I really, really hate mystical pregnancies. It’s a trope that is used often, and more likely than not, it’s terrible, no good, and exists solely to show that a woman is little more than a magic oven from which a savior – or purely evil hellspawn – will be born. And Xena does this twice, something I just can’t get over, considering how feminist the show was in other respects. I am a little more forgiving for one of them, but the other? Well, I have mixed feelings. Xena’s spiritually-induced pregnancy in Season Five was the worse of the two, by far. At least with Gabrielle’s pregnancy, it was an evil god, Dahak, who performed the mystical rape, as evil gods are wont to do. But since I’m going to get into this very topic later on this month, I’ll just have to explain the many other ways in which Season Five is my least favorite season.

Lucy Lawless having a kid and going on maternity leave is great for her, and I support her fully, but dear god, the writers could not make anything work. Almost the entire season is a mess of bad writing, even worse acting, and just pure ridiculousness, although it does show some promise (I’ll be discussing this on Day 21) by the last four or five episodes. However, that does not even closely redeem the others. It still makes me shudder a bit – it’s not even the fun kind of bad.

Alright, so I studied all freaking day and took a microbiology test (in case anyone is wondering why I randomly post bacteria-related content on my Twitter feed) and I’m now incredibly tired and pretty much ready to pass out. I will be definitely catching up this week; I’m only technically behind by one day now, and I’m actually proud of my progress with this challenge! So. Sleep time!

See y’all … tomorrow?

Art Credit: Varese Sarabande