I was really happy watching Kindred Spirits for the Xena & Gabrielle moments that have been non-existent in whatever the heck is going in the middle of S5 (Xena finally read the scrolls - yay!). But then I watched Antony & Cleopatra and oh boy… poor Gabs is just completely sidelined again. Episodes like this feel like such a regression of their characters from what we’ve seen so far!

Highlights:

•I loved the bits of subtext in both of these episodes. In Kindred Spirits, Gabrielle asking Xena to settled down and essentially work on a fixer-upper together, the Queen Gabrielle?! “Not tonight line,” the shots of Xena, Gabrielle, and Eve lying on the blanket together at the end - so cute! (Wish there were more moments like that in this season!). In A&C, Gabrielle’s jealousy! I feel for her! “I’m losing sight of this plan, Xena” and “he’s your type” are great lines along with Gabrielle breaking up their make out session! ROC nailed the portrayal of the jealous girlfriend perfectly.

I love the super cheesy, childish fight scene in Kindred Spirits - I’m a sucker for stupid comedy like that. I specifically love the part where Xena has to keep putting the pinch on Joxer to prove to the Amazons that he’s “dead” because they keep saying, “I can still see him breathing” and “his hearts still beating.” In A&C I thought the battle scenes were so well done. It was so hard to watch Gabrielle take those hits from Brutus, but I love that moment for Gabrielle when she slashes his throat. It feels so jarring for her character compared to previous seasons, but I like it when she kicks some ass! You rock girl! Yeah - so the fight scenes were spectacular along with the costumes & set! Micheal Hurst is awesome!

In Kindred Spirits, I like the idea of Xena & Gabrielle being on two different paths again with Gab’s wanting to be Queen & Xena not wanting to settle down ect that causes them a temporary departure but I wish is was explored more. Although it did lead to Xena FINALLY reading Gabrielle’s scrolls, and I think that made Xena reflect on WHO Gabrielle is to her (something missing this season & something that’s disregarded in A&C). That little Amazon who is obsessed with Xena is a cute parody of S1 Gabs.

Lows:

I made a post earlier where another fan brought up Joxer’s peeping Tom situation in this episode is problematic & I 100% agree. I’m making this post again because I didn’t think I clarified that enough. Although I love Joxer’s goofiness at times & his satirical line in thiss about how men “aren’t animals” when his actions prove they clearly are, Kindred Spirits was uncomfortable to watch at times because of this plot line. I did enjoy Joxer’s facial expressions and stupidity in the fight scene.

In A&C, I just feel like this was so shady of Xena & I feel SO out of character. On one hand it’s powerful that she has agency over her sexuality, but I feel like we’ve only see her use her sexuality to seduceeee like that in the flashbacks to her warlord days. And she really hardcore sidelines Gabrielle. There’s that’s scene when Gabrielle gently wipes a bit of honey off her mouth and Xena hits her hand away as in like “don’t touch me.” I was like damnnnn! (Poor Gabs!l)

I was also reading on Whoosh commentary for the episode and one fan pointed out that at the end, when both Xena and Gabrielle are standing there bloody from the fight, they did not go up to each other, and I agree - I was absolutely waiting for them to run up to each other and check to see if they’re okay, or embrace like they use to do in pretty well every episode before S5! I feel that you could argue it was a very stoic & dramatic post battle scene where there stillness and standing there covered in bloood around the carnage of the dead bodies is a great shot for a dramatic ending, but it still felt OOC! Then at the end too when Xena is hurt about Antony (okay whatever) and Gabrielle comes over to stand besides her. No cute looks, no words of comfort, no Xena & Gabs:( rip.

Also, I think all the actors in A&C were amazing! The dude who played Antony did a great job, but personally, he’s not that attractive. Especially when you got Gab’s with those biceps😍 Xena, come on girl!

