The Play's the Thing

• Gabrielle describes the scroll she is missing:
  • "...it was one of my favorite scrolls; anew one, charting our history through the prism of time. It was a more--"
    "--intimate examination of our relationship and on and on" finishes Xena.
• Xena feels snubbed by Gabrielle's need to go back for the scroll.
  • "Wouldn't kill ya maybe to look back or something."
• Zehra & Milo sell the play to Cleon.
  • "How'd you get Gabrielle to spill all of Xena's weaknesses?" asks Cleon.
    "Simple; by having her write and direct a play about her friend. And she told EVERYTHING. Right, Milo?" responds Zehra.
    "EVERYTHING."
    "If anyone can get to Xena, it would be that little friend of hers" muses Cleon.
• During a dress rehearsal, the play opens with "Xena" and Gabrielle in a hot tub giggling about how wet they are.
  • Just as the curtain rises, Gabrielle is whispering something in "Xena's" ear, though it sure looks like she's kissing her on the cheek. i say, intepret it however you want. It was a kiss.
• Minya comes running out of the theater with Paulina and approaches Xena and Gabrielle.
  • "Gabrielle! I wanted to thank you. I never would have met Paulina here if it wasn't for you. In fact, the two of you made me realize something about deep down about myself that I guess I always knew but just didn't dare admit. Yes, I'm a thespian!"
    Minya and Paulina run off, hand in hand.
    "Congratualtions. You managed to touch someone" mocks Xena.
    "It's not exactly what I had in mind. I wanted to change violent people into people of peace, not actors. That is what she said, right? Deep down she's a thespian?" asks Gabrielle.
    "Yeah. That's what she said. Yeah. Why, what'd you think?"
    "Thespian."
Notes:
The Powers That Be turned the camp up to eleven when making this episode. Talking about selling it to the back row, eevery joke was played as grandly as possible. They even managed to make the subtext MORE obvious with that final exchange between Xena, Gabrille, and Minya. But the important things about this episode were the mature themes that it had to deal with. For example...
...um...
...well okay. There weren't any. But what was really appreciable was the acting of the two people cast as the villains...
...okay, okay. They sucked. Okay, here's a short list of the redeemable moments in this episode:
Why i don't consider "The Play's The Thing" a waste of one hour of my life.

1. Sophocles.
2. That cat Joxer keeps landing on.
3. The hot tub scene.
4. Buffus The Bacchae Slayer.