Story by RJ Stewart and Ropert Tapert
Teleplay by RJ Stewart
Directed by Oley Sassone
Xena narrowly escapes execution for attempting to kill the ruthless young Emperor Ming T'ien and finally repays the debt she owes her spiritual mentor, Lao Ma.
Tropes
- And Show It to You: Ming Tien brags that this was how he finished off Lao Ma after subjecting her to torture for hours.
- Collapsing Lair: Xena uses her newfound powers to bring down the lair of the Green Dragon. Gabrielle helps civilians evacuate in the meantime.
- Create Your Own Villain: Xena's actions in the past inspired Ming Tien to be as ruthless as she was.
- Enlightenment Superpowers: Lao Ma reveals that her powers stem from her ability to empty her mind from wants, desires and hatred. Xena briefly gained those powers in the flashback but uses them when she's overwhelmed with hatred of Borias. In the present, Xena gains them once more. She frees herself and destroys the Green Dragon's temple in the process. She presumably loses those powers by fulfilling her desire of killing Ming T'ien.
- The Evil Prince: What Ming Tien has become. He even thanks Xena for showing him how to rule with ruthlessness.
- Foreshadowing: The Rift arc continues, as Xena covers up killing Ming Tien and lies to Gabrielle.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Ming Tien by Xena, and how!
- Irony: Ming T'ien hands Xena Lao Ma's hair brooch which was her dying request... an item that Xena uses to kill Ming T'ien soon after.
- Kiss of Life: Given by Lao Ma to Xena to keep her underwater longer. Could also be seen as an Underwater Kiss.
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Les Yay: There seems to be a more going on between Xena and Lao Ma than friendship during their bonding. - Matricide: What Ming Tien did to Lao Ma.
- Moral Event Horizon: It's hard to top executing your own mother over a period of hours.Ming Tien: That was why I did the execution. I knew she wouldn't use her powers to hurt— her little boy.
- Multi-Part Episode
- Redemption Rejection: Twice. Xena had the chance to join Lao Ma and help her rule her kingdom as her warrior princess, but her anger at Borias for betraying her overtook her reasoning. She threw away a chance of redemption a second time when she killed Ming Zhu instead of apologizing for kidnapping his son.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Double subverted. Ming Tien brags about finishing Lao Ma in brutal fashion, and Xena stares in Tranquil Fury. We then see Gabrielle enter, and it looks like Xena has opted to spare Ming Tien and simply denounce him for his actions, but the last shot shows he's dead.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: Ming Tien's Wham Line stuns Xena into near speechlessness.
- Wham Line: To show how truly depraved Ming Tien is.Xena: Lao Ma was your mother.
Ming Tien: I knew that the whole time! - Wham Shot: How viewers learn that Xena faked sparing Ming Tien and that he was really Impaled with Extreme Prejudice in the side of his head.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The story continues from the first part.
