Television Review - Xena Warrior Princess - The Road Not Travelled

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Spoiler alerts A favourite early season one episode that addresses many of Xena's motives for turning good instead of evil as she finally severs ties with the warlords and mercenaries of her old way of life. Xena sets out to rescue a kidnapped princess from her old friends, who are starting to hearing rumours that she has turned good and soft. She infiltrates them and tries to convince them that she is still evil, only to find one disillusioned soldier of fortune, Marcus, was struggling with the idea of turning good himself. Her apparent but faked return to be a bad girl disillusions him. Bobby Hosea is superb as the tortured ultimately heroically tragic Marcus who will die more than once in the series (for reasons given in the relevant episodes). The only weakness here is Gabrielle having little to do after the very funny Magnificent Seven (or one, given that it is Xena) hired by the kidnap victim's soppy lover as she deals with the hooligans in a rough sleazy bar in a terrific violent fashion. A story that gives Lucy Lawless great emotional range, as she feigns ruthlessness, and shows genuine compassion and anger in killing the main villain of the story. We see Xena sing her funeral song for the first time in the series here as she cremates Marcus after his first death. Arthur Chappell