This time around, we look at what I believe is the most pivotal year of the series - the third season. While the previous two years established character and setting the third set about irrevocably altering the status quo - to the delight and dismay of fans around the world. Indeed, I doubt that any season of the show is as controversial in fan circles. All of the complaints lodged in the succeeding three years can ultimately be laid at the feet of season three's pivotal story arc - the rift.
The third season is so pivotal - and so full of wonderful moments - that it deserves more than a single column. This week I look at the first half of the season, which sets up the conflict. Next week I look at the second half, which blows it wide open.
Xena entered season three as one of the highest rated first-run programs in syndication. The popular media began paying attention to this "cult classic" - perhaps the most influential science fiction or fantasy series since Star Trek. Legions of viewers began tuning in to see what all the fuss was about.
The first few episodes were nothing remarkable -- The Furies raised some speculation about Xena's relationship to Ares, and Been There, Done That provided an amusing chance for several different fantasies to play out (Joxer's death being one of the more popular). The Dirty Half-Dozen seemed to establish that the third season would continue in the same vein as the previous two.
All of that changed in The Deliverer. Caesar returns to the series, and Xena (with Gabrielle in tow) is lured to Britannia to try and stop his plans for global conquest. What seems to be an excellent - if typical - episode is turned on its ear when the "B-plot" introducing a Christian-sounding cult steps forward; it shatters Gabrielle's blood innocence (first referred to all the way back in Dreamworker), leaves both Xena and Gabrielle emotionally shattered, and introduces Dahak - who would be a thorn in the sides of our heroes (on both Xena and Hercules) for the next year and a half.
The assault on Gabrielle (referred to by many - perhaps appropriately - as rape) shocked many fans. It began rumblings that continue today in some circles; in the Gabfan camp especially, many mark this episode as the beginning of the end for the bard.
