“and her cis dude romantic partner knows and he’s just desperately, hopelessly in love with her and wants everything for her” you’re getting mixed up with Miss Messini here which is the woman that only did the pageant because she thought it would mean a lot to her boyfriend - who is her sponsor - but when she decides to quit just before being crowned as Miss Known World, he supports her decision completely.
There is nobody in the episode that vouches for Miss Artiphys except Xena - which was entirely the point.
A beautiful woman in solidarity with beautiful women - letting them know that their beauty isn’t skin deep:
That because beauty is beauty it matters not how a person is perceived or treated because of their appearance, all that matters is how they feel inside. Despite the kiss and the sentiment of transgender representation, the episode isn’t about that at all. It’s actually about something far more Universally significant. Which is that society mistakenly puts far too much emphasis on a woman’s eternal beauty when what really matters is the beauty that is within because a person’s character is more important than how they look or how successful they can be for it.
The fact Miss Artiphys would be dead last place for winning Miss Known World is supposed to make the statement that she never won for her appearance as a beautiful woman. She won because it made her feel like she mattered for being who she desperately wanted to be over who society told her that she should be. That’s the point to the whole episode.
So as @vaspider put it: it doesn’t matter whatsoever whether Miss Artiphys is transgender or drag/GNC. Making that clear is pointless because it doesn’t matter in the bigger story or theme of the episode.
Putting emphasis on what Miss Artiphys is misses the finer point that appearance isn’t everything anyway.
GABRIELLE: “So Miss Known World is a man?”
GABRIELLE: “It’s kind of funny, huh?”
XENA: “Why? Beauty is beauty.”
GABRIELLE: “And peace is peace.”
The moral is that it doesn’t matter whether a man or a woman won the pageant. Only that they were worthy to. It doesn’t matter that they were last place to win and only won because the other contestants chose to quit. Only that they got to have their most deserved moment in the spotlight for who they truly are and that everyone celebrated it instead of disputed it.
Therefore keeping Miss Artiphys ambiguous was the real genius in this storyline. You don’t know for sure. And it doesn’t even matter anyway that you don’t because her/his/their worthiness is felt regardless.
Xena makes the very wise decision to keep most of their storylines, themes, ideas down to interpretation. And it’s honestly one of the greatest things about it because on the one hand, yes, it made it easier for them to avoid controversy in choosing not to confirm many of their ideas, but on the other, there is the thought that does it really matter anyway that they don’t? It doesn’t ‘cause it’s up to YOU to decide what things mean to you. And so it will mean more to you.
‘Here She Comes… Miss Amphipolis’ is not an episode that’s particularly all that relevant to the show itself - meaning it’s a filler episode, absolutely. However, in terms of what it can provide subjectively to every person that watches it, it can be very substantial.
And that’s what they were aiming for. That substance. You’ll find that a lot of Xena episodes that stand out in the fandom or just in general viewing are the episodes that aren’t really about anything specific in particular. They’re the episodes that are left to the imagination and aren’t labelled or defined in any permanent way.
This is one of them. This episode is so damn brilliant because it doesn’t ever get into too much detail as to what it is meant to be or what it should be. And I say that’s brilliant because character itself never is either. There’s always the urge to put a stamp on character because we inherently believe it should be separated and differentiated from everything else. It doesn’t.
Miss Artiphys simply won because she deserved to regardless whether she was a she or a he or a they. They never make that explicitly clear. And I’m glad because it doesn’t have to be. Worthy is worthy. Just the same as all the other contestants were worth more than their appearance as a beautiful woman, Artiphys was worth their win in being one even if they weren’t the first or second or third choice in winning. A lot of people who watch the episode seem to dislike this about the inclusion of Artiphys because it makes it seem to them as if Artiphys is not ‘woman enough’ to genuinely win first place but I love it because I think a stronger statement is made by it:
It doesn’t matter if they’re not ‘woman enough’ or even a woman at all. They won because it made them feel like they mattered for being who they truly are and therefore it puts them on the same wavelength as the other contestants who decided to quit instead.
It simply tells you that all are worthy just as they are.
That’s it. That’s all that matters.
That’s all that should ever matter.
Making it more than that undermines the beautiful simplicity of the ambiguity used to tell the story.
It doesn’t ever have to be anymore complicated than that of: beautiful person = worthy of their beauty.
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