Episode
15 in Season 2 (“A Day in the Life”) included the
first of many shared hot tubs, and the two women were often
shown together in a bedroll, holding and comforting one another,
or declaring their devotion.
Many
queer viewers embraced the show because it finally let lesbian
and bisexual women in on the jokes, and because a mainstream
television show was intentionally catering to a queer audience,
as Lawless mentioned as early as the second season in a 1996
interview with the Denver Post:
“We
talk about it on set. We're all aware of how different sectors
of our audience perceive the show. If you're talking about
the lesbian element, we are aware and we're not afraid of
it. This is a love story between two people. What they do
in their own time is none of our business.”
But
the subtext on Xena also had
a negative side—its very existence depended on the show
maintaining a “don’t ask, don’t tell”
type of policy which prevented the characters’ sexual orientations
from ever being directly addressed or referenced. Although the
show did blur the lines and push the envelope for heterosexual
viewers, Xena and Gabrielle’s most intimate scenes were
often a hurt/comfort situation, and the kisses were officially
about transferring water or giving mouth to mouth.
Xena
did have male sexual partners from the past, especially in the
initial episodes, and Gabrielle was often enamored with the boy
of the week (and even briefly married). The attentions of Ares,
Greek God of War, were consistently geared towards seducing Xena
into his lair and into his bed.
These
relationships did not require a subtextual reading and contrasted
sharply with the repressed expression of Xena and Gabrielle's
relationship.
In
a handful of episodes, Xena’s attraction to selected men
also brought up issues of infidelity for our perceived lesbian
couple. In Episode 18 of Season 5 and Episode 3 of Season 6 (“Antony
and Cleopatra” and “Heart of Darkness” respectively),
Gabrielle broke up kissing sessions between Antony and Xena, and
between Xena and Lucifer. In
both cases, seduction was part of “the plan,” but
from Gabrielle’s eyes, Xena appeared to be enjoying herself
a little too much. On the flip side, we also saw Gabrielle kissing
Virgil in “Heart of Darkness” as well.
In
spite of this, this episode scorched with an erotic Xena/Gabrielle
dance scene, one of the few blatantly erotic touches between the
two.
As
the series progressed, the sly jokes and innuendo
turned into loving glances and a physical closeness that was increasingly
intimate in nature, beyond the kinds of interactions one sees
between “just friends.” Xena and Gabrielle went through
many trials to test their relationship, including death and resurrection.
The love, devotion and loyalty between them was spoken repeatedly,
and the two were revealed to be soulmates through generations
in the future.
The
relationship became the backbone of the show, and although the
physical side of that equation always remained unrealized, there
were no male sexual partners.
Xena
and Gabrielle also created an alternative
family together, which struck a chord with many lesbian viewers.
This was especially apparent when Xena became pregnant (interestingly
enough, by the spirit of a woman—her former nemesis Callisto).
Xena's first reaction to the news? “Gabrielle’s gonna
freak.”
Xena’s
mother searched for a man for her to marry and had to be reminded
by Xena that she already had a family, i.e. Gabrielle. After losing
and then welcoming her daughter Eve back into the fold in Episode
22 of Season 5 (“Motherhood”), Xena specifically emphasized
to Gabrielle that “we got our daughter back."
As
Gabrielle lay injured in Episode 6, Season 6 (“The Abyss”),
we heard more of their devotion:
