PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
A ROLL OF THE DICE
(Xena rolls dice.)
Man: No wonder they call her lucky lady.
DEALS XENA AN UNEXPECTED HAND
(Xena plays cards.)
Man: What are you doing?
Xena: No!
Man #2: Calling her bluff.
(Man is stabbed.)
BATTLE ON XENA!
TV GUIDE PROMO
Poor Joxer is conned out of gambling winnings, then is almost killed by the gambling-den owner's henchmen. So Xena decides it's payback time.
Xena and Gabrielle join forces with two con men to prevent Joxer's death at the hands of a vengeful gaming-club owner.
Joxer's luck seems to have run out when a casino owner orders him
killed.
AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
1st RELEASE: 02-23-98
An AA average of 5.5
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) X-FILES 8th with 7.1
(2) XENA 13th with 5.5
(3) HERCULES 15th with 4.9
(4) WALKER TEXAS RANGER 17th with 4.7
(5) STAR TREK DS9 20th with 4.6
(6) NYPD 3.7
(7) EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT 3.7
2nd RELEASE: 08-03-98
An AA average of 4.5
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) X-FILES 8th with 5.1
(2) HERCULES 10th with 4.9
(3) XENA 13th with 4.5
(4) WALKER TEXAS RANGER 16th with 4.0
(5) STAR TREK DS9/BAYWATCH 24th with 3.2
SYNOPSIS:
This synopsis is by Bluesong.
Somehow Joxer has a lucky day at the gaming tables, and wins 100 dinars.
The
owner of the establishment, Titus, asks Joxer for a double-or-nothing but
Joxer declines because he has to meet Xena and Gabrielle. He leaves and Titus
tells his thug-of-a-son Leo to get the money back. Meanwhile Joxer comes
across two men arguing over who should cash in a gold nugget. They fleece
Joxer of his 100 dinars and take his sword as well, all without Joxer
realizing he has been had.
Xena has Gabrielle riding Argo because Gabrielle has a sprained ankle. They
come upon Leo and friends beating Joxer to a bloody pulp. Xena runs them off.
Joxer is nearly dead. Xena vows revenge upon whoever did this to Joxer. The
two men who took Joxer's sword find themselves having to explain to Xena why
they have the sword. Rafe and Eldon agree to help Xena obtain her revenge (not
that she gives them much choice). Rafe bets Eldon 30 dinars that he can get
Xena to kiss him. Titus and Leo talk; Titus wants Joxer dead. Gabrielle
tends to Joxer in a temple. She tells him to "stay with us" because he is
like family to her and Xena. Xena arrives with Rafe and Eldon. She has a plan
to take all of Titus's money. Joxer has a seizure, and Xena goes to get a
blanket and Gabrielle goes to get some medicine. Rafe cares for Joxer while
Xena and Gabrielle watch without his knowing.
Xena goes on a roll with Rafe (they're just talking!) to refresh one of her
many skills (gambling), then they head to the gaming room. She rocks and
rolls there, winning until Titus comes to see who is hustling him. When Titus
leaves his quarters, Gabrielle slips in and makes a loud crash. Titus rushes
back, and Xena follows. She grabs Titus and is tempted to kill him with her
"Xena Touch" but Gabrielle acts as the voice of reason and stops her. Xena
tells Titus she's going to take everything he has, including his precious
ruby.
Xena and Gabrielle have a talk, and Gabrielle wonders if Xena is falling for
Rafe. "Your typical bad boy -- just your type," she says. Rafe obtains
different clothing for him and Xena; Xena drops her clothes in front of Rafe
as they change. Back at the temple, Joxer wants to get up and go fight, but
Gabrielle makes him lie down until he falls asleep. Then she joins Eldon at
the gaming room, where they wait for Leo to leave to hide the ruby. Titus and
Leo also want to find Joxer so they can use him against Xena. Xena and
Gabrielle con the ruby away from Leo. They return to the temple, but Joxer is
gone. Xena and Gabrielle find him in the woods with Leo and friends. Xena
beats everybody up and kidnaps Leo.
Rafe tries to make a very tense Xena relax; they nearly kiss. Eldon goes to
Titus and tells him of Xena's plan to cheat at cards and win everything Titus
has. She tells Titus to play her or she will kill Leo. Titus says go ahead,
kill him. He says he knows all about her plan. Eldon comes forward. Rafe
runs at him, and Eldon stabs Rafe. Rafe kisses Xena just before he dies. Xena
and Gabrielle start to leave with Rafe's body, but Titus wants to play the
card game. Gabrielle tells Xena not to play, but she does so for Rafe's
memory. When they play, Titus thinks he has won the game but Xena has four
Aces. Rafe resurrects himself (he wasn't really hurt after all) and there is
a big fight. Xena takes care of Titus herself. They return to the temple,
put Joxer back together, and leave. Xena returns alone and speaks to Rafe for
a moment. She sees that Rafe has put money in the temple offering pan.
