Xena Warrior Princess: Animal Attraction, Them Bones Them Bones, Purity

Oh dear, it’s been almost a whole year since my last post on Xena Warrior Princess, so I’ll understand if you’ve forgotten I was even doing this. And looking back, I can see that I started these posts way back in 2018!

But hey, that’s what tags are for. Just press a single button and you can see all my posts on this subject as though I wrote them over the course of a single weekend instead of a number of years.

We’re still at the beginning of season five, in which Xena and Gabrielle have just been resurrected for what feels like the dozenth time – although this time around, Xena has come back from the dead with a little something extra in the oven…

Xena Warrior Princess: Fallen Angel, Chakram, Succession

After a long hiatus, I’m back with the Xena Warrior Princess reviews.

Ah, season five. Shit gets weird. I’ve talked before about the grab-bag of world religions that get thrown into this show, and now it’s Christianity’s turn to get ticked off the list. I supposed it’s handled a modicum better than Hinduism, but not by much.

Xena Warrior Princess: Endgame, The Ides of March, Deja Vu All Over Again

And so we come to the end of season four. I started posting about it back in... holy shit, July 2022! I didn’t think it was that long ago.

These final three episodes provide a pretty decent wrap-up for the themes and storylines of the season – not only returning to Rome and the Ides of March (and fulfilling Xena’s season-long vision of herself and Gabrielle getting crucified) but also touching on reincarnation and bringing Gabrielle’s pacifist arc to a thankful conclusion. Ephiny and the Amazons return, as do Caesar, Pompey, Brutus and Eli, and we’re introduced to Amarice, a character who will continue on into season five. 

Xena Warrior Princess: The Play's The Thing, The Convert, Takes One to Know One

We’re back from India and into an uneven mix of two comedy episodes and single a dramatic one that features Najara’s return and Joxer coping with killing someone for the first time. It kind of reminds me of his introductory episode, which was also about Callisto’s big debut – remember how crazy that was? In this case, it’s Najara who gets the short end of the stick, making her the biggest case of They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character of the show in its entirety.

In the season of diminishing returns, the treatment of her character is a huge disappointment. It will not be the last.

Xena Warrior Princess: Paradise Found, Devi, Between the Lines, The Way

It’s been a long time since I lasted posted some Xena Warrior Princess reviews, as my newish DVD player doesn’t read my considerably older discs, which means I have to go elsewhere to refresh my memory on how these episodes played out, and that depends a lot on whether assorted family members are willing to let me veg out on their couches for an extended period of time. (These reviews were written years ago, but I still like to have some recollection of what I’m actually posting about).

For this entry, I’ve decided to feature four rather than the usual three episodes, as this quartet neatly encompass the entirety of the India arc. Plus, there are twenty-two episodes per season, so at some point I always have to add an extra episode to a post so everything fits.

The India arc is arguably what season four is best known for, and I’m pretty certain there were some recreational drugs being passed around the writers’ room while they were being conceptualized. Shit gets weird. Furthermore, when it comes to the show’s treatment of India’s culture and religion... holy cultural appropriation Batman! In particular, “The Way” is filled with apologetic official disclaimers, for even back in 1998 there was pushback against using other people’s belief systems as a backdrop for your cheesy fantasy series.  

Let’s get to it...

Xena Warrior Princess: Key to the Kingdom, Daughter of Pomira, If The Shoe Fits...

The next three episodes are comprised of two very light comedy episodes, and one very serious one that is let down by trite writing, bad acting, and an attempt to resolve a profoundly complex scenario involving a kidnapped child, a grieving family, and multi-generational hostilities between two cultures within forty-five minutes. Xena may have many skills, but even she can’t pull that one off.

All three episodes are filler, though you have to recall that this was the norm rather than the exception back in the early noughties. In these days of heavily serialized storytelling, it’s actually something of a treat to watch three standalone stories (regardless of quality) that are entirely self-contained. Bkac when most shows had twenty-two episodes per season, there was time for characters to breath, to bounce off each other, and to just plain have fun. Imagine that!

Xena Warrior Princess: Tied Up and Locked Down, Crusader, Past Imperfect

Although Xena Warrior Princess peaked in season three, the next three episodes of the fourth season are pretty solid offerings, with knotty moral conundrums, some great scenes between our lead characters, and three significant guest-starring female characters.

Okay, “significant” is a relative term, as two of them are never seen again, and the other only gets one more appearance before she’s permanently written out. Furthermore, the writers take the easy way out when it comes to Thalassa, and though it’s difficult to say why Satrina didn’t pop as a character, the truth is she simply didn’t (it’s rather fascinating actually – on the page she’s intriguing, even compelling – but that just didn’t translate to the screen).

That leaves Najara, who is truly one of the show’s best antagonists, in one of the season’s very best episodes. Played by Kathryn Morris in her pre-Cold Case days, the character is like no one we’ve ever seen on Xena Warrior Princess before: a mentor figure who is in many ways an inversion of Alti, or a distorted reflection of Lao Mai, adding to the roster of complex female characters on the show.

