Xena Warrior Princess: A Necessary Evil, A Day in the Life, For Him the Bell Tolls

For our next lot of episodes, we have the final episode of the quasi-trilogy, which wasn’t so much a three-part story as three separate adventures that managed to run-on from each other’s conclusion.

Along with the end of Melinda Clarke’s psychotic (and fun) turn as Amazon Velasca, we’ve got a fan favourite that brings Xena and Gabrielle’s Sapphic subtext to the foreground, and a fairly ho-hum comedic episode that once more combines Joxer’s buffoonery with a love potion.

A Necessary Evil

Plot: Velasca has eaten ambrosia, rendering her a goddess, which leads Xena to make a deal with Callisto, the only one with the strength to fight the Amazon Queen.

So to answer my question from the end of the last episode review: no, there is no follow-up to the Xena/Gabrielle kiss. Which is rather weird, since why even do it in the first place?

Still, I was pleased that Velasca survived to go another round with our heroines, even if something is a little lost this time around. Maybe the character was more interesting as a ruthless Amazon Queen than as an invulnerable goddess; maybe she was just completely outshone by the presence of Callisto.

Either way, I wasn't too sad to see her go, as her only interesting bit was when she yelled at Artemis's temple over her failure to protect the Amazon nation. I’m also not sure why she waited until she got back to the Amazon village to eat the ambrosia. Shouldn't she have been doing that ASAP thanks to the impalement and all?

I'm guessing I've missed a bit of plot on Hercules, as last time I saw Callisto, she definitely wasn't a) immortal, b) trapped in a cave, or c) sporting a large fake scar across her face. But thanks to her exposition-laden dialogue to a rat (which was in fact a great way to get that exposition across) I was armed with the foreknowledge I needed to follow the story here.

And she was the highlight of the episode, which should come as no surprise. Her dynamic with the women has profoundly changed since it's the first time they've interacted with her since Perdicus's murder, and there were two particularly good scenes here: the first when Callisto forces Xena to confess her crimes in the middle of a village, and then when Gabrielle tries to get through to her over the campfire, having decided to at least try and forgive her for Perdicus's death.

It was interesting that we not only get to see Callisto at her most vulnerable at the village, but also her most manipulative beside the campfire. Clearly she's realized that Xena can no longer he baited, so she turns to Gabrielle instead. Her description of her mother and sister as her whole world and then telling Gabrielle to: "kill em" was a chilling moment especially.

But it's a bit impossible to buy the idea that Gabrielle could successfully try to psychoanalysis Callisto, or that Callisto would be articulate enough to describe her thought process as "bits and pieces" and her emotions as "I never feel anything" – especially as we know that's not true judging by her tearful reaction to Xena's speech in the village. I'm not sure whether the script was having Callisto be deliberately obtuse, or whether it was just failing to back up Hudson's performance.

Either way, these scenes provided more food for thought regarding Callisto's character study, and it's clear that there's now just as much baggage and history to Callisto/Gabrielle as there is to Xena/Callisto.

Xena's plan to release Callisto in order to make a deal with Velasca had about a million problems with it, and the stuff with the volcano was both badly rendered and incredibly unlikely, though the little subplot concerning Ephiny and the other Amazons' attempts to slow her down was good. Up until Velasca killed those guards at the temple, I was wondering if this was going to be a completely male-free episode!  

A Day in the Life

Plot: Put together at least in part by footage that was cut from a previous episode, Gabrielle and Xena go about their normal routine: helping villagers, defeating warlords, and befriending a Xena fangirl called Minya.

This was a fun one, and between the Xena/Gabrielle subtext and the unique format, I'm guessing it's a fandom favourite...

Anyhow, it was a neat idea to have an episode that shows off some of the more mundane aspects of Xena/Gabrielle's life together: camping, gathering food, using the toilet, meeting fan-girls and so on, and though they played a lot of these aspects for laughs, it actually did a lot of good in exploring and grounding their day-to-day existence.

