When Fates Collide

"Your story will end with your playwright unable to save her Fallen Angel."

- Alti to Xena Julius Caesar escapes from the Underworld and takes over the Fates' loom. He uses it to alter his first encounter with Xena so that they became allies instead of enemies. Reality is greatly altered, as both are now married and rule the Roman Empire. Caesar seems to changed his destiny, but the sudden arrival of playwright Gabrielle threatens his new world.

Summary
Inside the Temple of the Fates, Caesar has chained up Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos in order to change his destiny. Unraveling the strands of time, he pauses on an image from the past in which Xena is seducing him. As he snips the strand and prepares to rethread the Loom of Life, Atropos warns him that not only will he change his own destiny, but also that of countless others. Caesar turns a deaf ear to the Fates' pleas, however, and returns to the moment when he originally betrayed Xena. This time, however, he doesn’t and a completely new reality begins to unfold.

It's now five years later and Caesar is meeting with Chinese emissaries. Suddenly, they are interrupted by the High Priestess Alti, who is more evil than ever in her current incarnation. Now chief counsel to the Emperor, Alti uses her astounding mind-powers to kill the emissaries as soon as Caesar accepts the document they're carrying offering Rome an alliance with Chin. Caesar then heads off to find Xena, who is now his wife, the Empress of Rome.

Xena's regal bearing is immediately apparent when she joins Caesar on the balcony of the royal stateroom as he delivers his "Friends, Romans and Countrymen" speech, announcing that the Senate has unanimously voted to make him Emperor and Xena Empress for life. In this world, Caesar succeeds in completing his infamous "assassination" speech to thunderous applause from the crowd.

That evening, Caesar and Xena are entertained by a play, written by none other than Gabrielle, who appears on stage after the performance to thank the audience. As soon as Xena sees Gabrielle, she is immediately attracted to her although she's never seen her before. At the post-theater banquet, Caesar is suddenly called away by Brutus and Xena and Gabrielle are drawn into a deep conversation that ultimately becomes a discussion about love.

Not really knowing why, Xena is drawn towards Gabrielle's quarters later that night and as she stands below Gabrielle's balcony observing her, the malevolent Alti appears. Confessing she wants to get rid of Xena so she can claim Caesar and Rome, Alti attacks Xena and begins to kill her by flooding her with images from both this life and the real world, causing her excruciating pain. Xena is near death when Caesar suddenly appears and saves her.

The next morning, when Xena finds out that Caesar has had Gabrielle arrested for being Alti's accomplice, Xena rushes to the dungeon to see her. Gabrielle denies the charges and Xena, trusting her instincts, promises to help her and find out why Caesar wants her dead. Later, when Alti is escorted into the Roman baths, she is shocked to find Xena waiting for her.

Claiming she's outgrown Caesar, Xena proposes that the two of them rule Rome together and manipulates Alti into showing her once again the visions she had the previous night. When Xena "comes to," she is fully aware of Alti's evil in her other life, as well as the rest of her other past.

Rushing into the prison courtyard just as Gabrielle is about to be crucified, Xena confronts Caesar, telling him she now knows the truth. Ignoring her pleas, Caesar is about to proceed with the crucifixion when Xena mentions the Fates, causing Caesar to freeze.

Xena explains that she knows the rules of the Loom; that only she or Caesar have the power to change their fates back and that she can now pose a real problem for him. Caesar agrees to free Gabrielle on the condition that Xena join him in his crusade to dominate the world, which will begin with his conquest of the kingdom of Chin. Later on, Caesar decides to murder Brutus in order to get even for his betrayal in the previous reality.

Gabrielle is reluctant to leave Rome, explaining to Xena that she has never felt as alive and complete as she feels around her, but Xena encourages her to move on and give the world more great plays.

Meanwhile, Caesar agrees to give the evil Alti a chance to prove she'd be a better partner for him than Xena by assigning her the task of ensuring that Gabrielle is killed by his troops as soon as she's out of Xena's sight. On her way out of Rome, Gabrielle is ambushed by soldiers.

Hearing the commotion, Xena rushes to their aid and a bloody battle ensues during which Alti appears and takes Gabrielle hostage. She grabs her, shows her visions of the "real life". Xena arrives. She shoots an arrow at Alti, who vanishes. Gabrielle is a little comatose. Xena and Alti fight. Roman soldiers come, and Xena fights them, too.

Gabrielle finally stands up and staggers around. Xena is shot with arrows in the leg and arm. Gabrielle tries to go to Xena, but Joxer grabs her. He tells Gabrielle she can't help Xena, but he can help her.

Later that night, Xena is arrested for a failed attempt to poison Caesar in their royal bedchamber, but she is able to deflect attention away from Gabrielle, who is dangling from the balcony outside. When Joxer, who in this version of reality is a Roman prison guard loyal to Xena, allows Gabrielle to see her, Xena quickly explains that Caesar changed the fate of the world and that she is ready to accept her destiny and be crucified.

As Xena is nailed to the cross, a devastated Gabrielle races to the Temple of the Fates where she sees that the Loom of Life has become a mass of knots and confusion. Meanwhile, back at the royal palace, Alti stabs Caesar, killing him and making herself the sole ruler of Rome.

When the Fates inform Gabrielle that both Xena and Caesar are dead, a wrathful Gabrielle torches the loom which explodes, creating a new world. Gabrielle awakes later in a familiar forest and turns to see Xena riding up on Argo. Both rejoice, thrilled to have their world back.

Disclaimer

 * As the Fates would have it, Caesar was once again harmed during the making of this motion picture.

Behind the Scenes

 * In an interview with the writer, Katherine Fugate, she said she wanted to show that certain events were meant to be, with or without the Fates' interference. Caesar will be assassinated by a person he trusts, Xena will be crucified by Caesar, Alti's thirst for power will lead to her destruction, and Xena will gain strength from Gabrielle's love. Fugate added, "It was my hope to portray the idea that every step we make in this lifetime is the right one - or we wouldn't be living it."
 * Apparently Gabrielle's haircut was also meant to be.
 * Ted Raimi initially wasn't supposed to be in this episode. Since he had to be flown down to shoot "Soul Possession" anyway, they decided to include him. The logic was that viewers would instantly understand that he was a good guy even though he was working for Caesar. Katherine Fugate explained, "I didn't discover Ted Raimi was in the episode until I arrived in New Zealand and saw the new script with the Joxer changes. RJ handled that insertion by tweaking the dialogue of an existing character to fit the voice of Joxer, whom he knows so well."
 * This Claire Stansfield's personal favourite episode.

Key Events

 * Last Appearance of Alti.
 * Last Appearance of Julius Caesar.
 * Last Appearance of Brutus.
 * Last mention of Lao Ma.

Trivia

 * Gabrielle's play is titled Fallen Angel – the same as the fifth season premiere.
 * Alti predicts that Xena will die when Gabrielle is unable to save her "Fallen Angel", correctly predicting Xena's death for the second time.
 * Ted's portrayal of "Joxer" in this episode seems to be different to his usual portrayal in previous episodes.

Guest Stars

 * Karl Urban as Julius Caesar
 * Claire Stansfield as Alti
 * Ted Raimi as Joxer
 * David Franklin as Brutus
 * Leah Mizrahi as Clotho
 * Chloe Jordan as Lachesis
 * Elizabeth Pendergrast as Atropos