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Um, this lady is crazy.

Like full on, no holding back Heath Ledger Joker kind of crazy. Wow.

I’m so impressed and unsettled by this performance. Is anyone else with me?

Like the kind of crazy this is, is just so wonderfully insane. Like a villain who doesn’t care if she lives or dies. Sets the rules and even when things aren’t heading in her favor enforces them.

Her capture of how Xena works is amazing. Not to mention, I loved that part of her admired and looked up to Xena, but finds the new Xena pathetic.

Her raw honesty about killing everyone Xena loves if she were to be let go. She’d rather face a lynch mob, than be pitied by Xena. She’s a villain through and through and doesn’t want or care about redemption.

She let the hate she felt for what Xena did turn her into a horrific monster and she let it. She relished in it, because it was what she wanted. She focused solely on her hatred of the woman who destroyed her family and let it shape every part of her.

Honestly, my favorite line from Callisto was when she told Xena part of her was hoping Xena would win to put out the fire in her heart.

That was a powerful line.

And I simply adore villains who are villains. They don’t want redemption, they know nothing good comes from what they’re doing, but oh well. They’re too far gone.

Not everyone is Xena. Not everyone can or wants to find their way back.

Also, since Callisto isn’t dead, well, I’m looking forward to seeing her again. I mean, come on. There’s no way we’re not going to see more of this lunatic. Right?

I’d be shocked if we didn’t see her again. So, that’ll be fun.

Everything about this episode is what makes Xena great.

A top-notch villain. Top-notch character beats. And repeat actors.

Hello dude from the Black Wolf episode. Love that.

And of course, the main characters at the heart of the show – Gabrielle and Xena.

Throughout the entire episode Xena is distraught over what happened to Callisto. The one time her army is responsible for the death of women and children. A huge no-no as far as Xena is concerned.

She’s thinking about that moment, thinking about the person she created in Callisto, and wonders how easily it could be her. How differently she would have been if she lost everyone she cared about when her village was attacked.

I love the self retrospection Xena has here.

She fully admits given the different circumstances, she could have been Callisto.

Something Callisto plays on the entire episode. From the house scene, to the cell. She plays on the idea that Xena isn’t as good as she wants to be. There’s always going to be something from her dark past that reminds her.

Here’s Callisto, rubbing her gleeful hatred in Xena’s face. How she feels no remorse over what havoc she rots.

I also loved the little moment when the torch is tossed into the cell. The delivery from Callisto about how fitting it’ll be to die like her family, then her calm reminder that she won’t scream.

Yeah, I have no doubt you wouldn’t.

I have no doubt that she would have been happy to just burn right there.

Yikes.

But we have Xena racked with guilt. Trying to break through to Callisto, inspired by Gabrielle every step of the way.

On the flip side, we have Gabrielle.

Gabrielle who doesn’t understand Callisto at all. She doesn’t even understand the formerly good man who wants to avenge his son’s death. Like, she knows he’s a good man, but he’s consumed by hatred.

So Xena tries to explain hatred to her.

How she could have fallen further if her mother, or Hercules, or Gabrielle was lost like Callisto lost her family.

So much to unpack here.

Gabrielle refuses to be a reason Xena ever slips back into darkness. And the thing that kept catching my mind over this moment, was how Gabrielle took what Xena said.

To me, it sounded like Xena was talking about being young and impressionable when her village was first attacked. If that moment had been more like Callisto’s moment and she lost the people she loved. She’d be her too.

But Gabrielle takes it in a present tense and forces Xena to promise her that she won’t backslide into darkness should something happen to her.

Something Xena resists.

She tries to send her friend to bed or away or anything to avoid the promise. And we see some important things from Xena here.

She equates her affection for Gabrielle to that of Hercules and her mother. Her mother of course, she loves. Hercules her affection for him seems due to him helping her find her way back after losing herself. But Gabrielle is on the list of reasons Xena would lose it.

She’d give up her quest to be better if something tragic and awful happened to her.

Something she doesn’t want to promise Gabrielle. She actively avoids Gabrielle’s promise.

Because she knows deep down, she’d tear the world apart if something happened to her friend. Maybe she’s not ready to admit how far she’ll go. But she knows that’s a promise she may not be able to keep.

Except Gabrielle pushes back.

Over the course of the season, we’ve see Gabrielle’s strong spine only grow thanks to her time with Xena. Understanding how to back up what she says.

