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| The Reckoning | |
| Series: | Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) |
| Season: | One |
| Story Number: | 006 |
| Writer: | Peter Allan Fields |
| Director: | Charles Siebert |
| Producer: | |
| Broadcast: | October 16, 1995 |
| Previous Story: | The Path Not Taken |
| Following Story: | The Titans |
Synopsis[]
Xena finds a group of villagers being attacked by a mysterious and magical foe. The hooded attacker slaughters the villagers and disappears as reinforcements arrive. Xena is immediately accused of murdering their friends and family. The villagers take Xena to their village, intent on killing her. However, a village elder reminds everyone of habeus corpus and Xena's inalienable right to trial. Gabrielle decides she'll be Xena's representative at court.
Meanwhile it is revealed that the attacker was none other than Ares, the God of War. He wants to seduce Xena back to her evil ways. He even encourages her to enact universal education and public good works programs if and when she becomes Ares' representative on earth. Xena starts to see some wisdom in Ares' plan.
After Gabrielle's attempts to disprove the prosecution's case against Xena are thwarted by Ares, and Xena refuses to be party to a jail break, Xena is saved by her own quick wit. Using cunning logic that only a warrior princess could get away with, she tricks Ares into bringing back to life the villagers that Ares slaughtered. The villagers then, of course, see the error of their petty little ways.
Memorable quotes[]
- Ares: Danger excites you and, as you know, I am somewhat dangerous. Action and power draw you like a moth to a flame. It burns inside you. I burn inside you. You can feel me there like a fever.
- Xena: I've seen what can happen to people whose loved one's have been butchered. Their vision gets bent and twisted. Then, there's no telling what they'll do.
Cast[]
- Lucy Lawless as Xena
- Renée O'Connor as Gabrielle
- Kevin Smith as Ares
- Bill Johnson as Benitar
- Christopher Mayer as Peranis
- Danny Lineham as Grathios
- Christian Hodge as Teracles
- Phaedra Hurst as Teresia
- Meryl Main as Areolis' Widow
- Sam Holland as Teen Son
- Ross Harper as Polinios
Background information and notes[]
- Kevin's (Ares) beard was a fake which was glued on for this episode, and he said that he couldn't move his face much for fear of it falling off.
- Xena didn't use her Chakram in this episode.
- This is the first episode to verify that Xena does in fact have super mortal strength, as stated by Ares.
Continuity and mistakes[]
- At one point, Xena claims to have never known what Ares looked like. However, this will be retroactively contradicted in later episodes.
- Xena plays along with Ares's proposal to bring back anyone she names from the dead and she suggests Hector, Achilles, and Agamenmon, but they're long gone. In Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts, those three people play major parts in the siege of Troy.
Disclaimer[]
- There was no humorous disclaimer for this episode.