Here you go:

https://hercules-xena.fandom.com/wiki/Xena_Scrolls_Archive

https://www.whoosh.org/xenascrolls/xenascrolls.html

The writer on the episode The Xena Scrolls (Rob Mellette) actually adapted that episode from his meta story he'd written earlier. That meta story was being posted to the old MCA Xena site, in the form of an email chain between academics studying the scrolls and trying to understand them. These are a LOT of fun to read.

Explained by Whoosh!:

"In 1995, the Official Xena website (back when it was ran by MCA) had the coolest series. They were posting over time the dispatches from the Xena Restoration Society. These were the e-mails from the archaeological team that discovered the Xena Scrolls, from which the stories of Xena become known. They introduced the grandkids of Janice Covington and Melinda Pappas (namesakes of their grandparents) and the whole backstory to the episode THE XENA SCROLLS. Sadly, the dispatches were taken down within a year and we lost them forever until I found them rumaging around my harddrive before it imploded for the 32nd time. I reprint these gems created by Robert Mellette for th sake of posterity. They are hilarious, they are educative, they are clever, and they are sometimes subtle. If you love the first season as much as I do, then you have to read these. There are many in-jokes about the episodes and they are fun to read. So go for it!"

Okay, so I'm a multishipper in basically whichever fandom I find myself in, and not gonna lie, I adore both the Ares/Xena and Xena/Gabrielle ships.

Part of that is that I routinely seek out OT3 fic involving my primary ships in a fandom. Does anyone know where I might find something like that? Not asking for happy fic, necessarily, as it could be out of character for these three to ride off into the sunset together and live happily ever after, but I'm seriously jonesing for some fic where they settle any jealousy by just getting together, either temporarily or permanently. (Given the existence of the "Old Ares" episode, I'm really surprised there are zero threesome fics on AO3.)

Bonus for Gabrielle catching some kind of feelings for Ares, entirely despite herself.

We know Xena loves take out pizza and dougnuts based on Send In The Clones, Gabrielle likes soda.

Ok, making this a three way poll. Favourite Xena lookalike?

View Poll

Xena and Gabrielle are watching the scene from the episode "Return of the Valkyrie" where she wakes Gabrielle up with a kiss and Xena comments: "That's not how it happened. I woke you up before I went to Valhalla, right?"

This seemed confusing to me, what is she talking about? I mean, what do you mean "before going to Valhalla"? I don't remember this episode very well. Did Xena go to Valhalla after kissing Gabrielle? My English isn't good so maybe I'm not reasoning. lol

I’ve been searching my butt off for a long time now, maybe I missed something? I’m looking for the soundtrack that plays when they do the ritual in Adventures in the Sin Trade, it’s also played in Them Bones, Them Bones. I’ve listened to the Turangi songs by Joseph LoDuca but it’s not there.

Does anyone know the name of this song?

I’ve found the song on Tom’s Xena Page, I’ll post it below in the comments, hoping someone will know the name. :)

This practically turned into a trope. The next two are only inserted for viewer nostalgia for The Debt. They could have easily written any other scene to call Xena back to China and Japan. But there just has to be a bush with a guy hiding in it. It's hilariously uncreative.

If it weren't for the fact that FIN was a standalone film divorced from the series continuity, when they pulled Saburo out I'd expected Gab to roll her eyes and say "I'll start packing, Xena, you fill me in."

I literally made a Reddit account in order to post this… She dies at the end?! Can we (lesbians) not have ANYTHING nice? 😫

View Poll

Preferably with episodes listed.

Already posted on r/tipofmytounge to no avail, maybe someone here can answer? I hope it's Okey to ask such question, I'm looking for a Xena episode (almost certain it was Xena) where a king falls to his death from a balcony. The accident turns out to be a ploy orchestrated by the heir apparent. Sadly, I don't remember anything else. I've been reading through episode descriptions, but this doesn't seem to show up. Thanks for any help in advance

ETA: I distinctly remember the old king/leader walking off the balcony as he doesn't realise he's not inside the castle. ( The balcony has no railing). Later on it's revealed that he fell victim to a ploy.

