Xena & Hercules Articles Archive

There are a number of great lines in this episode, too. "We actually have a lot in common, you and I," Xena tells Lucifer. "Of course we do," he replies. "You're a mortal female with a lying tongue, savage tendencies and a blonde girlfriend. I'm a celibate winged-warrior that dwells with the Divine."

What's also interesting in this episode is how the motives of the 'One God', unassailable in Hercules episodes such as Revelations, or even earlier Xena instalments like Seeds of Faith, become more and more questionable. This is an idea that will be returned to later in the season.

In the next instalment, Who's Gurkhan?, Xena, Eve, Virgil and Gabrielle then return to Gabby's home village of Poteidaia and, as with Xena's return to Amphipolis two episodes earlier, our heroes aren't welcomed by the happy reunion they were expecting. Instead, they are once more faced with personal tragedy and an unpleasant task to complete: the rescue of Gabrielle's niece, Sarah, from the episode's eponymous villain, a slave trader who has already murdered her entire family, including her mother, Gabrielle's sister Lila.

Who's Gurkhan? is a bit of a showpiece episode, written by the show's executive producer R. J. Stewart from a plot by head honcho Rob Tapert, and shot under the assured direction of Micheal 'Iolaus' Hurst.

Much of the 'Xena-in-harem' scenes are reminiscent of the traditional 'POW camp movie', although some of the action contained therein sometimes feels likes a deliberate parody of the worst excesses of fan fiction. Nevertheless, the script contains a number of fun twists, and, as is often the case with Stewart's work, we're led to feel sympathy for a character who's initially presented to us as a bad guy (or girl). Despite Sonata/Sarah's undeniable unpleasantness, it's impossible not to feel sorry for her when she reveals that "Life just seemed so brutal I thought the only way to survive was to be more vicious than the competition."

The following episode, Legacy, is, as the title implies, about Xena and Gabrielle realising they've become legends in the two and a half decades they've been away. Gabrielle's 'Xena Scrolls' have spread further than even she anticipated, telling of the exploits of 'the legendary Warrior Princess' and 'the battling bard of Poteidaia'.

Xena and Gabby's reactions to their fame are initially presented quite comically, with Xena having trouble convincing a group of doubting nomads that they are actually who they say they are. The manner in which the tribesmen worship the two women eventually changes tone, however, from quite amusing to downright disturbing, and Xena soon finds herself leading a coalition of tribes against her old enemies, the Romans.

Gabrielle's shocking accidental killing of Korah, and the moral quandary which ensues, is reminiscent of the types of scenarios the show presented in its earliest instalments. This is clearly deliberate, and is used to point out how much Gabrielle has changed as a person since the show's premiere episode, Sins of the Past.

The Abyss is an effective runaround episode, in which Xena and Gabrielle come up against a rather lively bunch of cannibals and Gabby finds herself served up as the main course for their next feast.

The episode's best scenes come when Gabrielle is delirious following an injury. Here we see the depth of her and Xena's affection for one another, and are reminded that Gabrielle too once lost a child. Her guilt from the events in Legacy is dealt with effectively and economically, with Gabby eventually coming to the conclusion that learning to live with your mistakes is all part of 'The Way'.

The action ramps up in the season's series of Norse-themed episodes, collectively titled the Ring Trilogy, which contain a fair few surprises. In the first instalment, The Rheingold, a surprise visit from Beowulf, the eponymous hero of Europe's oldest piece of fiction, brings with it the revelation that Xena was once a Valkyrie, one of Odin's elite army of flying horse-riding mortals.

Xena leaves her companion to ride out with Beowulf on what is clearly a dangerous mission, and the action unfolds between flashback sequences revealing yet another secret the Warrior Princess has lived with for many decades: that she created the terrifying Grindl which plagues the Norse lands.

The Ring continues the story of unspeakable monsters and unfinished business, with Gabrielle returned to Xena's side only to have her companion wrenched from her yet again. The second episode ends with Gabrielle sent into a Sleeping Beauty-style slumber along with the titular ring by the doting Brunnhilda, much to the distress of would-be suitor Beowulf, while Xena wanders amnesiac and in tears, having been cursed by the ring. The final instalment, Return of the Valkyrie, focuses on the rescue of Gabrielle and her role in the ring saga. Years have passed and many suitors have died trying to wake her from her deep sleep, but Brunnhilda has decreed that only her true soul mate can do so.

Of course, we all know who that soul mate is, but Xena is now Wealthea, a noble princess about to be wed to King Hrothgar. Many obstacles must be overcome before she can be persuaded to wake her companion from her slumber and also herself from her amnesia, with a kiss which can leave none of us in any doubt that the love these two women share is anything but platonic.

