Xena: Warrior Princess (TV Series) The Prodigal (1996) User Reviews

Pretty decent Gabrielle centric episode with lots of comedic moments.

[reb-warrior · 8/10 · 3 May 2021]

Gabrielle freezes in a dangerous situation whilst with Xena and decides she needs to go home to Potidaea, in order to figure out what happened to her. It turns out her village is in danger from a warlord.

Part drama and part comedy, Gabrielle take the lead in this episode that barely has Xena in it, yet it's still a pretty good episode.

Enjoyed Gabs' attempts to hitch a ride back home. Hilarious! Notice the old man who eventually gives Gabrielle a drive in his wagon is the same guy from 'Sins of the Past,' who gave Gabs a ride to Amphipolis.

Tim Thomerson as drunk Meleager was pretty funny. Loved this line when he wakes up from one of his drunken stupors: "I'm awake! I'm awake. I'm well aware of my surroundings. Where am I? Poder, Pewter, Podoohickey." Lol.

Gabrielle reunites with her sister Willa who is angry and jealous that Gabrielle stayed away too long and hasn't kept in touch. I imagine in ancient times it must have been hard to keep in touch with people. It's not like they have a postal service. Willa was always an oddball character that never really seemed to have any kind of direction. The writing for her wasn't done very well.

Gabrielle helps her town defend itself by using everything she learned from Xena. So this is a great demonstration of how much Gabs has grown as a character since meeting Xena. In the end, Gabs remember Xena's advice after she froze to "Act, don't react. Go with your gut," and she is able to overcome her fear.

Pretty decent Gabrielle-centric episode with lots of comedic moments. Xena is barely there, and yet her couple of scene are really good and the rest of the episodes demonstrates the impact she had on Gabs' life. 8/10.

The Prodigal

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 17 April 2019]

A Xena lite episode.

After Gabrielle freezes during an attack, she feels that she needs to go back to her family.

Only to find out that since she has left her village has been regularly ransacked by a warlord.

Aid comes when a fearsome warrior, Meleager has been hired. Payment of half upfront but he turns up drunk.

It is for Gabrielle to gate the villagers to make a stand and get Meleager to face up to his issues.

An enjoyable episode with shades of Cat Ballou without the singing. Tim Thomerson is in his element as Meleager the Mighty.

Salute to Xena - A 25th Anniversary Review

[skullface2020 · 8/10 · 28 March 2020]

Taking some time to visit home, Gabrielle finds that her hometown of Potadeia is in grave danger from the forces of a warlord named Damon. The town has hired a famed warrior to protect them, but it appears that his love of drink has sapped all of his fighting skill. How will Potadeia survive?

SYNOPSIS

Xena and Gabrielle are out on the road when they're attacked by a gang of creeps. The thugs try and run them down with a cart filled with logs, but Xena ducks for cover and brings Gabrielle with her which allows them to survive the onslaught. However, Gabrielle is shook by the fact that she froze in action. Xena says that such things sometimes happen, but Gabrielle decides that she needs to step away from the adventures for a bit. She is going to travel back home for some time; who knows how long. Xena is sad, but understands. On her long walk back home Gabrielle comes upon an encampment that was just attacked. One of the survivors tells her that a brutal gang run by a man named Damon attacked them, and that he's headed for Potadeia next. That's Gabrielle's hometown!

Gabrielle runs home and is grateful to find that Potadeia is not burned down yet. In fact, it appears to be a ghost town. She stumbles upon the villagers who are hiding in a house as they await a guest. It's not Gabrielle that they were expecting, but Gabrielle's sister Lila is happen to see her again. Turns out that they were waiting for a hired gun that they contracted to aid in their defense; the legendary warrior Meleager. How many people did he kill at a famed conflict in the past? 200, 250, 500, who knows? Meleager shows up in his armor, but something is off about him. He's a total booze hound, wasted at all times. He can barely stand on his feet, so how is he going to defend the town against Damon and his men? Furthermore, the towns people have lousy weapons, and they didn't buy the newest model spears that Meleager wanted. They only had money for either the weapons or Meleager, and they chose Meleager.

Gabrielle and Lila work on getting Meleager to get his act together. Unfortunately, some of the townsfolk simply want to surrender to Damon and beg for mercy, but Gabrielle is not feeling that idea. Fortunately their efforts seem to pay off, and Meleager is ready to go. He will accept a down payment from the village now, and then the final payment once the job is done. It's the last of the villager's money. Gabrielle goes out in the woods with Lila and Meleager to scout Damon's possible attack routes to the village. However, they are followed, and Meleager is captured. Gabrielle goes to spy on Damon's camp, but is captured by his men. Damon knows that there is a 50,000 dinar reward for Meleager captured alive, but he has another proposition for the infamous warrior. He invites Meleager to join his band of thugs. This is worth more than the 50,000 since many villages will simply surrender when faced with an assault by an armed group that includes Meleager. Meleager convinces Damon to not kill Gabrielle, and instead says he'll join Damon's group and take Gabrielle as a concubine. This gives the two plenty cover to escape Damon's camp and get back to Potadeia.

Once back in Potadeia, Gabrielle leads the towns folk in preparing for an assault from Damon's band of thugs. However, as Damon and his men approach they notice that Meleager is missing along with the rest of the money they promised him once he completed the job. He took off with their money and left them for dead! Some people want to surrender, but Gabrielle convinces them to fight. After all, why surrender to die, plus they had put a lot of work into prepping the village for an attack. As Damon's men rush into the village they are surprised by everything they run into. Tripwires, hidden trenches, and swinging weights meet them and knock the attackers out of commission. Damon enters on his horse, but suddenly Meleager reappears to defend to townspeople! He didn't abandon them, but instead took the rest of the money to buy the set of those super awesome new Spartan spears. He uses them brilliantly, and kills Damon and a bunch of his guys. The town is saved by a great warrior, and Meleager, Lila, and some others know that the warrior hero in this story is Gabrielle. Gabrielle says her goodbyes for now, and she's off to meet Xena back on the road.

NOTES

This is a Gabrielle story with Xena only appearing at the beginning and end. It's good for Gabrielle to visit her loved ones back at Potadeia, but she needs to follow her heart and be out on awesome adventures with Xena. Both Gabrielle and Meleager had lost their touch, but in times of crisis they were able to regain it and work together to save the day. Act, don't react!

Enter: Meleager, Damon