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Xena: Warrior Princess Season 2: Difference between revisions
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|epnum = 204 | |epnum = 204 | ||
|epname = Girls Just Wanna Have Fun | |epname = Girls Just Wanna Have Fun | ||
|epdate = 1996-10- | |epdate = 1996-10-21 | ||
|firstwatched = 2025-08-26 | |firstwatched = 2025-08-26 | ||
|thoughts = Without researching I don't know if popular knowledge is off or they took more liberties than usual... I thought Bacchus was a god into wine and stuff? But here he's basically the devil and creating straight up vampires? | |thoughts = Without researching I don't know if popular knowledge is off or they took more liberties than usual... I thought Bacchus was a god into wine and stuff? But here he's basically the devil and creating straight up vampires? | ||
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|epnum = 205 | |epnum = 205 | ||
|epname = Return of Callisto | |epname = Return of Callisto | ||
|epdate = 1996- | |epdate = 1996-10-28 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-08-31 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = When a major character goes through some big life change in what's not something like a season opener or ender, something is probably doomed by the end of the episode. But even by that standard, this was pretty rushed. Gabrielle went from newlywed to widow in about 5 minutes of screen time. I wonder how this will change her character going forward? Like will she not so easily fall for a new guy every other week?}} | ||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 206 | |epnum = 206 | ||
|epname = Warrior... Princess... Tramp | |epname = Warrior... Princess... Tramp | ||
|epdate = 1996-11- | |epdate = 1996-11-04 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-09-05 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = Three episodes in a row with Joxer... I didn't realize he'd be so recurring. But he's fun, so. | ||
A followup to last season's episode where there's a princess who looks just like Xena, only now there's additionally a _third_ person who looks just like Xena. They play this off as just some coincidence, but you've got to start wondering if they've all got a father who was sowing some wild oats a few decades back. | |||
This episode was more work for the viewer thanks to this strange premise. Any time the camera shifted or lost track of Lucy Lawless, you have to try to quickly ascertain: Which character is this? Which character are they trying to pretend they are at this moment? Which character do the OTHER people in the scene currently think they are? | |||
I was going to note that becoming a widow has made no change to Gabrielle, but I see it stated that this was originally intended for earlier in the season, so it makes sense that it wouldn't even have been a consideration.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 207 | |epnum = 207 | ||
|epname = Intimate Stranger | |epname = Intimate Stranger | ||
|epdate = 1996-11- | |epdate = 1996-11-11 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-09-07 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = Joxer four episodes in a row? I don't think Salmoneus has managed that. I don't think ''Iolaus'' has managed that. | ||
Feels a little weird to have two episodes in a row where Lucy Lawless is playing not-Xenas that look and dress like Xena. At the end of the episode she and Callisto remain bodyswapped with Xena's original body now in Tartarus. If I didn't know better I'd say this was a creative way to do a mid-show recasting of the title character, but I presume this will get straightened out soon enough.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 208 | |epnum = 208 | ||
|epname = Ten Little Warlords | |epname = Ten Little Warlords | ||
|epdate = 1996-11- | |epdate = 1996-11-18 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-09-09 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = Five consecutive for Joxer. When does he get added to the opening credits? | ||
So Sisyphus didn't look like he did on his previous appearances. Is he supposed to have stolen someone else's body while getting out of the underworld too, or is it just a normal recasting? | |||
So it seems Sisyphus made a deal with Hades, where he'd become the new god of war once he provided Hades with 10 warlords, but... why? Wouldn't Hades already have plenty of dead warlords in the underworld? What's he need another 10 for?}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 209 | |epnum = 209 | ||
|epname = A Solstice Carol | |epname = A Solstice Carol | ||
|epdate = 1996-12-09 | |epdate = 1996-12-09 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-09-15 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = What a weird mish-mash of an episode. Extremely silly even by my standards. Part Dickens transposed to classical Greece, part Santa Claus origin story (took me a while to catch on with the character named Senticles), part standard Xena beat-em-up. And they weren't given names, but the people they met at the end seemed stand-ins for Mary/Joseph/Jesus.}} | ||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 210 | |epnum = 210 | ||
