Vanishing Act
In a nutshell: Xena and Gabrielle help Autolycus steal back his "King of Thieves" title.
So it's Royal Couple of Thieves, part II. Xena and Autolycus
do the sneaky thing again, this time with Gabrielle along to
lend a helping hand. And I enjoyed the heck out of it. This
is the kind of interaction that made me love Autolycus in
the first place. The last couple of episodes he's been in -
King of Assassins and Tsunami - weren't good uses of the
character. It's good to see the King of Thieves in top form
again, merrily pulling a bemused Xena and Gabrielle along as
he rogues his way through the show.
From the end scene of The Quest:
"But if it's all the same, I think I'll keep that favor thing in mind. Might just come in handy someday for the King of Thieves."A season later, the King of Thieves collects. With a hysterical Autolycus-eye view of the events in The Quest, especially his dig about Gabrielle's grief. It was the right button to push for Xena.
"Are you quite finished?"Even Autolycus's face bounce down the gangplank of the ship was reminiscent of his introduction to Xena in Royal Couple of Thieves. I like his old lady screams, though. And as long as we're in the Royal Couple vein, I was watching Autolycus and Gabrielle's hands like a hawk when they said goodbye. I was WAITING for the "ring of Apollo" to show up somewhere unexpected. Ah, well. Anyone else think that Gab offered her cheek to Autolycus just to throw him off balance?
"That depends. Did it work?"
"It worked."
"Then I'm finished!"
What was with all the slow-motion during the big fight? Did we need to fill some time? It was so long it made the fight look pretty silly.
When we first see the statue at Tarses's palace, I thought the ocean voyage had shrunk it. All the shots of the statue at the village made it look like a colossus. Turns out it just had a really big pedestal it stood on. The real trick was getting that pedestal around. Why was there just one furrow in the sea floor for dragging the two pieces away from the village?
Thank you, XenaStaff, for showing us the mayor scratching himself in the morning. Twice. Both times I was muttering "if he goes any lower out there on his front porch, I hope Xena chakrams him."
Great debate between Autolycus and Xena about what "counts" as stealing. Rightful owners don't matter - it's the sneakiness that's important.
Notice the cat sound effect when Autolycus digs into his sleeve as the Armenian antiquities trader. I also loved Gab counting off the pinch in that scene.
Why did the story not have Xena arrive at the festival with Gabrielle? My best guess is that the writers didn't want a huge theft to happen right under Xena's nose. This way, we see the statue, we see the happy festival with Gab, but Xena doesn't arrive until after the dastardly deed is done.
Gabrielle dusts off the old Marquessa accent for her stint as "Myopia." She needs some practice with it, though. The statue will get "gooey"? Well, if it's the best you can come up with on the spot...
"Ezra" gets a fabulous entrance, complete with Gabrielle's flabbergasted reaction. And from the moment she tells Myopia that "they say you used to be good-lookin'," the gauntlet has been thrown. Xena grabs every chance she can to tweak Gab (notice her call her "Myopium" at the party), who does her best to fight back when she can, but her boring, stuck-up fence just doesn't match up to the flamboyant trader. The bidding is the ultimate in Xena and Gabrielle's competitive natures gone amuck. Xena expects her 200,000 dinar bid when Autolycus returns to end the auction, but Gabrielle doesn't let go so easy, and the imaginary money starts flying. They're still bickering about it ten minutes later. I don't think I stopped laughing the entire time. The bard does get the final word when she yanks off Ezra's mole. Ouch!
Speaking of another Royal Couple reference, I think every smack "Ezra" gave "manservant Bentley" upside his head was paybacks for that "Cherish the Concubine" gig he tricked her into. The Warrior Princess has a long memory, Autolycus.
Listen to the conversation between Xena and Autolycus as they sneak down the hallway to collect supplies for his plan:
"What else would you expect from the King of Thieves?"Admit it, Xena, you're enjoying the heck out of yourself. She really does have fun with those disguises, complain as she may. Plus she's still in a good mood from having outbid Gabrielle.
"Oh, Thebes. I've been there."
Xena gets into her role. Nice kicking and screaming drag they had to do to get her out of the party after Autolycus has been unmasked. (Watch Gabrielle bury her face in her drink when it starts.) I guess she pitched enough of a fit that the chakram wasn't noticed when they tied her up.
Scary crying job Ezra gave when she was tied up in the chair. But once again, it must have masked a whole heck of a lot. Twenty seconds after the door is closed, Xena's in her leathers, dragging the guard inside, and Gabrielle emerges - also back in her normal clothes - from the side door where she apparently ducked when Tarses came on the scene. Talk about quick changes!
Wait a minute, hold everything. Xena and Gabrielle traveled on a ship! WITHOUT an eye on the prow! And no disaster occurred! It's that bloody EYE that's the curse, not ships.
Autolycus was imprisoned in 20 feet of chain with 200 locks... that's 10 locks per foot of chain. It's a wonder the weight didn't crush him.
The painted hallway helped feed Autolycus's idea to disguise the statue, but was it also a XenaStaff crack about their own sets? When they panned quickly past the hallway, I chuckled at the obvious fakery - and then Autolycus checked out the same thing. Ha!
My one beef with the use of Autolycus in this episode: we didn't get to see his cool spidey-spikes again. I love those neat grappling hooks.
This episode had a couple of NICE Kodak moments. Loved the opening silhouette of Xena and Gabrielle on the hillside, and Xena crouched in the window should be made into life-sized posters.
Autolycus milks for all it's worth the fact that Xena likes him. Not too many people would survive calling her "my Xena" AND "my Warrior Princess" in the span of a single episode. Ah well, I guess once you've claimed the Destroyer of Nations to be your concubine, everything else is downhill from there.
Gab had a new bag at the village; it looked like it might be one of Argo's saddlebags. What happened to the trusty fuzzy bag? She seemed to be carrying it when she was walking to the village.
I liked the two-person flips over Tarses's guards; cute stunt effect. But watch the first time that Xena and Autolycus land: the carpet under their feet sags and a puff of what looks like dust gathers around them. Tarses needs to hire some new housekeepers.
Hat problems abounded during the big battle. Watch Gabrielle when she squares off against two of the baddies. A staff uppercut takes the hat off the guy to her left, but then it's back on when she knocks him to the ground. Same thing happens to Xena, too: after her lovely "Come play with me" line, the guy on her right who tries to oblige her has no hat on, then it's crawled back onto his head in time for Xena to paste him.
For all of the talk about paint, Autolycus's plan is actually a variation of "the old false floor routine" from The Quest. They prop (paint?) a false rock wall against the pedestal, then hide the statue behind it.
Return to the Wool-Gatherings.
Rate-A-Xena is brought to you by the letter omega, the number IV, and Beth Griese. Feel free to send any comments or questions my way!