Season Three brought more of the type of silly humor and action the series was known for but it also took a much darker turn as well. The arc with Gabrielle's demon spawn daughter was particularly telling in terms of growth of the characters, making this the breakthrough season in many fan's minds. While a few episodes were really lame, the worst being Vanishing Act, people sat up and took notice as the more adult themes were handled in such a manner as to allow the many shades of gray to surface (rather thanHercules's Black & White Universe). With some information gleamed off the official website and TV Guide (credit to them for much of it below), here's a breakdown of the season's shows:

Season Three Episodes:

Episode 1: The Furies: (September 29, 1997):
"Syndication's top-rated heroine returns for her third season---and promptly loses her mind. Xena's immortal enemy Ares (Kevin Smith), enlists the aid of the Furies for his latest assault. The three curse-enforcing goddesses declare that the Warrior Princess (Lucy Lawless) has committed "a terrible crime. She will be punished by persecution and madness." Just what is the "terrible crime"? Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) investigates and discovers that Xena had failed to avenge the murder of her father. That's certainly news to Xena: she didn't know that her father had been murdered, much less the identity of the killer."

Episode 2: Been There, Done That: (October 6, 1997):
"Shades of Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day": Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer (Ted Raimi) get mixed up with two feuding families on a day that repeats itself over and over again." Xena finds that she needs to accomplish a miracle to end the cycle but is it beyond her ability?

Episode 3: The Dirty Half Dozen: (October 13, 1997):
"Xena rounds up a gang of cutthroats to battle the warlord Agathon (Jonathon Roberts), a protégé of Ares who possesses weapons made of a super-hard metal."

Episode 4: The Deliverer: (October 20, 1997):
"Xena, Gabrielle and the first priest (Marton Csokas) of a monotheistic cult head for Britannia to battle their common enemy Julius Caesar--- who promptly captures Gabrielle."

Episode 5: Gabrielle's Hope: (October 27, 1997):
"Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) gives birth to the "Daughter of Darkness." The warrior's fiery encounter with Dahak, the "Force of Darkness," left her more than shaken---it left her nauseated. Before long, three evil Banshees materialize, worshipping Gabrielle and calling her "The Source." Both she and Xena (Lucy Lawless) suspect that something strange is going on, and sure enough, Gabrielle's belly begins to grow at a rapid rate. The birth of a beautiful baby girl soon follows, and Gabrielle names her Hope, hoping for the best. But when Xena looks at the child, all she sees is despair---which doesn't bode well for the friendship of the two warriors."

Episode 6: The Debt, Part 1: (November 3, 1997):
"As Xena and Gabrielle travel toward the Eastern kingdom of Chin, Xena recalls a kidnapping episode from her dark past involving two rival Chin clans. Part 1 of two."

Episode 7: The Debt, Part 2: (November 10, 1997):
"Conclusion. Flashbacks recall Xena's transformation from evil to good. But in the present, the "Green Dragon" (Daniel Sing) has captured Xena, and is breathing fire at her."

Episode 8: King Of Assassins: (November 17, 1997):
"Gabrielle, Joxer and Autolycus sneak into a palace to thwart an assassination attempt by Joxer's evil lookalike brother, Jett. The intended victim: Cleopatra (Gina Torres)." Bruce Campbell directed this episode, the first of several in the series that he took part in.

Episode 9: Warrior…Priestess…Tramp: (January 12, 1998):
"Lucy Lawless isn't exactly suffering from a lack of exposure. People named her one of their 25 Most Intriguing People and TV GUIDE listed her among the Performers of the Year. What's more the producers of Xena are making sure she gets even more exposure with this week's show, the first of several new episodes. Lawless is starring as the Warrior Princess and playing two Xena look-alikes. First, there's Leah, a pious priestess of the virgin goddess Hestia. Leah's in trouble with bad guys at Hestia's temple, and Xena and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) want to help her. Complicating matters: a less-than-pious look-alike named Meg, the operator of a bordello."

Episode 10: The Quill Is Mightier Than The Sword: (January 19, 1998):
"Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings) casts an odd spell on Gabrielle: everything she writes on her scroll comes to pass. Of course, what Gabrielle writes isn't always precisely what she means."

Episode 11: Maternal Instincts: (January 26, 1998):
"Xena and Gabrielle meet up with their respective offspring, Solan (David Taylor) and Hope (Amy Morrison). But the reunions are hardly happy, thanks to Callisto (Hudson Leick)."

Episode 12: The Bitter Suite: (February 2, 1998):
"The conflict between Xena (Lucy Lawless, pictured) and Gabrielle comes to a head in this lavish musical-fantasy episode set in a tarot-card dreamworld called Illusia. Why a musical? "It allowed us to express emotions that were best said in this way," co-executive producer Rob Tapert says. And those emotions are raw: in last week's episode, Gabrielle's evil daughter Hope killed Xena's son Solon, and Xena blames Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor). "Xena really wants to kill Gabrielle," Tapert notes. Their parallel, phantasmagorical journeys dominate the storyline, which won't die completely as long as Hope is alive. (She'll turn up soon on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.)"

Episode 13: One Against An Army: (February 9, 1998):
"Xena must hold off an entire Persian army single-handed---and also tend to Gabrielle, who's been struck by a poison arrow."

Episode 14: Forgiven: (February 16, 1998):
"A teen (Shiri Appleby) with a bad attitude picks a fight with Gabrielle, then tells Xena that she wants to be her new partner. Gabrielle's incensed, but Xena sees something in her. And as it happens, she can be helpful: she knows who stole a missing urn that Xena and Gabrielle are after."

