Xena: Warrior Princess (TV Series) Death in Chains (1995) User Reviews

Death in Chains

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 13 September 2018]

Hades, Lord of the Dead visits Xena and requests her help.

Hades sister, Celesta the embodiment of Death has been captured by King Sisyphus who in order to hold back his own death has seized her eternal candle by trickery.

While she is captured death has been suspended and when the candle flame expires, a darkness will descend on the world as people will suffer without ever dying.

Xena agrees to help out but Hades neglects to mention what happens if you touch Celesta you will die. Gabrielle befriends a young man called Telus who set off to tell Xena of this important information but Telus has secret of his own why he wants Celesta freed. Both have to overcome some giant rats.

Death is a theme in this episode, a world without death will prolong suffering. An enjoyable enough episode with some touching scenes between Gabrielle and Telus.

Rolling that rock up the hill.

[Joxerlives · 7/10 · 24 May 2021]

The Good; A nice little story that trips along and asks some pretty deep questions on the nature of mortality.

The Bad; How can Sisyphus trap Celesta with just some manacles when she can dematerialise? The storyline is rather similar to Prometheus which we just had last week?

Best lines-Xena (to Toxeus and his boys); "Run me through and I'm yours"

Also like Toxeous; "Your deaths depend on it!" (which even gets a laugh from his undead minions whom HE killed.

Xena cliches; our first instance of Gabby the black widow, anyone she has a romantic interest in inevitably dies

The pinch; 2 Village threatened by warlord; 2 Xena wounded; 1 Xena doppelganger; 1 Traitorous aide; 1 Fire-breathing; 2, Hot tub; 2, Xena in bondage 2, Gabby in bondage 2, Gabby the black widow; 1.

Xena invents; the tracheotomy and handgliding.

Notches on the headpost; Gabby falls for Talus and he even impresses Xena with his nobility "I can see why Gabby thinks you're special".

Calling Captain Subtext; ?

Twisted history; the real Sisyphus was a lot more evil, taking in travellers in the Greek rite of hospitality 'xenia'(?) and murdering them. He does anger Zeus just as depicted here and it was supposedly Hades himself who came for him and was chained. He has no sister called Celestia who is an invention of the writers (here's a question, what happened to her after the fall of the gods? Can she exist without Hades?).

Bodycount; byebye Toxeous and Talus, 6 goons and one of Sisyphus' guards who unknowingly 'flirts with death'.

Xena; 17 humans + one giant bird.

Notes; not the ep if you're claustrophobic or a musophobe (the end disclaimer proclaims that none were harmed in the making of the show). No epilogue scene which is unusual, the episode simply ends with Celestia taking Talus away and Xena and Gabby hugging. Our first encounter with Hades who is suitably impressive.

7/10.

The Battling Bard - Death Wish Declined

[bennetts-16344 · 6/10 · 12 April 2019]

King Sisyphus, whose name lies somewhere between an exotic fruit and a sexual disease has a plan to capture Celesta the Goddess of death so that he never has to die. When Celesta comes calling for him he invites her warmly and offers her food at the table before they depart. When she sits, she becomes manacled to the chair and parted from the flame she carries. Once the candle has been extinguished she will disappear and no one will be able to die ever. His wife has her doubts about all of this and if I had the prospect of spending all eternity with him I would too. He presents like the eccentric, creepy uncle that your parents never left you alone with.

In the meantime Xena and Gabrielle are attacked by this weeks motley group of thugs led by a man called Toyeus whom Xena has to kill, except she doesn't of course because death is taking an enforced sabbatical. Further down the road they meet Hades who rocks up on a chariot and tells Xena that Sisyphus has his sister captive and what the consequences of this are. She agrees to take the job on.

