Episode 31: Intimate Stranger

Woooo! One finals week down! Onward to more Xena!

So we start off with Gabby and Xena sneaking about in the woods like some horny teenagers. They may or may not be following some bad guys, but by the eye goggling and gratuitous touching, I'm sticking with the previous hypothesis.

Xena is seeing things. Her mom randomly pops up in the middle of the woods, totally killing the mood by the way. Hold up! It's Ares! Of course it is. He's giving her crap for letting Callisto die on purpose. The usual mind trips. Let's enjoy the fabulous hair!

Xena's having one of those creepy dream within a dream within a dream things. Cue dramatic Inception music. Though, one of her dreams does give us this glorious little screen shot.

Caption it as you wish. I leave it to your imagination.

Anyways, we move on to find Joxer in yet another predicament. Luckily Xena and Gabby are there to save him yet again. Well, kind of.

Joxer is all, "Hello? Hellooooooo! Right behind ya!" Gabrielle and Xena continue to ignore him and discuss camping arrangements before starting to walk away amidst Joxer's protests.


Xena: "Calm down, Joxer. We saw you."
Joxer: "Great. Well you think you can cut me down without dropping me flat on my face?"
Xena: (grins) "No."

Ha! Love it. Uh-oh. Xena is seeing things again, this time it's Callisto and she decides to follow her. She winds up in some strange cave which is utilizing quite a lot of fake fog.

Xena thinks she is still in a dream BUT WAIT! Callisto and Ares are working together! Callisto's spirit takes over Xena's body! NOOOOOOOO! I really love this episode. Mostly because Lucy Lawless has to imitate Hudson Leick and vice versa. It's pretty awesome watching them pretend to be each other. Glorious acting!

GABBY! She doesn't realize what's going on and Callisto as Xena is totally messing with her head. Argo by the way is the only one catching on.

Meanwhile, Xena as Callisto is telling Hades what happened so she can go back to Earth and try to save her body from Callisto. He gives her one day to set things right.

Blah, blah, blah, Callisto is screwing with Gabby's head some more. Poor Gabby. She's so confused! Future Gabrielle would never have fallen for this act, she would have known it wasn't Xena right away. Unfortunately our heroes are still in the getting to know each other stage of their relationship.

Breast Dagger sighting!! Callisto as Xena straps it to the end of Gabby's staff. Not exactly the best way the Breast Dagger has ever been used, but I still love it anyways.

Blah, blah, blah more Ares and Callisto mind games. NO! ARGO! Callisto is being the evil bitch she is and slices Argo up. Now she has gone TOO FAR! You don't mess with Argo. Luckily Xena as Callisto comes along and is able to save her loyal horse, after having to convince Joxer of who she is.

Aw, Joxer. He has such a good heart. He knows Callisto could easily kill him, yet he doesn't even hesitate to put himself in danger just to protect Xena's horse.

Moving on! Xena and Callisto fight! Watching Lawless and Hudson try to imitate each other's fighting styles is so great. Xena gets the upper hand but then Gabrielle comes along and thinks Xena is actually Callisto and is about to kill her. Buuuuut Xena convinces her otherwise with her many skills. Unfortunately the real Callisto gets away again.

Oh man, now Callisto is messing with Xena's mom! Xena is so going to kick her ass. Ares is getting pissed with Callisto because she isn't following his well thought out plan. What did you think was going to happen Ares? This is Callisto. She doesn't follow plans.

Xena, Gabby, and Joxer to the rescue! More fighting ensues. Xena manages to knock Callisto out so they now have to fight in the dream world, where Xena can take her out. More fighting, blah, blah, blah. Then Xena starts driving Callisto crazy by making her face her guilt. Yay! Xena saves the day!

One teensy weensy draw back though. Xena is still caught in Callisto's body. Can I just say how weird it is seeing Gabrielle hug Callisto? I mean, I realize it's really Xena but it is still extremely weird.


I don't think this lasts very long though. Not more than a few episodes, then she'll be back to the Lucy we all know and love.

*Argo was not harmed during the production of this motion picture. However, she is undergoing intensive psychotherapy to help her work through her resentment and feelings of distrust toward Xena.*