Renée O'Connor is credited again as "Also Starring". In the previous serial Adventures in the Sin Trade (1998)/Adventures in the Sin Trade II (1998) she wasn't credited, to maintain the ambiguity on whether Gabrielle would return or not (despite the fact that she actually appeared in both chapters).
The "Previously on Xena" segment at the beginning of this episode is the only one in the series' history that does not include scenes from the immediate previous episode.
"Blood is thicker than water" is shortened from "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." When Hecuba says this she means to say that Lila and Gabrielle choose each other. The real meaning of the saying is that Xena and Gabrielle have chosen each other, but Hecuba is using that idiom incorrectly.