Xena: Warrior Princess TV Series "Orphan Of War" Review

We are now sadly living in a time where we are lacking some actually good and well written female characters. With the female characters that we are getting that are meant to be strong female characters just not being that well written and yet all we have to do is look back to often forgotten show from the nineties to prove that people will watch something with a strong female character if the character in question is written well and the episode that i'm going to be reviewing for you all today really does help to prove that point and so then join me as I review that episode that reveals a big secret of Xena's with the episode is question being called simply just "Orphan Of War" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is Xena and Gabrielle offer to help the centaurs defeat one of Xena's old soldiers who wants to steal a powerful stone that will turn him into an evil centaur. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time tho the plot of this episode wasn't all that good as it was a really weak plot at best with the main focus of the episodes plot shifting focus so many times that t was hard to tell what the actual plot of the episode as while the idea of Xena and Gabrielle helping out the centaurs defeat a really old friend of Xena's is more then a strong enough plot to carry an entire episode of the show for some reason the episode doesn't give that plot alot of focus and instead gives a side plot with Xena and Solan just as much if not more focus then the actual main plot of the episode with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is Ash vs. Evil Dead and Justice League: The New Frontier star Lucy Lawless as Xena and Tales From The Crypt star Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle. Also starring in this episode is Hercules And The Amazon Women star David Taylor as Solan , Paul Gittins as Kaleipus , Mark Ferguson as Dagnine , Alexander Campbell as Meklan , Stephen Papps as See'er , Peter Tait as Daylon and Richard Adams as A Warrior.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that;s actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As this show was never really known for having that good acting in any of it's episodes and as a result of that is the fact that it would be foolish to expect good acting in anything from this show but at the same time tho the acting that we did get in this episode was alot better then what it really had any right to be as it's clear as day that both Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor really are trying to turn in a good performance with the same thing also being true for alot of the shows cast as well the issue is tho is the director doesn't know hoe to direct this cast and how to get a good performance and while this doesn't effect both Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor as they both had the entire first season of the show to really get to know there characters it really does effect the actors that this episode introduces quite badly with that being something that really does let down the overall quality of the acting with this episode acting really being helped by the fact that the script for this really was so good that all this shows cast have to is just say the lies as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does hep to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Doing the CGI for this episode and quite possibly the rest of the show as well is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Flat Earth. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad for the time that this show was being made and for the budget that this show had but at the same time it's quite clear as day that this shows effects haven't aged all that well with the shows centaurs looking really bad with it being obvious that they were done very cheaply and very quickly as when there in a full body shot you don't get to see them that clearly and when there in a mid shot or a close up you only see them for the waist up and heck even the shows CGI background when Xena and Solan fall down into a cave looks fake as it was obvious that they filmed the actors on a green screen and very poorly added them into the shot and while the bad CGI isn't something that the episode or show could have helped since these types of shows always had some really small budgets to them which meant that nine times out of ten that the effects budgets were really small as well there should have been at least some sort of effort to hide just how bad the effects are in this episode and not show them alot of the time. 

It's in this episode that we find out that not only was Xena Solan's mother but that she actually gave him up because of the fact that he would be a target and would learn things that no kid should ever learn. While this is a noble thing for the character to do it's hard to say if it's in character for her given that it happened when she was meant to be this evil person and yet it's because of the fact that it happened that we get to see Xena act like a mother to him all the while trying to hide the fact that she is his mother which does lead to some really beautiful scenes between the pair of them which does go to show you just how far that she come as a character as the version of the character that we first met back on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys would never act like this and yet it's because of the fact that she's actively trying to do good that we get these really nice scenes with the best one oddly enough not being the one where she helps to mend his broken arm but right at the end of the episode where she starts to break down after leaving the kid again after not telling him that she's his mother because he will still be a target for those that hate her and we see just how painful it is for her do that as she's close to tears after leaving him at the grave sight for his father and who he believes to be his mother all the while his actual mother is right there with him being a good mother doing something that is hard enough for any parent who truly cares about there kid to do in the first place.

