I’ve put this off long enough…it’s time to finish
Posted by Automatic-Adeptness4@reddit | xena | View on Reddit | 32 comments
Let me just say this…and keep in mind I’m speaking in the guise of what the show says Japa is like. WHY!!!??? Why wouldn’t the ghost killer KILL HIMSELF or go to war and die to kill the great evil??? How would allowing AN INSIGNIFICANT WOMAN save the day restore anyone’s honor if women are disregarded as nothing.
Heading Gabrielle say STOP it to Xena because she knows something is off with her breaks my heart cuz I KNOW what’s coming. This is my 1st FULL REWATCH of the show since I was a teen….I…am…not….READY. But I told myself this time I was watching to see Gabrielle’s story to fully unfold. And seeing Xena let Gabby take the lead to save the burning town…what a great moment….ugh here come the arrows…wish me luck yall
Evilbuffy14@reddit
For the love of the Greater Good, don't watch it! No one needs that kind of pain in their lives. Ever. Either watch it in an alternate order or don't watch it at all. The series should have just ended with both Xena and Gabrielle heading off on their next adventure. No one needed to die! Damnit!
Left_Repeat_6172@reddit
Brave soul. I just finished my rewatch and opted out of AFIN. As heartbreakingly beautiful as it is, I don't need it in my world right now. I jumped straight into the virtual seasons to give life back to a character stupid enough to think the greater good was a world without them.
Winter-Ad6197@reddit
I recently rewatched it as well since it aired. I remember watching as a teen and just being pissed that they ended a great series, with amazing strong women, that way.
So many plot holes but the one that stuck out for me was Gabrielle being told she has limited time to find a body, CREMATE IT (during a storm), collect the ashes and climb a mountain. Then Akemi offering to start a whole back tattoo on Gabrielle for protection and Gabby being like, sure why not I got time. That tattoo would have taken a minimum of half a day.
dimerind@reddit
It's called suspension of disbelief, and it's a great thing we've lost in the recent decades. Fantasy shows now have to be ultrarealistic, everything needs to be measured to the last milimeter, everything needs to be historically accurate and factually possible. I hate it. It's influenced by the greater access to the internet and that everyone can fact check things instantly and point at plot holes immediately.
What made Xena so great for me was its ability to pick and choose mythologies, timelines, characters and whatnot and make a mixture like nothing happened.
flynnigan14@reddit
There is never a bad time to get a tattoo
Agent8699@reddit
Ghosts given tangible bodies also apparently have super tattooist powers!
Automatic-Adeptness4@reddit (OP)
A wizard did it
knilly91@reddit
Yea that episode really messed me up pretty bad too my first time through. I literally refused to believe it. But now that I’m grown and more mature, I actually kind of respect it. Xena’s not exactly the grow old and retire type. And I kinda saw this coming, in a way. There’s an old idiom, “you die by the sword you live by”
But I’ll tell you what, our girl went out with a BANGGGGG like no other!!! All that it took to get her down was nothing short of superhuman. 💪😩🥹🥺😭😭
Firm_Introduction937@reddit
And… even with all of that she LET herself be killed. She could have killed the leader easy. She didn’t kill him and let him kill her on purpose bc she knew she had to die to go after yodoshi.
megararara@reddit
Nope. Been my favorite show for 25 years and once I realized where it was headed I shut it off and have never seen last episode. Full disclosure I also didn’t read what you wrote just in case lol
Latte-Catte@reddit
Interesting, then what is your headcanon ending then?
megararara@reddit
See that’s why I don’t want to watch it because to me Xena and Gabrielle are immortal beings still off fighting in Ancient Greece 😅😂
Latte-Catte@reddit
Immortal?! 😂 Yeah the finals will ruin you.
megararara@reddit
Hahahahaha I first discovered Xena when I was being bullied in elementary school. I got to watch episodes as they came on tv and then every year for Christmas I would get a season or two on dvd so I finally got to watch them all in order. When I finally got to the end I just couldn’t stand the thought of not having them as a comfort idea, because when things were really bad I would imagine them being my aunts and fighting evil (and bullies!) with them 😆 so I just hard noped and never tried last episode again! Things are a lot better now, maybe it’s time for a FULL rewatch haha I’ll make a post if I do!
IseQween@reddit
You could call on the powers of that child within to imagine better outcomes regardless of "reality." I bet the aunts in your head could still handle any fears or disappointments about AFIN.
brandnewbanana@reddit
Mine is after they fly off in Many Happy Returns, they settle down for awhile and live happily ever after b
brandnewbanana@reddit
I did the same thing with Buffy. I stopped watching when Tara was shot for no good reason and then couldn’t watch season 7.
daryl772003@reddit
You're missing good moments. Awful moments too but also good ones
Persistent_Parkie@reddit
Absolutely. Xena had moved to a channel we didn't get by it's last season so I heard all about it online. When I finally got the series on DVD several years ago I set out to watch the entire thing. I got as far as When Fates Collide, put the series aside for the better part of a year then started from the beginning again. I did that repeatedly, getting an episode or two farther each time. I finally finished it last summer and it was touching and yet 😩. While I'm not going to watch it when I'm not emotionally prepared I probably will watch it again.
Now how any of you all surived that shit without spoilers first is beyond me.
megararara@reddit
Awe man, okay maybe I’ll check it out 😅
FirebirdWriter@reddit
I do think it worth seeing once
Revolutionalredstone@reddit
NEVER!
I've reached dozens of times buy I always stop near the end ..
something are better left a mystery ;D
Tricky_Direction_897@reddit
I watched it once when it aired. Never again.
a_pathetic_@reddit
This, I haven’t seen the finale since it aired. 😂
pkjhoward@reddit
I’m tearing up just thinking about it lol. I think I’ve watched it twice and watched many other episodes dozens of times.
Narutoblaa@reddit
Leave the memories alone.
KaidaStorm@reddit
I'll be right there with you soon, I'm watching with a friend who's never seen it and I told her about an alternative watch order and she was like "cool, we can do that when we've watched it a second time after the regular order"
And I was just internally screaming like "no, don't make me go through that again"
Takataapui_Kiwi@reddit
Yassss enjoy - it’s truly some of the best/worst TV ever. Before it’s time in sooooo many ways. Be ready with some self care for after…but try to just be in the moment with your two best girls as much as you can.
HausCat4@reddit
AFIN always seemed so out of character of Xena for me. She always said she would never leave Gabrielle, yet she does in the end. I always just remember that no one in the Xenaverse actually stays dead. There are ways to come back.
Agent8699@reddit
I agree. Partly due to the writing - why does Xena suddenly want to go to Egypt?
And partly due to Lawless’ performance. Xena seemed positively exhausted and … resigned to her fate (even before she knew what her fate was … like she’d read ahead in the script).
Agent8699@reddit
FIN has multiple plot holes big enough to drag a Trojan Horse through, but on two points:
Ghost Killer wanted to kill Yodoshi, but apparently couldn’t track him down to actual kill him. It’s unclear why this is so
Xena was intended to kill Yodoshi. Xena was meant to trap Yodoshi. They knew Yodoshi was a misogynist who would relish capturing and torturing the woman he blamed for his death (since she taught Akemi the pinch).
Xena was meant to trap Yodoshi, so Ghost Killer could kill Yodoshi. Then all would be right in the world …
Meushell@reddit
It’s okay. After this, Caesar messes with the Fate’s Loom, then Gabrielle burns it. The Japa incident never happened. In fact, Xena and Akemi never met. That was just Caesar assigning Gabrielle role to some random going-to-die anyway, person.