Next our heroes come across a group of travellers who had been recently hit by a landslide and are in pain and anguish, unable to die. Here, Gabrielle (new outfit) ventures into her third romantic tryst in as many weeks with a young man called Talus. The pair go on to administer what is possibly the most ineffectual first aid ever witnessesed by repeatedly dabbing a cloth to a graze on the side of a mans face whilst he lies there with probable crush injuries to the chest and abdomen. Talus then compounds the pain by telling a long and irrelevant story about the weather in Corinth or some such nonsense. Gabrielle later claims that it cheered the man up but judging by his face he was wishing he was still lying under the rocks.

Gabrielle is then attacked by the undead Toyeus and rescued by Xena who uses her chakram's buzzsaw facility to cut through a hefty branch and pin him down to the ground. Xena goes to the castle to confront Sisyphus, Gabrielle and Talus go to the hospital and Toyeus finds and kills his men to create an undead army.

Arriving at the hospital Gabrielle and Talus find an old woman crying out in desperate thrist. Gabrielle talks to her as Talus supoposedly fetches water. Gabrielle learns that if Xena is touched by Celeste she will die. She feels the need to warn her and they race off to the castle leaving the poor parched mouthed old lady to dehydrate further.

Xena confronts Sisyphus but ends up falling through a trap door into a dungeon complex. Gabrielle and Talus are split up and chased by Toyeus and his men. Talus keeps cluching at his chest. We're not sure what's wrong there but probably nothing that can't be resolved by the dabbing of a wet cloth. Xena and Talus meet up and are covered in rats. Talus confides in Xena that he's dying. They are overheard by the King's wife who wants to help them get to Celesta before the candle burns out. They confront Sisyphus and by drawing on his own back story manages to convince the king to free Celesta but not before they have one last showndown with Toyeus and his men. They free Celesta and the bad guys start dying of their original wounds. We imagine Celesta has a massive backlog to sort out but she chooses to take Talus now with his gastric heartburn, much to the anguish of Gabrielle whom Xena has to uncomfortably comfort.

This episode is enjoyable enough but similar to "Cradle of Hope" in that I felt it lacked some of the trademark humour and was a little anaemic at times. The one episode, romantic infactuations wear thin after a while and things improve when the writers realise that the strength of the series lies within core relationships and explore those instead.

Memorable Scene: Gabrielle hiding from Toyeus and showing discomfort at getting close and personal with a rat. No acting required for Renee here.

Quote: Gabrielle: "So what do you think of Talus?" Xena: (rolls eyes) "He's nice"

There's actually a lot going on in this episode. I like Gabrielle's suitor, Talus

[reb-warrior · 10/10 · 15 March 2021]

Death is captured by King Sisyphus and people can't die. Hades asks Xena to free her. Xena and Gabs meet up with Talus, whom Gabrielle takes shine to. The three of them help injured people, where for some, the only salvation from their suffering is death.

Upon watching this again, I noticed there's actually a lot of things going on in this one episode:

-a smalltime warlord and his bandits want to kill Xena and make a name for themselves

-"Death" is captured and people can't die

-Gabrielle has a suitor, Talus, who is dying, tho she doesn't know that

-there's some actual Greek mythology with Sisyphus, Celesta, and Hades

-philosophy about life and death, and how death is a part of life is discussed.

See what I mean? Much more complex than you think, yet the show makes it seem easy and simple. So kudos to the writers and director for that.

Out of all of Gabrielle's suitors on the show, Talus, is one I actually liked. He was sweet, thoughtful, and genuine. I can't think of anything I didn't like about him. I also love that Xena got to spend some time with him and was also impressed with what a great guy he was. Talus is the one who gave the touching plea to King Sisyphus, saying death should be freed, despite knowing it would mean his own death. Later when Gabs finds out he is dying: "I should've told you. Forgive me, Gabrielle. All I wanted was a memory of you." I thought the actor did a great job in the role. I think a little weakness here is that they made these two as though falling in love with each other in one day. I mean I know that happens in real life, but it was really fast here because the one day is literally one hour of entertainment for the viewer. Tho it was more believable on Talus' part given that he was dying.

How come Toxeus and the warlords didn't suffer like those from the rockslide from their injuries? Such a charming show. We'll just overlook that one.