With those scenes being a good example of what it is that makes Xena to be a really strong female character. As we get to see that deep down she does have these maternal feelings that she has to bury down inside her in order to keep her kid safe from people and we see how that does bother her and does get to her as she does snap at Gabrielle at one point in the episode because of the fact that she's still hurting from giving up her kid nine years ago and meeting up with him again nine years later only brought those feeling to surface and that's something that alot of modern female characters lack as they Hollywood seems to think that in order for a female character to be a strong character she has to lack basic emotion and character and yet it's those two things plus the fact that she really can handle herself in a fight that make her a strong female character that's a fully formed three dimensional character and while yes characters like the rest of the centaurs and Gabrielle do get the short end of the stick in this episode they don't get alot of screen time what little screen time they do get also go along way to helping to show us why both Xena and Gabrielle work well together as both friends and as characters as the second she realises that Xena is still hurting Gabrielle goes to apologise and they move on from it and heck Gabrielle herself could be considered a really strong female character in her own right as well as Xena.

There's a reason why this episodes main villain Dagnine hasn't been mentioned thus far in this review and that's the fact that he's not that interesting of a character. With hm being a former solider in Xena's army which could have made him an interesting character and while the episode does do as much as they can do with that aspect of the character and it even does play role in the episodes epic final act what lets the character down is the fact that there's nothing to this characters as we don't get to find out why this character is the way that he is and heck we don't even get to find out why he wants this stone that will turn him into an evil centaur in the first place all of which just make it seem like that he's evil for the sake of being evil as his role in the show could be played by any of the episodes new characters and the plot of the episode wouldn't change heck they could even have had one of the centaurs be the main villain and nothing would change as there's really nothing to Dagnine as a character that makes him standout and given what little we do see of his character he doesn't seem like the character who would go down into this cave to get this stone as he seems like the kind of person who would get a bunch of his guards to go in before he does as he does seem like the kind of character who does have a big ego and not like someone who would be willing to get his hands dirty.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly forty two minuets and thirty seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have and to this episodes credit it really does take as full advantage as they really could have done with the plot of the episode being as developed as it really could have done but at the same time tho this episode really would have been alot more better if some of the characters were alot more developed then what they were as while it does make sense for Xena , Gabrielle and even Solan not to get that much character development as we have more episodes with him to get more character development and while yes Xena does get some character development in this episode with her learning to be a mother both literally and fugitively it's the episodes new characters that really do suffer because of the fact that none of them barring Solan get any kind of character development with Solan learning to trust Xena after previously hating her which is a good start for the character and while it is built up really well it also makes you wonder why all of the other characters don't at the very least get a line of dialog that shows that they two got some form of characters development as well but i really admit that this very episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this an action show that really does mean that I have ton actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode and well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which is really nothing new for this show as this show really does have some really fun and creative action that while yes can be seen as being over the top and campy it's that kind of over the top and campy action that makes the action not only in this episode but in the show as a whole seem to be really fun and heck even in the action in this episode we get to see just how much of a bada*s both Xena and Gabrielle are as we see Xena take on Dagnine and hold her own when he's in his evil centaur form basically on her own and we get to see how much Gabrielle has grown as a character as she takes on a few of Dagnine's soldiers and again hold her own all by her self all just by using her staff with the best action in the whole entire episode being the short but still awsome opening action scene as we get to see just how well both Xena and Gabrielle work together when there in a fight and it's just a really fun and cool action scene as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this episode was a really fun episode and it's one that goes to show that this show while yes it is very cheaply made is still a really good show that alot of people should watch but bare in mind that this show and this episode in particualr is both really cheesy and really campy as well and isn't afraid to be exactly either one of those two things in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this episode in this very review and such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Xena: Warrior Princess fandom wiki page , the official Hercules and Xena fandom wiki page , Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Hercules and Xena fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what'd think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Hercules and Xena fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Wandavision "Breaking The Fourth Wall" Review

