So enjoy this joke and relieve this pain. A Virgil-free “fan”vid for Season Five. This one’s for you, Katie, Livy, and Vera.
Xena Warrior Podcast 57: 4×13 “Paradise Found” Commentary
Life: A TV series about a Buddhist cop trying love, not war. (And his Muslim partner Sarah Shahi)
Path of Inspiration | Sinister Minister | Evil Mentor | Falsely Reformed Villain | Pure is Not Good | Light is Not Good | Enlightened Antagonist
This is my least favorite trope. Character finds something good and it all goes wrong. I always feel betrayed1. Having Paradise Found and Crusader so close together is gut-wrenching. But so important for Gabrielle’s journey. And ours. I want goodness and peace for Gabrielle. I want her to feel belonging and love. I want her to be forgiven.
Chris Manheim is totally forgiven. What a great episode.
Xena Warrior Podcast Minisode 03 – “Armageddon Now Parts 1 & 2” – Conqueror Fic Notes
Ares and Callisto speak in Armageddon Now: “Some people are just begging to get pounded.” “I didn’t think you’d noticed.”
Oh my god, ladies, you did not do justice to the massive Strife fandom out there. People are still writing Strife!fic. Oh my god.
Anyway, I’m naive, I didn’t know there was any controversy over Conqueror Fic. Which I always thought was weird, because it’s so dark and this is a fandom where people lost their shit over the Gabdrag. The ladies set me straight in their Armageddon Now podcast, where they give a frank, balanced discussion of Conqueror fic and its origins, and name-drop a few classics.
Xena Warrior Podcast 40: 3×17 “Forget Me Not” / 41: 3×18 “Fins, Femmes & Gems” Notes
I want to state clearly a thing that happened in “Forget Me Not” that I never realized before the podcast pointed it out.
Gabrielle imagined Xena having sex with Lao Ma. That’s what got her all, well, hot and bothered (I just listened to the Fins commentary so I’m all about sex puns!). Gabrielle was so jealous of Xena having sex with another woman that she went Rift-tastic. It’s there. In all this flying fabric metaphor that the podcast is helping me understand. I’m learning new language to talk about an old thing.
A very old thing. 😉
(So sorry).
Xena Warrior Podcast 37 – 3.13 One Against an Army – Commentary
I didn’t think I would have much to contribute to this episode, because usually the really good ones only inspire me to cheer and give a thumbs up. But “One Against an Army” is so good because it’s so good. Like future powerhouses (#3 and #4 on Whoosh’s Top 12 list), I “oooo” just as much as I “awww.”