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.

Intimate Stranger

Plot: From Tartarus, Callisto convinces Ares to switch her body with that of Xena's, leading to Callisto-in-Xena stalking Xena's friends and family, and Xena-in-Callisto desperately trying to warn everyone despite her outward appearance.

Great episode! Most genre shows eventually do a body-swap episode, and the most interesting ones are those that play the conceit for drama and not comedy. In such cases, they usually involve a hero/villain exchange of bodies, as with Buffy and Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or even Clark Kent and Lionel Luthor in Smallville.

These types of episodes are built entirely on how convincing the actors are at mimicking the other's speech patterns and body language, and here Hudson and Lucy did a fantastic job in making me believe their characters were in each other's bodies.

The nightmares were a good setup (there are few things creepier than someone silently beckoning to someone else in the dark), and though the transformation itself was a bit odd (Xena gets thrown into a rock and ends up in Callisto's body?) the writers successfully took the premise and ran with it.

I missed it the first time around, but "Xena" actually wakes up Gabrielle with Callisto's trademark clawed hand, and then goes on to capture her tiny smirk without blatantly overdoing it. Hudson probably had the harder job in getting Xena's stoicism just right, but she managed the slight monotone cadence to her voice and her confident way of walking. I also liked that Argo could sense something was wrong.

There were some great lines throughout the episode, namely the dialogue that was used to prick at Xena's conscience: calling Callisto's death an execution, labeling her the judge/jury/executioner, pointing out that she was shown mercy by the likes of Hercules that got her a second chance, and of course, harping on the similarities between Xena/Callisto: that Xena made her, that "I can change - if you did, I can," "it's all on you," and "I am you."

Oh, and Ares taunting Xena with the idea that she simply let Callisto die instead of fighting her face-to-face in combat. I'm glad that (despite the last episode) the writers don't pretend there are no consequences to what Xena did in The Return of Callisto and not only explore the toll on Xena's conscience, but the moral quandary as well. Is there really a difference between murder and letting someone die? Does it count if the death of the person in question prevents the suffering of innocents?

Also, there was Gabrielle's line: "you wish you hadn't killed her, Joxer wishes he had killed her, and I wish she had never been born. Guess she won after all," and Callisto taunting Gabrielle into fighting her by making her pretend that "Xena" was Callisto. There was also a nice twist on Xena having nightmares and Gabrielle not dreaming at all, and for this to come back as a way of identifying the impostor (though I think Gabby had already begun to suspect that something was seriously up). So many good scenes!

Furthermore, there was a great alliance/rivalry at work between Ares/Callisto. They seem like a natural duo (especially in the great scene in which they flank Xena in the underworld and gently move around her) but it's clear as the episode goes on that they have completely separate goals in regards to her.

Though Ares at first chooses Callisto to lead his army (the position he wanted for Xena) it's soon obvious that she's way too out-of-control to do such a thing, and fails to follow his advice in how to deal with Xena. On the other hand, Callisto is still stuck on making Xena suffer, which actually works nicely in covering the Why Don't You Just Kill Them? problem.

Callisto can't just kill Argo and Gabrielle, because she wants to force Xena to kill Argo, and she wants to play around with Gabrielle. Thus she ignores Ares's advice that her time-wasting strategies are only allowing Xena to get the edge, and I love that the two of them argued over which one understood Xena the better (truly the epitome of Foe Yay when you have your antagonists essentially saying: "I know her best," "No, I know her best").

And of course, this is matched by Xena immediately knowing that Callisto plans to kill all of the village by fire, just as her family was.

There were plenty of characters and guest stars vying for space in this episode: not only Gabrielle and Joxer as regulars, but Ares and Callisto as guest stars, and bit parts by Cyrene and Hades, yet somehow it never seemed to feel cluttered. They all had something useful and interesting to do, and there was a nice balanced feel to the story. (If you watch a lot of ensemble shows, you'll know how rare this is).

Nice bits of continuity on the dead being able to hear the thoughts of the living, on Xena namedropping Marcus to prove her identity to Hades, the "boob dagger" (if that's what we're meant to call it), and Xena using a dart to knock Callisto unconscious (as she did to her back in season one). I also like that Joxer actually got to be useful for a change by helping Gabrielle out with the oil pots, as well as genuinely brave in protecting Argo - it was cute how he got a bit flustered when Xena genuinely praised him.

And finally, it was supremely satisfying to see the way in which Xena finally turned the tables on Callisto and refused to feel any more guilt for the lives that she's taken. There's a fine line between creating a monster and being responsible for another person's free will, and though you could still argue as to Xena's accountability, it's good for her state of mind that she's decided not to carry Callisto's burden any longer.

