Xena meets up with her apparently long-lost father. They are both trying to stop the same warlord, Kirilus. Kirilus is being "mentored" by Ares, who has a hidden agenda.
I thought the actor playing Atrius was pretty good in his role. He looks like he possibly could be Xena's father, with his height, and looks like he had dark hair.
I thought the deception Ares was playing was too obvious. Not necessarily that it was Ares behind everything, but that something was "off" with Atrius. For example, Xena tells Gabrielle the story about how her father would come riding in and scoop her as a child up in his arms. Then later Atrius just happens to recount the exact same story she told like 5 minutes ago. Not some other remembrance? Another example is when Xena is humming a song whilst sitting on a hill. Later Atrius just happens to be humming the same exact song. Xena explains how her father left her family when she was little. Later Atrius just happens to comments about leaving the family. See, kinda obvious something is off.
I'm not sure if this is the only episode that has this, but this it's definitely one of the rare ones that show the chakram returning to Xena from midair. She throws the chakram, it cuts some arrows, then goes up at an angle, and then it stops in midair swirling, then it heads back to her, and she flips and catches it in the hook on her outfit. Actually, it was a pretty cool scene.
I think they missed an opportunity when Gabrielle bashed Xena over her back with the pitchfork. Xena seemed to "wake up" and realized what she was doing was wrong, and she was about to say something, maybe that Gabrielle was her conscience, and that she was sorry, but then Atirus groaned and the moment was cut off. Then Atrius went full-on for her to get revenge for him, and that's when Xena really realized she was wrong. Anyway, I felt like she should have been allowed to say what she was going to say in that scene.
I thought the Gabrielle/Rhea side story was boring. Sorry, not sorry.
Wonder what happened to Kirilus? Can't imagine he'd worship Ares anymore.
We get to hear a little about what happened to Xena's father. Xena doesn't have a high opinion of him at all: "I don't know who you are, but my father wouldn't rescue slave girls. All he cared about was himself." Later in the series, we find out Xena's father was a soldier and worshipper of Ares. Also later when Xena claims Ares is her father in order to trick the Furries, in season three's 'The Furies,' some viewers actually believe he is her father, citing this episode as further proof. For me personally, I never believed it. Mainly I like the idea of Xena being a unique special mortal on her own, and not because some Man-God is her daddy. Also, it's kinda gross, because Xena and Ares have this dark flirt thing, and Ares is in love with her. I mean yeah, incest happened all the time in Greek mythology, but it was never really a thing in this show or Hercules TLJ.
Xena does get to say something important to Gabs at the end: "Gabrielle, I want you to understand something. We both have families we were born into. But sometimes families change, and we have to build our own. For me, our friendship binds us closer than blood ever could." Thus the title, "Ties that bind." It was never about Xena's tie to her father, but rather her tie to Gabrielle who got through to her when she whacked Xena over her back. When you think about it, Gabs took a stand against Xena in order to save Xena. Ares never counted on that. Good going Gabs.
Pretty good action. Interesting about Xena's dad, but overall found the episode a little lackluster. Love that Xena would rather die than go back to Ares, and how mad that made him. Not enough to kill her tho. 7/10.
I thought the actor playing Atrius was pretty good in his role. He looks like he possibly could be Xena's father, with his height, and looks like he had dark hair.
I thought the deception Ares was playing was too obvious. Not necessarily that it was Ares behind everything, but that something was "off" with Atrius. For example, Xena tells Gabrielle the story about how her father would come riding in and scoop her as a child up in his arms. Then later Atrius just happens to recount the exact same story she told like 5 minutes ago. Not some other remembrance? Another example is when Xena is humming a song whilst sitting on a hill. Later Atrius just happens to be humming the same exact song. Xena explains how her father left her family when she was little. Later Atrius just happens to comments about leaving the family. See, kinda obvious something is off.
I'm not sure if this is the only episode that has this, but this it's definitely one of the rare ones that show the chakram returning to Xena from midair. She throws the chakram, it cuts some arrows, then goes up at an angle, and then it stops in midair swirling, then it heads back to her, and she flips and catches it in the hook on her outfit. Actually, it was a pretty cool scene.
I think they missed an opportunity when Gabrielle bashed Xena over her back with the pitchfork. Xena seemed to "wake up" and realized what she was doing was wrong, and she was about to say something, maybe that Gabrielle was her conscience, and that she was sorry, but then Atirus groaned and the moment was cut off. Then Atrius went full-on for her to get revenge for him, and that's when Xena really realized she was wrong. Anyway, I felt like she should have been allowed to say what she was going to say in that scene.
I thought the Gabrielle/Rhea side story was boring. Sorry, not sorry.
Wonder what happened to Kirilus? Can't imagine he'd worship Ares anymore.
We get to hear a little about what happened to Xena's father. Xena doesn't have a high opinion of him at all: "I don't know who you are, but my father wouldn't rescue slave girls. All he cared about was himself." Later in the series, we find out Xena's father was a soldier and worshipper of Ares. Also later when Xena claims Ares is her father in order to trick the Furries, in season three's 'The Furies,' some viewers actually believe he is her father, citing this episode as further proof. For me personally, I never believed it. Mainly I like the idea of Xena being a unique special mortal on her own, and not because some Man-God is her daddy. Also, it's kinda gross, because Xena and Ares have this dark flirt thing, and Ares is in love with her. I mean yeah, incest happened all the time in Greek mythology, but it was never really a thing in this show or Hercules TLJ.
Xena does get to say something important to Gabs at the end: "Gabrielle, I want you to understand something. We both have families we were born into. But sometimes families change, and we have to build our own. For me, our friendship binds us closer than blood ever could." Thus the title, "Ties that bind." It was never about Xena's tie to her father, but rather her tie to Gabrielle who got through to her when she whacked Xena over her back. When you think about it, Gabs took a stand against Xena in order to save Xena. Ares never counted on that. Good going Gabs.
Pretty good action. Interesting about Xena's dad, but overall found the episode a little lackluster. Love that Xena would rather die than go back to Ares, and how mad that made him. Not enough to kill her tho. 7/10.