COMMENTARY:
This commentary is by Beth Gaynor.
I have nothing against homage episodes. I love it when XWP
gives a tip of its hat - or in some cases, a full-stage bow
- to Indiana Jones, A Christmas Carol, Bride With the White
Hair, Groundhog Day, Rosemary's Baby, or It's a Wonderful
Life. But there's a problem with this episode's homage to
con games, and specifically to The Sting. Con flicks depend
surprising you with the con, on guessing how the slickies
are going to outsmart each other. When you already know
who's going to be doing the outsmarting and how, it ruins
the main reason for the show. Without tension, and no good
comedic moments to be found, and standard fights, this
episode was... well, pretty boring.
Just in case we hadn't caught by the setup that this show
was going to borrow heavily from The Sting, the first con
against Leo was almost verbatim from the first con The Sting
runs on the bad guys. So when Eldon seems to turn against
the crew, when Rafe is stabbed and "killed", when the game
goes on anyway, there's no surprise. I've seen this done
already, I know exactly what's going on. Next.
The con game that *does* work is the sparring between Xena
and Rafe. Now there's some classic maneuvering and
out-maneuvering; who's conning who, here? How much of what
Rafe expresses is for show, for Xena AND for Eldon? When
Rafe refuses his winnings, is he making a final play for the
big score? When Xena and Rafe kiss, Xena knows about the bet
- is she giving Rafe the win? I half expected it to turn out
at the end that Xena had made a counter-bet with Eldon -
maybe that he would kiss her instead of the opposite - but
no such luck.
Hey, back to an old classic: I think we went at least half a
season without a warlord putting a knife to Gabrielle's
throat! Now some guy tries it twice; guess we had to make up
for lost time. Time to start practicing that elbow to the
gut again, Gab.
When in the casino, check out the candle-lit disco ball.
Tacky lighting has been around much longer than any of us
thought in our worst nightmares.
How *was* Xena cheating at the dice game? It wasn't just
that she can throw the dice as she wants (which I would have
believed in a heartbeat); she checks with Rafe for his call
on what will roll next. The card cheat didn't make much
sense, either. How does one nonchalantly pull a card from
the back of one's head? Prodigious sneezing?
For one episode, the Joxer abuse has turned non-slapstick.
They made meat out of our favorite wanna-be - ouch.
Xena shows off a new skill: mumbly-peg on speed ("Do the
thing, Bishop!"). Rafe is the cooler head than Eldon. Eldon
is the one who cracked while Xena was having her fun with
Rafe's hand; Rafe looked like he could sit there all day.
Did Xena cheat at the final card game? It makes sense that
she would; theoretically, that was their whole plan. Rafe
seemed to put more than one card in Xena's hair, and it
looks like Titus only pulls one, so maybe she DID manage to
sneak. (Does the cutting room floor have the "Look over
there! A minotaur!" scene?) Was Titus cheating? The
reactions of the dealer and Titus suggest so. Too bad we
never find out for sure what's going on at that game.
Leo was a joke of a bad guy. The battle between he and Xena
must have been one of the slowest fights I've seen on the
show; Xena should have pounded in four punches before this
bulldozer even landed one. Was she trying to make him feel a
little before before she knocked him senseless? And sadly,
Leo doesn't make up for speed with brains: when Rafe showed
up from the dead, Leo didn't connect the dots to realize
that his "murderer" must be in on the game. Now there's a
fellow who shouldn't be contributing to the gene pool.
EDITS/CUTS ON THE USA/SCI-FI CHANNELS
03-14-00. From KSZoneW. Edited out the scene were Rafe is stabbed and he calls Eldon a b*st*rd. Titus calling Joxer a p*ss*nt was still there but sounded as if they tried to block it out.
WHIMPERS, MURMURS, AND A LOVE GONE TOO
FAR
01-31-99. Chris Manheim was interviewed by WHOOSH in the February 1999 issue. Here's what she said about HERE SHE COMES...
RUDNICK:
...Now we have KING CON (61/315), an homage to The Sting (George Roy Hill, 1973).
MANHEIM:
[125] [laughs] What was hard was coming up with that first con on Joxer.
