User Reviews

Xena has a clue to the Sumerian treasure. Two others have the rest of the clues, Thersites, an assassin, and Petracles, a warlord. With the Sumerian treasure is the Titan key which can be used to find ambrosia, food of the Gods, which can make a mortal a God. She and Gabrielle are out to find the ambrosia before anyone can use it. To further complicate matters, Xena reveals that she was once to marry Petracles, which causes Gabrielle to take an interest in him.

Petracles was kind of underwhelming as an old boyfriend of Xena's, wasn't he? No wonder they never mentioned him again or had a flashback with him. He and Xena apparently fell in love after Xena learned the pinch: "I've got two fingers pressed against your throat. You know what I can do." Later in the series, in season two's 'Destiny,' is where Xena learns the pinch from M'lila. Not long after that, she becomes 'Evil Xena.' There's no way she would have fell in love with someone enough to want to marry them after what happened with Caesar, let alone fall for his manipulations. At this point, Xena was the master manipulator. And this engagement wouldn't have been, later on, say more recently before she met Gabs because: "When Xena and I met, we were very young." He doesn't fit the narrative of what the show writes later. But I also found it not very believable that Xena fell for this uncharismatic guy.

I wonder if Petracles was a prototype for Caesar:

"He's an ambitious, ruthless, dominating, conniving liar. He'll say anything he can to get a woman to fall for him, and, then, once he has her, he uses her."

"He's good at reading people and using that to manipulate them. And once he has your trust, he's got you."

See, that's an exact description of Caesar.

Did Gabs break the friend code? Aka: the gf code, or bff code. You know, where you don't hook up with your bff's ex. I mean people do it all the time, but it's sort of an unspoken rule between best friends.

I found Gabrielle annoying in this episode. She weirdly pursued Petracles: kept staring at him, going off to be alone with him, got up close in his personal space, touching him, kissing him. This isn't about Petracles though, is it? It's about her infatuation with Xena. You know she has that. It's the reason she left home to travel with Xena. Now she comes across a man that Xena loved so much that she was going to marry him and it's instant infatuation with Petracles. It's kind of like she wants to be in Xena's skin but also wants to be the thing Xena loves the most. Anyway, I thought her behavior was creepy and annoying. Every scene between her and Petracles was cringeworthy.

Thersites was a fun character. I mean he was so bad, yet funny at the same time. Kind of like 'The Kurgan' in Highlander. Great job by the actor. I loved the interactions between him and Gabrielle. It was her expense as he was mainly atrocious to her, but it was funny, especially Gabs' reactions to whatever he did or said: "You stinking, smelly scumbag!" Lol.

Thersites instantly realized the key was to the ambrosia. He didn't seem to read it on the key. So it's a thing that people know the Titans have. A little weak here in the story. I mean the Titan Temple was sitting right there out in the open. Wouldn't people have tried to bulldoze that thing in the past to get the ambrosia? Maybe it was made of the metal of Hephestus? Who knows? The clues seemed kind of stupid: "The teacher's student is not incorrect." I mean it was just kind of weak for this great big giant legendary treasure that was hidden for what must have been, I dunno, thousands of years. Also, it felt like there should have been more booby traps, but perhaps they didn't have enough time to film that.

The Peis' arrows look an awful lot like the Centaur arrows. What are the Peisons exactly? A type of indigenous people? Marleus was an interesting looking dude with his braided beard. He was only there for a couple of minutes before Thersites kill him, but he exuded power.

The adventure aspect of the episode was good. Had some good fight scenes, especially the last one between Xena and Thersites. Loved the poetic justice moment when Xena used Thersites' own hidden wrist-weapon to kill him. Didn't care for Gabrielle's weirdness with Petracles. 7/10.

An obvious riff on 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'. Boy the first kill is very bloody and one more dead friend for Xena. Love her teasing of Theristes with the clue. Gabby still refers to Argo as "The horse" but she is largely missing from this ep. So Xena was engaged to Patracles? Hmmmm, wonder how Marcus and Borias felt about that?

Gabby had a pony when she was 5 so she wasn't always afraid of horses. More subtext, she and Petracles get all kissy and when Xena warns him off later he observes "I'd say you were jealous?" The "Don't pull the ring" gag is very Evil Dead, one more kill for Xena bringing her to 24 and maybe we now know how the girls fund themselves, they've still got that Sumerian treasure?