Xena Warrior Princess: In Sickness and in Hell, A Good Day, A Tale of Two Muses

As we head into the fourth season of Xena Warrior Princess, a basic format arises: episodes that are part of the overarching Story Arc (and which are likely to be darker in nature) are interspersed with lighter, comedic episodes which can be rather hit-and-miss in their level of quality. The heights of the show were reached in season three, and though there are some gems strewn throughout the remaining three seasons (as well as plenty of emotional highs) it’s not an exaggeration to say that the best of the show is now behind it.

Season four in particular involves a lot of disparate ideas and concepts being thrown at the wall to see which ones will stick – and some of these can get pretty darn weird. This season also sees a drift away from Greece and its pantheon of gods in order to explore other countries and their belief systems for the sake of Xena and Gabrielle’s ongoing character development. It’s fun seeing these characters in new locales, but... well, you’ll see the downsides for yourself once we get to them.  

Xena Warrior Princess: Adventures in the Sin Trade Part I and II, A Family Affair

Yes, my Xena Warrior Princess posts are back! For those not in the know, I actually wrote these years ago for a fan-site while watching through the entire series from start to finish for the first time, and I’ve been gradually transcribing them over to this blog ever since. They’re grouped into three episodes per post, with a brief synopsis for each one since I don’t really talk about the plot in the actual reviews.

Season three is generally regarded as the best of the six seasons, and it’s easy to see why: there was a strong blend of comedic episodes with standalone and Myth Arc episodes, the supporting cast was utilized excellently as a variety of foils to the two protagonists, the writers fearlessly delved into some seriously dark subject matter (including the murder of children) and the production values were impressive for a low-budget swords-and-sorcery show airing in the late-nineties. There was even a musical episode, a full three years before Buffy the Vampire Slayer did it.

Going forward, it’s clear that most of the best material has already been mined, and the attempt to keep things fresh involves the writers borrowing (and at times, downright appropriating) other cultures and religions in order to play with Xena and Gabrielle across an assortment of “exotic sandboxes”, while slowly but surely culling the original supporting cast in favour of new characters that aren’t half as interesting or likeable.  

That doesn’t mean there isn’t good stuff here. The overarching character thread for each protagonist in season four is fairly solid: Gabrielle goes on an experimental journey of self-discovery and Xena broods over a premonition that foretells their impending deaths. I’ve always liked the Rome-centric episodes and there are plenty of them in season four, and I didn’t dislike the India arc as much as most viewers did at the time (though there are definitely some questionable things there). New villains such as Alti and Najara are good without being great (let’s face it, no one can compare to Callisto) and there’s a scattering of fun comedy episodes in there as well.

So let’s get started...

Xena Warrior Princess: Vanishing Act, Sacrifice Part I and II

And we’ve made it to the end of season three! It’s general consensus that this season contained the very best of Xena Warrior Princess, what with its flashbacks and comedies and very real sense of stakes, pathos and drama. It was not without controversy (the Gab Drag) or a few duds (Forgiven, King Con) but it undoubtedly featured the very cream of the crop (The Debt two-parter, Maternal Instincts, The Bitter Suite, One Against An Army, When in Rome), all episodes that are imminently rewatchable, even decades after they first aired.

With Forget Me Not, they even managed to make a clip show episode fascinatingly relevant to the characterization and continuity of the show, and (miracle of miracles) many of their comedy episodes (Been There, Done That, The Quill is Mightier) are actually funny.

We got Gina Torres as Cleopatra, Jennifer Ward-Lealand as Boudicca and Jacqueline Kim as Lao Ma, three wonderful female guest star/characters, and even some of the less-than-stellar episodes had some interesting ideas (I’m sorry we never saw Glaphyra and Darnelle again, and there was potential to Tara even if they mishandled her introduction). And of course, the whole Hope arc, which reaches its climax (though not strictly its conclusion) here.

As it happens, this season ends with what is widely considered the worst episode, followed by a concluding two-parter that’s considered the best finale the show has to offer. That’s Xena in a nutshell: the highest heights and the lowest lows.

Xena Warrior Princess: Forget Me Not, Finns, Femmes and Gems, Tsunami

Our next round of Xena Warrior Princess episodes cover some familiar ground in more ways than one: we get a rare example of a clip-show that justifies its own existence by providing new perspectives to old material, another wacky hijinks comedy, and another riff on a pre-existing story (in this case, a disaster at sea). Still, we're in the midst of season three, and the writers are firing on all cylinders. Even the less-than-impressive offerings are still a lot of fun to watch.

Xena Warrior Princess: Forgiven, King Con, When in Rome...

 The next three episodes are a mixed bag in the sense that two make several questionable creative decisions and the other is genuinely my favourite Xena Warrior Princess episode of all time. It’s the show at its cleverest and wittiest, whilst maintaining a fairly solid plot and forcing its two leads to confront serious ethical quandaries.

