Xena encounters the soldiers of Cortese, the man responsible for attacking her village all those years ago. Turns out her older brother, Toris, is also after Cortese. The two have a shaky family reunion.
I don't know if it was the actor and the way he delivered his lines or the character, and the way he was written, or both, but Toris was underwhelming. He just came off as weak and whiny. I didn't like him at all. I feel like they were trying to make him almost like a male Xena only not as smart, and not as good a fighter. A weak shadow of what she is, and it didn't work. Despite the dark hair and high cheekbone make-up, to try and make him resemble Xena.
Turns out all those years ago when Cortese attacked, instead of making a stand and fighting like Xena and her younger bro, Lyceus, and other villagers, he ran away and headed for the hills with other villagers. So he feels like a coward and wants to murder Cortese. Xena is trying to get it through to him that yes, Cortese needs to be brought to justice but not murdered by him. She doesn't want him to become like she was in her dark past.
Cortese was lame af. It's not very believable that this guy could lead and be a scary warlord. He says he created Xena. Well, he certainly got the ball rolling, leading Xena to become a full-on warrior, which in turn led her to eventually become a warlord/pirate. But it was really Caesar as we see later in the richly done episode 'Destiny' in season two that turned her evil, and that was the beginning of her becoming more powerful and dangerous.
The saving grace of this episode are the action scenes, the interactions between Xena and Gabrielle, and Xena and Gabs in separate scenes. Thank goodness for these two actresses. Otherwise, this episode would be an absolute lemon. The action scenes were great and there were a few comedic scenes thanks to Gabrielle. We learn more about Xena's past and how it started that she became a warlord. In fact, having Xena describe what happened to Gabrielle, was more compelling than seeing either Cortese or Toris and those interactions.
In one scene Xena feigns being captured by Toris and turned over to Cortese's men where she is placed in a tent alone. Her hands are tied behind her back and she sort of breathes and squeezes to force her breast dagger to pop out into the air and drops into her hands so she can free herself. Well, this makes me laugh every time I see this episode. Xena does indeed have many skills!
Toris was cringeworthy. Felt like even Xena didn't like him much. Is it any wonder we never saw this guy again, or that his name was never mentioned again? Cortese was lame, especially as the man who got the ball rolling to create Xena the warrior. There was still some good stuff in this episode as I mentioned above. 7/10.
I don't know if it was the actor and the way he delivered his lines or the character, and the way he was written, or both, but Toris was underwhelming. He just came off as weak and whiny. I didn't like him at all. I feel like they were trying to make him almost like a male Xena only not as smart, and not as good a fighter. A weak shadow of what she is, and it didn't work. Despite the dark hair and high cheekbone make-up, to try and make him resemble Xena.
Turns out all those years ago when Cortese attacked, instead of making a stand and fighting like Xena and her younger bro, Lyceus, and other villagers, he ran away and headed for the hills with other villagers. So he feels like a coward and wants to murder Cortese. Xena is trying to get it through to him that yes, Cortese needs to be brought to justice but not murdered by him. She doesn't want him to become like she was in her dark past.
Cortese was lame af. It's not very believable that this guy could lead and be a scary warlord. He says he created Xena. Well, he certainly got the ball rolling, leading Xena to become a full-on warrior, which in turn led her to eventually become a warlord/pirate. But it was really Caesar as we see later in the richly done episode 'Destiny' in season two that turned her evil, and that was the beginning of her becoming more powerful and dangerous.
The saving grace of this episode are the action scenes, the interactions between Xena and Gabrielle, and Xena and Gabs in separate scenes. Thank goodness for these two actresses. Otherwise, this episode would be an absolute lemon. The action scenes were great and there were a few comedic scenes thanks to Gabrielle. We learn more about Xena's past and how it started that she became a warlord. In fact, having Xena describe what happened to Gabrielle, was more compelling than seeing either Cortese or Toris and those interactions.
In one scene Xena feigns being captured by Toris and turned over to Cortese's men where she is placed in a tent alone. Her hands are tied behind her back and she sort of breathes and squeezes to force her breast dagger to pop out into the air and drops into her hands so she can free herself. Well, this makes me laugh every time I see this episode. Xena does indeed have many skills!
Toris was cringeworthy. Felt like even Xena didn't like him much. Is it any wonder we never saw this guy again, or that his name was never mentioned again? Cortese was lame, especially as the man who got the ball rolling to create Xena the warrior. There was still some good stuff in this episode as I mentioned above. 7/10.
