I didn't leap in with comments on this ep partially because just keeping up with life (defined roughly to mean: making a living, family things, eating, sleeping, watching Xena and keeping up with moderating Xenada and reading and responding to basic email and ATX messages) is proving to be such a race at the moment that I hardly get any time to do anything that requires me to actually think and take the initiative (to say nothing of the fact that I *still* haven't finished marking that ****ed Trivia Contest, and am feeling more guilty about it the more time passes [I *really* must try and slay that dragon this weekend! And apologies to all who are still waiting for the results.])
But of course part of the reason is also that I simply do not know what to make of this episode...
I mean... what *were* they thinking about? I can see the issue is going to get a little muddy on this one (well "muddy" is the polite way to put it...) Let me start off by saying that I have nothing whatsoever against the use of goat poo for risible purposes, per se. And this ep did feature the "killer rabbit", the Xenaverse's most blatant theft from Monty Python yet (although I always thought that in The Holy Grail it was Tim the Enchanter's build-up that was really more funny than the rabbit itself: "Och aye... it's got huge, big" ... and King Arthur's splendid response: "What a *strange* person!") But alas I fear in this case TPTB are inviting comparisons that are invidious...
You see, I'm still having trouble working up to this. So let me back off for a moment, and come at it from another angle. The obvious point of reference for this ep is FF&G - not only because that was the last ep written by the people who wrote this one (Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster), but also because, I would suggest at least, FF&G was the step that led to ISAIH (not to be confused with any old testament prophets with similar names...)
Now I'm going to digress again for a moment. Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster have always worked as a writing team on X:WP, so to all intents and purposes we can only view them as a single entity. They have worked on the show pretty much since the beginning. They wrote the following eps:
Chariots of War *
Death in Chains
Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts *
Ties That Bind
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
The Xena Scrolls *
For Him the Bell Tolls
Blind Faith
The King of Assassins
Warrior...Priestess...Tramp
Fins, Femmes and Gems
In Sickness And In Hell
In every case they worked on the actual teleplay. For eps with a * beside them, Adam and Nora had no involvement in writing the story, for all the others they worked on both the story and the teleplay. You'd have to allow, I guess, that they're amongst the major creators of X:WP. They've written for 12 eps - Chris Manheim equals them with writing credits on 12 eps, and only Steven Sears (18 eps) and R.J. Stewart (20 eps) beat them...
Why am I bothering you with this? Well I guess this is all part of my groping around how to react to this ep... We can't say this ep was just a freak created by people who are not regulars with the series. The eps Adam and Nora have written may not be the high points of X:WP (indeed, d'apres moi, they've got a couple of low points - BGBG and KOA [although I don't hate KOA as much as some ] - but OTOH I'd rate GJWHF and TXS pretty far up on my list). Nonetheless, having written 12 eps, you'd have to allow that they ought to know the Xenaverse and they ought to know the characters. And on the whole, I thought they were hitting them fine... until FF&G.
Which brings us back to the point I digressed from. You see, when I watched FF&G, I said: "Well that was fun... but it wasn't really an X:WP episode". And I stick by that. A lot of people, probably the majority, enjoyed FF&G... but, especially with the hindsight provided by ISAIH, I'd have to say it was the first step on a slippery and precipitous path. FF&G was more a spoof on X:WP that happened to use the regular actors than it was an actual ep. I said that at the time, and I say it again now.
We all know what this is coming back down to, don't we? The world. The characters. FF&G is funny, but for the most part it doesn't really have the world and the characters. Arguably, they *just* get by in the case of FF&G, because they can plead the argument "they were all under a spell". Characters being "under the influence" is a reasonable way of introducing "zany" behaviour without completely losing your credibility. And we've seen quite a lot of it, haven't we (drugs in AS, madness in The Furies, spells in COE, BTDT, TQIM & FF&G...). The other way of excusing "weird" character behaviour, is of course the "doubles" (W..P, W..P..T, W..Pr..T). We should, I think, be grateful for these device, since they allow TPTB to have their fun, and to amuse us with "wild and crazy" behaviour, without shattering the basics of the show.
Which finally brings us back to ISAIH. In FF&G they *barely* got away with it... I'm not sure that they did for me: other "spell" eps (COE, BTDT, TQIM) felt like X:WP eps ok - FF&G really didn't. But in ISAIH they completely blew it... they didn't even use the excuse of a spell - and believe me, I was *really* waiting for them to do it - Xena *kept* saying "There's something funny going on here", and I was *really* expecting (and, I admit, hoping) that we were going to be introduced to the malicious god or other magical influence behind all this mess. But no such luck! The only malicious influence behind all this, apparently, was TPTB themselves. I do hope they realise that they made a booboo.
As I started off by saying, I have nothing against goat poo. I'll go further than that: I've basically got nothing against flatulence, fungus, drooling and diarrhea (well... like murder, I'd rather not encounter them personally, but I allow of them as legitimate subjects for dramatic representation). Some others may object to this ep on the grounds of its inclusion of these elements. That is not my problem with the ep. My problem, and I suspect what's going to be the problem for most hard-core fans, is that this ep completely butchered the principle characterisations, most *especially* that of Xena, with no good excuse and no let-out. Joxer continued to behave, on the whole, slightly more sensibly than he did last season in this ep. And even Gab wasn't an *utter* travesty (although she did have some lines and some reactions that felt all wrong). But Xena! This was Xena?? Xena of Corinth?? The Warrior Princess of Kalmai??? The one who defeated Callisto???? Zwolf said something about "that 'proud warrioress' we almost wept over in eps like '"The Greater Good'"... Believe me, I don't need to beat about the bush (as it were...) - I *have* cried over Xena, more times than I'd care to count... and I was almost crying now (...until that thing about the bush reasserted my sense of humour).
And that's about the bottom line with this ep, for me: I don't know whether to laugh or cry!
I really think they have to consider what they're doing here, or they are going to destroy their show. I know Lucy likes to fool around. And I have no problem with them providing opportunities for Lucy to fool around - indeed I've thoroughly enjoyed most of them. But I did think TPTB understood that keeping some core of respect for the character of Xena was basic to the health and continued existence of what they have. OK, I do know it's only fiction (duh!) - but still, maintaining the "reality" of Xena at a certain level is, more than anything else, central to what makes regular viewers loyal to the show. If they're going to take the attitude that "Xena" is just whatever they feel like having Lucy do this week, then I'm afraid that what we'll have won't be X:WP anymore...
So... that's my two dinars, and probably a darned site more than anyone wanted. Ah well...
Battle On! (and smear yourself in goat poo if you like, but STAY IN CHARACTER!)
Xorys
A couple of points about the folks involved in this ep:
Campbell Cooley, who played Euryalus (the drooled-upon guy), first appeared on X:WP at the "1st Guard" in VA. His brother, Acestus, was played by Timothy Lee, who played the Regent of Skiros in HSCMA. Andrew Kovacevich, who played the Tavern Keeper, first appeared as Tor (a henchman) on H&H.
