Directed by Stephen L Posey
Written by RJ Stewart
Hercules and Iolaus join forces with Xena and Gabrielle to free Prometheus, who has been chained by the gods.
Tropes
- Comically Missing the Point: Xena enters finding Gabrielle talking to Iolaus. Gabrielle is unaware the two already know each other.Gabrielle: Xena, guess who he knows.
Xena: Hercules.
Gabrielle: Wow, you're good. - Continuity Nod: Xena's history with Iolaus and her last team-up with Hercules are referenced.
- Divine Assistance: The episode establishes that Hercules's gauntlets were given to him at some point by Hephaestus. It's never said if they do anything special, but they're presumably sturdier than the normal brand.
- Foreshadowing: When talking about becoming a traveling bard, Gabrielle says she'd attend the Athens City Academy of the Performing Bards.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Hera chains up Prometheus, which causes humanity to lose his various gifts and experience extreme suffering. When asked why she's doing this, she simply says humanity deserves to lose hope and suffer.
- Heavy Sleeper: Gabrielle. She even slept through an entire fighting sequence between Xena and some bandits.
- Honor Before Reason:
- Only the sword can break Prometheus's chains, but the user is killed immediately. Neither Hercules nor Xena wants the other to make that choice.Xena: The world needs Hercules.
Hercules: It needs Xena, too.
Xena: Come on, people would hardly miss me. But you, you give hope to so many.
Hercules: You underestimate yourself. - Iolaus gets a cut during the fight. With Prometheus chained up, it will become fatal, but he prefers to keep it a secret and keep helping as long as possible rather than be made to hang back.Hercules: Because he’s brave of heart and hard of head.
- Only the sword can break Prometheus's chains, but the user is killed immediately. Neither Hercules nor Xena wants the other to make that choice.
- Humans Are Special: Hera is honestly perplexed by how Prometheus spends so much time guiding humanity, saying other creatures are far more worthy of his attention. Prometheus ignores her claims that humanity will simply give in to despair, correctly saying it's humans who will foil her plan.
- Last Request:
- Just in case, Iolaus requests that Gabrielle tell Xena that there are no hard feelings.
- Before knocking him out, Xena tells Hercules to make sure Gabrielle gets to the bard academy in Athens.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The joke disclaimer at the end notes Iolaus was harmed, referencing how Michael Hurst really was injured during filming.
- One True Love: Gabrielle tells Iolaus a story essentially about soulmates. She says that humans used to have four legs and two heads, until the gods split them in two.Gabrielle: Each half then had two legs and one head, but the separation left both sides with a desperate yearning to be reunited because they each shared the same soul. And ever since then, all people spend their lives searching for the other half of their soul.
- Only Sane Man: Both Iolaus and later Gabrielle remark it'd be better for both sets of heroes to work together now and worry about who gets to break the chains with the sword later.
- Plot Hole: Hercules blocks a strike from the magical cursed sword with his bracelet/gauntlet. It's stated immediately after this scene that it was made by Hephaestus, as was the sword and the chains. If the strike didn't break the bracelet, how could it break the chains?
- Required Spinoff Crossover: Well, obviously.
- Ship Tease: For Hercules/Xena and Iolaus/Gabrielle.
- So Proud of You:Hercules: I've been hearing a lot about you.
Xena: Don't believe everything you hear.
Hercules: From what I heard, I want to believe. You've been helping people. - Take a Third Option: Xena and Hercules are squabbling about who will sacrifice her/himself to free Prometheus. It could have saved much time (and Herc a headache) if they had realized earlier swords can be thrown too.
- The End of the World as We Know It: Hera chaining up Prometheus means humans losing all of his gifts, like fire and medicine.
- Undying Loyalty: The warriors from Hera's temple fight both sets of heroes because she commanded it.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Inverted. Hera sees little value in human life and considers other creatures more worthy of Prometheus's attention.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Gabrielle admits she wonders why Xena lets her follow along. Iolaus says it's because of Gabrielle's pure heart.
