17: 2x06 "Warrior...Princess...Tramp"

Beware the trusty shamrock on this week’s XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST! Vera, Katie, and Livy continue on the topic of sequels with 2x06 “Warrior...Princess...Tramp,” a comedy sequel to last season’s “Warrior...Princess.” We talk about the strategies this sequel uses to achieve success: by being bigger, bolder, and finding new ways to be funny. Most notably via the introduction of Meg, one of our all-time favorite supporting characters on the show, and a great showcase for Lucy Lawless’s comic chops. We discuss Meg’s incredibly sweet and romantic meet-cute with Joxer (Joxer/Meg OTP!), sexual mores in the 90s, and baby-throwing 2.0.

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16: 2x05 "Return of Callisto"

On this week’s XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, guess who’s back and badder than ever? AIIIIIIIEEEEE its Callisto!!!! Vera, Katie, and Livy dedicate the podcast to an in-depth discussion of 2x05 “Return of Callisto.” In the tradition of all great sequels, this ep takes what came before and elevates it to a whole new level of dramatic intensity. Because Callisto isn’t the only one who’s back; Perdicus 2.0 returns on bended knee and Gabrielle embraces a heterosexual lifestyle with him...for a couple of minutes. (It’s tough out there for a Perd.) We discuss why Perdicus is Gabrielle’s type, swoon over sex scenes both literal and metaphorical, speculate on whether Callisto is a murderous manifestation of Xena’s repressed jealousy or maybe just her number one fan, cry a thousand tears over Xena resorting to prayer to save Gabrielle’s blood innocence, and lose our minds over that final, shocking scene. Is it vengeance or is it justice? IDK, but it sure is AWESOME!

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15: 2x03-04 "The Giant Killer" & "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"

Join us for a Bacchanalia on this week’s XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST! First Vera, Katie, and Livy debate whether 2x03 “The Giant Killer” is a gigantic waste of time or maybe only a tiny bit bad? Sure the pace is slow and the plot predictable, but there's also a significant close-up of Xena and Gabrielle holding hands, plus the novelty of seeing Gabs friend-zoned by her own BOTW! Then we sink our fangs into the trippy frightfest that is 2x04 “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” the show's unique take on the Lesbian Vampire trope. We discuss the horror film history of transgressive female sexuality, the self-defeating short-sightedness of the patriarchy, and how Renée O’Connor would kill it as a Deadite.

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14: 2x01-02 "Orphan of War" & "Remember Nothing"

On this week’s XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, Season 2 here we come! Vera, Katie, and Livy discuss 2x01, “Orphan of War” and 2x02, “Remember Nothing,” both very juicy episodes about the people Xena loves. And foremost among them...wait for it...wait for it...is the Great Borias! We investigate how one man can be so great (spoiler alert: he can’t). Plus lots of juicy interpersonal drama as Xena’s son Solan is introduced, bringing to the fore Xena and Gabrielle’s differing feelings about motherhood. Then to cap it off, in the second ep we finally meet Xena’s brother Lyceus, who is a peach, and her fiance Maphias, who is ok...ish. He’s no Borias, let’s just say that. But who cares about all these men anyway when you’ve got Gabrielle and Chekhov’s blood innocence about to go off! 😱

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Minisode 01: New Zealand!

Welcome to our very first XWPodcast MINISODE! For each one of these we'll be exploring bigger/broader topics as related to Xena: Warrior Princess in even more glorious detail than in our regular Monday show (which means we'll be talking freely about the series as a whole, so beware of spoilers!). Today, we're traveling through the gateway to Antarctica Middle Earth Ancient Greece: New Zealand! XWP and Hercules: TLJ were on the ground floor for US-backed fantasy productions in NZ, and we can't even imagine what Xena would look like filmed anywhere else. Join Vera, Katie, and Livy as we discuss New Zealand's stunning landscape and its significance to the Xenaverse, as well as to other Hollywood-produced fantasy genre aesthetics (for example, that little trilogy based on a series of books that dropped on the scene a few years later...).

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