|epname = The Xena Scrolls | |epname = The Xena Scrolls | ||
|epdate = 1997-01-13 | |epdate = 1997-01-13 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-09-19 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = Over the years I have learned to generally dislike clip shows, but episodes like this make me think there should be further classification. If an episode is 80% clips and 20% uninteresting framing story, like how [[Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2|TNG season 2]] ended? That's bad. But an episode like this was probably a third or less reused clips, with a very fun framing story. Entirely different beast. | ||
The whole thing is unabashedly Indiana Jones pastiche, which... good! Closer to Indiana Jones movies than Young Indiana Jones got to be most of the time. That separated by thousands of years each of several notable characters has exactly 1 notable descendant is a trope that doesn't make much sense, but in a story not meant to be taken seriously at all I'll allow it. Even Joxer is at this point considered notable enough for his also-Ted-Raimi descendant to be important here. | |||
The bit at the very end where this stuff is being proposed for TV/movie is also a well-worn trope, but I liked the gag about how it didn't need to be big budget, they could produce it in some third world country for cheap!}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 211 | |epnum = 211 | ||
|epname = Here She Comes... Miss Amphipolis | |epname = Here She Comes... Miss Amphipolis | ||
|epdate = 1997-01-20 | |epdate = 1997-01-20 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-09-21 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = Hey, they finally gave Ted Raimi the week off. Salmoneus was around, so I guess he took up the recurring guest star budget. | ||
When one of the contestants was a "Miss Artiphys" I noted the similarity to "artifice" but wasn't sure if it might be an actual place name. But when they reveal that Miss Artiphys is actually a drag queen, their wordplay became apparent. | |||
Naming the winner "Miss Known World" is kind of funny, but they sure know a lot more of the world than the piddly number of local villages that sent contestants. | |||
I read on the wiki this is Salmoneus's final Xena appearance. That's too bad.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 212 | |epnum = 212 | ||
|epname = Destiny | |epname = Destiny | ||
|epdate = 1997-01-27 | |epdate = 1997-01-27 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-09-2X | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = I found it hard to care much. The biggest problem I've had with Xena as a character is her shift from asshole warlord to do-gooder felt too fast and simple, so having a flashback to the asshole warlord days... why should I care? Great, here's how the asshole warlord learned how to incapacitate and kill people with pressure points. Here's the asshole warlord taking Julius Caesar prisoner, then feeling betrayed when his promises of a future together are lies.}} | ||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 213 | |epnum = 213 | ||
|epname = The Quest | |epname = The Quest | ||
|epdate = 1997-02-03 | |epdate = 1997-02-03 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-09-30 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = Part of my problem with this episode is my own problem. I thought it pretty strange that it just started with Xena dead and no explanation of how she ended up that way, or in a... spirit state. Buuuut that's how the last episode ended. I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention or was tired, because I thought after she had her ~NDE it was just a given that she'd wake up. | ||
Unusual use of Iolaus, just being there for one scene. It's a believable thing in the world of the franchise as we know it, just unusual for a show to do. I guess he had to stay out to leave some room for Autolycus.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 214 | |epnum = 214 | ||
|epname = A Necessary Evil | |epname = A Necessary Evil | ||
|epdate = 1997-02-10 | |epdate = 1997-02-10 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-10-06 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = OK, so until she was needed for the events of this episode... Hercules and Xena were just going to leave Callisto where she was? That seemed a pretty low security place to keep someone that dangerous. She was in an underground area with a hole in the ceiling. All it would take is one person with a rope to get her out. Or one trapped person with all the time in the world to fashion some sort of ladder. Luckily it seems they didn't press their luck for more than a few weeks. | ||
Still, by the end of the episode both Velasca and Callisto are gods. They've trapped them, but... those things don't tend to go for eternity like Xena was wishing. Whenever she shows up next, she'll be more of a danger than when she was purely an immortal in an easy-to-escape underground room.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 215 | |epnum = 215 | ||
