A few things really bothered me about this episode (in no particular order):

1) Rubio - just plain annoying! Obviously there for some sort of comic
relief, which failed IMHO.

2) Why would the cannibals smear the mud (which I actually thought was
supposed to be some sort of barbecue sauce!) OVER Gabby's clothes? They
weren't going to eat the clothes, so you'd think they would have removed the
clothes before putting her over the pit! So whatever purpose the mud/sauce
served, a lot of it was wasted. And why in the world would they have cooked
their food alive?? Except for poor lobsters, people always kill their prey
before cooking it - and usually cut it up for more even cooking. Obviously
the writers couldn't kill her off, but from the cannibals' perspective, this
made no sense.

3) For people who survive on eating other people, you'd think they would be
better fighters (so as to be able to capture their prey). That fight scene
where they are running back in forth endlessly in the background was SO
ridiculous! Clearly the director wanted a lot of action, but it was
distracting and dumb and pointless. X & G & V & R were so outnumbered, that
any kind of organized attack should have allowed the cannibals to subdue
them.

4) I think Joe LoDuca is a genius and the music he wrote for this series was
absolutely brilliant - but some of the music for this episode was totally
out of place - it sounded like something out of Bonanza or a spaghetti
western! Totally wrong feel. I guess one mistake out of 6 seasons isn't too
bad, but this was such a blunder that I'm amazed it got through the editing
process. If there wasn't time to write/record something more appropriate,
they could have recycled other music from any time in the preceding 5
seasons!

All that being said, the interactions between Xena and Gabrielle saved the
day and made the episode! As David so succinclty put it, "Exactly why we
watch them."

I've been very busy with "real life" lately, so I haven't had the
opportunity to comment on episodes, but overall I think David has been
pretty close to the mark with his season 6 ratings. Thanks, David, for
keeping this episode review project going, even when the rest of us seem to
be slacking off.

Laura