Season two, episode 10
In the Xena Scrolls we find out that Gabrielle and Xena’s souls are destined to find each other over and over again.
Its Macedonia in 1940, a determined archaeologist and a visitor to her excavation site stumble upon the “Xena Scrolls,” ancient manuscripts that chronicle the Warrior Princess’s adventures.
The visitor is Mel, a prim and proper southern woman who looks like Xena. The archaeologist is Janis a cigar smoking, female Indiana Jones character with a whip; she looks a lot like Gabrielle.
Whoever these women are we realise that they are not our Xena and Gabrielle as Mel is put in danger and Janis comes to her rescue.
Mel has come in response to a message found in her dead father’s belongings. The message was from Janis telling him about the scrolls; Mel has come to help translate them. As they follow clues from the scrolls they are joined by a Frenchman who looks like Joxer, he claims he wants to protect the scrolls.
This was a bit of a clip show but enjoyable nonetheless. The episode wove current events into past Xena adventures. The reading of the scrolls was an opportunity to flashback to a time in Xena’s history.
Renee O’Connor and Ted Raimi get to join Lucy Lawless in playing different characters. This time they play descendants of Gabrielle, Joxer and Xena. It was well done and managed to create new mythology.
This show took the Xena and Gabrielle subtext to a whole new level. Just as The Greater Good spawned a slew of ‘hurt comfort’ fan fiction so The Xena Scrolls gave birth to a new genre: Uber Xena, with stories written about future Xena and Gabrielle.
Disclaimer: No Hollywood Producers were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
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