Xena: Warrior Princess 6x18 "When Fates Collide" Reaction
Added 2023-03-25 20:37:56 +0000 UTC
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An incredible scene from ‘When Fates Collide’. AU Gabrielle’s inspiration for her play comes from the episode ‘Fallen Angel’. The hero who threw themselves over the cliff for the one they love was Xena. The fair maiden who fell was Gabrielle. The words come from somewhere else, in another place and time, she just writes them down. And I truly do believe true love is someone who looks so deeply into our soul that they’d find something worth dying for, or more specifically, killing for and then dying because of it just as Xena and Gabrielle have done for each other many times in the show. Including this AU time.
Girl4Music
2023-11-30 15:51:01 +0000 UTC"You know, I wanted to represent the beauty of two women in love. I wasn't gonna shy away from that. And I actually said that [...] that this is how I see it and how do you see your show? You know cause I was a viewer. And there in the room - 'Are they even seeing the same show I'm seeing?' - was the question I had. And they said: 'We do! This is what we think but we can't [..] we always have to sto[..], we have a line we can't cross because of censors and, you know, people who buy the show and, you know, their behold into other people. So we have to make sure we can go as far as we can.' Now of course a lot of this censorship, a lot of those fears had been lifted in time. That's why I think the show is so groundbreaking and people kinda forget that. You know but they did. They all felt the same way I did. Even then to learn that, when you're just a viewer outside, to hear: ok, they are seeing what we're seeing and they are with us." - Katherine Fugate Different place, different time. Same Xena and Gabrielle. At least to each other. Yeah, the creators were always with us. That was obvious just from watching the show. They catered to their queer audience not to bait us, but to comfort us. As if to say “Hey, we see you and these characters are for you. It’s just we have to be so careful with them. It is not our intention to play between the lines, it’s just our obligation to. We’re with you and we know this is the truth of our characters. We won’t deny them that.” It was comforting the way they handled Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship more than it was frustrating. And even now - I much prefer what they did with Xena and Gabrielle as queer characters compared to what creators do with their queer characters today. For the Xena creators, cast and crew, the censorship actually helped them develop their characters in a very authentic way because they realized they could get around it by having it go both ways. They used the obligatory subtext and the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ to develop the emotional connection between Xena and Gabrielle, whereas TV show creators today are completely ignoring or forgetting all about that because they have no restrictions to contend with - no censorship to appease. And they basically give you all these flowers blooming without what roots them. All these queer characters in TV today. There’s little to no emotional connection between them. There’s the physical intimacy… but no emotional catharsis. It is boring and, as a queer person myself, it is insulting. I genuinely don’t have a problem with sex between queer characters. But I do if that’s all you give me. And if that’s all you’re going to give me, then I’d rather not have it because I know there’s no real connection. Xena and Gabrielle couldn’t have physical intimacy between them. And honestly… thank the gods for that. It wasn’t necessary to have that as much as it was necessary for them to have an emotional connection. And they gave us that in spades. I let my mind do the rest and that was good enough for me. What I’m given now is the complete opposite and it is not good enough. It is not appealing or interesting or entertaining - it’s just frustrating and nauseating because there is nothing underneath it holding it up. To TV show creators that create queer characters: You’re giving me flowers that bloom but there’s nothing rooting them to the ground so they’ll soon die. If not literally - figuratively - they will all die. And I don’t want to keep watching myself die over and over again. You think it’s compelling to do this because it’s Shakespearean drama. But it’s not. It’s devastating. At least Romeo and Juliet had emotional catharsis. But that emotional catharsis ended with them. If you do their story over, it is not shocking to experience. If you do it once. It’s compelling because it’s tragedy. Do it twice. It’s tiring because it’s been done before. It is not Shakespearean drama to die. It’s just death. And this is genuinely the experience I have with queer characters in TV made today even when Bury your Gays is not involved. The characters are already dead to me because I’m expecting it. I’m expecting death. Whether it be the death of the relationship or the death of the character. It doesn’t make a difference to me because it’s all just one in the same nothingness. Your queer characters are devoid of complexity. There are lines in a script and shapes on a canvass but if there’s no fucking colour, I do not see my flag waving. I see a blank fucking page. They represent nothing. I believe this very strongly. There will never ever be any representation like Xena and Gabrielle again. And it’s simply because there will never ever be any TV show writers that care about queer characters like that again. That are genuinely with their audience. Thank you Katherine Fugate. For not just being with us. But for understanding the point in the first place. For giving us a version of Romeo and Juliet that wasn’t about death through dying. But life instead.
Girl4Music
2023-11-30 15:30:37 +0000 UTCKatherine Fugate told me that she was given no indication on the nature of Xena and Gabrielle's relationship prior to writing 'When Fates Collide'. There was no mention on what they were to each other by Rob or any of the cast/crew. She preconcepually believed them to be lovers and wrote the episode under her belief of that. She wrote it as if they were rediscovering their love all over again. “Behind the scenes, everyone that I spoke to believed they were in a romantic relationship. I had no one tell me otherwise. I felt they were, too. That’s how I saw them, so that’s how I wrote them. When their friendship evolved into love was debated - not had it evolved at all.” - Katherine Fugate This episode really is a gift! ❤️
Girl4Music
2023-11-30 15:29:08 +0000 UTCThere was supposed to be a kiss in the original script. They took it out. “And Gabrielle knows Xena is her soulmate. And without a word, kisses her. A kiss that’s filled with eternity but ends almost instantly when the royal Roman guards storm in and forcefully pull them apart.” —When Fates Collide, original script This is the gayest episode of Xena hands down. Even if there wasn’t a kiss.
Girl4Music
2023-11-30 15:17:39 +0000 UTCI think it was meant to be Joxer to be honest in an alternate reality life where he actually did become a warrior and had the skill to learn and train as a Roman soldier.
Girl4Music
2023-11-30 15:12:35 +0000 UTCThat wasn't Joxer btw, it was a new character Roman soldier who was more kind-hearted and discerning than the rest. They opted to have Joxer's actor play him so the viewers would know he could be trusted despite having very few lines.
Judson
2023-03-26 04:09:49 +0000 UTCLiam, I know you like What Ifs and alternate universe episodes so hopefully you enjoyed this one thoroughly too. I've said before: some of the series' best episodes feel like good fan fiction, and this episode is the pinnacle of that! It helped to underscore that our leading ladies might have led lives that looked good on the surface if they had never met, but ultimately their true happiness is with each other. Top 10 episode IMO. Their strategy was very clear, the show wanted to bring back some of their most iconic guest characters for the final stretch and the inclusion of Caesar, Alti, and Brutus here were nice.
Judson
2023-03-26 03:00:09 +0000 UTC