It's interesting that Callisto herself felt the first pangs of remorse - I wonder if she'll still have that in her next appearance.

Two amusing bits: at the beginning of the episode Xena jumps down from a tree and is joined by Gabrielle....who was sensibly hiding behind a bush. Later, Xena dives through a blocked window, scattering boards everywhere... and Gabrielle just runs through an open door. I think Xena needs to take some lessons from Gabrielle on practical hiding places and entry ways.

Also, I had to laugh at when the soldiers ended up running for their lives out of the cave, as amongst the yells of "run!" and "to the river!" someone felt the need to shout: "waste no time!"

Also, why didn't anyone tell Hades that he was pronouncing Callisto's name wrong? It's CallEESto, not CaLISSto.

I also remember watching this episode back when it first aired, and wondering if perhaps Lucy Lawless WAS gone for good. That would have made for quite a different show!

Ten Little Warlords

Plot: Still in the body of Callisto, Xena receives an invitation by King Sisyphus to compete for Ares's divinity, which was lost when his sword was stolen. Without Ares, mortals are growing more war-like in nature, so Xena joins in the competition to slay the monster, free the god of war's power, and get her body back.

Unfortunately, shoddy DVD syndrome struck again for this episode, so I missed a large chunk in the middle, had to work around poor quality of scenes, and generally had difficulty following just what was going on. I'm afraid I missed why Ares was suddenly mortal, and who exactly this Sisyphus villain was - have we seen him before? The name rang a bell, but I didn't recognize the actor.

Hudson Leick continues her role as Xena, and I was surprised by just how easily I accepted her in the role. She channeled Lucy so well that it was largely due to the reactions of Joxer and Gabrielle that I was reminded that she wasn't herself. Though it was great to have Lucy back at the end, I wouldn't have said no to a couple of more episode in which Hudson was in the lead role (though I can understand why the producers would blanch at that idea).

Having recently read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (originally published as "Ten Little Indians") which was the prototype of what TV Tropes calls Ten Little Murder Victims, a plot in which various people are invited under false circumstances to an isolated location where they're picked off one by one, I could appreciate the origin of the episode title: Ten Little Warlords.

It's another familiar plot, but one that is again put to good use. The setup of Joxer bringing Callisto's mail to Xena, including an invitation that couldn't have possibly come from Ares, was nicely done, as were all the warlords killing each other one-by-one in the labyrinth whilst Xena and Ares dodged the traps.

One odd thing though, was that the plot wasn't about Xena really having to deal with being in Callisto's body. Apart from Gabrielle being uncomfortable, the writers simply used the switch to get Callisto somewhere that Xena couldn't have necessarily gone, without really delving into the consequences of her looking like Callisto (such as running into a past victim or something). You'd think they would have explored this further, but it wasn't really an issue, and now the opportunity is gone. Ah well.

(Actually, since writing the above paragraph, I've done some research on another browser and learnt that Lucy Lawless's injury meant that they had to rework this already-existing script on very short notice, so naturally the writers couldn't really explore Xena's new body conundrum).

Ares does his best to seduce Xena in Callisto's form, but I'm surprised she didn't slug him when he reveals he had sex with Callisto (and in doing so, take advantage of Xena's body whilst she wasn't in control of it). Gabrielle and Joxer got comedic relief for this outing, but handled it pretty well, particularly Joxer "defeating" the monster in the labyrinth.

The Xena Scrolls

Plot: Set in 1940, archaeologist Janice Covington is searching for a key to unlock a tomb and find the legendary Xena Scrolls, which recount the life and times of the warrior princess.

This one threw me through a loop considering the time and setting, though I quickly caught on that it was framing for a clip-show. I'm not fond of clip-shows at the best of time, even though I understand they're often used as a cheap way to fill in an episode so that time and money can be spent on other, more important stories. That said, surely there are better ways...?

It was fun seeing role-reversal of Xena/Mel and Gabrielle/Janice, not to mention Joxer as Jacque, and all the cast were clearly having fun in their new personas. That said, I kind of wish these segments hadn't been played so entirely for laughs.

I got that Janice shooting at the bad guys at close range whilst they missed her completely was a riff on the usual aiming skills of your average bad guy, but it kick-started the whole plot on such a farcical level that I couldn't take any of it seriously. It was funny, but it also sucked out any and all of the tension that MAY have existed in a plot that involved the release of Ares into the modern world.

The coda with Joxer's great x10,000 grandson selling the concept of the show to Raimi was amusing. I get the feeling that Joxer isn't a hugely popular character in the fandom, so I suppose it was a bit of a Take That to reveal that he was the in-show reason for the show existing in the first place. But "filming it in a third-world country?"  Clearly this was before The Lord of the Rings put us on the map.