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"Xena, Warrior Princess" how do I love thee? Let me count the ways (stopping at a criminally-brief thirteen).
1) Female anti-hero on life-mission of redemption: utterly unique in Western fiction
2) Female couple on heroic quest: just about as rare
3) Female hero (later, couple) shown as martial equal of (usually, superior to) males: all without super-powers, or divine status
4) The combined mission of redemption/heroic quest took our couple to most of the "Known World" (plus East Asia), and across time-lines (with a vast array of historical persons, and mythic figures) in order to explore deep issues (and show a lot of fantastic costumes!)
5) The Iconic Figure of Xena (frequently listed on "TV's Best Ever" lists), as irreplaceably embodied by Lucy Lawless
6) The Groundbreaking pairing/teaming/coupling/life-partnering (variously!) of Xena and Gabrielle
7) The Student-becomes-Master story, in her own right, of Gabrielle---combined with the Icon of Selfless-Love, that *is* Gabrielle: both irreplaceably embodied by Renee O'Connor.
8) The virtually always solid, and often heartbreakingly moving (and sometimes gut-busting humorous) performances by Lawless and O'Connor.
9) The non-stop variety (often boldly experimental) of episode themes and styles: often illuminated via excellent writing, and typically quality directing.
10) How the show's turning of "myth into history, history into myth" often made viewers want to explore the older (if less appealing) sources! (Yours Truly read much of the Ancient Greek canon under XWP's inspiration)
11) The evolution of the show through the seasons: sometimes devolving, but building through a fantastic final season, until
12) A series finale which, if upsetting and tragic (in the typical sense), was also tragic in the moving epic sense also (not to mention visually/musically stunning, with great performances and drama)
13) Last but not least, the Most Romantic of Romances: whether one saw them as sexually-involved or not, there could be *no* doubt that Xena and Gabrielle made one of (if not THE) most romantic couples in television history. Their love---declared and displayed in a million different ways---was thrillingly affirming for gay people, true. But just as much for straight fans, this "Even in death, I'll never leave you" relationship made all our hearts beat just a little faster. Even the cynical, the bitter, the "older but wiser" found their souls begin to dream again, when seeing Xena and Gabrielle giving (and forgiving) their lives (often literally!) to and for each other (with the greater good being just an added bonus!). And they did it all while . . . looking like Lucy Lawless, and Renee O'Connor (*together*). No couple (fictional anyway---though I refuse to believe X&G are completely fictitious!) ever looked better than they did! (Can't ignore all that fantastic flesh *g* )
These are only 13 reasons. Given more time, I could come up with 13 (or 1300) more. Sure, not every episode was great. Occasionally a performance hits an off-note. A few episodes make no sense whatever (aren't true to the characters), and at least twice the editing was disastrous.
But what show ever *tried* to do so much? Building on its completely original premise (without any derivation, to speak of, of its parent show, "Hercules"), the show took on, with gusto: drama (stand-alone and serial), adventure, comedy, musicals, present-day/recent past eps, camp, "homages" to/from hundreds of different sources, bringing back established actors, discovering new ones, unpacking history from (literally, and literarily) around the globe and---oh: this should really be number . . .
14) Doing it all in that amazing geographical wonder (that much of the world would have to wait until "The Lord of the Rings" to discover): New Zealand.
Many television series can boast more consistent writing. A few have more dramatically (or comically) superior casts. But no other show reached as high, or explored (history, the cosmos, two very fragile yet incredibly BRAVE human hearts) as far and wide and *deep*. No other show took these kind of chances (with an unknown star, whose American accent--in a TV show designed for American audiences---was newly-acquired and occasionally suspect!).
That it reached for the stars (and, more often than not, grasped them), all while being true to its heroes (and their HEROIC LOVE) makes "Xena, Warrior Princess" the greatest television show of all time.
score /10
tgflux 1 January 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0994548/ |
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4-5-2020 02:15:08