She was willingly to sacrifice herself to save everyone when we first met her in episode one. She’s always been strong, but now, she knows how to wield it.

And, more importantly, she knows Xena.

She recognized Xena was avoiding it and forced her to look her in the eye and promise. Because if she did that, Xena would go to the ends of the Earth to uphold it.

And then Xena does it!

She sees how important it is to her friend that she doesn’t lose herself, so she makes the promise.

Then she tries to avoid the feelings that come with the moment by sending Gabrielle away again, but she doesn’t go. Instead, she leans against her friend comforting her after a hard conversation. She’s there for her. Staring into the fire, reminding her of what she’s fighting for.

For people like Gabrielle.

I loved Xena’s line to the father about people like them listening to people like Gabrielle. It amazes me how far we’ve come in season one and how much Xena values Gabrielle’s opinion.

Which leads me back to the moment by the fire.

Xena promises that she won’t return to her warlord ways, should she lose Gabrielle. But somehow, in that same moment, I believe Xena promised herself once again, that she wouldn’t let anything happen to Gabrielle.

She’s taught her to defend herself. To trust in her skills. She won’t let it come to that, so she doesn’t have to worry about her promise.

Now, for Gabrielle, throughout the entire episode she’s almost confused. She’s confused by the hatred from Callisto and from the father. She’s confused how it’s driven people so far.

And at one point does it stop?

Xena is like this because her village is attacked.

So is Callisto.

Which means Callisto is creating more warlords and angry people through her actions.

How do you make it stop?

Something Gabrielle is wondering throughout the entire episode.

Not to mention, we can clearly tell that she thinks Callisto is wrong. She doesn’t say it, but her attitude towards the situation is clearly confused by the anger and hatred towards Xena. Because while she may know all the stories, heard it from Xena herself, and is confronted by the evidence like Callisto, she’s never really met the warlord Xena.

Sure, she caught a glimpse in the episode with Ares when he twisted the situation to turn Xena back.

Except, she doubled down on being a good person. Gabrielle even helped snap her out of it before she did something she couldn’t come back from.

Gabrielle doesn’t know the warlord Xena.

Just her best friend.

The one who teaches her to fight and plays tricks on her with Argo’s help. The one who giggles when she hears Gabrielle playing a silly song. A woman who beats herself up by the fire over what terrible things she has done.

One who no matter what, wouldn’t hurt the father even though he kept attacking her. She tried to help him. Kept an eye on him, but ultimately knew she couldn’t snap him out of hate. She understood it all too well.

Gabrielle only sees the Xena who did everything in her power to save Gabrielle in a wacky scheme of ladders. Who somehow managed to defeat Callisto and rescue her best friend. Who gently lowered her to the ground and saved the woman who had been trying to kill them both.

So she could have a fair trial.

As far as Gabrielle is concerned, this is the only Xena.

And while she has come very far, she’s still a bit naive, and blind. Especially when it comes to Xena.

In this episode we’re even treated to how far she has come.

She’s able to cope with and without Xena easily. Not that I thought it was hard against the fool we met this episode.

Who was this moron?

I was honestly hoping Callisto would just off him right there when he snuck into her camp. Something he did a follow-up time. Why? Who knows?

He’s a complete idiot with no fighting skills, so clearly it wasn’t hard for Gabrielle to take him on. But I loved that she disarms him so easily. Over and over.

Then she decides to talk to him and help him find something he is good at.

Because there’s a difference between Gabrielle and Xena.

Xena left this annoying dope and he turned to someone else that he thought might find him useful.

Gabrielle tried to help him find something else to do with his life. Though he still went to find someone else who might find him useful, he couldn’t kill Gabrielle when push came to shove.

Whether that’s a character issue or in the moment of I can’t kill the woman who was trying to help me find my way. I’m not sure.

Either way, I’m glad he’s gone.

He was annoying as hell.

I was super excited for Gabrielle to easily beat him up though and show that certain things no longer bother her. She’s confident in taking care of herself without Xena to babysit her.

I love that.

Overall, this was a fantastic episode. A wild villain who I hope to see again. Heartfelt moments from Xena and Gabrielle. And a wild climatic fight that was utterly ridiculous but something I could watch again and again. Marvel take note!

What did you guys think of Callisto? Please drop me all the comments about this episode! It might be my favorite of season one thus far.

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