Xena: Warrior Princess Episode 3.15: “King Con”

[chavalah.livejournal.com]

This episode definitely feels a little lackluster in comparison to some recent ones. “The rift” is essentially over, and although the guest stars aren’t horrible, none, except for Ted Raimi, of course, live up to some recent ones. The hour pays homage to the 1973 heist movie, “The Sting,” where two con artists make a “play” to take the “mark’s” money. That sentence probably tells you all you need to know about my general interest in such a premise. :P All I can really think about is the George Clooney Oceans movies, which get stale after repeat viewings. But at least all the components to their caper ultimately made sense. :/

“Xena” brings some kookiness to the premise, but also a surprising tint of violence, too. The uber bad guys aren’t particularly well developed, but then there’s an alliance that our warrior princess makes with two lesser con men, which is slightly more intriguing. But I’m ambivalent over all. This episode doesn’t really do it for me.

And is it just me, or did the title of this episode just scream “Autolycus”? Though we’ve probably already done the episode of him in a thieving situation that is sorta similar to this, hee. Still, I think his presence would have made the heists more enjoyable. Definitely would have pRaferred seeing Xena interact with friends vs with relative nobodies. Alas.

Summary is here, courtesy of whoosh.org.

( Spoilery thoughts )