1.1 Sins of the Past

The Warrior Princess, of Hercules fame, gets her own show!
For the first time, we see Lucy Lawless explode onto screen in a new costume and with a new attitude. She wants to give up her warrior ways! This, however, lasts all of ten minutes when, after burying her leathers, armour and weapons, she comes across a bunch of Draco's men who have captured a group of innocent villagers to sell as slaves.
Amongst those villagers is a young girl called Gabrielle who isn't quite as helpless as she seems... Needless to say, Xena jumps in with some cool acrobatic moves and hand to hand techniques and saves the day, but Gabrielle wants the warrior to take her with her. After refusing point black, Xena takes off and heads toward home with Gabrielle following her. The young girl from Poteidaia arrives to find that Xena's kinsmen and mother are trying to stone her for her past misdeeds and jumps in, showing the Warrior Princess that she's more than just a pretty face. She uses her skills as a bard to talk the people into giving a Xena a second chance and, after saving her home village, Amphipolis, from the warlord Draco, the warrior finally makes up with her mother... and gains a friend in the chatty, happy Gabrielle.
There are some touching scenes in this episode... for example, Xena goes to her brother's tomb to explain how she's feeling to him. She tells him it's hard to be alone but then a voice at the door speaks to her saying... "You're not alone."
And so begins the great friendship that is Xena, Warrior Princess and Gabrielle, Bard of Poteidaia.