Xena's old flame, Marcus shows up as a ghost asking for her help. It turns out there's been a coup on the "other side." All the good guys are in Tartarus and all the bad guys are in the Elysian Fields. This was caused by Atyminius who has stolen Hades' helmet of invisibility and imprisoned Hades. Xena and Marcus go to Hades and he grants Marcus mortality for 48 hours in order to kill Atyminius and get the helmet back.
Let's just get the cheese part over with. The dialogue between Xena and Marcus was corny. It was so lovey-dovey that it felt like it was a bad romance novel written by a teenager. All of a sudden Xena is in love with Marcus? Kind of reminds me of the Perdicus thing with Gabrielle. When exactly did all this "love" happen? Notice Marcus is never mentioned again in the entire series except for season two's "The Xena Scrolls." A clip show. They never did a flashback to showcase this great love. I found their interactions with that dialogue a bit cringeworthy, especially on Xena's part, where she is acting like a lovesick teenager. Just didn't feel like Xena and her persona. I mean yes, I love that Xena had a romance with a black male character. That was groundbreaking in those days for television with the lead title character of a show. I just never felt that the romance and the character of Marcus were written very well.
Gabrielle didn't have much to do here. She was kind of like an inanimate prop. Kinda just there, but not really involved much with anything. I did enjoy it when she fought back against Atyminius though. I wish she had won that fight, enough so that he would have run off.
Charon, played by Michael Hurst was funny and entertaining. Atyminius was actually an awesome villain. He was creepy, and maybe even a little scary. The only other villain like that on the show was Alti. Too bad they never had the character back. But then again a lot of things from season one were forgotten about later in the series, Petracles, Marcus, Xena's older bro... what's his name?
I'm glad Xena struck a deal with Hades to get Marcus into the Elysian Fields. He never seemed that bad of a guy even in the previous episode he was in. He never had any darkness within him.
The CGI was considered good back in the 90s. Remember that if you're a new viewer. We are indeed spoiled now by amazing effects nowadays. But back then, effects in Xena were considered really good.
Why didn't Xena just throw some dirt or flour on Atyminius? I mean when she and Marcus were fighting him after he knocked out Gabs, she could have quickly grabbed a handful of dirt and throw it on him.
It was funny seeing Toxeus from 'Death in Chains' again. Where are his men I wonder that he killed? They probably used to beat him up in Tartarus for his not-so-great idea of "killing" them. Lol.
I thought the story was good of Atyminius stealing the helmet and going to the other side as Xena and Marcus pursued him. I didn't like the lovey-dovey teenager romance stuff between Xena and Marcus . Shame they didn't give Gabs much to do. 7/10.
Let's just get the cheese part over with. The dialogue between Xena and Marcus was corny. It was so lovey-dovey that it felt like it was a bad romance novel written by a teenager. All of a sudden Xena is in love with Marcus? Kind of reminds me of the Perdicus thing with Gabrielle. When exactly did all this "love" happen? Notice Marcus is never mentioned again in the entire series except for season two's "The Xena Scrolls." A clip show. They never did a flashback to showcase this great love. I found their interactions with that dialogue a bit cringeworthy, especially on Xena's part, where she is acting like a lovesick teenager. Just didn't feel like Xena and her persona. I mean yes, I love that Xena had a romance with a black male character. That was groundbreaking in those days for television with the lead title character of a show. I just never felt that the romance and the character of Marcus were written very well.
Gabrielle didn't have much to do here. She was kind of like an inanimate prop. Kinda just there, but not really involved much with anything. I did enjoy it when she fought back against Atyminius though. I wish she had won that fight, enough so that he would have run off.
Charon, played by Michael Hurst was funny and entertaining. Atyminius was actually an awesome villain. He was creepy, and maybe even a little scary. The only other villain like that on the show was Alti. Too bad they never had the character back. But then again a lot of things from season one were forgotten about later in the series, Petracles, Marcus, Xena's older bro... what's his name?
I'm glad Xena struck a deal with Hades to get Marcus into the Elysian Fields. He never seemed that bad of a guy even in the previous episode he was in. He never had any darkness within him.
The CGI was considered good back in the 90s. Remember that if you're a new viewer. We are indeed spoiled now by amazing effects nowadays. But back then, effects in Xena were considered really good.
Why didn't Xena just throw some dirt or flour on Atyminius? I mean when she and Marcus were fighting him after he knocked out Gabs, she could have quickly grabbed a handful of dirt and throw it on him.
It was funny seeing Toxeus from 'Death in Chains' again. Where are his men I wonder that he killed? They probably used to beat him up in Tartarus for his not-so-great idea of "killing" them. Lol.
I thought the story was good of Atyminius stealing the helmet and going to the other side as Xena and Marcus pursued him. I didn't like the lovey-dovey teenager romance stuff between Xena and Marcus . Shame they didn't give Gabs much to do. 7/10.