SYNOPSIS:
Synopsis by Liz Sheppard
Hercules and Iolaus run into
a hurt man while going to Nebula's boat to
Corinth. Herc take the man to a temple and tells Iolaus
to go with
Nebula and he'll meet with him in Corinth. Iolaus and
Nebula see that
the veterans from the Trojan War are in Corinth because
of a statue
being dedicated to the heroes that did come back from
the war. Iolaus
goes to find his friend, Ajax. A fight breaks out
between the vets and
the villagers; resulting in a friend of Ajax, Phidias,
getting arrested
and the stature falling down. Ajax orders his men to
stop fighting after
he and Iolaus talk. King Iphicles arrives telling them
that the fight
was under his orders.
Iphicles orders his men to
handle anything that happens and that if
anybody causes trouble, to arrest them. Ajax and the
other vets hate the
fact that they've come home to a country that doesn't
care about them
and that if they're arrested, they are taken to the
island of Golgoth,
the worst prison in Greece.
Iphicles and Iolaus have a
small talk and Iolaus learns that Iphicles'
wife, Rena, passed away and that he wasn't there to be
with her because
of the vets; and he's punishing them for his pain.
Iolaus tells Iphicles
to talk with Ajax. Instead of talking, Ajax takes
matters into his own
hands and he kidnaps the king because he ordered that
the rest of the
vets to leave Corinth right away and the ones already
at Golgoth have to
stay.
Iolaus think it's his fault
that the vets took the king because he told
them to stand together. He asks Nebula for help to save
Iphicles and
Nebula agrees so she can get a reward. She informs him
that sand sharks,
from the MERCENARY episode, live on the island and the
prison is a
building with walkways and bridges that don't get near
the sand.
The prison of Golgoth is run
be a man named Ganion. He sees that Ajax's
friend, Phidias, isn't scared of him and beats him up.
Ajax and the
vets, along with Iphicles, go to the island so they can
free the other
vets. The vets overthrow the guards and Ajax finds
Phidias lying on the
ground. Phidias tells him that Ganion did this to him,
and Ajax orders
him dead, meaning being thrown to the sandy bottom.
Ganion tries to get
out of it by putting the blame on Iphicles since he
works for him, but
Iphicles says he never ordered him to torture the
prisoners. Ganion gets
taken away by sand sharks. A fight breaks out and
Iphicles falls onto
the sand, breaking his leg. Iolaus goes to save him and
Nebula gets a
rope to get them out. Hercules shows up to help
distract the sand
sharks while Iolaus helps the king. Ajax helps, too,
being a good
friend. After they're safe, Herc says that he wants to
see his brother.
Iolaus tells Ajax that he's not a soldier anymore and
that he should
stop this fight. Herc puts a brace on Iphicles' leg and
tells him that
sending the vets there wasn't the answer to his
problem.
Ajax sends Herc and Nebula to
Corinth to get the treasury in order to
ensure the king's safety. Ajax later tells the men that
Iphicles must
die in order to send the right message. Herc already
knows this and they
plan to sneak into the prison while the guard is down.
Nebula shows him
a tunnel into the prison to avoid the sand sharks.
Ajax sends Iphicles to the
sand but Iolaus goes in to save him because
he doesn't respect Ajax anymore. Herc tries to help but
Ajax fights with
him to stop him. Nebula goes to help Iolaus. Herc takes
a big pool thing
and kills two of the sand sharks with it. Iolaus and
Iphicles are still
in trouble and Ajax, realizing that what he was doing
was wrong,
sacrifices himself for them. Iphicles makes a place up
north for the
veterans and all is happy. Hercules says good bye to
his friend and that
his war is over.
COMMENTARY:
This commentary is by Kent Simmons.
After 4 straight weeks of comedy, it was great to see a darker episode again, and a damn good one at that. "War Wounds" was everything I expected and more. I don't mind some comedy episodes but after 4 in a row, a darker episode is needed. Replace the current versions of Armus and Foster with Paul Robert Coyle and you have One hellavua an episode.
The characters where great, the monsters where great, and the episode was wellwritten and well acted by everyon, even the no names and the fisherman. The promo was excellent, from the great music to the scenes and the teaser lines and all else. It gave the impression that Iphicles was going to be the good guy and the veterans the bad guys. The music was done well and the opening scene of the beach set the stage for a good episode. The lines about Nebula let us know that she was in the episode and reminded some of her relationship with Iolaus from "Web of Desire" earlier this season. The idea of the statue, Reannas death, and the angry vertans built up the main portion of the episode fine, and the hurt fisherman gave Hercules something to do, and gave kevin some time off to come in for the load of the episode later on. The Sand Sharks where cool and where perfect foes to bring the veterans and the heros and even Iphicles together. Nebulas new found partnership with the boys was also excellent and the speech by Ajax, following him saving Iphicles from the Sand Shark, even killing himself to do so, made the ending perfect and showed that he ment what he said and was willing to save Iphicles, so he could support Ajax plan and die a heros death like he deserved. The ending with Iphicles hoping the veterns can except the land from the grateful Corinth citizens and a grateful king was perfect and showed that he cared. I think Xena and Gabrielle could learn something from Hercules line to Iphicles "Thats what family is for" as Hercules replied to Iphicles thanking him. Hercules farewell speech ended the episode nicely and gave it a happy/sad ending which made it a excellent episode, worth all the stars.
