During its six-year run, Xena broke a lot of new ground--not only in terms of male/female equality (she predates Buffy as the first "true" female action hero), but in gay visibility as well. For six years (or thirty-two, if you count the 25-year sleep in the ice cave and the year spent in Norse country), the warrior princess shared a close, personal relationship with her bard/sidekick/partner Gabrielle. Though the two were "officially" considered to merely be just friends (perhaps even as close as sisters), it was obvious to many fans that it went far deeper than that. And, rather than completely close the doors to that possibility, the writers and producers often played with it, utilizing a "subtext" that fans could pick up on and toy with at their leisure. Towards the end of the series run, that "subtext" was pushed even closer to the foreground, with Xena and Gabrielle sharing 'parentage' of Xena's daughter Eve and, during some of the more farcical episodes, not-so-subtly hinting at the true nature of their relationship. For example, the episode "You Were There," done as a parody of front-line style news shows, ended with Michael Hurst's intrepid reporter asking the pair what they really were to each other, only to have the signal cut off due to 'technical difficulties' before they could answer. A few episodes later, "Many Happy Returns" ended with Xena presenting Gabrielle with her birthday present--a poem written especially for her by the well-known lesbian poetess Sappho.
As progressive as this show was, and as much as I personally enjoyed it, the reason that I relegated it to the "Hall of Shame" lies in the simple fact that, for the most part, their sexuality was mired in this subtext. True, it did open the show up to a larger audience (as many people would've undoubtely been turned off by an overt lesbian relationship on syndicated television--at least back then), but at the same time, the only people who really 'got' the subtext were the people already looking for it. So, in the case of this show, it comes down to this: visibility, but at what cost?
Xena and Gabrielle: Lesbian Icons (AfterEllen.com)
The Sapphic Subtext (Whoosh.org)
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