This is my favorite episode in the first season. It features a handful of very awesome characters; particularly Thersites. He's an assassin with a thirst for money and riches so he goes through any means to get it; be it murder or mayhem. Well, he ends up joining with Xena and Gabrielle temporarily just so they can acquire the ambrosia, this mystical and mythical fruit that's supposed to be able to make mortals into gods. Then there's this other fellow, Petracles, whom is not originally trusted by Xena and ends up being a more honorable warrior. Of course, Thersites ends up going his way to acquire the ambrosia, and ends up slaying Petracles in the process in the end. He himself is slain by Xena and there's a grand directing perspective here from the upper angle portraying their bodies; all for the ambrosia, which Xena tosses away, disposing of it. There is great morality and mortality found in this episode, and there overall emphasis on the characters of Thersites and Petracles was very well orchestrated. Personally, I found Thersites to be the best character in the first season as a stand-alone plot device. His movement was fluid and his actions defined him. There was a solid usage of philosophical connotations as well; the story telling viewers that chasing something can get you killed; and greed being a strong detrimental factor. There's also other nice ways that these messages have been incorporated throughout the episode, but the best is the fact that the characters go on a journey, some are killed in the process, whilst others learn from the error of their ways. This teaches that not all fates are intertwined and there's great misfortune to befall those who defy common logic. The story is not the only thing that shines as the directing here was phenomenal; a gorgeous job indeed.

Teaming up with an assassin and war lord, Xena and Gabrielle join a hunt for the magnificent Sumerian Treasure. However, this mission isn't just about gold and jewels. It involves Xena's former betrothed Petracles, and Xena is actually aiming to keep ambrosia, the food of the gods, out of the hands of the unworthy.

SYNOPSIS

Xena's old friend Lycus catches up with her and Gabrielle as they travel in the woods. Unfortunately, he is slain by a murderous thief, but his treasure and message is picked up by Xena as he dies. He is carrying one of four clues needed in order to find the Sumerian Treasure. This hidden treasure is the greatest that has every been collected and stowed away. Unbeknownst to most people, the treasure includes a special key that gives access to a room where ambrosia can be found. As the food of the gods, ambrosia will make any human into a god when consumed. Xena knows that the other two people with clues to this treasure include the assassin Thersites and the warlord Petracles. Petracles is a known charmer, and he is the former betrothed of Xena.

Xena and Gabrielle join up with Therasites and Petracles in order to find the treasure. This is an odd bunch, but Xena does her best to keep order as they travel together. While the men don't know about the ambrosia, and are only on this mission for the treasure, Xena knows that it's up to her and Gabrielle to keep these men from finding the ambrosia and transforming themselves into gods. Therasites is all for killing Gabrielle so as to not have to share with her, but Petracles seems to be kind and genuine toward her. Gabrielle is certainly intrigued by Petracles. She wants to know about what it was like when he and Xena were betrothed. Xena wants Gabrielle to avoid speaking to both men. Therasites is at least open and upfront about being a greedy murderer. However, Xena says that Petracles is just pretending to care about others so that he can use them and exploit their weaknesses.

In order to get a big ruby that is necessary to find the treasure, the group decides to send Gabrielle and Therasites into the temple where it is housed so that they can nab it when no one is looking. They do a relatively poor job at pretending to be worshipers on a pilgrimage, but the two gain access to the temple just in time for Xena and Peracles to distract the guards with a hail of spears thrown from afar. Therasites botches the stealthy robbery, but fortunately Xena and Peracles just beat up the guards, and the crew is able to run off with the ruby. On to the ruins where the treasure may be, the group use the ruby to illuminate a path through a cave. Once inside, Peracles pulls a wall-ring and the foursome fall through a hole in the ground and into the huge Sumerian Treasure room! Unfortunately, Therasites find the key to the ambrosia room almost immediately, and it's not long before he finds out what it's for. He's a Sumerian, so it's easy for him to read the text on the key. He takes Gabrielle hostage, and puts out the torch light so as to hide his escape out of the treasure room.

Xena and Peracles follow. Peracles insists that he only wants to make sure Gabrielle is safe, but Xena is not certain she can trust him. They surround Therasites once they catch up to him and Gabrielle in the ambrosia room. In a struggle he plunges a knife into Peracles' torso as Peracles tried to free Gabrielle. Xena kills Therasites before he can get to the ambrosia. With his last breath, Peracles tells Xena he was a fool to have treated her poorly so many years ago. He gives her his engagement wristband that he held; he had previously mentioned that he sold it for weapons a long time back. Xena and Gabrielle toss the ambrosia into a volcano to keep it out of the reach of the unworthy. As they leave they note that the late Peracles was actually a decent man.

NOTES

Xena might have been difficult to be betrothed to back in the day, but then again maybe Peracles was also a handful. The greed of men can lead them to their doom while also keeping them apart from what's important.

Enter: Lycus, Therasites, and Peracles