All of the Rome-centric episodes can be relied upon to be of above-average quality, but When In Rome somehow manages to be a cut above the rest: drawing on events past and present (mostly in regards to Caesar), concocting a fairly intelligent Rescue Plot, confronting Xena and Gabrielle with their recent trust issues, and stacking the cast with solid guest stars.

The episode makes it onto numerous “best of” or “top ten” Xena episode lists, but I’m probably alone in making it my #1.

Xena Warrior Princess: Maternal Instincts, The Bitter Suite, One Against An Army

And we’ve arrived at last: the darkest episodes of the darkest arc in all of Xena Warrior Princess, which caused plenty of controversy at the time due to its violence, and is still rather difficult to watch today: specifically the murder of two children (though granted, one of them is an evil demon in the guise of a child) and the infamous “Gab Drag”, in which Xena lashes Gabrielle to the back of her horse and gallops off full-tilt, dragging her friend’s body across fields till they reach a cliff-face, over which Xena tries to throw her.

The Rift is the fan-name given to this arc, in which Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship is sorely tested due to their experiences in Britannia, Chin and Illusia, specifically regarding the fates of their children Solan and Hope. The more violent aspects of it were badly received in the nineties; by today’s standards it would have caused an absolute social media meltdown, overshadowing the actual content of the episodes in question (there’s always that one scene in any given show or film that completely dominate people’s memories).

These episodes comprise the conclusion of this arc – for better or worse – so let’s get into it…

Xena Warrior Princess: King of Assassins, Warrior... Priestess... Tramp..., The Quill is Mightier

July is turning out to be a busy month for me, so there’s been little activity on this blog of late. That means it’s time for another three episodes of Xena Warrior Princess, which take a break from the emotional intensity of The Deliver and The Debt to make room for three filler comedy episodes.

The comedy episodes of this show can be pretty touch-and-go: these ones are fun without being particularly clever about it…

Xena Warrior Princess: The Deliverer, Gabrielle's Hope and The Debt Part I and II

Season three of Xena Warrior Princess doesn’t waste much time in kicking off the overarching plot – one that will have ramifications for the rest of the show. What’s more, they decide to shake things up a bit by moving away from Greek mythology and into… Zoroastrianism? A couple of names and concepts are borrowed, but there’s a heavy dose of early Judaism in there too, as well as Boudicca and Stonehenge. Ah, this show…

This post includes what is considered one of the best – if not the best – two-parter episode of the entire show, and so for the first time these reviews will cover four episodes instead of the usual three. TV Tropes would call this Growing The Beard, as it’s the first time audiences were asked to watch Xena as a serious drama instead of campy fun, and the quality of writing, acting and cinematography justifies that request. Yeah, I was surprised too.

Xena Warrior Princess: The Furies, Been There Done That, The Dirty Half-Dozen (+ A Solstice Carol)

So here we are, still in lockdown but heading into the third season of Xena Warrior Princess, which contains what are considered some of the very best episodes the show had to offer. There’s the infamous “Rift” arc between Xena and Gabrielle, more flashbacks into our heroine’s dark past, plenty of juicy material for favourite guest characters Callisto, Ares and Aphrodite, and some scripts that are incredibly good – not just in the context of a cheesy swords-and-sorcery show, but genuinely good in regards to the issues they tackle and the creativity with which they’re shot and performed – including the musical episode. 

There’s good stuff ahead of us!

Xena Warrior Princess: The Price, Lost Mariner, A Comedy of Eros

And we’re back with another three Xena Warrior Princess episodes to take us to the end of season two! Episodes usually improve the nearer one gets to the close of a season, since this is the time in which all the stops are pulled out in order to end things on a bang, but Xena opts for three rather low-key and standalone stories that emphasis the characters’ relationships rather any long-term story arcs.

Those were different times! But it’s been fun revisiting this crazy, funny, tonally schizophrenic show. Now I can start looking forward to season three, where everything really hit its stride.

Xena Warrior Princess: The Execution, Blind Faith, Ulysses

It's been a while, but I'm continuing to transfer my Xena Warrior Princess reviews (three at a time) from their original pages to this blog. The three episodes that follow are pretty good indicators that this show worked SO much better when it focused on the relationship between the two leads and NOT the array of male guest stars that so often had very little to offer the show or its key dynamic.

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.

Xena Warrior Princess: Miss Amphipolis, Destiny, The Quest

The next round of Xena Warrior Princess episodes deals with a light-hearted (but somewhat clunky) girl power episode, before heading into the first two episodes of a tenuous trilogy (I say tenuous because it starts with flashbacks to Xena's time with Caesar and ends with Gabrielle trying to escape a murderous Amazon Queen).

Shit gets dark kids

But with this turning point we've reached the start of what will eventually become Xena's ever-more-convoluted backstory and been introduced to two of its most effective villains - even if one of them is just a one-and-done.