Category: TV Reviews

Remember Nothing – Director: Anson Williams/Story: Steven L. Sears, Chris Manheim/Telepay: Chris Manheim

This one starts with Xena and Gabi going to the Temple of the Fates, something Xena does every year to honour her brother Lyceus, who died helping her fight Cortese eleven years ago. The temple is attacked and Xena and Gabi fight the invaders. Heeding a warning from Gabi, Xena kills a swordsman who turns out to be very young, barely a teenager. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 2, Episode 2”

Orphan of War – Director: Charles Siebert/Writer: Steven L. Sears

This one starts with Xena and Gabi in centaur territory, talking about an imminent attack by a warlord named Dagnine. Dagnine used to be in Xena’s army and she knows how dangerous he is, but she isn’t sure if the centaurs will welcome her help, since she fought them too in her evil days. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 2, Episode 1”

Hey Xena fans, this special post is my stab at unraveling some of the geographical and chronological clues in the first season of Xena. Why am I doing this? Well, I’m a continuity guy, so I like it when the episodes fit together in a logical order and I like to figure out where Xena and Gabi’s adventures are taking place in each episode. Naturally, the writers at the time were usually more concerned with telling good (or great) stories instead of with making everything fit together logically, so a lot of the place names and travel times in the episodes don’t really make sense. Continue reading “Xena Season 1 Geography and Chronology”

Welcome to my overview of Season 1 of Xena: Warrior Princess. Like most first seasons, this one was mostly about establishing the characters and letting us get to know them. But it’s not just us in the audience who have to get acquainted with the characters, they also have to get acquainted with each other. Continue reading “Xena Season 1 Overview”

Is There a Doctor in the House? – Director: T.J. Scott/Writer: Patricia Manney

On the way to Athens, Xena and Gabi are traveling through a forest and find themselves caught in a war between Thessaly and Mitoa. They find Ephiny (who’s about to give birth) hiding in the trees and she tells them her husband Phantes (who we saw in Hooves and Harlots) was killed by Mitoans. Gabi is disgusted by the toll the war is taking on innocents and Xena decides to do something about it. She finds a Mitoan general (Marmax) and follows him. When Marmax goes after a lone Thessalian soldier, Xena knocks Marmax out and stabs him. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 24”

Death Mask – Director: Stewart Main/Writer: Peter Allan Fields

This one starts with Xena and Gabi discussing how Xena catches arrows (by listening with her whole body) and when a couple of guys in iron masks ambush them, Gabi actually stops an arrow with her staff. She and Xena pound the ambushers and Xena interrogates them, learning they work for Cortese … the raider who attacked Xena’s village ten years ago and set her on a path of revenge and darkness. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 23”

Callisto – Director: T.J. Scott/Writer: R.J. Stewart

This one starts with a blonde warrior leading an attack on a village. She’s pretty intense, wasting men, women, and children indiscriminately, but spares one old woman. She tells the old woman to spread the word about what happened and claims to be Xena. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 22”

The Greater Good – Director: Gary Jones/Writer: Steven L. Sears

This one starts with Gabi practicing her fighting moves (using Argo as an opponent) until Xena whistles and Argo kicks the staff out of Gabi’s hand. Xena wishes Gabi and Argo could get along, but Gabi thinks Argo hates her. Xena goes to a well for a drink and meets a girl who asks her to help Lord Seltzer, who’s being attacked by the warlord Talmadeus in a nearby village. Xena calls Argo (who tosses Gabi out of the saddle onto her ass) and rides to help Lord Seltzer, who turns out to be Salmoneus. Xena runs off Talmadeus’s men, but ends up getting shot with a dart by a woman in a tree outside the village. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 21”

Ties That Bind – Director: Charles Siebert/Writers: Adam Armus, Nora Kay Foster

This one starts with a warlord named Kirilus rounding up a bunch of girls to sell into slavery. Kirilus is working for Ares, but Ares shows up and tells him he won’t be needed anymore, since Ares wants Xena to lead his army instead. Xena and Gabi are watching Kirilus’s men cage up the girls and planning how to rescue them when an older man (Atrius) shows up to challenge a couple of the guards. Atrius gets in trouble and Xena saves him and when Atrius finds out who she is, he claims to be her long-lost father. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 20”

Altared States – Director: Michael Levine/Writer: Chris Manheim

This one starts with a woman (Zora) telling her son Icus to run away because someone’s after him. At a pastoral lake we see Xena and Gabi’s clothes hanging from a bush and some suggestive dialogue makes it sound like they’re having some sexy fun, but it’s a big fake-out … they’re just fishing. Icus shows up at the lake, pursued by a bunch of zealots and Xena (still naked) kicks their asses using fish as a weapon. The zealot leader (Mael) shows up and warns Xena this is none of her business, but she refuses to turn Icus over so the beaten zealots leave. Icus tells Xena the zealots want to sacrifice him to their God and that Icus’s father is the one who ordered it. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 19”