Xena Warrior Princess: Intimate Stranger, Ten Little Warlords, The Xena Scrolls

For the next three Xena episodes it's clear that the writers had created a pattern for themselves: interspersing heavy, thought-provoking material with lighter, fluffier comedy. It's an odd fit, yet inherent campiness of the show somehow consistently managed to pull off the tonal shifts. Even when it was dark, there was a gleam of humour, and even the craziest comedy episodes found a sense of poignancy.  

These ones in particular were a gift: anything with Callisto automatically raises the quality of an episode. What an amazing character; up there with Azula, Demona and Maleficient in the pantheon of unforgettable female villains.

Links and Updates

Fandom is still collectively licking its wounds over Game of Thrones, and despite my anger over what was done to Daenerys and Missandei, I'm starting to look back on all the things I'll miss: the promotional art, the gorgeous soundtrack, those amazing costumes and high production values - there's a good chance most of this will return for the prequel (which is apparently called Bloodmoon) and now I know my first instinct on the franchise was the correct one: just watch the YouTube clips for the best the show has to offer, and don't get invested.

And it's not like there isn't plenty of other great stuff on its way...

Woman of the Month: Eve Polastri

Eve Polastri from Killing Eve

Despite its subject matter, Killing Eve isn't a drama you can take particularly seriously. It requires believing that a woman might be attracted to a hired assassin after she's murdered her best friend in cold blood, and who then recruits her into MI5 in order to help track another potential killer (she can't just use another agent?)

But once you've turned off your brain and accepted the nature of its dark comedy, the show is riveting. Eve Polastri is an ordinary enough woman, married to a high school teacher and working a desk job at MI5 - until she connects the dots between several high-profile murders and theorizes that a female assassin is the culprit.

Impressed by her tenacity, her boss eventually recruits her for an off-the-books assignment to hunt down the killer: Codename Villanelle.

It's only a matter of time before Eve's obsession with the case and the killer has a detrimental affect on her home life, but at this point she's in too deep to stop. I have not yet finished season two, but it's obvious that Eve is not only attracted to Villanelle, but also her way of life, and is beginning to demonstrate sociopathic tendencies of her own.

Sandra Oh is fantastic, managing to juggle fear, intrigue, attraction and those aforementioned comedic beats as she hangs on desperately to her failing moral compass. To watch this highly intelligent but emotionally messy woman go up against a trained assassin makes for a glorious trainwreck - one that doesn't compromise Eve as a character along the way.