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.