The Quest

Wow. Instantly one of my favorite episodes, hands down. Great drama, cool fights, wicked camp humor rolled up into a 40-minute package. All the reasons I love this show. 'Scuse me while I wax rhapsodic for a while...

Flashbacks to The Greater Good - once again, Gabrielle proves that she can swing a super-mean staff and that she and Argo can make nice when Xena's not there to handle those kinds of duties. Sad as it was to see our bard without our warrior, she proved that she can do all right on her own.

Autolycus uses the "old false floor routine" in the temple of Helios. Watch as the priests put the dagger away in the closet/vault that Autolycus just ducked into; you can see his paper being used to imitate the far wall.

Minor blooper alert from the same scene: When Autolycus bursts out of the dagger vault, one of the doors swings shut behind him. In the rest of the scene, the doors are still open.

Velasca certainly has an interesting private life. Nice dog collar she's got there, cute kiss-n-kill interrogation of Autolycus. This lady is definitely your rough-n-tumble type. For all that, though, check out Velasca's Better Homes and Harems shack - quite the palatial spread she's got!

Gabrielle gives a whole new meaning to "body surfing" as she jumps on the sarcophagus being dragged away by Argo.

Ambrosia works on a sliding scale. If you're alive, you become a god. If you're recently dead, you come back to life. If you've been dead a while (or haven't been pulled back from death by determined bards and gaelic slaves), I guess you're outta luck.

Raimi & company like to make Bruce Campbell do the possession/All of Me routine. He did the same kind of things in Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. But he's so darned funny at it, they're excused for giving it to us again. Some great physical comedy and hysterical lines. ("Ohhh, there she is AGAIN!" "Does SHE want to buy an apple?" "Hello, ladies! I'm quite mad! Top o' the morning!")

The "destiny" theme has been carried over from the previous episode. This time, it's Velasca who harps on her destiny - funny how these take-over-the-world types always want to blame the fates for their ambitions.

What a fabulous fight sequence on the ropes! It's like everyone's worst gym class nightmares come to life. The fighting moves were great, and Gabrielle's blood lust and battle grin are a darned respectable Xena impersonation. ("Hey, Hudson, you ain't the only one who can copy a warrior princess!") Renee *can* do the "tough-as-nails" routine when she really wants to.

The dream sequence, when Gabrielle finally gets to see Xena again, was amazing. There was no scenery, no props for the actors to play off of - it was just Lucy and Renee to react to each other, and they do it beautifully. Gabrielle's gasping relief when she sees Xena, and Xena's concern and sympathy in response, were stellar. Watch the importance of touch in this scene. Gabrielle immediately wants to touch Xena when she sees her, but Xena staves her off. Xena reaches out as if she'd like to hold on to Gabrielle, too, but keeps herself back like there's a shield around her. She somehow knows that physical touch will end their contact, and sure enough, when their lips meet (goood morning! if you're gonna break a spell, guess you might as well do it with style), the dream is gone, and Gabrielle's back in the real world with Autolycus.

Great looks of surprise on Gabrielle's and Autolycus's faces when they break off from their kiss. Was Autolycus surprised that Xena was gone and he was the one kissing, or was he surprised to find himself kissing Gab at all? Was Gabrielle more surprised to find herself now kissing Autolycus, or that Xena had given her a kiss in the first place?

Hilarious "whatever's necessary, I'm here for you both" offer from Autolycus. Way to give your body to the cause, you generous guy, you!

OK, here's MY big question about the kiss. The hand on Gabrielle's rear end - Autolycus's contribution, or not? Xena's knockdown of Autolycus suggests that it was his idea, but we don't see him move it there. Ahhh, mysteries. The kiss didn't surprise me: it fit in with the moment and the emotions perfectly. The hand on the butt made me fall off the couch. (And then laugh myself sick.)

What was up with Iolaus's cameo? He shows up to beat up some baddies (can't Gabrielle finish the job?), gives Gab a chance to avoid overusing monologs to express her feelings, then takes off. 'Sorry to see you're in such pain, and golly, you're getting attacked on the road, and have to cart the body of your best friend across the countryside... welp, gotta go!' Thanks for nothing, hunter boy.

Autolycus wins the award for the hairiest-stomached amazon of all time. Nice outfit, o King of Thieves and Duke of Cross-Dressers!

Speaking of outfits, Gabrielle's amazon queen leathers were rockin'! She still didn't fit in with the rest of the Amazons, though - when she and the parade were marching to the podium for the mask ceremony, I wanted to break into a "one of these things is not like the others" song. But she looked sharp, so maybe given time the other Amazons could have forgotten that Gab's four inches shorter, has twice as much muscle, and is more sweet-faced by a long sight than any of the rest of 'em.

Where did Gabrielle dig up (pardon the pun) that spiffy coffin? The crest on it even resembles Xena's breastplate. For all that neat bronzework, heavy-looking wood, and a fully-armed warrior body inside, this must be the lightest sarcophagus on record. Four scrawny amazon gals benchpress it easily, and it floats!

Didn't anyone worry that dropping Velasca onto the spikes might have been a wee problem for Gabrielle's blood innocence? Granted, Xena seemed to be pretty firmly in control at the time, but nobody even blinked about it. Well, OK, if they're not worried about it, I guess I'm not, either.

Renee, Renee, Renee. This lady nailed every scene, from heartbreaking grief to kick-butt fighting to wry humor. Step back and give the sidekick some room!

Here's a great "what if" question: When Gabrielle offered the mask and dagger to Velasca and told her to "take it," if Velasca had tried to take the mask first, would Gabrielle have let her? Was that a test to see what Velasca would choose? This is Gabrielle's coming of age episode: she learns that she can walk on her own and stand up for herself, makes some tough decisions with grace and thoughtfulness, handles enough grief and sorrow to bring hardened criminals to their knees, and even takes on noble leadership. As Gabrielle herself noted in amazement: "Me; the little girl you found in Poteidaia." So much for the little girl business.

From the "small touches are everything" category: listen to the sound effects when Autolycus gets the amazon to "hold it" so he can improvise a lock pick. Oh, my aching sides.

This episode is even more amazing when you consider the context it was made under. This is the script that was thrown together after Lucy was injured and fractured her pelvis. The producers and writers had to come up on the spot with an episode that was almost totally Xena-free. The actors had to pull together and work without their usual leader at her post. And Lucy, poor lady, had to shoot what scenes she did while still recovering. (Notice that her only scenes are head shots, lying down, standing very still, and sitting carefully. And lots of voice-overs.) I'm impressed that, instead of a throw-away episode of filler material, we ended up with this powerful and well-done show. Major kudos all around.

Return to the Wool-Gatherings.

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