From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   3-08    King of Assassins   
      
      
      
   First air date was Nov 17, 1997.   
      
   The story starts out with Xena bringing in a prisoner into a dungeon and   
   threatening to put  him   
   into a cell with his enemies unless he tells her where Melcray is. As she   
   leaves, she finds Joxer   
   in stocks for stealing a chicken. Xena pays for the chicken to free Joxer,   
   then tells him to tell   
   Gabrielle she is going to Parsidepus.   
      
   We cut to Autolycus hanging by his feet, being held by a rope by (as we find   
   out later) Jett,   
   Joxer's brother. Both are masked. They are trying to steal a sword balancing   
   on what looks like a   
   house of cards, which will set off an alarm. Which happens. The owner of the   
   sword rushes in and   
   Jett kills him with a crossbow.  Jett says stealing the sword was only part of   
   his plan.   
      
   Cut to Joxer in a market place. He has bought new clothes made of black   
   leather. Autolycus bumps   
   into him and thinks it's Jett. He gives J/J the sword. Gabrielle comes along   
   and then Autolycus   
   realizes who it is.   
      
   In a tavern they talk. Joxer says Jett is the assassin in a family of   
   warriors. And he, Joxer, is   
   the black sheep. They discuss Jett assassinating someone with the sword.   
   Gabrielle comes up with a   
   plan to stop Jett. Autolycus starts to leave until Gabrielle mentions a reward.   
      
   Outside the castle guards take weapons from everyone entering the castle. In   
   order to get the sword   
   inside, which is part of Jett's plan, Joxer creates a diversion so Autolycus   
   can walk in. After he   
   gets into the room he is supposed to drop a rope down so Gabrielle and Joxer   
   can climb up and get   
   inside.   
      
   Inside the room where he hides the sword, women come in. One is Cleopatra.   
      
   {{{ Okay, here's the deal. I'm probably in the minority, but I think the woman   
   playing Cleopatra is   
   one of the ugliest women I have every seen. Big bug eyes, horribly repulsive   
   mouth. So I fast   
   forwarded past all the scenes she was in, mainly so I wouldn't vomit up the   
   lunch I just had.}}}   
      
   Autolycus closes the window the rope was dangling out of, Joxer falls to the   
   ground and they are   
   arrested and put into the dungeon. Gabrielle says it's just a little setback.   
   When Pontius, head of   
   security comes, Joxer tells him about the assassination attempt. They let them   
   out, thinking Joxer   
   is Jett, but Joxer pushes Gabrielle back in, telling her its for her own   
   protection because Jett is   
   a killer.   
      
   Jett gets into the castle and goes to Autolycus' room. At first Autolycus   
   thinks it's Joxer but   
   Jett proves who he is. Autolycus says the sword is in Cleo's room according to   
   the plan. When   
   Autolycus is summoned, Jett tells him to get rid of the guards and Jett will   
   kill Cleo.   
      
   Back in the dungeon Gabrielle is trying to think what Xena would do. She picks   
   up a stone dish and   
   throws it at the cell bars like a Chakram. It bounces off and hits her in the   
   head, knocking her   
   out.   
      
   A guard come in later and finds Gabrielle faking it. She tries to put the   
   Pinch on him, saying she   
   cut off the blood to his limbs, but he says he's find and don't do it again,   
   and starts to leave,   
   but Gabrielle finds a loose pole and uses it as a staff and knocks him out.   
   She finds Joxer  and   
   tells him  never to lock in a cell again. She says for them to split up to   
   look for Jett.   
      
   Joxer is in a room talking to himself in a mirror and Jett comes out from   
   behind it. Joxer wants to   
   stop Jett from killing Cleo, but is humiliated by his older brother.  Jett   
   sings another Joxer   
   song -   
      
                  "Oh, Joxer, the tidy.               He always ins   
   de-ey.               Never hurts   
   the other boys,     Even when they steal his toys."   
      
   Autolycus is in with Cleo, who leaves. Gabrielle is dressed as a servant. She   
   asks Autolycus if   
   he's seen Jett. Autolycus says he is waiting for him, Autolycus, to get the   
   guards to leave. They   
   decide to find Pontius.   
      
   When they do, Joxer has to pretend to be Jett to fool Pontius, who is on the   
   assassination plan.   
   Autolycus and Gabrielle are put back into the dungeon. While trying to escape,   
   Xena shows up and   
   gets them out of the cell. Gabrielle and Autolycus try to explain Gabrielle's   
   unsuccessful plans.   
      
   Autolycus goes to Cleo's room then Jett shows up to kill her. Then Xena and   
   Gabrielle show up. Xena   
   fights Jett. Pontius and his men come in and Autolycus and Gabrielle fight   
   also.   
      
   Jett is arrested. He tells Joxer he (Joxer) has a good thing and not to blow   
   it. And to hang onto   
   the blond (Gabrielle).   
      
   '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''   
      
   This could have been a good episode if only they had someone else to play   
   Cleopatra.   
      
   Gabrielle was great as usual. I always like Autolycus. And even Joxer wasn't   
   so bad. And Jett was   
   okay too.   
      
   The reason for stealing the sword didn't make much sense. I would have thought   
   any old sword would   
   do. Even a dagger.   
      
   A Xena-lite episode for a change. I guess Lucy was busy on some other project.   
      
   Some pretty good lines -   
      
   *Xena to Joxer when he says his hands are lethal weapons - "Joxer, you can   
   barely kill time."   
      
   *Gabrielle to Joxer when she finds him in the marketplace - "I have been   
   grabbed more times than   
   the golden fleece!"   
      
   *After Joxer falls from the window - Gabrielle: "Get up!"   
      
                      Joxer:  "Is there a Plan B?"   
      
                           Gabrielle:  "Yeah-- we let the guards take us prisoner   
   and throw us into   
   the   
      
   dungeon."   
      
   *Joxer to Jett -- Joxer:  "I'm serious!  Things are different, now.  I've seen   
   evil, and I've   
      
   changed my ways!"   
      
                      Jet:  "Bro-- if you saw evil-- you'd have to change your   
   pants."   
      
   ''''''''''''''''''''''''   
      
   When I first watched the episode back in '97 it was hard to watch because of   
   the ugly woman. I   
   deliberately skipped all the reruns. I watched it again when I first got the   
   DVD set, but FF past   
   the Cleo scenes as I did today. Because of such horrid casting, the episode   
   rating automatically   
   dropped to a 5. But because I enjoyed Gabrielle, I added a point an a half. So   
   I give it a 6.5 out   
   of 10.   
      
      
      
   ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::   
      
   3-08  King of Assassins           6.5   
      
   3-07  The Debt II                     9   
      
   3-06  The Debt                        9.5   
      
   3-05  Gabrielle's Hope             9   
      
   3-04  The Deliverer                  9   
      
   3-03  The Dirty Half Dozen      8   
      
   3-02  Been There, Done That   9   
      
   3-01  The Furies                      6.5   
      
             Average score so far    ----      8.3   
      
      
      
      
      
   --   
   David   
   http://geocities.com/daviderl31/xena.htm   
   http://geocities.com/daviderl31/GabPics.htm   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)