King Con

I have nothing against homage episodes. I love it when XWP gives a tip of its hat - or in some cases, a full-stage bow - to Indiana Jones, A Christmas Carol, Bride With the White Hair, Groundhog Day, Rosemary's Baby, or It's a Wonderful Life. But there's a problem with this episode's homage to con games, and specifically to The Sting. Con flicks depend surprising you with the con, on guessing how the slickies are going to outsmart each other. When you already know who's going to be doing the outsmarting and how, it ruins the main reason for the show. Without tension, and no good comedic moments to be found, and standard fights, this episode was... well, pretty boring.

Just in case we hadn't caught by the setup that this show was going to borrow heavily from The Sting, the first con against Leo was almost verbatim from the first con The Sting runs on the bad guys. So when Eldon seems to turn against the crew, when Rafe is stabbed and "killed", when the game goes on anyway, there's no surprise. I've seen this done already, I know exactly what's going on. Next.

The con game that *does* work is the sparring between Xena and Rafe. Now there's some classic maneuvering and out-maneuvering; who's conning who, here? How much of what Rafe expresses is for show, for Xena AND for Eldon? When Rafe refuses his winnings, is he making a final play for the big score? When Xena and Rafe kiss, Xena knows about the bet - is she giving Rafe the win? I half expected it to turn out at the end that Xena had made a counter-bet with Eldon - maybe that he would kiss her instead of the opposite - but no such luck.

Hey, back to an old classic: I think we went at least half a season without a warlord putting a knife to Gabrielle's throat! Now some guy tries it twice; guess we had to make up for lost time. Time to start practicing that elbow to the gut again, Gab.

When in the casino, check out the candle-lit disco ball. Tacky lighting has been around much longer than any of us thought in our worst nightmares.

How *was* Xena cheating at the dice game? It wasn't just that she can throw the dice as she wants (which I would have believed in a heartbeat); she checks with Rafe for his call on what will roll next. The card cheat didn't make much sense, either. How does one nonchalantly pull a card from the back of one's head? Prodigious sneezing?

For one episode, the Joxer abuse has turned non-slapstick. They made meat out of our favorite wanna-be - ouch.

Xena shows off a new skill: mumbly-peg on speed ("Do the thing, Bishop!"). Rafe is the cooler head than Eldon. Eldon is the one who cracked while Xena was having her fun with Rafe's hand; Rafe looked like he could sit there all day.

Did Xena cheat at the final card game? It makes sense that she would; theoretically, that was their whole plan. Rafe seemed to put more than one card in Xena's hair, and it looks like Titus only pulls one, so maybe she DID manage to sneak. (Does the cutting room floor have the "Look over there! A minotaur!" scene?) Was Titus cheating? The reactions of the dealer and Titus suggest so. Too bad we never find out for sure what's going on at that game.

Rafe's tucking in of Joxer was a sweet gesture, but why did Xena say she was going to go get another blanket when one was right behind her?

The first time Xena meets Titus, I'm not sure how much of the nastiness was for show and how much was Xena's real anger at the fellow who put Joxer through the grinder, but there is still nobody on earth who can threaten better than the Warrior Princess. Notice that Gabrielle calls Xena down and gets her to back off a bit. ("No, no, Xena... first we take him for everything he's got, THEN you can slaughter him.")

Leo was a joke of a bad guy. The battle between he and Xena must have been one of the slowest fights I've seen on the show; Xena should have pounded in four punches before this bulldozer even landed one. Was she trying to make him feel a little better before she knocked him senseless? And sadly, Leo doesn't make up for speed with brains: when Rafe showed up from the dead, Leo didn't connect the dots to realize that his "murderer" must be in on the game. Now there's a fellow who shouldn't be contributing to the gene pool.

Back a couple of months ago, I heard rumors that Renee O'Connor was going to be "hopalong Gabby" for a little while. Word from the Powers That Be (hi, Sharon!) is that Renee's limp in this episode is for real. It's typical actor fate that, immediately after filming a faked injury to the left ankle (for One Against an Army), the right one gets hurt. Sometimes it's scary how often that happens. Get well soon, Renee! Gab still kicks butt even with only one foot to pivot on.

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