r/legendaryjourneys

Spoilers for both shows ahoy!

In *The Wrong Path*, Hercules' children are killed by Hera (or maybe it was Pyro - it's a bit confusing). He's very upset of course, wrecks a few of Hera's temples in retaliation, but he doesn't march into the Underworld to bring them back or beseech Hades or Zeus to help him or anything like that.

Now compare to two (of the four!) occasions when Iolaus died. In *Not Fade Away* he immediately demands that Hades intercede and makes an arrangement to bring Iolaus back. In *Descent*, he travels to the Sumerian Underworld and beats up the Sumerian God of the Dead for the chance to get Iolaus back.

So this would seem to indicate Hercules values Iolaus even more than his own children.

Is the same true of how Xena feels about Gabs? No! When Gabrielle inadvertently causes Solan's death, Xena treats her to the Gab-Drag, tries to throw her off a cliff and stabs her. When a Fury-controlled Gabrielle tries to stab Eve, Xena Gab-Chaks her.

So Hercules loves Iolaus even more than his own children but Xena doesn't love Gabrielle quite that much.

Or, y'know, maybe Herc just didn't like his kids all that much...

Autolycus, self proclaimed King of Thieves, frames Iolaus for stealing the king’s prized ruby. Hercules must capture Autolycus before Iolaus is executed, while Iolaus and princess-lawyer Dirce try to stall for time.

View Poll

Even though it reunited Hercules and Iolaus traveling together again, most of the season feels like random standalone adventures that don’t really matter to the overall series. Earlier “adventure of the week” episodes in season 1 still felt important because the world, characters, and mythology were constantly growing. But by season 6 it feels like the show already finished its major arcs with Dahak, Iolaus’ death/return, and Hercules saving the world in season 5.

Outside of Full Circle wrapping up Zeus and Hera, it feels like you could remove most of season 6 entirely and almost nothing changes in the larger story. Even episodes with big concepts like Vlad the Impaler or Oedipus end up feeling like routine filler.

Did the show basically run out of story after season 5, or do you think season 6 works as a lighter epilogue/victory lap for Hercules and Iolaus?