|epname = A Day in the Life | |epname = A Day in the Life | ||
|epdate = 1997-02-17 | |epdate = 1997-02-17 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-10-11 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = Another episode directed by [[Michael Hurst]]. | ||
So this was a more comedic episode than usual. But it didn't play with the structure as much as I expected given the unusual addition of the... chapter titles or whatever. | |||
Lightning really took down the giant Gareth in a big way. When Iolaus got struck by lightning he just got cartoonishly disheveled.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 216 | |epnum = 216 | ||
|epname = For Him the Bell Tolls | |epname = For Him the Bell Tolls | ||
|epdate = 1997-02-24 | |epdate = 1997-02-24 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2025-11-10 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = More Xena-lite... did she get another injury. | ||
Joxer is back, and now he's got a cool theme song.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 217 | |epnum = 217 | ||
|epname = The Execution | |epname = The Execution | ||
|epdate = 1997-04-07 | |epdate = 1997-04-07 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2026-04-04 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = This was a pretty good episode, though it seems the kind that wouldn't work as well on rewatches. There's a lot of mystery as to what has actually happened, and that having been solved won't be so mysterious next time around. | ||
One thing it shows well is how easily our heroes can go bad. Like, Gabrielle assumes she's always right and her friends must always be innocent, so she feels there's nothing wrong with her taking a man found guilty of murder, breaking him out of prison, and helping him escape. | |||
I did find it kind of sketchy that when they came to town and Meleager had already been found guilty, with the judge saying there was evidence... but all it was was one old woman's eyewitness testimony of what she thought she saw in the night? That wouldn't hold up in a court today.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 218 | |epnum = 218 | ||
|epname = Blind Faith | |epname = Blind Faith | ||
|epdate = 1997-04-14 | |epdate = 1997-04-14 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2026-04-20 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = Felt built around some tropes, buuuut when you're making hundreds of episodes that's not so unexpected. A guy tries (sort of) to kill Xena for the glory, then they're forced to work together to save Gabrielle and give him another chance at killing Xena. But by the end of it he's acknowledged that he's not really the killing type and maybe being more Modern Xena rather than Warlord Xena is a good thing. | ||
So Gabrielle ended up faux-royal (again) in a weird plot to marry her to a corpse so the royal succession would go one way instead of another. The conspirators really seem married to the bit (HA). The public didn't know the king was dead and couldn't see the wedding, but they still went through with propping up the corpse and having a ceremony and everything.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 219 | |epnum = 219 | ||
|epname = Ulysses | |epname = Ulysses | ||
|epdate = 1997-04-21 | |epdate = 1997-04-21 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2026-04-27 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = I'm most familiar with [[John D'Aquino]] as the neighbor from [[That's My Bush!]], so to see him in a heroic role like Ulysses felt kind of funny. | ||
As ever, Xena (the show) plays fast and loose with source material. I remembered The Odyssey taking place over 10 years, but this episode compresses some of its events and Ulysses's Xenaverse odyssey comes to an end only about a season after the end of the Trojan War.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 220 | |epnum = 220 | ||
|epname = The Price | |epname = The Price | ||
|epdate = 1997-04-28 | |epdate = 1997-04-28 | ||
|firstwatched = | |firstwatched = 2026-05-05 | ||
|thoughts = }} | |thoughts = As a character concept, a fair enough idea... just not one that made for what I'd consider a very entertaining episode. But I generally prefer this franchise lighter. | ||
We've seen people fail to try to get Xena to return to her bloodthirstier warlord days before, but here she's caught in a situation with an army barely hanging on and a great force coming for them, so her brutal old ways seem the best way to deal with the situation, without her considering it a turn from good. But Gabrielle is less willing to be flexible in this way, and provides the breakthroughs necessary to lead to a less-deadly outcome for the battle.}} | |||
{{episodelist-info | {{episodelist-info | ||
|epnum = 221 | |epnum = 221 | ||
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[[Category:Xena: Warrior Princess Seasons]] | [[Category:Xena: Warrior Princess Seasons]] | ||
[[Category:1996 Television Seasons]] | |||
[[Category:1997 Television Seasons]] | |||