I think part of the initiation process to be a Black Wolf is to watch Spartacus. "I'm the Black Wolf" "No, I'm the Black Wolf!"
The guards are wearing...shorts. Maybe that's why Xerxes' henchman is named "koolots"...heh heh. If Hermia knew Xena ten years ago, wouldn't she had known Evil Xena? She didn't act like it! Xena talks to Xerxes just as she spoke with Mzentius. She's haughty, confident, and uses those eyebrows a lot. "My name is Xena. I'm a problem solver." That says it all! Xena is having way too much fun beating up the bad guy! I love the sympathetic look she gives him before she crunches his hands. "Do you like my rock?" "No!" But Xena didn't even look at his rock! Gabs fashionable hat is a bit...obvious. She proves to have an excellent throwing arm in this one. Whattaya know...a prison with running water...all on top of Xena's head! Why throw Xena in the pit? Was it all part of the pla?. Somehow, she doesn't seem to be the best candidate to toss in the pit. All right...can Xena really do her war cry underwater? I laughed myself goofy the first time I saw that! Lucy looks darn good under water...I just thought I'd mention that! I love the way Salmoneous knew who was standing before him..."Wait a minute...those boots...that leather...those legs...Xena!" I dunno why, but Xena looks unusually tanned in this whole episode. I know the guards were stupid, but why would hand over their belts to Salmoneous? Hearing Flora tell about Xena and the oak tree makes me picture and awfully mean Xena. Makes me think of Lucy (not OUR Lucy), pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. "Rock, parchment, dagger"...Clever! Mr. Negativity aka Diomedes got on my nerves quickly. I'm sure Xena took great pleasure in kicking his butt. I've never seen someone as happy to go to prison as Gabrielle! Gabbers has her own way of recognizing Xena..."Tall...beautiful...piercing blue eyes...swings a mean right hook. She might have swung it already." And Xena's response is heartfelt. "What in the gods' names are you doing here?" Lucy's vaccination scar is shining in the prison light. When Xena and Gabs and Salmoneous are all meeting up, you can tell Lucy has a cold. It's in her voice. It's funny how shocked Salmoneous was to find out that Xena had a friend! Gabrielle gets in a great line,.."You know, you wouldn't be here in the first place if you had kept your hands off my tomatoes." Xena's reaction makes the line all the better. They're going to use wet shirts as air bladders to escape through the underground river? I know it was a diversion, but even the rock guy had to know that was a ridiculous plan. The next thing you'll know...they'll be breathing out of wineskins to escape a wrecked ship! The rock guy's rock looked very...un-rocklike. Funny how I didn't notice it until he was banging it against the cell door. Uh...couldn't that draw the attention of the prisoners? When Koulos (all right...I don't know how to spell it and I'm too lazy to look it up) is preaching to the Black Wolf, they are all very serious except for Xena who stands there smiling. Salmoneous rocks! "I'm the Black Wolf! Owoo!" Why would Koulos believe Xena and Flora saying Flora was the Black Wolf? Shouldn't he had been a little more suspicious? Helpful Hints from Gabrielle: " You see the pointy end of the swordy things those guards are carrying? Stay away from them." Xena marches into the town square behind Xerxes but ahead of Koulos. Looks like Koulos has been demoted! Gabber makes a very nice frisbee toss with her chakram hat. In the fight, Flora hits a soldier in the knee with Xena's sword. Yet the soldier doesn't bleed. Amazing! I like the way Xena kicked one in the soldiers in the butt as they were retreating! Flora's mother is dressed like an Indian squaw. I'd rank this one mediocre, even with the welcome appearance of Salmoneous. Owoo! And here's how Gary felt about it... This enjoyable episode has all the things which I believe the show was supposed to be all about...kicking warlord butt and the developing friendship between Xena and Gabrielle. It opens with the typical crude warlord and his men picking on villagers,grabbing money from them for taxes. They push a woman down onto the ground,and Xena arrives to pound these guys into submission. There was a fight between the guards and some Ninja-like people calling themselves the Wolves,with the leader being called "The Black Wolf." The Warlord wants to kill everyone unless they tell him who TBW is,and tosses them into the dungeon until they tell.If not,they will all die. Xena tells the Warlord that she can find out---for a price. She is to be put into the dungeon as a spy. It is really that she has promised a girl's mother that she will rescue her. The girl is Flora,a childhood friend of Xena's. A fight is staged where Xena fights the captain of the guards to make it look real---she is now a "prisoner" too,to gain the trust of the other prisoners. Flora and Xena meet,and Xena relates a story of climbing a tree,with Flora wanting Xena's help climbing...Xena says to have faith,but never helped her. We learn that Xena meant to have faith in herself,not Xena. There is a breakout and recapture scene,with Xena being accused by the guard captain of ruining the plan. The Warlord gives her another chance. Meanwhile,Gabby is in the village and finds out where Xena is. The Chakram and whip are still attached to Argo,with nobody around. Funny how nobody tried to steal these items. Gabby wraps the whip around herself as a belt and hides the Chakram in a cloth to look like a hat. She meets Salmonius,who is a salesman trying to make a dinar by selling Black Wolf items. Gabby throws a tomato at a guard,and Sal is arrested with the blame for it.She had to wrestle Sal a bit to get the tomato. Later in the prison,she tells Xena that Salmonius should have kept his hands off her tomatoes...a cute way of wording it. This is the same way Gabby says that Joxer should have kept his hands off her apples,in ANIMAL ATTRACTIONS. Xena and a Wolf fight,because the Wolf thinks Xena betrayed them. Flora knows better and they devise a plan to escape. Flora announces to the guards that she is the Black Wolf. The Warlord is going to behead her. She is led out to her death,with the other prisoners in chains to witness it. Gabby tosses the Chakram to Xena,who is near the Warlord. Xena throws the Chakram and cuts the headsman's axe in half,sparing Flora. The Chakram then cuts the chains and the villagers fight the guards and win,of course,with Xena killing the Warlord. Pretty stock stuff,as an episode,but well-made. I liked the water scene where Xena is thrown into a pit and it is filled with water to drown her. She does an underwater scream---very effective,and gets out. Gabby tossing a tomato and also pushing mush in a guard's face so that she could be arrested was funny. She thanks the guard for the personal escort to the prison. This episode wasn't that fascinating,but I liked the fact that Xena risks all for strangers again. Gabby risks her life,too,by getting into the prison to help Xena. These old eps were just so enjoyable,with no deep stuff about finding anyone's "way" or any of the more foolish things RenPics did to wreck the characters of Xena and Gabby in subsequent seasons