Gotta feel sad for the King in this one. After losing his wife, and perhaps some of his people, Iphicles needed some one to help, and who better than his brother Hercules and friend Iolaus. Reanna and Iphicles where crowned king and queen during "Wedding of Alcmene" in season 2 and we really did not know much about Iphicles rule and reign untill now. Its obvious that the deal with Reannas death had a lot to do with Iphicles decsion, as well as the fact that he hinted the people where scared about the returning veterans. Even though the war ended during HTLJ's 2nd Season [On XWP's "Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts" or around that time"], the obvious some soliders where hurt or even lost or even perhaps still fighting on a island in the middle of no-where. Iphicles also felt Ajax pain at momments, despite hiding it. During the scene where the men bring out Phideas, and he is beaten to death by Gagman, Iphicles gives a look of sorrow and sadness, and he tells off Gagman for abusing the men like animals. The music and acting by the old and released veterans worked perfect and the scene where Gagman crushes Phideas' hand also makes you hate Phideas. That Stig Eldred guy has the roles of the guy ya just wanna hate always [Titus in XWP's "King Con" and Belus in HTLJ's "March to Freedom"]! In the end Iphicles made the right choice, and it looked as if he was finally able to admit his wifes death was by nature and not by the veterans.
The role of Hercules in this episode was wonderful and brought back the heroic Hercules, instead of the pig role or the friend to animal role from the last 2 new episodes before "My Fair Cupcake". Friend to his brother, friend to Ajax, and hero to Corinth and Greece. Iolaus also had a great role and the scenes between him and Nebula were wonderful. Iolaus did not blush as much as usual when Nebula flashed him on the deck of the ship. That was strange. The Kazon guy was getting intresting but was thrown out after a few minutes. His role was basiclly used to start a fight with the veterans and too spy on the vets and tells Iphicles about there rally against him. Why no Cupid in this episode ? Either it was a bad rumor or plans where scrapped. I guess the rumor about Karl Urban doing an episode in wig was either for "Amazon Nation" or "When in Rome" which was a Xena episode where he played Caesar. Perhaps Cupid shows up in HTLJ's "Reunions" in a few episodes.
Bring Nebula back and thats an order Universal ! Her character works in comedys and in dark episodes and we have yet to see those comedy episodes with her. She is the bad but good character. Bad attitude, with that sexy and cool look and the good attitude. In other words, she looks good, acts good, and knows how to get things done. She proven to be a valuable asset to Hercules and Iolaus, especially in this episode. Gina Torres does a great job as Nebula and they need to bring her back at least once next season on Hercules than for one Xena episode. Perhaps Cleopatra needs help in Egypt, and Nebula sails Gabrielle and Xena, as a favor to Hercules, and joins them in the battle. They should hire me to head the writing staff of both shows. I don't dislike the current episodes, but I have some cool ideas that would probally make some intresting episodes. Anyway back to the episode itself.
The setting was also great for the episode and provided a darker and more mysterious look. The island of Golgoth was perfect for the sharks and the prison looked perfect, and I must again state that the music was perfect for this episode.The emotional speeches where done well by Sorbo, Hurst, and Smith, and Ajax was a good character. I enjoyed the suspense [Didn't read spoilers for this episode]of waiting to see if Ajax would turn out good or become evil because of Iphicles, which would have gaven a possible storyline for season 5. I liked this episode and its a good one for everyone to watch. Some good morals at points and a strong dark episode with a bit of comedy and a lot of action and some drama and lots of emotion. It gets 5 out of 5 stars from me and I was not expecting to give out that rating based on what I heard when I learned about this episode. I thought it was going to be a HTLJ's Trojan War Documentry, with all the characters telling some want to be warriors about there experiances at war. That would have been good but not as good as what took place. Great episode, BATTLE ON HERC AND XENA FANS !
Highlights
The showerlike scene between Nebula and Iolaus.
The speech by Herc in the end.
The effects with the sandsharks.
The music really fit the story well.
The fight between Hercules and the Sharks was well done.
The scene where Iolaus, Iphicles, and Nebula are jumping around to call in the Sand Sharks.
The scene where Gagman puts his foot on Phideas' hand and crushes it is very extreme and you can just feel the pain !
The emotion shown between Ajax and Iphicles through the episode.
Nebula responding that she does that job the best, when Hercules thanks her for watching his back.
Iolaus questioning Nebula about his favor he owes her on the ship.
The opening scene.
This episode had one of the best Teasers/Promos of all HTLJ episodes this season and maybe for the seasons so far.
Iolaus telling Iphicles to move his royal butt out of the sand sharks way.
The Sand Shark leaping out of the sand and over the bridge.
Things
The music played as the episode starts was used to start many of the first season episodes and some of the earlier second season episodes.
Nebulas ship was the ship used in XWP's "Deliverer, Debt I, Lost Mariner, Ulysses" and in HTLJ's "Web of Desire" and "Prodigal Sister".
The music played as the statue is being put up was used during Robert Trebors explaination of Hercule to the French Highwaymen [Herc and Iolaus]. The episode was "Les Contemtibles"
The town of Corinth was the same town used for the town in "Porkules". It must be a new set.
The stairway which Iphicles walked up after talking to Iolaus was seen in HTLJ's "My Fair Cupcake" sevral times.
The windows in Iphicles castle where seen in XWP's "Debt II" and "Deliverer". They were also seen in HTLJ's "My Fair Cupcake" in the episode before this one.
The music played as the prisoners are released from the jail was used during The Execution of Crassus in XWP's "When in Rome...".
The sand sharks were new ones and not the same ones used in HTLJ's "Mercenary".
Those candle holders appear in a lot of episodes.
The music used as Hercules finished his speech on the beach was used during the end of HTLJ's "Mercenary".
The cage was also used in "Hercules on Trial" although they put some cobwebs on it in that episode.
Iphicles leather pants where also worn by Ares Smith during his first Ares costume.
They used a clip of Hercules and Dirk fighting the Sand Sharks from "Mercenary" in the promo.
04-29-98. The Cupid rumor was WRONG!!!!
