Peace is a wonderful thing, but not on television
To the makers of "Xena" - what were you thinking when you made this season? After seeing Seasons one and two of "Xena", I considered this show to be one of my favourites of all time, if not my very favourite. Season three was still excellent, although I thought the writers mishandled the whole storyline involving Hope. However, in Season four, the writers manage to make pretty much every mistake imaginable and the series jumps the shark.

The main theme of season four of "Xena" is Gabrielle's spiritual journey. Following her experiences with her evil daughter, Hope, Gabrielle feels drawn to the path of peace, which ultimately leads her and Xena to India in search of some sort of spiritual guidance (which appears in the form of Eli, "Xena"'s answer to Jesus), and results in Gabrielle laying down her fighting stick and becoming a full-blown pacifist. Now, I think peace is a great thing. I would love it if everyone in the world chose to stop fighting and be friends. However, when I watch an action movie or TV series, I want to see people being kicked in the head. I don't want to watch people sitting around doing yoga and wishing that they can heal people. Another mistake that was made in Season four of "Xena" is that many of the supporting characters, who made the earlier seasons of "Xena" so much fun, barely appear. I am still trying to figure out why Ares (Kevin Smith), one of the best things about "Xena", only appears in one episode, while Minya, possible the most annoying character ever, appears twice.

Ironically, Season four of "Xena" was made and screened concurrently with Season five of "Hercules". Previously, "Hercules" had been the weaker of the two series, and yet, Season five of "Hercules" has the best running storyline and best episode of both of these series combined.

They don't make shows like this anymore
This series had everything in it: Comedy, drama, inspiration, musicals, etc... I also believe this was a series that helped create certain television shows and movies. Watch (Here She Comes... Miss Amphipolis 1997) and tell me that's not similar to (Miss. Congeniality 2000). Remember that Xena was being played in a different time period (Historical Times) and Miss. Congeniality is being played in the present, yet they are still similar. The show not only had a few good laughs with the help of Joxer (Ted Rami)but also allows viewer the feeling of Catharsis. Seeing Xena battle her past demons and realizing she wouldn't be the hero she is without her past is PRICELESS. Also watching the growth of Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle's (Renee O Conner) friendship is something very special. They become family and travel to the exotic lands of Asia and to the beautiful landscape of Egypt etc...

The DVDS are worth it I own all 6 seasons and the commentaries are GREAT. I especially love watching Hudson Leick's (Callisto)commentary she's intelligent, funny, and beautiful.

P.S. My one note would be buy the director's cut of The Final Episode (A Friend In Need) because it's much better. Plus you get great extras including commentary by Lucy, Renee, and Rob and you also get behind the scene footage including a little B-Day cake for Lucy. The commentary is great I just finished watching it again for my 100th time because I find Lucy and Renee hysterical.

I will always have faith that a Xena Movie will be made, although Gabrielle lost faith in her Hope; I will always have faith that Xena will eventually become a movie; plus I'm only 19 so I still have plenty of years left to wait lol.

Well Thank you Lucy, Renee, Rob, Hudson, Ted, Bruce, Kevin and all the other people that made Xena possible. You filled many homes with joy, laughter, and inspiration; it truly is one of televisions greatest moments!

A disappointment compared to Season Three
Although the production values for XENA went up in Season Four -- with consistently more complex camera angles and better and more interesting sets and effects -- and despite the fact that the season ended and began on high notes, as a whole Season Four was something of a disappointment compared with Season Three. That season had a number of excellent dramatic episodes, but even more a large number of superb comic episodes. But while Season Four had some good comic episodes, they were fewer and farther between than in Season Three.

Part of the problem in Season Four was a story arc that took Xena and Gabrielle to India. Though there was a lot of potential there, the actual episodes in India were rather disappointing. The most important thing was clearly meeting Eli, who would play an ongoing role through the rest of Season Four and into Season Five. Another problem for me personally in the season was the loss of Callisto (for the most part) as Xena's main antagonist and her replacement by Alti, who I never came to like.

The beginning of Season Four, however, was extraordinary, as Xena makes a journey to the Amazon equivalent of the afterlife in search of Gabrielle, who she believes had died in the closing moments of Season Three. She is given a series of visions while there of her time with Gabrielle, including one where Gabrielle, while being crucified by the Romans, looks up at her and tells her that she loves her. This was clearly not a memory, so Xena concludes that Gabrielle is in fact still alive. While this is good news, the rest of the season is clouded by the fact that Xena fears that the two of them eventually face crucifixion. While most of the rest of Season Four is somewhat flat, it ends spectacularly with the culmination of the Caesar story. "The Ides of March" easily goes down as one of the five best episodes of XENA, if not the best. But I must qualify. It, unfortunately, was not the final episode of the season. The last was one of the worst episodes of the series, "Deja Vu All Over Again." In it we see Lucy Lawless waking up in a modern bed with Ted Raimi (Joxer). She is convinced she is Xena and that she must be the Xena vigilante who is going about town solving crime. Convinced that she was Xena in a previous life she and her boyfriend go to a past lives counselor (Renee O'Connor) who hypnotizes her. Eventually, Lawless realizes that she was not Xena, but Joxer while Raimi realizes that he was Xena. O'Connor turns out to be Gabrielle. Despite some good occasional comic moments (such as Lucy Lawless leaving the office singing her own version of the Joxer song) it was a terrible end to the season.

The good news is that Season Five would be a big improvement.

made me stop watching
I am definitely in the minority on this review and only one or two other people here might agree with me. I thought the first 2 seasons were excellent and wonderful. I thought the third season was polarized between good and not good. I thought I would give the series one more chance with season 4, hoping 3 was a fluke. I was so wrong. Season 4 took what I didn't like about the third and made it even worse. I will say that the 3rd and 4th seasons did have some of the most memorable and enjoyable comedies, but the other stuff disappointed me. Most of what you liked about the first 2 seasons was trashed by now. The series should have stayed realistic like the first 2 seasons, instead of embracing total weirdness like this one. I thought "Adventures in the Sin Trade" was one of the most unwatchable things I have encountered on TV. Some of the later parts of the season were probably even weirder, but I only watched select episodes after that. I certainly did not even waste money on the 5th or 6th seasons. Most might think I missed the point of the series. Indeed I did, for my favorites were others least favorites, and my least favorites were others favorites. I recommend that somebody buy this cheap and used on ebay. About half the shows were good, but this certainly isn't worth more than $20. Ok, feel free to bash my review now, all y'all want. I just hope I could warn somebody out there that the series took a major turn away from what was good about the first 2 seasons.

A big letdown...!!
I'd have to guess that most of the reviews about this product, especially the super long ones, are plants. Because I loved season one through three, but this season...season four...is just a major bore! A real snoozer! What the heck happened? Was it true like a friend of mine said, they got writers from the failed Hercules series and they brought this one down too? I've have this package, season four for over two and a half years, and haved tried to watch the episodes a bunch of times...but a real bore. !! Not even interested in season five or six if this is how the series turned out.