The Ring Trilogy is an enormous epic which deserves every single one of the production awards it has been nominated for. As with Fallen Angel, the episodes push the boundaries of what seems possible within serial television.

Again, however, the best scenes are those that concern our characters, not those which involve explosions and CGI.

Old Ares Had a Farm is, as the title suggests, a not entirely serious instalment of Xena. The episode contains the kind of elements of sitcom pastiche seen in last season's Married With Fishsticks. Kevin Smith shows us another side to Ares, one bordering on humane—just listen to the way he says, "Does this mean I don't get a puppy?" He also gets to wear the silliest of hats, and Xena and Gabrielle's song and dance routine is nothing short of brilliant.

The following tale, Dangerous Prey, is far more serious: Xena confronts the hunter Morloch, who belongs to a Darwinist race whose way of living is based on the idea that there are only the hunters and the hunted. Morloch is responsible for the death of more than a few Amazons, and by the end of the episode, not only have they been avenged, but Xena and Gabrielle have taught the Amazon Varia all she needs to know to become a truly great Amazon Queen.

The Archangel Michael pops up again in the next episode, this time to confront Xena on a battlefield strewn with the bodies of the slaughtered innocent victims of the new Emperor of Rome. Xena's daughter is in the Empire's capital, preaching the word of Eli, when she is captured and taken to Caligula Caesar, the immortal God-Emperor of the Roman world. As Xena has the power to kill Gods, Michael, the One God's representative, decides it's up to the Warrior Princess to dispose of Caligula Caesar for him.

The God You Know is a highlight of the sixth season, a terrific script with strong yet unusual roles for both Ares and Aphrodite (played by Alexandra Tydings). Guest star Alexis Arquette gives a suitably insane performance as Caligula, and the spin on history (that the insane Caligula who believed himself to be a God was actually a God) is inspired.

You Are There is a wicked piece of television innovation. Staged as a series of present-day interviews and faux-documentary snippets, the episode tells the story of Xena and Gabrielle's acquisition of the Golden Apples of Valhalla, magical fruit with the power to transform someone into a God.

The episode acts as a sequel to The God You Know, picking up the storyline of Ares and Aphrodite's ongoing attempts to survive as mortals, and presenting a brilliant scene in the Underworld in which we meet many recently deceased Xena characters, including Caligula, who is unable to conceal his contempt for the Warrior Princess who put him there.

You Are There is a pithy, self-reverential and extremely clever episode that stands as one of the series' best ever. The last scene is extremely funny, although some might justifiably call it an appalling cop out...

Path of Vengeance wraps up Eve's storyline. The Amazons swear vengeance on Xena's daughter for her crimes as Rome's champion, Livia, and we wit- ness the poor girl's previous persona for the last time via flashbacks. It's up to Gabrielle to use her position of authority within the Amazons to prevent her best friend and her people from becoming mortal enemies.

Path of Vengeance again features Ares, who, now returned to godhood, is back to his lip-smacking, machiavellian best. Even he admits, "It's just like old times." Xena and Eve's final parting is a touchingly scripted and beautifully played end to Eve's story.

To Helicon and Back has been described as Xena's take on Saving Private Ryan, thanks to its beach-bound scenes of mass slaughter, reminiscent of the bloody Normandy landings. The episode is a particularly violent outing, and once again concerns the Amazons, as Xena's writers bring their story arc to a poignant (and rather sad) conclusion.

The villain of the piece is the mythological Greek hero Bellerophon, son of the late Goddess Artemis, who wants revenge on the Amazon people for abandoning his mother and ceasing to worship her. Consumed by bitterness and hatred, he's a sort of Anti-Hercules, a Demi-God blessed with extraor- dinary powers, who's given in to the desire for revenge rather than devoting himself to the cause of helping others.

While the fighting and effects in To Helicon and Back are impressive, in particular the final fight between Xena and Bellerophon, the episode's best moments concern Gabrielle. Leading the Amazon Nation into war, she begins to lose her grip on who she is and what she should be doing, violence corrupting even her in the end.

Send in the Clones couldn't be more different from the previous instalments. A modern episode in the tradition of Deja vu All Over Again, it works by taking the currently topical (and these days almost scientifically plausible) topic of cloning, and spinning a partly comic tale around the idea of duplicating Xena and Gabrielle in the modern world. Like You Are There, it's essentially a play on ideas of perception and how fiction is viewed by its audience. As the quartet of fans in the episode exist to point out, many interpretations say at least as much about the commentator as they do about the text.