Lucy and Renee's chemistry has been there from the start, but here it feels like they've deliberately let it become the focus of the story; just letting the two of them muck around together to see what happens. As such, the subtext felt much more pronounced that it usually does: a lot of unnecessary touching, giggling, joking – heck, they were practically flirting at times.

Also this happens...

I recall watching the episode in which Xena fought Goliath, and the odd sense that bits of the story were missing. I was told at the time that footage had been shot of her fighting Goliath’s enemy Garen, but that it was cut to be reused at a later point – which is clearly this episode. As such, the whole thing feels a little cobbled together in the attempt to not let that footage go to waste; yet it still worked surprisingly well.

Minya in particular was a fun addition to the guest-cast, alternating between the two states of any slavish fangirl: adoration and hatred.

I find I don't have too much to say about this one: it was one of those episodes that are technically filler, but which work so well regarding characterization that they feel a lot more important than they actually are. There was so much funny stuff, especially with Gabrielle's attempt to catch Xena off-guard, and the whole thing just had a really nice vibe about it – like it was a celebration of their bond with each other, but instead of exploring that in a big, boisterous, epic episode, they did it in a quieter way, just by demonstrating how they live alongside each other.

Oh, and I also really loved the gag in which Gabrielle realizes Xena has been using her scrolls as toilet paper. The entire joke was captured in Lucy's body language – as she stands up from the bushes, you know exactly what she's been doing and what she's thinking...

For Him the Bell Tolls

Plot: To prevent a wedding from occurring, Aphrodite casts a spell on Joxer to make him revert to a heroic persona whenever he hears a bell ring, causing him to create chaos between the young lovers. 

This was a fairly inconsequential episode. I'm guessing Lucy was still out of commission for whatever reason and Renee had to pick up the slack in her wake, considering this is another very Xena-lite episode. As such, it ends up being an ode to the sidekick gig, with Gabrielle teaming up with Joxer in order to accompany a bride-to-be to her groom, only for Joxer to fall victim to a love spell and Aphrodite's manipulations. It reminds me of The Apple in Hercules, one of the few episodes I had on VCR as a kid.

I get the feeling that Joxer may not have been entirely popular in the fandom; he's pretty goofy and he poses a risk to the Xena/Gabrielle ship, but I like him in small doses. Ted Raimi has comic timing that bounces off well against Renee's. They managed to get in some pretty funny scenes together, and the constant flipping between goofy Joxer and the heroic version gave Ted a chance to show what he can do. There were some nice scenes throughout, as when he acknowledged she was the true hero, and when Xena points out that he couldn't have emulated a great sword-fighter if it wasn't already in him.

Craig Parker and Karl Urban were a little wasted here. Perhaps the former had not yet been established as a well-known New Zealand actor (he certainly is now) but even Karl Urban didn't actually do anything this time around. Cupid just sort of stood around and pouted at his mother.

Aphrodite at least had some fun, with the attitude of a Valley Girl who looks like the typical angelic image we have of Venus – complete with Lady Godiva hair – but capable of tricky machinations. The bell spell was a bit arbitrary (I was never quite clear what exactly enchanted Joxer; the bell around the girl's neck? Just the sound of bells in general?) but it was really just a device for the plot, so can't complain.

Though speaking of Karl Urban, does anyone in this show stop and think: "hey, that guy looks just like Caesar."

There were (as usual) some rather inexplicable bits: why would the marriage of the prince/princess lead to Aphrodite's temples being torn down? Wouldn't they want to honour the goddess of love? And if Aphrodite wants to save them, why not just appear to the kings and tell them not to tear them down? And why, if the prince and princess have permission from their fathers to marry, do they decide to elope?

There was some bad acting from the kings, though the princess was quite good, and it was fun to get a different atmosphere regarding all the Arabic-style clothing and buildings. Xena and Gabrielle have obviously gone east.

It's baby Craig Parker!

As episodes go, it has some recycled elements, but was still pretty fun.