've been better suited to this type of show.