Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
Directed by Michael Hurst
This episode provides examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Upon meeting Hercules, Elis admits he expected him to be wearing a cape. Kevin Sorbo had previously auditioned to play a different super-strong character on Lois & Clark.Hercules: I, uh, I tried, but it just didn’t fly.
- Adults Are Useless: During the sign-up, Althea is quite openly bullied by Oena and even tripped over. Two adults are openly amused by this abuse, while everyone else just ignores it outright.
- All There in the Script:
- Oena's name is never spoken in the episode proper, having been stated in a cast list released at the time. note
- Elis's name is only given by the end credits.
- All Women Are Lustful: Widow Twanky just can't help herself around Hercules and his biceps. An attempt to scold him for lateness goes horribly wrong.
- Alpha Bitch: Oena to a tee, always jumping at the chance to bully and harass Althea ever since they were kids. In the opening flashback, she was even backed up by a Girl Posse.
- Big "YES!": Althea when her father allows Hercules to stay in the barn.
- Calling the Old Man Out: After learning about her mother's dancing history, Althea races home and demands that Elis tell her the truth.Althea: Stop treating me like a child and start telling me the truth, please!
- Connected All Along: Widow Twanky reveals that she previously taught Althea's mother how to dance, which is part of the reason why she agreed to teach her in the first place.
- Control Freak: Asterius is the local magistrate and enforces a rather lengthy series of rules for the Panathenaia. Even jumping is forbidden. Althea's mother and Elis were banned for breaking the rules. When Hercules and Althea do similarly, Asterius tries to have them thrown out, but Herc fights off the mooks and condemns the rigid rules for stifiling people's creativity.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: When Hercules insists he doesn't twirl, Widow Twanky exploits this trope to demonstrate that he does in a way. She attacks him as if this were one of the show's fight scenes and gets him to do some fancy dodging.
- Dance Battler: Widow Twanky's initial approach to Hercules is this. She feels dancing and fighting have a lot of similarities, so she frames Herc's first lesson as if they're fending off attackers. During the Panathenaia, Hercules does it for real, as he fights off mooks while dancing with Althea without missing a beat.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: When even Asterius gets sick of Oena's whining and calls her a brat, one of the mooks openly laughs. He realizes his mistake a moment before she tackles and pummels him.
- Exact Words: Hercules doesn't like the idea of Althea keeping entering the Panathenaia from her father and makes her promise to tell him. She agrees, and he tries to avoid this trope by saying he means before the contest. She agrees to that, but then doesn't say anything because there are still five days before the contest.
- Extreme Doormat: After the cut to the present, one guy bumps into Althea on the road and then yells at her to watch where she's going. Her not arguing the point is meant to illustrate this. We soon see other ways in which she gets a lot of grief and barely protests.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Althea doesn't want to tell Elis about entering the Panathenaia, as he's long insisted that dancing is a waste of time. It turns out he's motivated by how Althea's mother was devastated to be banned from the Panathenaia for breaking the rules and doesn't want Althea to suffer similarly. Hercules helps him see that his good intentions can still have a negative effect on Althea, so he drops the attitude and offers his full support.
- Faux Affably Evil: Asterius when talking to Hercules about Althea's hard life and how it'd be a Shame If Something Happened to her after he's left town.
- Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: Oena has been bullying Althea since they were children.Althea: What did I ever do to you?
Oena: Well, for starters, you were born! - Five Stages of Grief: According to Althea, Elis never really got over what happened to her mother. It turns out she was crushed by her Tragic Dream, and he's had an ongoing fear that Althea will suffer similarly. Accepting Althea's dream helps him come to terms with his wife's death.
- Flashback: The episode opens with one showing Althea as a child watching the Panathenaia and getting bullied by Oena.
- Freudian Excuse: A lifetime of being teased and shunned has left Althea with a severe self-confidence problem. Part of her desire to compete in the Panathenaia is to prove she's as good as everyone else.
- Generation Xerox: After Althea repeatedly struggles at dancing, Widow Twanky tells her that her mother went through a similar period of self-doubt and rose to the occasion. Althea ends up brazenly disregarding the rules of the Panathenaia like her mother before her, though it works out better for her.
- Goal in Life: Just competing in the Panathenaia is this for Althea.
- History Repeats: It's implied that Asterius is not just interfering with Hercules and Althea for the benefit of his niece, but also because of this. Althea's mother refused to follow the Panathenaia's rules, so he apparently doesn't want the woman's daughter (who has the extra benefit of Greece's strongest hero to offer help) doing similarly.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Oena during her tantrums. Asterius eventually tells her to just stop the blubbering already.
