However, Xena is about much more than a formerly evil woman making up for her past. While redemption remains a major theme in the series, the more predominant focus in the show is the deep and meaningful bond between Xena (Lucy Lawless) and her "side­ kick,"  a  young  woman  named  Gabrielle  (Renee O’ Connor). In the premiere episode of the series. Xena helps to free Gabrielle and her female companions from  slavery.  Later, Gabrielle  decides  that she is not cut out for the life her family has planned for her­ marriage and children, continuing to live in her home village-and sets out in search of Xena. The  two women begin to travel together, with Xena fighting evil people, gods, and creatures, and Gabrielle recording their exploits in what becomes known as 'The Xena Scrolls."

     What sustained Xena as a hit (the series has a remarkable following on the Internet and generated a profitable convention-going circuit) was the intense and ambiguous relationship that developed between Xena and Gabrielle. Fans of the series soon began speculating that Xena and Gabrielle were, in fact, a loving lesbian couple. The show developed a substantial lesbian fan base, and viewers delighted in the rather obvious lesbian subtext, which became a hallmark trait of the series. One of the most famous "subtext episodes," "A Day in the Life," showed Xena and Gabrielle naked in a hot tub together, and much of the dialogue contained comical double entendres. Numerous episodes created reasons for the two women to kiss and caress each other, from people being trapped in others’ bodies to the need for CPR to be administered to Xena and Gabrielle "playing lesbian" to seduce evil men into letting their guards down. In the show's final season, the episode "You Are There" featured a tabloid TV reporter intent on discovering "the truth" about the two women's relationship; when he finally obtains an on-air interview and asks them if they are lovers, the feed is cut and the viewers never get to hear the answer to the question.

     The presence of a tabloid TV reporter in ancient Greece is just one example of what made Xena generically distinctive. While Xena and Gabrielle travel as action heroes in a world dominated by Greek gods and mythological creatures, the series plays with Greek legends and unhesitatingly rewrites history as well. In addition, the show's use of fantasy (and some science fiction) makes historical impossibilities a regular part of the series. Sometimes this element of the show is used to create humor. Ares (Kevin Smith) is constantly present, trying to get Xena to return to her evil ways by playing tricks on her and Gabrielle (and at other times respecting her choices because of a deep love he has for her). Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings) loves to pull magical jokes on Xena and Gabrielle and develops a strong friendship with Gabrielle in particular. When Aphrodite makes an evil warlord from Xena's past fall in love with Gabrielle, his attempts to steal a magical lyre to woo Gabrielle lead to a "battle of the bands" episode in which various contestants perform rap, disco, heavy metal, and R&B numbers ("Lyre, Lyre"). In another episode ("Here She Comes, Miss Amphipo­lis"), Xena and Gabrielle go undercover at a beauty pageant where contestants are being attacked; in the end, Miss Artyphys, a male transvestite, wins the pageant. The characters of Joxer (a hapless warrior in love with Gabrielle, played by Ted Raimi) and Autolycus (a smarmy thief played by Bruce Campbell) also support the show's humorous tone.

     While such occurrences made Xena regularly funny and campy (especially with the use of acrobatic fight scenes in which the laws of physics are suspended), the series also had many melodramatic storylines, some of which lasted for a full season or longer. In those narratives, Greek mythology continued to play a role, but Nordic and Christian mythology, and also Eastern Asian religions and philosophies, were used as well. For example, throughout the show, the Amazon community plays a large part in the more serious stories, especially after Gabrielle becomes an Amazon queen. In the third season, a demon spirit rapes Gabrielle, leading to the creation of Stonehenge. She later gives birth to a demon child who kills Xena's son, setting the two women against each other. (Their anger and grief is dealt with in a lavish musical episode, "The Bitter Suite.") The following year, Julius Caesar (Karl Urban), a former lover of Xena, crucifies Xena and Gabrielle when they aid a religious revolutionary; in heaven the women meet the archangel Michael and are brought back to a life. While in heaven, Xena and Callisto (who has died) reconcile and Callisto is reborn as Xena's "virgin birth" child, a child destined to end the reign of the Greek gods and introduce monotheism to the world (Eve, played by Adrienne Wilkinson).

     Xena ended in 2001 after six seasons. The final year introduced Lucifer/Satan, Xena's past as a Valkyrie, and even two episodes set in 2001 that focused on fans of Xena in relation to the "real" Xena and Gabrielle. In the two-hour series finale, Xena and Gabrielle travel to Japa (Japan) to help Xena atone for having accidentally killed 40,000 people in her past. Xena becomes a ghost in order to kill the demon tormenting the 40,000 souls, and she leaves Gabrielle alive (after another worldly "kiss," of course) to continue their legendary journeys on her own. Xena's remarkable success in no small measure paved the way for later action series featuring women. Shows such as La Femme Nikita, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Angel, and Alias are part of a lineage that owes much to Xena: Warrior Princess.