The March to Freedom

"The March to Freedom"
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys episode
Hercules with Oi-Lan
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 108
Directed by	Harley Cokeliss
Written by	Adam Armus Nora Kay Foster
Production code	76606
Original air date	March 6, 1995
Guest appearance(s)
Lucy Liu (Oi-Lan) Nathaniel Lees (Cyrus)
Episode chronology

"The March to Freedom" is the eighth episode of the first season of the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Written by Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster and directed by Harley Cokeliss, it first aired in the United States on March 6, 1995.

Overview

A man named Bellus is leading a group of settlers to a new home, one of whom is a man named Cyrus and his fiancée Oi-Lan. They are attacked by a group of men and Bellus is revealed to be in on the trap. Bellus is the leader of these men and the settlers are now hostages that Bellus intends to auction off as slaves in Hercules' home town.

Meanwhile, Hercules came home to visit. His mother asks him to sell her sacks of grain at the market. Hercules agrees but makes a pit stop at his wife, Deanara, and children's grave first and lays down flowers in remembrance of them. He continues to the market, where lolaus attempts to sneak up on Hercules, but Hercules slams him to the ground, then helps him back up. lolaus tells Hercules that he's in the market to sell his pig named Penelope to the B-U-T-C-H-E-R.

Hercules talks to a woman about buying his grain when the woman's mother steps in and offers to buy the grain. She tries to seduce Hercules, but Hercules is not interested in her as she isn't nearly as pretty as her daughter. He settles for half the price of what his mother wanted for the grain, 200 Denars. Hercules then notices Bellus in town with his slaves in tow. lolaus tells Hercules who Bellus is and that he comes about once a month to auction off slaves. Hercules says he hates the idea of slavery. They attend the auction, where Cyrus is auctioned off and then Oi-Lan. The bid starts at 100 Denars by a random man in the crowd. Hercules says he will pay 200. The random man then says he'll pay 250. Hercules then asks lolaus how much money he has and he has 200 Denars. Hercules asks for a loan and says he will pay 400. lolaus gets angry, saying no one has even bid 300 yet. No one else bids and Oi-Lan is bought by Hercules.

Hercules gives the money to Bellus and her shackles are removed. Oi-Lan tells Hercules and lolaus that she won't be their slave, that they'll have to kill her first. Hercules tells her she is free and she leaves. The man that bought Cyrus and the other slaves goes to pay Bellus and Bellus tells him there's an additional delivery fee that he must pay. The man is outraged, saying there was no delivery fee last time. Bellus tells him that without the delivery fee, the slaves are still his and Bellus plans to leave with them to Libyia.

Bellus leaves for Libya with his slaves in tow while Oi-Lan leaves the town in pursuit of them. Oi-Lan runs into a group of men who call her a slave girl. She fights them and then Hercules comes to save her from them. Hercules then offers his help to her, but she refuses until he tells her that he knows the road to Libyia, that he's traveled it many times. She agrees for him to come along but tells him to stay out of her way. Hercules shows Oi-Lan a shortcut that has them scaling down a rock cliff. She arrives at the cave but says she'll stay outside, then it starts to pour the rain and she comes inside. Hercules tells her to help herself to the food he's cooked, but she says she isn't hungry.

The two of them argue, Hercules telling her that sooner or later she has to trust someone. She says she's already tried that and Hercules asks her if it was the slave trader that she trusted. She gets angry and says that's not who he said he was, that her and Cyrus aren't fools. Hercules gives up and tells her if she changes her mind about the food it's there for her and lays down to go to sleep. She says she could use some peace and quiet.

Meanwhile, Bellus and his men continue to escort the slaves to Libya. Cyrus sees an opportunity to fight Bellus' men and he frees himself of them. He then sets out to find Hercules and Oi-Lan(as he thinks Hercules has bought her to be his slave).

Back in the cave, Oi-Lan looks like she is about to stab Hercules and Hercules rolls out of the way. She has stabbed a big spider that was next to Hercules and accuses Hercules of not trusting her.

The next morning, Hercules is taking a bath in a pool and is startled by Oi-Lan coming to him. He tells her that he though he could use a bath and she says she could use one as well and he jokingly says she could. She then takes off her clothes and joins Hercules in the bath and tells Hercules people bathe together all the time where she's from. Hercules says they don't where he is from. Oi-Lan notices Hercules seems to be troubled by his shoulder and tells him to let her have a look. She massages it for him and they discuss their pasts and discover they come from similar places, both with family issues.

Back in Hercules' hometown, Cyrus is looking for Hercules, he finds the old lady of the daughter that Hercules encountered earlier and finds out from her that they're on their way to Libya and that he missed them somehow on his way there. He tells them he's going to kill Hercules and everyone laughs at him that he thinks he could kill the son of Zues.

Hercules and Oi-Lan continue on to Libya. Cyrus tracks them down and sets a trap for Hercules after seeing Hercules hugging and comforting Oulan. He swings from a tree and releases a rope that lets loose a tree trunk that swings at Hercules and knocks him off a cliff. Then Cyrus and Oulan are attacked by Bellus' men. They fight them but are recaptured by them. They're put into shackles with the other slaves and they continue on their way.

Hercules climbs the cliff and tracks them down. He attacks Bellus' men and helps free Cyrus and Oi-Lan that then help fight Bellus' men. They defeat all of Bellus' men and Bellus himself then picks up a sword and takes Oi-Lan hostage and runs off with her. Cyrus and Hercules run after him. Hercules demands that Bellus let her go, he refuses and then Cyrus attacks him from behind. Cyrus and Oi-Lan then attack Bellus and Hercules watches as they knock him out. Cyrus then begins to continue to attack Bellus, but Hercules stops him and says he has a better idea.

He brings Bellus back to his hometown and arranges for the old lady to buy Bellus as her love slave for 400 Denars. Hercules' mother offers to let Cyrus and Oi-Lan get married in her house. Hercules gives them his property where his house used to be and wishes them the best. They tell him they'll name their first son Hercules.

Hercules visits Deanara and his children's grave and speaks to Deanara and tells them how much she would like Cyrus and Oi-Lan.

Quotes and trivia

• Cyrus: I thought you were dead!
• Hercules: We'll talk about that later.

Main cast

• Kevin Sorbo as Hercules
• Michael Hurst as Iolaus

External links

• "The March to Freedom" at TV.com