Key to the Kingdom

Let's get one thing straight right off the bat; I watch this show for Xena and Gabrielle. An episode with no bard at all and very little warrior princess means it has to work hard to keep my interest. The good news is this was a decent comedy episode, and the guest stars (including our guest star who's usually a star - I'm so confused) had some fun, so I enjoyed the episode enough. Now gimme back my stars.

Beth's catty comment of the week: hair conditioner, Meg. It's your friend.

Sometimes it's those little sounds in the background that make a comedy episode. This one didn't have a ton of them, but had a few winners, including the sound of a cat screech when Autolycus dropped his grappling hook out a window, and the timely:

"Look! The ruby! It's gone!"
"The ruby! It's back!"

It's dumb, it's silly, but the line of the episode goes to Meg for "BRAWL!" and the full body slam into Autolycus's and Joxer's scuffle.

What's with the "Mister Stinky" nickname? Is there something about Auto's personal hygiene that we don't know?

The King of Thieves is a lousy actor? I certainly believe that Meg and Joxer would both have lousy thespian skills ("Hey, you never said nothin' about no kinky stuff"), but Autolycus has used lots of disguises before. He should have been better as the dastardly villain.

During the staged fight, listen to the nickelodeon version of the Xena theme song. Perfect!

I loved Meg's threat about suffering "the wrath of Xener!", mispronounced exactly like so many Kiwi accents have mispronounced it before. Two points for an in-joke the steady viewers can chuckle over.

Autolycus trivia: he's a leftie. (At least he is when he's playing the villain.)
Joxer trivia: his horse's name is Lightning.

How in the world did Autolycus jump from one end of that hallway to the other to take out the guards? He IS the King of Thieves! He really needs to come up with a better way to escape from Scythian double-latch locks, though.

You can hear the baby squawk in the background when Meg snatches him, even though the camera's on the warlords at the time.

Why didn't Meg tell Joxer the real reason she was going after the baby? She knows Joxer's a do-gooder. Autolycus could have probably been talked into rescuing the kid, too, but Meg and Joxer probably wouldn't have known that.

Meg and Joxer's original strong cheese and pickles plan for the baby was a bit off, but Joxer came through with blankets and squash to get a "warm, fat, and happy" baby. Maybe fatherhood really would suit Joxer. (Of course, the kid would outwit him by age three.)

Meg making baby talk: "You rude little man. You cheeeeky monkey." Oh, THAT was cute.

I saw the "shamrock throw" at Auto's head coming a mile away and still chuckled over it.

My favorite stuntie, Vicious Chick, get to smack the crap out of Joxer during the town fight! Go, Vicious Chick!

When did Meg get the shamrock back after throwing it at Autolycus? It reappears at her hip when they ride after the chariot.

Parenthood note for Meg: burning a soiled diaper in the camp you intend to sleep in that night is probably a BAD idea. Whoah, just imagine the stench.

How did the warlord know where to find the building that the crown was in? Their whole point was that they hadn't yet figured out how to get there.

Watch in the forest as King Cleates walks from Autolycus and Xena to Meg and Joxer. As he passes behind a tree, the cut between scenes is just a BIT off - Xena and Autolycus disappear too early.

In the crown room, WHERE did Autolycus pull that rope and hook from? Ouch!!

Usually the XenaStaff rocks at double effects, but one looked very wrong this time, when Meg was at the king's cradle and Xena was standing at the far side of the room. Xena looked way too small for the distance she was supposed to be at.

"You've got so much depth that it scares you when it comes out."
"Well look who's talking!"

I half-expected King Cleades to make Meg his queen. Nice bittersweet touch that he didn't. In fact, the whole episode ended up on a downer note for a comedy. That's not a bad thing - it's good to break form once in a while - it just surprised me.

Now gimme back my stars.

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