SYNOPSIS:
Synopsis by Liz Sheppard
A young boy is getting a tattoo of a
bird on his hand by his father while his younger sister gets one
by their mother. They are for identification. Evil Amazons storm
into the village and kill all the men and burn the houses. They
take the young girls with them. The family runs away but are
found by the Amazons. The father tells Rune (the young boy) to
look after his sister. His sister is taken away and a red haired
Amazon comes by and says "Die like the dog you are" then kills
Rune's parents in front of him. She then slices him in the face.
13 years later. Hercules runs into a
slave owner and frees his slaves. He finds a young blind man
named Rune with a bird on his hand. He wants to find his sister.
Herc tells Rune that he'll join him in his journey back to his
home town because heard of Amazon trouble there.
In the Amazon village, two Amazons are
practicing fighting. Siri defeats Lucenne and a red haired woman
named Mayem tells Siri that she could lead them if she worked
harder. Siri just wants to win the next battle and hopes that
Lucenne doesn't get killed.
At the dock, Herc and Rune run into
Ephiny and her centaur son Xenan. Rune smells Xenan and meets his
first centaur. He also finds out that Ephiny is an Amazon and
tries to kill her. They talk about the outlaw tribe, but Ephiny
has never met any.
Lucenne strings Siri bow for her and
they talk about Lucenne's inability to hold a sword without it
getting it knocked out of her hand. She feels that it isn't in
her blood to be an Amazon, but Siri tells her otherwise. Mayem
comes by and preaches about the battle.
Rune is mad at Herc for not telling him
Ephiny was an Amazon and Herc tells him that not all Amazons were
bad. Rune still wants to kill them all, even though if his sister
is still alive, she's one of them.
The Amazons attack another village, but
Lucenne can't bring herself to kill someone and gets stabbed from
behind. Back in their own village, Lucenne wishes to meet her
blood family in the other side. She then dies. After her death,
Siri preaches about sacrificing their enemies.
Herc and Rune reach the place where his
parents were killed and he has flashbacks. They go to a tavern
where people talk about an earlier Amazon attack. They think that
they will strike where they are next. The Amazons come and a
fight breaks out. Siri goes up against Rune. She's about to kill
him, but Herc stops her and he notices a bird tattooed on her
hand. Mayem hisses at Herc and all the Amazons run away. Herc
tells Rune about the tattoo. Since Rune promised his father that
he'd take care of his sister, he decides to keep his promise. He
says that he'll "take care of her", while sharpening a sword.
Mayem tells Siri that if is she kills
Hercules, then she could grow in power. Siri meets up with Herc,
who catches her arrows. He tells her about Rune and that her
parents were killed by Amazons. She agrees to talk to Rune alone.
Mayem talks to Siri about when she found her crying from being
abandoned by her parents.
Rune and Herc meet up with Siri in the
woods, along with a dozen other Amazons who capture the guys.
Mayem comes by and punches Herc in the stomach beacuse she
doesn't like the treaty to get back their land legally. She'd
rather kill them and take the land by force than do it legally.
Siri has Rune by the hair and they talk
about what's happened to her. She claims the nation gave her
strength, and he's just glad their parents are dead so they can't
see that she has become. She wants to kill him, but can't. She
then questions Mayem about how she came to the nation, but Mayem
gets mad. They plan for Herc's battle to be the fire stake, which
is this big grill thing.
Herc fights Mayem and Siri on the grill
thing. Mayem says the wonderful line "Die like the dog you are"
and Rune realizes that she killed his parents. She loses her
balance and falls into the fire. Rune breaks free and attacks
Siri but Herc stops them. Rune takes her to the place their
parents died. She remembers the day and the siblings hold hands
while Herc walks away.
COMMENTARY:
Commentary by Nikalaos
The guy who plays Rune also played young
Iolaus only some four or so episodes earlier in "Regrets, I've had
a Few"
Is that tattoo supposed to be a bird?
Just wondering.
How did Rune get blind? Was it Mayem?
But that doesn't make sense. She swung a sword at him, yet we
don't see scars on his face or eye area. I"m clueless and most
likely wrong on this one, someone give me a clue.
What's with Ephiny's hair?! Did she grow
the bottom half long and lose the braid or what? Let's just hope
that underneath the extension, what looks like real hair, IS, in
fact, real hair. I liked the little braid thing, personally. And
I guess it's a good thing she didn't mention she's QUEEN of the
Amazons - at least while her and Herc's buddy GABBY isn't around.
Xenan/Xenon however you spell his name
sure is a fast grower. I'm not sure, but did he have cloven hoofs?
I don't think centaurs have cloven hoofs.
That Mayem lady is freaky - like some mix
of Callisto and cat woman. Bad dye job, but it looks cool anyway.
YAXI - The Amazon swords don't have that
fancy little bird design on the hilts. Or is it because they're
renegade Amazons?
Is it just me, or does Siri remind you of
a gentler, friendlier, more malleable-minded VELASCA? Her eye
color is the same . . . but her hair is something else.
And if Mayem was all burned up in the
little duel, how did they get her body to burn up in the pyre? Or
was that Lucenne? The dialoge sure pointed at Mayem. And that
music? It was from XENA - last heard in "The Quest", I think.
On a nitpicker's note (I think I'm so
clever now): I think what the writers wanted to do with the whole
blonde Lucenne thing was to make us think Lucenne was Rune's
sister. BUT, in flashbacks, his sister has BLUE EYES. And Lucenne
has pretty HAZELISH-BROWN eyes. And when she carks it, it leaves
us guessing poor blind boy's gonna end up finding his sis is pushin
up daisies! BUT (I think I'm so smart for figuring this out because
I was never quite the perfected nitpicking obsessed fan) I figured
out that the blonde girl was just a red-herring sorta melodramatic
twist of fate to make Siri think a little bit. (sigh) I'm getting
good at this stuff
TALES OF THE HERCAVERSE
Danielle Cormack makes a cameo in this
episode as Ephiny and she brings her centauir son, Xenan, along
for the ride.
TRANSCRIPT
Click here to read a transcript of PRODIGAL SISTER.
DISCLAIMER
The Amazon Hokey-Pokey was not harmed
during the production of this motion picture. In fact, this catchy
number is now being performed in dance clubs around the country.