I thought it was hilarious that Toxeus actually killed his own men. In the end, Xena didn't have to do it because he already did it earlier on, thinking they were immortal or Gods. I can only imagine in the afterlife, in Tartarus or something, those guys must be pretty pissed at Toxeus. Lol.

Enjoyed Gabrielle and the rat scene.

Pretty good episode with lots going on, action, drama, and personal angst for Gabrielle. 10/10.

Salute to Xena - A 25th Anniversary Review

[skullface2020 · 9/10 · 19 March 2020]

Death is sometimes expected, but at other times death arrives with little to no warning. Humans are killed at the touch of Celesta the goddess of death. However, this episode sees tricky king Sisyphus seeking to avoid death by capturing Celesta and chaining her out of reach of her magic candle. It's up to Xena and Gabrielle to help return order to the human race by freeing death in chains.

SYNOPSIS

All people are immortal now that death is locked up away from her candle. This becomes clear when some hooligans attack Xena and their leader, a wretched man named Toxeus, fails to die after being impaled by Xena's sword. Now Toxeus and his gang of thieves and troublemakers are more than a little emboldened. Later down the road Xena and Gabrielle encounter victims of a rockslide. Even though they cannot die, their pain and suffering is very clear and cannot easily be subsided. While giving victims aid, Gabrielle encounters a nice young man by the name of Talus. He's also helping the injured that he encountered on his travels to his hometown of Corinth. He impressed Gabrielle with his compassion as well as knowledge about the gods and medicine.

Hades, the god of the underworld, appears to Xena in the countryside. He has informed her that King Sisyphus has trapped his sister Celesta. Her candle does not burn out while in her hands, but Hades lets Xena know that it is beyond her grasp while locked up in chains, and soon it will be gone as so will all possibility of humans experiencing death. Xena knows that this would leave the world unbalanced, and pain and suffering would only spread. While Xena travels to free Celesta, Gabrielle continues to give aid to wounded people in a hospital. An old lady informs her that any human like Xena will die if coming into physical contact with Celesta. Gabrielle knows that she must travel to warn her friend, and of course Talus accompanies her to find Xena.

Xena confronts King Sisyphus, but she falls down a trap door and is stuck in a dungeon. Sisyphus only needs to stall Xena until Celesta's candle burns out, and then he will be immortal and can live with his beloved Queen Karis forever. Gabrielle and Talus make to to the castle, but they're separated when attacked by Toxeus' undead thugs. Xena and Talus encounter each other, and he informs her that he knows a lot about the castle since he grew up here when his mom worked for the king years ago. He can help Xena navigate the grounds, but it becomes clear to Xena that Talus is suffering from a painful ailment that would result in his death under normal conditions. He tells Xena that he has not informed Gabrielle of this, but it is true that he's suffering greatly. Queen Karis had secretly been observing this conversation, and she understands that only death can end the pain that some people experience. She confronts Xena, makes clear that she recognizes Talus from his childhood at the castle, and informs them that she wants to help them free Celesta goddess of death.

Alongside Xena and Talus, Queen Karis confronts the king and tells him that his plan to cheat death is wrong. Yes it will let them live together forever, but humans suffer and eventually need death to be at peace. The king recognizes Talus and realizes his misguided ways. The group go to free Celesta when they are suddenly attacked by Toxeus and his gang. They have Gabrielle hostage! A battle ensues, and Xena fights them off long enough for Celesta to be freed by the others. Death being restored, Toxeus and his men pass away. Celesta tells the king that it's not quite his turn, but it is time for Talus to pass to the other side. This stuns Gabrielle who didn't know he was ill. She pleads but Talus lets her know it's ok; he needs peace, and maybe they'll one day meet again.

NOTES

Gabrielle is drawn to other genuinely good people, but sometimes she underestimates Xena's knowledge regarding topics such as war and the gods.

Enter: Celesta goddess of death, Talus, Hades god of the underworld, King Sisyphus, Queen Karis