A Bad Writing Problem in Seasons 2-3 (Namely Callisto)

That's why they created failsafe concepts to guard against normally unkillable foes like gods. Jerkules killed Zeus with the Ribs of Cronos, Xena went after Ares with the Dagger of Helios, the Hind's Blood dagger.......(what a pain in the ass that thing was!)

In "a Necessary Evil" with Velasca the explanation was that the ruins by that lava pit wound bind the powers of a god, that's how Callisto and Velasca were both successfully trapped......until Hope came along and freed the twisted sister lol.

As far as being trapped in a cave, well I guess that depends on how powerful the god is. I'm just speculating here since it was never explained in the show or out of it. In that same episode, Callisto was riddled with a gazillion arrows and was able to expel them from her body with her godly powers.

I guess she couldn't tunnel through solid rock. I'm willing to bet inferior godlings like Strife wouldn't have the power necessary to free themselves from that predicament either. Over time Callisto did become stronger and was able to free herself from that other world all on her own.

The writing worked in the fact that Callisto never wanted Xena dead, she wanted her to suffer like she did by losing close ones. Additionally, Xena had the tactical combat skills to know that Callisto would be crazy and rageful enough to use up her powers and get drained enough that a tumble of rocks would hold her down for some time. But I did not like the explanation given for Callisto and Valasca being trapped in the lava pit -- that was flimsy at best.

These are actually some reason why Hudson wasn't as keen on playing Calisto as much after she became a god. She basically said she became this all powerful god yet always seemed to be undone by some random pile of rocks haha. All this power, yet some misplaced rocks knock her down and out for some time until it's plot relevant to bring her back into the fight. Plus, like the writers figured out near the end of season three, there wasn't much more to do with her character without continuing to diminish her.

I will admit to her being my favorite bad guy in the Xenaverse, and I particularly liked her final arc in the series. With all that said, I'm glad they stopped using her because she was becoming far too unfocused as a character. And there always is that problem with making a character so powerful you have to keep coming up with ways and reasons as to why they don't just kill their foes and call it a day.

This was a problem whenever Xena went up against gods. Even with her god-killing powers the gods were still reality warpers. The "Twilight of the Olympians" arc is terrible for many reasons including this. Gods can turn invisible and interact with things when invisible, teleport, and remotely view Xena. Xena had to sleep eventually and could not see invisible gods. So even if she was a better fighter she can not match all of powers of a god. Same with Hercules really except he at least benefited from a few extra powers and the protection of Zeus.