We are now just a few short days from the release of the latest MCU Disney+ TV series Agatha All Along. As such it was only about right that I review something from the show from which the character of Agatha Harkness first makes her debut and well with a certain song that also bares the name of Agatha All Along also debuting in this very episode it only made sense that this be the episode that I do a review for and so then join me as I review that introduced the world to a surprisingly catchy song with the episode in question being called simply just "Breaking The Fourth Wall" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is with her grip on Westview slipping Wanda goes to extremes to make sure everything stays just the way that she wants it to all the while something truly evil emerges from Westview something which threatens to change everything forever. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty (I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad with the plot of this episode doing a really good job of building up the overall plot of the show as a whole whilst also throwing in some twists and turns that make the plot of this episode feel new and different whilst also being the kind of plot that you'd expect to see in a show like this one as well with this being helped by the fact that the plot of this episode really does feel like the kind of plot that you'd expect to see in shows like Modern Family and the American version of The Office albeit with a Marvel twist that oddly makes sense for these characters which also makes the plot feel more refreshing , new and different then as well with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff , Paul Bettany as Vision and Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau. Also starring in this episode is Evan Peters as Ralph Bohner , Randall Park as Jimmy Woo , Debra Jo Rupp as Sharon Davis , Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis , Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness /Agnes , Julian Hilliard as Billy Maximoff , Jett Klyne as Tommy Maximoff , Josh Stamberg as Director Tyler Hayward , Emma Caulfield Ford as Sarah Proctor , Jolene Purdy as Isabel Matsueda , David Payton as John Collins , David Lengel as Harold Proctor , Asif Ali as Abilash Tandon , Alan Heckner as Agent Monti , Rachael Thompson as Major Aly Goodner , Selena Anduze as Agent Rodriguez and Amos Glick as Dennis The Delivery Man.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which really isn't all that new as the acting for this show is genuinely really good and heck the acting in this episode even got praise for being as good as it is with alot of that being down to the fact that some of this episodes actors are reprising their roles from other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies as well as the fact that alot of this episodes actors are a bunch of really good actors in there own right with it being clear as day that this episodes director Matt Shakman really does know how to get a good performances out of his actors which is something that does help to raise up the overall quality of this episodes acting and make it alot more better then what it really had any right to be with the acting that's in this episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance really will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Doing the CGI for this episode is Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies and the legends and the greats that are currently over at capital T. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good as they use CGI in the way that it was meant to be used that is to extend and enhance what was already there on the day in this case making the Circus look alot bigger then what it was and while yes they do use it in order to create The Hex that's keeping them in Westview that's a case of that they had to to use CGI there as there's no way that you could do an effect like that in live action and to be fair it is an effect that does look good for most part as this is a TV show and as such the effects budget does have to be spread out alot more then what it would have to be in a feature length film and as a result of that is the fact that we do get some effects that don't look that good with the scene where Wanda lifts Monica in the air using her powers looking a little bit to fake and while it is something that would be a passable effect ten years ago it's also an effect that doesn't look as good as it perhaps should have done.

As alot of you know this is the episode that introduced the world to the song "Agatha All Along with the song itself being written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. The song itself is still surprising catchy with the song echoing sitcoms of the past most notably The Munsters something that is featured in the songs guitar and theme tune as well as the text that appears on the segment where this song appears which does make sense as a character like Agatha does seem like somebody who would've watched The Munsters at some point in her live but at the same time the song isn't all that good either as it's a song that hasn't been built up at all and isn't written all that well either as it doesn't have that many lyrics to it and as a result of that s the fact that it comes across like a TV jingle that you'd hear over an advert and not like the TV show theme song that it's pretending to be and heck it doesn't really go all that far into the fact that it is basically a TV show intro theme song which is something that it really could have done both in the visuals and in the actual song like it would have been funny if the episode had listed who was starring in this version of Agatha All Along and they even could have listed Agatha Harkness as being the creator of the show and the song it self could have had a bit more of punch to it this is despite the fact that the song is as to be expected from these writers still a really well written song that's performed really well by Agatha Harkness actor Kathryn Hahn.

