Joxer and Gabrielle... Together?

Starting with the episode, A Comedy of Eros it was discovered that Joxer had actually developed real feelings of love for Xena's trusty sidekick, Gabrielle. I say KUDOS Xena staff! That simple plot device suddenly gave the warrior wannabe a better sense of direction. He was no longer simply a character brought in for comic relief. Even many Joxer haters saw this episode as a turning point, no matter how small. It was great to see that with this single episode, Joxer could really leap beyond the stereotypcial purely comic relief character and begin to evolve. A Comedy of Eros delt with some real emotions from Joxer and was the first true indication that much more was in store for the bumbling warrior with the big heart.

Now, as far as my feelings about Joxer and Gabby actually becoming a couple: Although it might be cute to see Joxer and Gabrielle together, I'd be perfectly content with just the way things are: a lovesick Joxer and a clueless Gabby. There's just something so intriging about unrequited love. It would almost, for lack of a better word, "ruin" things if the two got together. There wouldn't be that tension between them. There wouldn't be that sympathy for Joxer to just come right out and tell Gabrielle how he feels about her. There wouldn't be the fun in hoping the underdog will finally prevail and get the girl. This, of course, doesn't mean that Joxer can't at least keep on trying. That's where the fun comes from!

Season 5 played around a lot with Joxer and Gabrielle's relationship. In Chakram, the second episode of the 5th season, Joxer finally tells Gabrielle that he loves her, but it somehow falls flat. It wasn't a very satisfying end to the "Joxer-Loves-Gabrielle" subplot, to say the least.

It's not until Eternal Bonds, eleven episodes later, that we finally get some real closure. In the episode, Joxer is grazed by a poison arrow and Gabrielle has to take him to this tree from which Xena can make an antidote. The whole time, Joxer is getting sicker and sicker and Gabrielle has to take care of him. I think Eternal Bonds was excellent. I believe this episode was the best resolution to the "Joxer-Loves-Gabrielle" storyline we could have ever hoped for. Of course Gabrielle didn't run to Joxer and profess her undying love to him. Can any of us honestly say that we truly believed she would? Instead, Gabrielle learns to look a little deeper inside herself and about her relationship with Joxer. As she realizes Joxer's definition of friendship is not that far from her own, Gabrielle utters perhaps the greatest bit of insight she has ever revealed about herself, "I can be a real bitch sometimes, huh?"

Whoo hoo! It's about time someone's said that! I have always liked Gabrielle, but I can't tell you how many times I've muttered nearly those exact words about her... Especially during a few times where she was particularly cruel to Joxer.

In his feaverish state, Joxer reveals a lot of heartfelt things about Gabrielle that he's held for a long time. At one point, he asks, "Why didn't you love me, Gabrielle?" She responds with, "I do love you. It's just not the way that you want it-- I guess. I wish I did."

At the end of the episode, Joxer gets the antidote and begins to feel a lot better. Gabrielle approaches him about the conversations they'd had when he was dying.

Gabrielle: Joxer, when you were ill-- I said, um-- Joxer: I know what you said. You said that-- you love me, but only as a friend, right? Gabrielle: I do mean that I-- I-- Joxer: I know you do. I know you do. But, Gabrielle-- I will always love you more than that. And-- that's just something I'll have to live with. You know? But that's all right.

Yes, it's kinda a sad ending, but we see that although Joxer has accepted that Gabrielle will never love him the same way he has loved her, it doesn't change the way the way he feels about her. He lets her know that. Joxer will always love Gabrielle. He will move on, but he will never love another woman as much as he's loved Gabrielle. Perhaps in the end that leads to his undoing, but I don't think he would have wanted it any other way. Remember what he said to Xena after Callisto killed Perdicus:

"You know, Xena, I know you don’t think very much of me-- and that’s fine. But I care about Gabrielle, too. And I would do anything to avenge her loss, including sacrificing my own life."

It's a shame we had to see his chilling words come true. In Eve, the second to last episode of the fifth season, Joxer is killed trying to save Gabrielle's life. Did he really need to die? Xena certainly could have handled the situation and saved Gabrielle herself. So why did he do it? Because he's idiotic, Joxer, right? If you think about it, this goes back to one of Gabrielle's comments in Eternal Bonds, the one in which Joxer could relate to so well:

"It's just hard knowing that the people I love are in danger and I'm not there..."

Gabrielle knows that Xena can take care of herself and yet she adds:

"It doesn't mean I don't wanna be there so I can jump in and help out or something."

Did Joxer realize that he was going to die? Gabrielle tells Joxer in Eternal Bonds:

"...you just don't realize that your actions have consequences-- like this wound, for
instance... If you had just stopped to think about that, you would have seen.  No, you
just go charging in there."

But Joxer's gone stupidly charging into danger before and lived. Look at Return of Callisto when Joxer charged into Callisto's lair to save his two friends. What about in The Bitter Suite when he went up against a bloodthirsty Xena in order to save Gabrielle?

Joxer had done what he felt he had to do. Whether it was right or wrong, doesn't really matter. Maybe this explains a little of Xena's somewhat confusing remarks at the end of Eternal Bonds:

"Perhaps the greater wrong is never to fight at all, huh? You know what? I think-- it doesn't matter where we take a stand-- as long as we make one."

Joxer could think of nothing but trying to save the woman he loved. Even twenty five years later, after all that had happened to him, Joxer still loved Gabrielle as much as he always had. What was that Gabrielle had once said about how she used to believe that love was the most powerful force that existed, but she learned she was wrong. It's very possible that she was wrong yet again.

HOME

LAST UPDATED: Saturday, September 30, 2000.