Directed by Andrew Merrifield
Aphrodite offers a couch for Gabrielle to talk about a past adventure.
Tropes
- The Bet: Xena makes a bet with Gabrielle that she can go a day without losing her temper, with the loser having to cook, clean, and give the winner back rubs for a month.
- Clip Show
- Dumb Blonde: Subverted. Aphrodite remains a bit of a ditz, but she shows to be a lot smarter than she lets on.Aphrodite: Honey, don't let the blonde hair fool you. Although bombastic forms of circumlocution should be generally avoided, one mustn't shy away from big words in the right context.
Gabrielle: What? - Incredible Shrinking Man: Argo and later Gabrielle, courtesy of a vengeful Lachrymose.
- It's Personal: Throughout the episode, Taygar's brother seeks revenge on Xena for sending Taygar to jail. He never gets anywhere close to beating her.
- Jerkass Gods: Lachrymose shows little mercy to anyone who uses his river, even by mistake.
- Must Make Him Laugh: Lachrymose will only change Argo back if Gabrielle can make him laugh.
- Pie in the Face: Xena starts a pie fight in the tavern taking out her rage at Gabrielle and Joxer without technically losing her temper. It turns out to be the key to solving their problem, as she gets Lachrymose with one and it finally makes him laugh, breaking the spell he put on Argo. At the end of the episode, Lachrymose hits Xena with one from nowhere when she tries to claim victory in the bet, despite clearly starting the pie fight out of anger.
- Rage Breaking Point: After trying not to be angry all day, Xena reaches her breaking point when not only she finds out that Argo has shrunken to a pony, but the people at the tavern start laughing at the horse. Pointed out visually with clips of her greatest moments of anger on the show.Xena: GABRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLE!
- Resized Vocals: Shrunken Gabrielle. The shrinking sequence nicely features her screams going from normal to high pitched and squeaky.
- The Shrink: Aphrodite takes up the role. She does a surprisingly good job at it.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The main plot takes place earlier in the day.
- Writer's Block: Gabrielle's lack of scroll writing is finally addressed in this episode. She later gets over the hump with some help from Aphrodite.
