Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: The Warrior Princess was one of a few formative television series for me in the ‘90s—as I know it was for many others. From the moment Lucy Lawless showed up on Hercules, it was love at first sight. Though there was still the opportunity for reruns showing up pretty often back in those days, I hadn’t watched the series since it ended in 2001 (approximately 300 years ago). I finally decided this year was the time to revisit and I’m so very glad I did. There were still the heartfelt stories I remembered, the camp, the badass Amazons, and far too many Karls Urban. But with adult eyes I was able to appreciate just how much went into the fantasy series—most importantly, the queer subtext it included which, dear god, was really not that subtle after all! I really couldn’t believe how much I didn’t pick up on back then but, well, neither did the executives who normally would have made a stink about it, so thank goodness for that. I’m not quite done with my rewatch yet—it’s wild to see how much happened so early on in the series that I was certain took seasons to develop—but Xena and Gabrielle were exactly the kind of escape I needed this year and I’m excited I still have some of the really bizarre stuff from the later seasons to look forward to. – Jill Pantozzi
