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The Royal Couple of Theives Reviewed

One of my favourite episodes, mainly for the wonderful Bruce Campbell who appears as Autolycus, the King of Thieves. Xena and Gabrielle want his help to steal back a mysterious and precious object for some friends, that is also the most powerful weapon in the world. To do this, an initially reluctant Autolycus disguises himself as Sinteres, a deadly warrior philosopher, and Xena goes along as his assistant. After a boat trip, they arrive at the castle of Lord Malthus, and see the chest, but before they can steal it, it is stolen and Lord Malthus murdered! Things get worse when the REAL Sinteres shows up.

The fun in this episode is to see Xena and Autolycus try to get the better of each other. We have not seen too many people get the better of Xena, but Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless make quite a team. Autolycus introduces Xena not as his assistant, but as his concubine, and forces her into another exotic dance of the three veils! The scenes between the two are all a joy and it would take too long to list them all, but I especially liked the toss up to see who got the bed and Xena`s dancing. A good story and excellent script. Bruce Campbell is so funny and stylish as the King of Thieves. Even the real Sinteres is quite amusing with his prancing about. The weapon is a steal from Raiders of the Lost Ark - guess what it is and who it doesn`t kill? A Gabrielle-lite episode, but a really good one.

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