Jay: Our next feature is the Xena episode, Many Happy Returns, directed by Mark Beesley from a script by Liz Friedman and Vanessa Place. It is clear that as the series winds down the producers are really scraping the bottom of the barrel for story ideas. This is a confused mélange that throws a dozen things at the screen, hoping at least one sticks.
Horslowski: While I will agree that the story has far too much going on, I found this episode to be a goofy way to kill an hour. The presence of Aphrodite is always enjoyable, and it is obvious the cast had a lot of fun with this episode.
J: Please! You've got a band of zealots trying to sacrifice a virgin to some unknown deity, a band of warriors causing trouble, a magic helmet, the Goddess of Love, an unexplained war of pranks between Xena and Gabrielle... just where is the coherence?
H: It's called farce for a reason, Jay. The genre relies on broad characterizations and overly complicated plots. It's a tradition that goes as far back as the Italian commedia dell'arte...
J: Which doesn't make any sense either.
H: Let's not go insulting classics of the theatrical form.
J: You're just sore because I panned Cats.
H: There are many elements of this episode that serious students of the show will appreciate. The opening sacrifice (and Genia's initial reaction to it) reminds me of Renee O'Connor's first appearance in the Xenaverse - Hercules and the Lost Kingdom.
J: Right, Renee plays a young sacrifice that Hercules saves, and she gets upset with him. The change that happens to her character is the same development that happens with Genia - she becomes an independent woman, who no longer blindly swallows what she's been taught all along.
H: You have been paying attention.
J: -shrug-
H: The battle of the practical jokes is a secret nudge to the fans, who know that Lucy and Renee have pulled countless pranks on each other over the last six years.
J: But it comes out of nowhere! There has been the occasional joke or two pulled in the show, sure. But it was usually by Gabrielle, and it was back in the days when she was still young and innocent. Why is Xena suddenly so playful? It all seems manufactured as an excuse to have this convoluted subplot surrounding the multiple bags and helmets.
