Home » Film & TV » Sci-Fi TV » Xena - A Friend in Need?

Xena - A Friend in Need?

© Tanya M. Blakeley

As this year's television season comes to a close, so have several television series, the latest among these is the fan favourite Xena: Warrior Princess.

The series finale of Xena, a two-part episode entitled "A Friend in Need, Parts I and II", aired on some US stations on June 18th. On other US Stations aired it last weekend.

In the online Xena community, mere hours after the finale first aired, emails began flying fast and furious giving those who had not seen the episode an 'earful'. Many of those emails contained anger about how the show was ended.

Other 'hardcore' Xena fans expressed great sadness, along with the anger and feelings of betrayal. In fact few favourable comments, to the best of my knowledge, have been made about Xena's final episode. One of those favourable comments about the series ender was written by David Bianculli in the New York Daily News Online Edition.

In his review "In Last Battle, Xena's a Champ", Bianculli called it "an intense and impressive last effort" by the Xena cast and crew. Indeed the costumes were very impressive, including the Samurai costumes, and so were some of the special effects.

While I understand the desire for a favourite show to have a happy ending sometimes, as in life, that just won't happen. Such is the way in which Xena ended. Sorry folks...unfortunately the reports of Xena's death (from several sources) weren't greatly exaggerated.

In the final episode, which was directed by Rob Tapert, Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) head to Japan where Xena's past comes back to haunt them. Fans are treated to flashbacks of Xena's past with Borias (Martin Csokas), a young slave girl (Michelle Ang) who touches Xena's soul and of a time where the actions Xena took helped Yodoshi (Adrian Brown), an evil Samurai spirit, to enslave the souls of 40,000 people.

Forward to the present, Xena, having learned of the souls' entrapment and a way to free them, vows to do just that even if it means her own death (as horrible and shocking as the way she died may be). From there on the episode is action packed and touching.

However in the end, Xena chooses death over life to set free those souls she had unknowingly helped to imprison. While it might not have been the way some people would have ended the show, in the end it's up to those who create the series, like Xena, to choose the way they want it to end.

The copyright of the article Xena - A Friend in Need? in Sci-Fi TV is owned by . Permission to republish Xena - A Friend in Need? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.