Season 2, episode 3
In Giant Killer, Xena is caught behind a rock and a hard place when she’s pitted against her old friend Goliath in a battle between the Israelites and the Philistines.
The Xena staff writers are rather fond of Bible stories. Here we discover that it was Xena who helped David in his fight against the giant Goliath.
Xena meets her friend Goliath in a graveyard for giants. Whilst they are playing catchup we discover that Goliath saved Xena’s life 10 years ago (yep, 10 years) but his family were killed. He has joined the Philistine army so he can find the man who killed his family.
After the Philistines capture a group of Israelites, Xena helps to protect them. This puts her at odds with her friend Goliath who is just doing his job. Eventually, there is a showdown between Goliath and the Israelites but Xena cannot take him down due to their friendship. Xena tells Gabrielle that the Israelites need a leader, and if she kills Goliath they will not have anyone to proclaim a hero. David has been thinking the same thing; he tells Xena he has to be the one to kill the giant. Xena teaches David how to fight the giant. She tells David about the soft spot between a giant’s eyes, if he can only aim a good shot there, he will kill Goliath.
The giant is not as stupid as it seems, he comes to the showdown wearing a helmet to protect his soft spot. Eventually, the sun comes out and Xena gets the Israelites to use their shields as mirrors to reflect the sun at Goliath’s head forcing him to remove his helmet. David uses his slingshot to kill Goliath.
Xena is conflicted about bringing down Goliath but he makes peace with her with his dying breath. Later, Xena walks through the giant graveyard, you can hear her thoughts as she says: “Goliath, I know you can hear me, I hope you’re with your family. I’ll always remember you as a loving husband, a great warrior, and my friend.”
Whilst all the good stuff is happening, Gabrielle falls for the man of the week, in this instance, it’s David, only this time he already has a love interest.
Disclaimer: No Bible myths or icons were irreparably mangled during the production of this motion picture.
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