5.01 - Fallen Angel
Xena and Gabrielle's bond transcends death in the grave fifth-season opener. Last season's finale left viewers-and the duo-hanging, as Xena and Gabrielle (Lucy Lawless, Reneé O'Connor) met their deaths by Roman crucifixion. In the opener, as friends retrieve their earthly bodies, they walk among the dead in heaven and become spectators to a battle between angels and the demons of hell. But when demons led by Callisto (Hudson Leick) seize Gabrielle and drag her into their abyss, Xena demands to become an archangel with wings, so that she can descend into hell and rescue her closest friend-in this life as well as the next.
Writers: Rob Tapert & R. J. Stewart
Director: John Fawcett
Guest Stars: David de Lautour (Lief) Jay Bunyan (Zortis (uncredited)) Jennifer Sky (Amarice) Charles Mesure (Archangel Michael) Ted Raimi (Joxer) Timothy Omundson (Eli)

5.02 - Chakram
Eli (Tim Omundson) raises Xena and Gabrielle from the dead, but Xena's personality is changed: she no longer desires to fight.
Writer: Chris Manheim
Director: Doug Lefler
Guest Stars: Jennifer Sky (Amarice) Kevin Smith (Ares) Ted Raimi (Joxer) Timothy Omundson (Eli)

5.03 - Succession
Mavican (Jenya Lano) tries to kill Xena to prove to Ares that she's worthy to be his right-hand woman, and Ares (Kevin Smith) merges Xena and Gabrielle's bodies to fight her.
Writer: Steven L. Sears
Director: Rick Jacobson
Guest Stars: Jenya Lano (Mavican) Kevin Smith (Ares)

5.04 - Animal Attraction
Xena learns she's expecting a baby in an hour that is part soap opera, part horse opera. The playful episode kicks off when Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer and Amarice take a wounded horse to a town for treatment. There, Xena (played by Lucy Lawless, who herself was expecting at press time) meets an old friend (Alison Bruce), the town's sheriff, who learns that her vicious husband and his gang are coming at sundown for an unfriendly homecoming. Meanwhile, Amarice falls for a handsome man and takes to heart Xena's advice to kiss him or kill him. And a fatigued Xena takes her own concerns to a healer, who delivers the unexpected news.
Writer: Chris Manheim
Director: Rick Jacobson
Guest Stars: Jennifer Sky (Amarice) Ted Raimi (Joxer) Mfundo Morrison (Arman) Alison Bruce (Talia) David Te Rare (Darcon) Ric Chan (Healer)

5.05 - Them Bones, Them Bones
The spirit of the evil Shamaness Alti (Claire Stansfield) attempts to capture the soul of Xena's unborn child.
Writer: Buddy Williers
Director: John Fawcett
Guest Stars: Jennifer Sky (Amarice) Claire Stansfield (Alti) Donogh Rees (Chi'ah) Kate Elliott (Yakut) Rachel Hayward (Amazon)

5.06 - Purity
Xena tries to retrieve Lao Ma's book of power, but first she must get past Lao Ma's evil twin daughters who also want it.
Writer: Jeff Vlaming
Director: Mark Beesley
Guest Stars: Jacqueline Kim (Lao Ma (archive footage)) Ted Raimi (Joxer) Marie Matiko (Pao Ssu/K'ao Hsin) Andy Choi (Go Kun) William Kwan (Vendor)

5.07 - Back in the Bottle
Xena must rely on more than her physical abilities to save the people of Chin from evil brother and sister spirits (Marie Matiko, Daniel Sing) who aid an oncoming army.
Writers: Rob Tapert & Steven L. Sears
Director: Rick Jacobson
Guest Stars: Ted Raimi (Joxer) Marie Matiko (Pao Ssu/K'ao Hsin) George Kee Chung (Khan) Daniel Sing (Ming Tien) Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite) Rose McIver (Daphne) Colin May (Galantis) Peter Feeney (Tharon)

5.08 - Little Problems
A botched magic spell by Aphrodite places Xena's soul into the body of a girl (Rose McIver), where it will remain forever unless she can escape before sundown.
Writer: Gregg Ostrin
Director: Allison Liddi
Guest Stars: Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite) Rose McIver (Daphane) Ted Raimi (Joxer) Colin May (Galantis) Peter Feeney (Tharon)

5.09 - Seeds of Faith
Eli (Timothy Omundson) leads his followers in a non-violent fight against the gods, resulting in a fateful confrontation with Ares (Kevin Smith).
Writers: George Strayton & Tom Oneill
Director: Garth Maxwell
Guest Stars: Kevin Smith (Ares) Timothy Omundson (Eli) Peter Rowley (Milos) Albert Heimuli (Head Soldier)

5.10 - Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire
To avoid a war over who gets possession of Terpsichore's lyre, Xena organizes a battle of the bands in this musical episode that reunites Xena with her mother, Joxer with his twin brother Jace, and Gabrielle with a lovesick Draco.
Writers: Adam Armus & Nora Kay Foster
Director: Mark Beesley
Guest Stars: Ted Raimi (Joxer) Ted Raimi (Jace) Darien Takle (Cyrene) Geoff Dolan (Henchman #1) Jay Laga'aia (Draco) Latham Gaines (Rich Guy) Bruce Hopkins (Barkeep) Paul Norell (Falafel)

5.11 - Punch Lines
Gabrielle and Xena's horse Argo are shrunken to miniature size by Lachrymose (Jon Gadsby), the god of despair, who refuses to change them back unless he can be made to laugh.
Writer: Chris Manheim
Director: Andrew Merrifield
Guest Stars: Rose McIver (Daphane) Ted Raimi (Joxer) Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite) John Gadsby (Lachrymose)

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