Something that was to be expected from this show is the fact that this episodes sends up certain era of sitcoms in this case it's shows like the American version of The Office and Modern Family. Which is something that does date this episode as even when this show was being aired those kinds of shows were on the out and the world of sitcom was returning to being filmed infront of a live studio audience but at the same time it is still fun to see this episode send up aspects of those shows like the fact that Wanda does have a chat with the fictional director something which both disturbs her and serves as a key plot point in the episode as it lets us the audience now that somethings going on right now even if it is being one is a rather subtle way but at the same time it is something that does take away from the episode as well as those kinds of shows really do find away to spotlight everybody and give all of the characters something funny to say or do something which this episode really doesn't do and heck it's only Wanda and Vision that talks to the camera when it would have been funnier if we got to see more of the cast take to the camera as well which is something that really would have played really well into the sitcom aspect of this show whilst also not really taking away from the drama aspect of this show either.

Out of all of the characters that are in this episode it's Monica that gets alot less screen time then what she really could have gotten. As her breaking back into Westview is a key part of the shows finale and yet it's not given alot of attention instead she just arrives at an of sight army base and suddenly knows how to get back in after basically crashing a car and that's really it none of which is built up really well and all of which is something that could have been built up if she was given alot more screen time to fully develop that plot line but in doing so that would have taken from the main plot line and Vision's subplot of getting back to Wanda as well both of which are key plot lines and as a result of that is the fact that it does make it hard to fully judge which plot lone should either have been removed all together or cut down in order to give the other plot lines the time that they needed to fully breathe and develop more with this not really being helped by the fact that what little of Monica we do get in this episode really doesn't tell us all that much about her as a character which does make sense given how late into the show this episode is but at the same time since there very clearly trying to set up as a main character for future movies going forward then alot more effort should have gone into showing us what her personality is like in all of her scenes including her scenes in this episode as that would have made her a more developed character and that's something that can't be done with the fact that this episode really doesn't show her all that much.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly thirty four minuets and forty one seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this shoe and while this episode really does have more then enough there in terms of plot to really cover that amount of running time that running time is also the episodes biggest problem as it does mean that plot lines really do have to be rushed at an almost unnatural pace as the episode has to rush along to the next plot point instead of just letting plot points come across organically which does leave you with questions like couldn't Vision just fly back to Wanda at the start of the episode of when he and Darcy where stuck at the traffic light since Vision himself even noted that he knew that this was Wanda's doing and yet those gaps in logic are things that could have been covered over with if the episode took the time that it so desperately needed in order to reach to those plot points more organically instead of just rushing to them without explaining anything at best all of which does make the episode come across as being rushed at times when this is the point in a shows run when they should be slowing down a little bit just so they can explain more about what's going and heck even the sitcoms that this show is sending up do more often then not take there time in telling there stories and thus reach there plot points more organically this is despite them having a twenty two minuet running time but I will admit that this episode really does have some really bad pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is still a comedy as this point in time that really does mean that I have to actually talk about thew actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As the episode does have some really funny moments in it which given that this episode does have Kat Dennings in it does make alot of sense as does the fact that she and and Vision that get alot of the episodes best jokes just because of the fact that it's so funny seeing these two characters that wouldn't normally spend time together now instead being forced to spend time together all the while Wanda is sending thing after thing to stop them from reaching her which is a funny idea and while Wanda herself doesn't get that many funny moments in the episode the few that she does get very early on in the episode do come across as being quite funny even if they are jokes that this version of the character really wouldn't make it's just a shame that the makers of this episode only give Kathryn Hahn only one joke in the whole entire which is still a funny joke but at the same time they could have given her a few more jokes like maybe her jokes get darker and darker the more the episode goes on just to sort of hint that things aren't quite what they seem with Agnes but the joke that she does get about being bitten by a kid was a really funny joke in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while this was still a really fun filled episode it's also one that's not as good as it really could have been either with the episode really falling under the weight of it's self enforced really short running time but at the same time this episode really does show that the makers of this show really do know how to set up things that become important later on in the shows run in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now the i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a really grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all pf the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Disney fandom wiki page and the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what'd think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.