The Play's the Thing

I have mixed feelings about this episode. On the one hand, I lost track of the meta-layers as XenaStaff made fun of themselves not taking themselves seriously. This brought self-parody to new heights/depths, and I got a kick out of all the in-jokes. However, in order to do those jokes, we made Gabrielle a crappy bard, a worse playwright, and someone who couldn't think her way out of a wet paper bag of a problem. Boo.

Xena agreed to try yoga? This might be a momentous occasion, except that the yoga looked more like a return of the mehndi action poses. Maybe that's how Gab sold it: "Do the yoga with me. We'll call it yoga, but just do those cool poses again."

Cute pout from Xena when Gabrielle merrily takes off. "Aw, rats. All right, Argo, it's just you and me." Xena never sounded less thrilled with that prospect - Argo should be insulted. It reminded me of Gab's temper tantrum when Xena left her at the beginning of For Him the Bell Tolls.

Listen to one of Sophocles' bimbettes the first time they appear: "You're much funnier than Euripides!" Because we met Euripides in Athens Academy of the Performing Bards, we know that's not much of a compliment: nice guy, but a barrel of monkeys he ain't.

Why did Gab have her scroll in the bathroom? I've heard of bathroom readers, but bathroom writers? Or was Xena snitching parchment again?

OK, it's obvious, I know EVERYONE is saying it, but I gotta say it, too: the casting call looked like it was STRAIGHT out of a convention costume contest. For two seconds I started scanning faces just to make sure they didn't actually shoot it at a con.

Why were we hearing Xena warcries when the auditioning was for Gabrielles?

Minya still has Xena's whip. And is getting better and better with it all the time - nice smack of the Xena actress's feet!

Gabrielle is too pretentious to cast anyone but herself as herself, but will grab the first acrobat to play Xena? No screen time for Xena? Gab says Xena doesn't clobber skulls? Is Gab watching the same show we are? (Are the writers?)

We see people who are obviously supposed to be Callisto and Ares, but we never see them actually in the play.

Scene 84? Act 8?? How long was this play, 15 hours?

The hot tub was one long, running subtext gag. A hot tub for sex! Center stage for an eyeful! Open the curtain on a near-Xena-Gab smooch (look for it) and wet jokes!

Listen to the new title of the play as Joxer hangs its handbill: "Faster, chakram! Kill kill kill!"

Why was this resolution so lame? Xena shows up to save the day, which could have been explained so easily if Xena said she came back to see opening night and then spotted the trouble. But instead we find out that the "Queen of Cons" (has she met Rafe, her intended?) is apparently such a dumb con artist that her name is commonly known and she lets it be plastered across the playbills. But then again, the Queen is apparently only recognized by Xena. So either she's a very bad queen of cons, or hasn't settled into the title yet.

The new Way of Love Gabrielle's kick-butt fighting method: run and hide in wings. I'm SO depressed.

The thespian gag was kinda funny, especially Xena and Gabrielle's debate about it afterwards. ("She DID say 'thespian,' right?") It would have been a lot funnier if it hadn't already been done, and done more deftly, two seasons ago in Warrior... Princess... Tramp. ("It will only work if you're a convincing thespian!" "Hey, you never said nothin' about no kinky stuff.")

Final line of the show: "I'm going to tell my brother!" Would that be Jet? Or Sam Raimi, whose name appeared during the line?

Best gags of the episode:

"I'm not drunk, I just trip over things like that!"

Dustinus Hoffmanus, the difficult method actor

The animal growl with the deadpan shot of Gab's steamed face.

"What about the critics?" "It'll kill 'em all!"
(A little too much time around the ex-warlord, Gab! That one put me on the floor for the first half of the commercial break.)

"Interactive theater! Everybody join in!"
(Gab's smartest moment of the episode)

"There's the opening of Buffus the Bacchae Slayer across the street."
(HA! Hey, it's only fair; Buffy mentioned Xena a whole season ago.)

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