- Irony: Elis had told Althea that dancing is a waste of time, yet he continues to live in the dancing capital of Greece.
- Jaded Washout: Elis is introduced as a rather apathetic and distant man with no love for dancing, which Althea attributes to him still grieving her dead mother. It turns out to go deeper than that, as used to dance with Althea's mother and saw her crushed over being banned from the Panathenaia. Coming to terms with Althea's dream and accepting it really lift his spirits, though.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Asterius frequently backs up his rhetoric by invoking the Muses and insisting he knows what they want. Hercules (who, per mythology, is the half-brother to the Muses) tells him off in the end and explains what the Muses are really all about.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- A couple of references allude to how the guy that plays Iolaus is playing Widow Twanky.
- Asterius is initially skeptical of Hercules and Althea's chances since Herc has never danced. Oena points out they live in the dance capital of Greece, so there's no shortage of dance teachers to choose from. Despite Asterius's best efforts, the duo do get one.
- When Widow Twanky scoffs at his outfit, Hercules says it's all he ever wears.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Hercules asks if he's met Widow Twanky before, finding her oddly familiar. Later, during the first lesson, she pretends to be Iolaus as part of a role-playing exercise.Widow Twanky: Well, Hercules, I know this will be difficult, but I want you to imagine for a moment that I am Iolaus. Now, I know it's a stretch of the imagination, but I would appreciate the effort.
- No Hero to His Valet: Elis is decidedly unimpressed with Hercules, though this is attributed to his overall apathetic approach to life.
- No Name Given: Averted. Asterius's name is mentioned once throughout the entire episode (during the opening flashback).
- Oh, Crap!: Althea over learning the guy who volunteered to be her dance partner is Hercules.
- Rewatch Bonus: Asterius talks to Hercules about Althea's troubles over the years, such as losing her mother. We later learn that Asterius banned Althea's mother from the Panathenaia for breaking the rules. Going back to the earlier scene with Hercules, his tone suggests he very much remembers doing that.
- Rousing Speech: The townspeople proclaim Hercules and Althea the winners, but Asterius tries to interject by insisting their dance number broke the rules and how that will cause the Muses to turn against the town. Hercules shuts him down by talking to the townspeople.Hercules: The Muses inspire us to find what's already in our hearts. But your Magistrate wants you to forget that! Well, there is nothing wrong with reaching for the sky! Don't let his rules keep you from trying.
- Serious Business: The Panathenaia is Rhumba's biggest event, and Asterius will do anything to ensure his niece, Oena, wins, even ordering mooks to try to kill Hercules and Althea.Althea: They tried to kill us!
Hercules: Althea, look at me. C'mon, look at me.
Althea: I can't do this! It's not worth dying for!
Hercules: But it is worth fighting for. I will not let anything happen to you. - Shame If Something Happened: Asterius tries to get Hercules to drop out of the Panathenaia by offering to make him a celebrity judge. When Hercules politely refuses that, Asterius recalls Althea's troubled history and not-so-subtly suggests something terrible could happen to her once Herc is no longer around. Hercules makes it clear he'll be back in a heartbeat should anything happen to her and who he'll hold repsonsible.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Althea in her outfit for the Panathenaia.
- Shrinking Violet: How Althea starts out, having difficulty interacting with others and generally being ignored. Hercules and Widow Twanky help her gain more confidence and come out of her shell.
- Smitten Teenage Girl: Althea is older than most examples (she may even legally be considered an adult), but her interest in Hercules for the first half is definitely played this way (particularly when she sees him doing manual labor). When she expresses her feelings and kisses him, she's left feeling deeply embarrassed because he, of course, is a Celibate Hero and just doesn't feel the same way.
- Spoiled Brat: Oena, due to being the niece of the town's magistrate. She can do pretty much whatever she wants without any pushback and is quick to throw tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Even Asterius ends up calling her a brat.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: About to return her dropped necklace, Hercules sees Althea getting bullied by Oena, with various onlookers either condoning it or just not caring. He immediately volunteers to be Althea's dance partner.
- Tragic Dream: Widow Twanky reveals that Althea's mother was a gifted, passioniate dancer. Elis later explains that they both competed in the Panathenaia, but they were disqualified for refusing to abide by the rules and were permanently banned from competition. Elis could take it, but he feels Althea's mother never got over what happened and thus died of a broken heart.
- Tragic Keepsake: Althea's necklace was a gift from her mother shortly before the woman died.
- Tuckerization: Oena's dance partner is Travoltus, so named after the star of Saturday Night Fever.
