Back in the Bottle

Back In The Bottle

Teleplay by Buddy Williers
Story by Rob Tapert & Steven L. Sears
Directed by Rick Jacobson

Synopsis and commentary:
Xena stands around turning rabbits into stone (this is what happens when you are silly enough to try to cook things with your mind. When she touches some black powder she gets a vision. (And those of us who have seen the end of the episode know that she now seems to have the amazing ability to forsee things that DON'T happen. Wow.) Oh, and Genghis Kahn has enlisted the help of Pao Ssu and thinks this a good thing, even though she is dead.
Refugees fleeing from Khan's army are directed by Xena to the set of caves which for some reason or other run beneath EVERY town in the world. Xena and Joxer escape from a minefield of black powder (wait a sec-I thought black powder was triggered by heat, not pressure), and Gabrielle goes to blow up Khan's supply of black powder but is instead captured by a net. Xena "senses" that something is wrong and uses the Force, or as they like to call it, the Power to prevent Gabrielle from blowing up.
Gabrielle and random-love-interest-guy have a little heart to heart where he asks her, "So, you ever thought about settling down?" "You know, sometimes people think that a home is a place. It can be a person," she responds. "You know where you belong," realizes random-love-interest-guy.
So everyone goes to confront Genghis Khan's army, but they are not necessary. Xena defeats the army by turning all 100,00 of them into stone with her mind (courtesy of a cheesy Photoshop effect.) Now we have gotten to the end of the episode and guess what? No subtext! Sigh...

Pao Ssu's split personality was not harmed during the production of this motion picture.