Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (TV Series) The Gauntlet (1995) User Reviews

Maternal instinct of Xena and a slight changing of behavior !!

[elo-equipamentos · 6/10 · 7 January 2023]

Xena is back again in this episode still making raids against the villages but sharing the leadership with heartless Darphus, even she has been the main leader his old partner still runs counter her order of spare women and children, one of the last raid Xena found a baby still alive, her maternal instinct raises somewhat and she takes the little one to a cave nearby, there Xena finds a woman that offer himself to suckle the baby of your own free will also takes care him for a while.

Xena turns back to settle the matter against the adamant Darphus who defies the Xena's leadership and demand her to a Gauntled where Xena got to pass hardly, the angry Darphus enjoins his death to their soldiers, the broad majority deny due Xena reach in the final line alive, even shot down by the treachery forced upon by Darphus she went back to the cave with a look of impending vengeance.

Meanwhile Hercules fully accompanied by his cousin Irolan, they find out Salmoneus caught in a trap hanging upside down by a rope, hearing the news from the eloquent and loudmouth Salmoneus they figure out the next village where they will strikes again, thus they headed to there meeting a man from the last raided village where his wife and baby were killed by the Darphus and Xena's mercenaries, finally Xena Crossing their path, a fight between Hercules and Xena is unavoidable and aftermath Hercules has a bone to pick with the bloodthirsty Darphus.

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First watch: 2023 / Source: DVD / How many: 1 / Rating: 6.5.

Xena's redemption begins

[Lady_Khat · 8/10 · 2 June 2024]

After discovering Salmoneus trying to hide as a woman, and letting him live because he amuses her, Xena runs into trouble when her her new second-in-command, Darphus, decides she's too soft, especially concerning her standing command forbidding attacking women and children. Defying her, he leads a party that destroys an entire village, and the warrior princess rescues the only survivor, a baby, which only leads to more conflict between her and her men.

Meanwhile, a man of the village, who was sent before the slaughter happened to get help, finds Hercules, and convinces him to return and offer assistance. What they find upon returning isn't exactly the black and white situation Hercules expects, though, and he and Xena must join forces to stop Darphus's violent rampage.

While Hercules is present, of course, this episode is mostly set up to show the beginning of Xena's change in character, which will, of course, lead into her attempts to atone in her own series, with him really only having a supporting role to the main conflict. Salmoneus is thrown in to offer his typical comic relief, although he does do some important things as well, managing, in his own bumbling way, to aid in Xena's beginning transformation, and convincing Hercules to trust Xena, which he does rather quickly, considering the events at their last meeting.

Some of the plot is a bit unbelievable if you think about it too much, such as the supposedly deadly 'Gauntlet', and, as mentioned, the rather quick buddying-up of Hercules and Xena, but that's pretty much par for the course with this pair, and while the CGI is terrible by modern standards, it was in its infancy back then, and Ares is still much more of a generic background villain than the colourful and generally beloved God of War he will become, but all in all, it's not a bad episode, just the typical 'don't think about it too much' romp through the countryside that both shows are famous for.

Important episode. This is the one where Xena changes.

[reb-warrior · 10/10 · 27 September 2020]

If you're a Xena fan and want to check out the crossover episodes, don't miss this one. In my opinion it's the most important crossover episode. This is the one where Xena changes. A very significant moment in the character's journey and her path to redemption.

Xena seems wary of her lifestyle when this begins. She stops one of her soldiers from killing a baby after they attacked a village. Later Darphus takes over the army and Xena walks the gauntlet and survives. I think when she walks the gauntlet that maybe her life flashed before her eyes. They didn't show this. This is only my opinion based on the character. I'm thinking she didn't like what she saw.

It's interesting in retrospect watching Xena take in the baby. She seems uncomfortable. Salmoneus ends up bringing a nanny to look after him.

Later Hercules tracks Xena down and they fight. A few things I want to point out here. One is that Salmoneus never gets enough credit for a seeing a different side to Xena. He points this out to Hercules. I think Salmoneus' words actually do have an affect on Hercules when he decides to give her another chance.

The next thing I want to point out is that sometimes I see people saying Xena changed because of Hercules. No, Xena changed because of Xena. Hercules himself points out in the next episode that she had already started to change when she saved the baby. What Hercules did was give her another chance and support her change. Later, when they developed the character more in her own series, we learn there were other things that affected her change.

Finally, the third thing I wanted to point out is the fight with Xena that Hercules won. Yes he did. But he wouldn't have won if his cousin hadn't of interfered. It's right there in the episode for anyone to see.

Later Xena comes to Hercules' aid and helps him to defeat Darphus and her former army.

This is a dark episode and probably the darkness in the series. It may be hard to see a woman, Xena, get beat-up by a bunch of male soldiers. But the silver lining is she that survives. The only person ever to do that. Yes, a woman! She earns a certain respect from her former soldiers when they refuse to kill her upon Darphus' demand. It also helps to have Salmoneus in this episode. He helps to lighten things up a bit and has some comical banter with Xena. There's some good action and Lucy Lawless is great as a dark and brooding Xena. 10/10