Animal Attraction

OK, I like westerns. The absurdity of an old west XenaVerse town cracked me up. I laughed every time people jangled as they went by without a spur in sight (especially in bath rooms). So this episode got instant points from me from the start.

There were five - count 'em, five - stories going on in this episode. Xena's pregnancy, Gab and her horse, Amarice and Armon's romance, Talia's fight with Darcon and his cronies, and Joxer... well, being a pain, especially around Gabrielle. That's too many threads unraveling at once, and I only cared about two and a half of them. It's cute that Amarice has (had?) her first boyfriend, but I might have cared if the character was more important to me. And Joxer seemed to be there just to yell "Kids!" every once in a while. (Even though he and Amarice were both acting like 12-year-olds.)

The plotline I loved the best? Sorry Xena, but it was Gabrielle getting her own horse. I loved every scene of it, it was all so danged cute. The moment the horse calmed down with the appearance of Gab, I started cheering. Xena spotted it instantly, too - she was beaming with pride every time she watched Gab and the horse getting to know each other. It's great that Gab and her steed weren't instantly/magically bonded: she had to work at getting the horse to trust her, and she mounts and rides pretty gingerly in the ending scene. Great crack from Xena, as she and Gab ride off into the sunset, that if they do too much riding Gabrielle's not going to be able to walk straight for a month. Welcome to the show, horse! I'm looking forward to seeing what Gabrielle decides to name him.

It's old home week around the Xena set! Melosa is back as Talia, with hair extensions that don't come close to matching her hair color. And Theodorus returns as her smarmy hubby/nemesis. When Armon showed up, I wasn't sure if he was supposed to be Armon or if he was being recycled, too.

We found somebody from Xena's past that she was actually happy to see. There's a switch!

One big difference between Spamona and other Old West towns: coed bath houses! Progressive little spot.

The doc could tell that Xena was pregnant just by looking down her throat? Wow! (OK, I know - looking down her throat was the END of the exam. But it still amused the heck out of me.)

Xena's rabid reaction when the doctor told her she's pregnant was hilarious, especially the "I am a luuv-free zone!" (That could be the most non-subtext statement of the past season and a half.) No one, zilch, zippo...

Gabrielle's "Joxer, get your hands off my apples!" line was funny, but we did that joke with "This wouldn't have happened if you'd kept your hands off my tomatoes" waaaayyyyy back in first season's Black Wolf.

It's amazing the difference that a cut makes. In the previews for this episode, I saw Xena holding a flower and cooing over a bear. It wasn't funny. In the episode, she sniffs the flower, coos over the bear, and then guiltily looks around to see if anyone had caught her. Now THAT was funny.

Xena's bar scene when she orders milk made me wonder if the writers are Bill Cosby fans. If some dingy guy had told her that she'd have to drink RedEye and like it, I would have lost it.

Gab's outfit gets spiffier and spiffier. Dusters may have just taken the place of cloaks in my fashion statement heart. Everybody gets a little warmer outfits, and Joxer seems to have totally traded in his old duds for more old west-ish ones. He still has a dippy hat, though.

Where is Gabrielle when Xena breaks the news to Argo? (I thought she was practicing on Argo at first, but it turns out she really is telling her - ha!) Gab lives in the stable except for that one scene.

Come to think of it, though, a lot of characters pull disappearing acts in this episode. Talia mysteriously dashes off and nobody can find her... but she shows up in the middle of the street for the big showdown with no problems and no explanation. Joxer's gone for the big fight. And Xena and Gabrielle leave without their two tagalongs. Is everybody dashing off to the baths at all hours?

Best line of the episode: "Gabrielle's gonna freak!" Amen.

Xena breaks the news of her pregnancy to everyone by screaming it in the middle of a free-for-all argument - definitely the LAST method I pictured. Gabrielle's response, and Xena's concern about it, were the heart of the episode. I know this was a comedy, but nobody mentions Hope or Solon. Xena's line about "there's life within me, and it's good" sounded like a near-mirror of Gabrielle's misguided declarations about Hope. That HAD to have been in the gamut of reactions that ran across Gabrielle's face. Despite all the questions and worries, though, Gab dispensed with words and went straight for a hug as her show of support, which gave me a near-fatal case of warm fuzzies, and reminded the rest of the XenaGang that a round of yippees were in order. Gab's "Congratulations" line was bittersweet and tentative, but it sure worked.

I realize that part of the point of a comedy is to introduce Xena's pregnancy without too much angst or overanalyzation. But wow, once they got over the shock, everybody went with the unexplained part pretty easily. No hitting up oracles for information? No shaking the doors of the gods to get an explanation? I guess once you've been raised from the dead, it's pretty hard to faze you.

Best gag of the episode: Xena's "don't talk to my stomach" poke at Joxer.

I hate when characters spend an entire episode arguing what should be an obvious solution. Talia and Xena have two whole arguments about whether Xena should help in the fight against Darcon and his boys, when the answer should have been simple: deputize the whole XenaGang to get rid of Darcon's cronies while Talia fights Darcon. Which is, of course, what happened. I did like Xena's twitchy watchfulness as her friend fights the bad guy. (Let the creative ways of minimizing the pregnant star's physical stunts begin!) But she did keep her promise It's a shame they didn't go right for the solution: I was kinda looking forward to the XenaGang sporting deputy badges.

All that shaking of the house was from six horses riding into town? Do these guys weigh 500 pounds each? Looked like the Persian army was about to arrive.

The showdown between Talia and Darcon was a classic spaghetti western gunfight all the way, right down to the bullet ricochet sound effect for a thrown dagger.

The ending battle was a pretty spiffy one. Nice "Well, here I am, how's about a fight?" look from Gabrielle, and SWEET flip she did up that wall! You go, bard! (Was that really Renee doing that stunt? It sure looked like it!) Impressively-scary snarl and sword twirl from Xena, too.

Watch the bad guy who gets kicked into the trough by Gab's horse: he falls, thrashes and sputters, and THEN remembers that the reason he was knocked into the water was because he was carrying a torch, and kindly puts it into the water for everyone.

The closing credits have changed! I like getting some new footage in there, but WHY do we need two different shots of Xena from Miss Amphipolis? Blech.

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