Episode 15: King Con: (February 23, 1998):
"Poor Joxer is conned out of gambling winnings, then is almost killed by the gambling-den owner's henchmen. So Xena decides it's payback time."

Episode 16: When In Rome: (March 2, 1998):
"When Caesar (Karl Urban) captures Xena's comrade in arms Vercinix (Tamati Rice), the Warrior Princess captures Caesar's colleague Crassus and proposes a swap. But she also assumes treachery on Caesar's part, and plans accordingly."

Episode 17: Forget Me Not: (March 8, 1998):
"Gabrielle is troubled but doesn't know why, so she visits the temple of the goddess of memory, who sets her off on a journey through her past (as seen in clips from previous episodes)."

Episode 18: Fins, Femmes And Gems: (April 11, 1998):
"Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings) steals the "mystic diamond" that keeps the North Star lit, then casts spells on Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer to keep them from retrieving it."

Episode 19: Tsunami: (April 20, 1998):
"Xena, Gabrielle and Autolycus find themselves aboard a ship capsized by a tidal wave. They do find an air pocket, but so does a cutthroat (Todd Rippon), who thwarts them at every turn."

Episode 20: Vanishing Act: (April 27, 1998):
"Autolycus's reputation as "king of thieves" is at stake when a 20-foot statue turns up missing---and he didn't steal it. So he vows to steal it back."

Episode 21: Sacrifice, Part 1: (May 10, 1998):
"Xena saves Gabrielle's friend Seraphin (Jodie Rimmer) from being sacrificed, then learns that she's willing to die---so that Gabrielle's evil daughter Hope can be reborn. Part 1 of two."

Episode 22: Sacrifice, Part 2: (May 19, 1998):
"The third seasons ends with Xena and Gabrielle in a tense struggle to destroy Hope. Gabrielle had poisoned her evil daughter earlier this season, after Hope murdered Xena's son Solon. But Hope, the result of Gabrielle's unwitting union with the satanic deity Dahak, is as resourceful as she is wicked. In the last episode, Hope emerged from a cocoon---fully grown and looking exactly like her mother (Renee O'Connor plays both roles). Hope's mission: to clear the way for Dahak's dominion over both Olympus and the world. But Xena's on a mission of her own to kill Hope. And this time, Gabrielle has no mixed feelings ---Hope must die."

Season Three brought the darker side of the Xena series to full fruition and had a lot more guest appearances by Ted Raimi (as Joxer), Bruce Campbell (as Autolycus), Hudson Leick (as Callisto), and Kevin Smith (as Ares). Each of these performers added some spice to the proceedings, which kept the series from getting stale (a complaint that the Hercules series never really addressed as effectively). The great news for fans this time was that the picture was superior to Xena Season 2 and Xena Season 1 since Anchor Bay decided to put only three episodes on each disc. If you even sort of liked the series, this season's boxed set was the best on extras too, making it easily one to give a Highly Recommended to (and even approached the coveted Collector's status).

Picture: The picture was presented in full frame, 1.33:1 ratio as originally aired on television. I am very pleased to say that while there were occasional moments of grain and minor compression artifacts (most of the ones I noticed were on the third and fifth discs), the picture looked vastly superior to Xena Season 2 and Xena Season 1. It's good to know that the studio listened to the fans this time, providing the 22 episodes on eight DVD's (and the CD-Rom disc for some other extras). The fleshtones were solid and the other visual flaws minimal; a trend I hope will be emulated in other sets.

Sound: The sound was remixed into a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack and it sounded much richer than the original presentation on syndicated television. The separation between the channels wasn't much beyond the front end (with the vocals appropriately coming out of the center channel) but there was more clarity with this set than previous releases as well. In all, I was very happy with the picture and audio.

Extras: The extras were especially plentiful this time, much to my delight. Every single episode had an interview lasting between 4 and 12+ minutes) with either the actors (primarily Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, Ted Raimi, Hudson Leick and Alexandra Tydings, or those involved behind the cameras, such as Robert Talpert, Steven Sears, RJ Stewart, and Liz Freeman, to name a few. Each disc also contained a video/audio commentary for an episode (the video commentary seemed culled from the audio footage, with more material on the audio portion). I enjoyed the audio commentaries more since they allowed me to watch the episodes in question, although they varied in terms of entertainment value. One thing of importance to note is that the interviews and commentaries were all better than in previous season sets, perhaps the performers had more time to prepare something for them. On the last disc, there was also a blooper reel and a series of alternate footage (over 40 minutes worth) for the season finale show, The Sacrifice. That footage was complemented by a retrospective of the two part episode lasting a half hour. There was also a CD-Rom with director and actor biographies, series trivia, a large photogallery, and a very detailed version (searchable too) of the Xena Chronicles that outlines the episodes in detail as well as the characters in the season three episodes. You could also order a free collector coin if you paid $4.95 for shipping (why they didn't include it was a mystery to me). The box itself was a hard plastic case that unfolded and had a number of pictures from the series.

Final Thoughts: Okay, the show lacked the historical accuracy some people might've liked but overall, it was a cute bit of fluff. It's tough to deny the appeal of the show to men (for the eye candy and violence) and women (for the strong female roles) as much as the younger crowd who probably enjoyed the fighting and fantasy aspects the show provided. The tongue in cheek humor was somewhat less obvious than in earlier seasons but this was balanced out by generally superior writing and directing as the show matured. Xena will appeal to a large audience and this boxed set was the best of the batch.

Check out the earlier seasons: Xena Season 2 and Xena Season 1.