I'm not a FIN hater other than the random reason Xena "had" to die for that particular atrocity and not all the others, but should they have started a couple episodes earlier with Xena teaching Gabrielle all the final points (the pinch, how to hear "what's behind the sounds" plus Gabrielle weilding the chakram).. seemed a bit rushed to master all that.

In the first two seasons Xena and Gabrielle saw each other as sisters until they begin to grow feelings for each other sometime in the series and become significant others by series 6

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I really like the character of Virgil, and I wish they would have used him more. He is how the writers should have handled Joxer from the beginning instead of making him the clown. His son became the warrior he never could be. Did anyone else, (besides the “progressive” fan base) see any potential relationship between Virgil and Gabrielle?

It was one of the most interesting episodes in Xena🤔

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This guy had the pottential to be a huge leader of a country or something, he was smarter than xena back then and I'm sure she learned a lot with him, even if they were using each other, his diplomacy and way of getting out of situations that Xena's greed left them were very outstanding

Interesting character. I don't think there is a right and wrong situation for her, these are just three people who thinks completely different from one another, Najara thinks that there is no salvation in evil people, hence, their deaths. Xena and gabrielle don't believe that killing unarmed man is the right way to go and think the prison system and choices can change them

I like how Lucy Lawless play Xena's madness🤔

I’m watching Lyre Lyre Hearts on Fire right now, but I’m not really watching because of all the hetero & out of character shenanigans!

•why is Gabrielle jealous about Joxer liking this Amazon gal?! It’s just so inconsistent with how her relationship has been towards him.

•why does Xena seem to support Gabrielle & Joxer together?!

•why is Cyrene pushing the fact that Xena should have a husband/father role for her child when it’s suppose to be Gabs?!

•why are they pulling this soulmate/im still in love with Gabrielle/Bliss’s spell crap with Draco?!

•why haven’t Gabrielle and Xena been in the same shot for more than 20 seconds?

WHYYYYYYYY?!

I’m just so disappointed! Again, I know there was a lot of upheaval behind the scenes with different writers and stuff, but it feels like such a blow that they set us up seasons 1-4 with this beautiful relationship & amazing character development with Xena & Gabrielle & then decide to drench this season with these lame ass plots, no character development (maybe character regression?) & no Xena and Gabrielle moments?!

I feel like there’s a lot of potential they could’ve had with this season.

I heard there are some good moments this season & that season 6 is good, so I’m watching S5 anyway because I do love love love this show.

That’s my rant. I’m sorry, I’m literally gay as fuck & I feel like even now, we don’t have a ton of great representation & I have gotten emotionally attached to Xena & Gabs - I can only imagine how it felt when the show aired to see their relationship grow from S1-4 and then get shut out like this.

In her very first episode on HTLJ "The Warrior Princess" Xena uses manipulation and seduction to split Herc and Iolaus apart and turn Iolaus against his best friend. What do you think of how Xena strategizes in "The Warrior Princess"?

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Oh man, such a hard episode to watch. The heat of battle is so great in this episode, and the sad ending left me in tears for the brave soldier who lost his life in battle for peace. He achieved what he wanted, peace for his family and his son, but in the process, he just lost his life for a war he believed to be meaningless, he died like a hero and his wife cannot replace him.

I was feeling Gabrielle would back down from the responsibility she held in this episode, I felt like she would do the same thing like in the others episode and let her moral code interfere in the course of things, when she yelled: "To the waaar!". Hell, so freaking badass! She embraced it!

I was looking through this respect thread and among the several dead links I noticed, one of them disappointed me because the feat itself sounded cool: “Throws a frying pan to KO bandits by ricocheting off of them”.

When I tried looking it up, the results I found were an extremely blurry, low quality upload of the episode and a clip that only had her smacking the bandits with the pan and not throwing it.

What do you think?

I rewatch episodes with Meleager and I found him really interesting and great character with so much chemistry between him and Gabrielle🤔