RUDNICK:
[126] Although there are a number of fans who may not think highly of the Joxer character, I did hear a lot of people say "Wow, maybe it was going a bit far beating him to a pulp like that."
MANHEIM:
[127] It surprised me when I looked at dailies as to how graphic they got. But at the same time you really had to sell the idea that Xena just wouldn't say "To h*ll with this town, I don't care whether they gamble or not," and just walk away. That was the rationale used in the severity of this beating. He had to be so hurt that she had to steel herself to square things about it. It was pretty graphic, wasn't it? But it served its purpose.
02-22-98. Rumors abound that Xena gets to kiss her first post-Ulysses guy!
And it looks like Rafe is it. Don't panic...although Rafe does not look married, he does look like, at the very
worst, a mild infatuation. Xena hasn't had a heterosexual moment in a long while, so we all knew it was
coming!!! So to speak.
02-01-98. Season 3 is definitely the season of the homage for XENA (and also
HERCULES, but we will not go there!). This time around it looks like the movie THE STING is being
homaged. Perhaps we should change the name of the show to XENA: HOMAGE PRINCESS.
02-01-98. At the Burbank II Con (01-17-98) Brad Carperntar stated that King
Con was
about gambling and that Joxer is wounded.
01-23-98. Only the most trivia will be ignored by us! Turns out that KING CON
was originally scheduled to air 02-16-98 (a week earlier), but was changed later to FORGIVEN.
12-07-97. Ted Raimi has started work
on this episode as of Decmber 2, 1997. All we know at this point
is that Joxer gets beaten up rather severely in this episode.
Why? Because they like him!
HIGHLIGHTS:
Highlights by Beth
Gaynor.
The first time Xena meets Titus, I'm not sure how much of
the nastiness was for show and how much was Xena's real
anger at the fellow who put Joxer through the grinder, but
there is still nobody on earth who can threaten better than
the Warrior Princess. Notice that Gabrielle calls Xena down
and gets her to back off a bit. ("No, no, Xena... first we
take him for everything he's got, THEN you can slaughter
him.")
WHERE HAVE I SEEN YOU BEFORE?
From Asallese. Does anyone out there watch NBC's "Providence"? Patrick Fabian, who plays
Rafe in this ep, now appears in "Providence" as a recurring character, Jerry,
who is the lead's ex-boyfriend.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT
FOR
These things are by Beth Gaynor.
Rafe's tucking in of Joxer was a sweet gesture, but why did
Xena say she was going to go get another blanket when one
was right behind her?
Back a couple of months ago, I heard rumors that Renee
O'Connor was going to be "hopalong Gabby" for a little
while. Word from the Powers That Be (hi, Sharon!) is that
Renee's limp in this episode is for real. It's typical actor
fate that, immediately after filming a faked injury to the
left ankle (for One Against an Army), the right one gets
hurt. Sometimes it's scary how often that happens. Get well
soon, Renee! Gab still kicks butt even with only one foot to
pivot on.
MORE THINGS TO LOOK OUT
FOR
07-13-00. From Corinne Heller. "Where Have I Seen You Before"? Patrick Fabian, who played the ever-cunning Rafe, also starred as Spencer -- Sarah's ex (and current..the series was too confusing -and boring- to follow) on "Time on Your Life".
03-14-00. From Adra Jade. In BEWARE GREEKS BEARING GIFTS, the actor Cameron Rhodes plays Deiphobus, Paris' brother and in KING CON he plays Eldon, Rafe's friend.
01-31-99. From Philocleon. I would like to point out a distinct similarity between Monty Python and the Quest For the Holy Grail and Xena in King Con. When Joxer wakes up and says he is going after Leo and Titus, Gabrielle says, "What are you going to do, bleed on them?" During the fight between Arthur and the Black Knight, Arthur reduces the black knight to a torso. When the Black Knight says is on one leg
with no arms, he declares that he's invincible. Arthur then says, "What are
you going to do, bleed on me?" There are the similarities. And if you
haven't seen the movie, do it! It is hilarious and silly, with typical Python
humor.
From Lee Blackburn. Has anyone else noticed a sub-plot thread that was not completely deleted? About half way thru KING CON, Gaby and others work a diversion on the guards so she could slip into the boss's private room. The sound of a crash cause the baddies to come in and quickly disclose Gaby behind a curtain; implying she's in real trouble. (Oh, not the jail again!) Cut to commercial...End commercial. Gaby's back in the main room working on the main plot and still free.
TRANSCRIPT
Click here to read a transcript of KING CON.
DISCLAIMER:
No Con Men were conned during the production of this motion picture.
