100: 6x14 “Path of Vengeance”

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, fables have never been sexier! Vera, Katie, and Livy are reckoning with 6x14 “Path of Vengeance,” an episode that goes back to the show’s roots with a plot full of Amazon justice and juicy moral dilemmas. We discuss Eve’s final appearance on Xena and how her character arc differs from her mother’s, Xena’s hypocrisy whenever someone she loves is facing punishment, Varia’s beatdown of Gabrielle as a necessary step in Gabs’s journey, and the episode’s many parallels with “The Reckoning.” Plus: Varia’s 80’s aerobics tape; Ares reverts and it’s very problematic (coin!); Eve did it first, Melisandre!; telephone poles and cabbages; don’t get kicked by Varia, WHY IS THERE IDES OF MARCH MUSIC; and Renée flubs a take and for some reason that’s the final shot?!

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99: 6x13 "You Are There"

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST: You! Are! There! Vera, Katie, and Livy investigate 6x13 “You Are There,” a comedy experiment that stretches the show’s tonal boundaries. We discuss the forerunners of the fourth wall-breaking reporter, including X-Cops, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and of course the original You Are There, we debate whether this device actually works in the Xenaverse, and we discuss the episode as a satire of media misbehavior and paparazzi culture. Plus: this episode is weirdly connected to FiN???, Michael Hurst’s delightful turn as Nigel, Eve gets catharsis and so do we, what would a serious version of this premise look like?, Gabs loves the limelight!, winks without subtext are annoying, and the Knights Who Say Bend the Knee! They’d have still picked up their audio! THEY’D HAVE STILL PICKED UP THEIR AUDIO!

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98: 6x12 "The God You Know"

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, welcome to our bacchanalia -- try the grapes! Vera, Katie, and Livy enjoy some late Roman decadence with 6x12 “The God You Know,” a messy rollercoaster of giddy highs and problematic lows. We discuss Alexis Arquette’s carefully modulated performance as Caligula, Aphrodite down and out in Rome, the parallels between Xena and Caligula, the show’s infuriatingly sudden descent into queerbaiting, the technically masterful chariot race sequence, and Christianity’s newly sinister depiction. Plus: God Powers 101, the mechanics of face scooping, what do you wear while bowling with Adam Sandler, Xena’s abs make a surprise appearance, Caligula’s horse 2020, eww feet-washing, and Gabrielle’s hat is bad but not as bad as her rope dance! The girlfriend of my girlfriend is...my girlfriend?

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97: 6x11 “Dangerous Prey”

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, the hunt is on! Vera, Katie, and Livy are stalking 6x11 “Dangerous Prey,” Renée O’Connor’s second outing as a director. We discuss the strategies Renée used to beef up this episode’s weak script, the terribly-named Prince Chesnick Bloodicarr Morloch who was just the worst on screen and off, and the many better versions of this premise they could have gone with including: Eve putting Varia on a leash, Gabs graduating from student to teacher, and Michelle Yeoh and/or Claudia Black doing the whole ‘I hunt humans’ thing. Plus: Gabs is bad at babysitting Amazons, Renée loves Lucy’s muscular thighs, our French bulldog Phil really hates Morloch, Chad Magathon Bumblebum, what Renée learned from Michael Hurst, and Coffee Talk #5!

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96: 6x10 "Old Ares Had a Farm"

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, *cue banjo*. Vera, Katie, and Livy are making hay with 6x10 “Old Ares Had a Farm,” one of the show’s final, and most lovable, comedies. We discuss its use of nostalgia, not just in the subplot about Xena’s childhood, but also in its hiring of director Charles Siebert, who directed many Xena eps in the first two seasons and whose style here recaptures some of that early-show goofiness. Plus: Kevin Smith’s finest hour, R.J. Stewart’s character-based comedy, Gabrielle and Xena love milkmaid roleplay, the glorious return of GOONS, so many animal reaction shots, sound effects galore, Greba McEntire, Gabs gets into character, and that classic fanfic ‘there’s only one bed’ scenario.   

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