Written by Steven L Sears
Directed by Rick Jacobson
Xena enlists the help of four notorious criminals to go up against Ares and his ambitious young protégé Agathon.
Tropes
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Glaphyra's daggers manage to pierce a sheer stone wall so that Xena can use them to climb up.
- Arrow Catch: Xena in saving Darnelle's life.
- Batman Gambit: You may have wondered why Xena decided to choose her former evil proteges to help infiltrate a near-impenetrable fortress. It seemingly blows up in her face when Agathon simply bribes Darnelle and Walsam who out her location. Her reasoning becomes apparent when Darnelle ends up freeing her. Xena banked on Agathon to go down that route in order to be captured alive without injury. And it has the added bonus of changing the hearts of as many of her evil teammates as possible.
- Berserk Button:Gabrielle: I'm not a little girl, and I have met some good men. I married one.
Glaphyra: Yeah? And how long was he good? I notice he's not with you now! Maybe he lost interest. Or maybe he decided to find another conquest!
Gabrielle: [shoving her] Maybe he was murdered! - Continuity Nod:
- Walsim is said to have worked with Thersites, and he heard about Xena killing him.
- Xena secures some off-screen help from King Gregor.
- Does Not Like Men: Glaphyra
- Fake Defector: Darnelle
- Genre Savvy: Agathon has shown to be savvy enough about Xena's tactics to counter them. He figures out that Xena only brought out Gregor's army to draw out his forces and he did enough research on her entourage to know that some of them are susceptible to bribes.
- I Gave My Word: Agathon knows about Ares's fascination with Xena, so he gets him to vow not to interfere whatsoever. Ares, of course, reminds Agathon of his choice when it's time to face Xena alone.
- It's All My Fault: Xena blames herself for the way the four criminals turned out in life.
- Mexican Standoff: Xena's protégées are so suspicious of one another that they end up pointing weapons at each other all night.
- Nature Versus Nurture: Xena feels she had a direct hand in making the four criminals who they are now. Gabrielle wonders if the same thing would've happened to her if they had met before the Heel–Face Turn; she also wonders if Xena still shaped who she is today.
- Noodle Incident: According to Xena, Monlik taught Autolycus a couple thing.
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Out of Order: This episode was meant to air after The Britannia episodes, but a mix up had the episode air before them. - Surfer Dude: Agathon
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Usually the weakest fighter in the group, Gabrielle has the most success in fighting the heavily armored forces. Justified in that her staff does blunt damage which is still effective against their armor while swords, daggers and arrows will have much more difficulty piercing their armor.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To The Dirty Dozen.
