Review: Dangerous Prey
Please forgive the delay in this week's commentary. As you may know, I am involved with community theatre productions, and we are in what is affectionately known as "hell week" -- the week of technical and dress rehearsals that leads to opening night. It is a long, exhausting week, and my free time is severely curtailled while it is going on.
If you happen to be in Downeast Maine, please come on by and check out our production Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance. It is being performed at The Grand in Ellsworth, Maine. Show dates are February 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11.
With that bit of shameless self-promotion out of the way, let's get into this week's commentary!
Dangerous Prey
Written by Joel Metzger
Directed by Renee O'Connor
We're halfway through the final season, and the most recent offering is a solid, Gab-lite tale directed by Renee O'Connor. While the story isn't terribly original, it is well told.
The episode is inspired by a short story, The Most Dangerous Game (a story which has been made into at least one film, and has inspired dozens of similar knock-offs). It centers on a man obsessed with hunting to the point that he no longer finds any challenge in regular animals - he prefers human quarry. He has set up camp in a valley near the Amazon village we visited in "Coming Home", the season premiere.
This hunter, Prince Morloch, has taken to hunting the Amazon warriors. Xena and Gabrielle arrive at the village to find the queen missing, and she turns up dead shortly thereafter. Xena (with the impetuous Varia in tow) takes on the Prince and his squad of goons.
I personally believe that the show is at its best when the stories are simpler - focusing on the characters in specific situations, rather than artificially reaching for an epic, world-shattering tone. Even the great "epic" episodes (like, for example, God Fearing Child) focus on the characters rather than on events. In my opinion, this story has this characteristic in spades. The basic story is fairly simple and delivers plenty of adventure - but it really shines in the three inter-character relationships.
First, there is Xena and Prince Morloch. I don't think that Xena has faced an opponent this dangerous since Callisto's glory days. The game of cat-and-mouse that plays out between Xena and the Prince is thoroughly engrossing, and it is wonderful to see Xena actually working to stay one step ahead of her opponent.
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