1.23 - The Mysteries of Life

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Title The Mysteries of Life Episode # Season 1, Episode 23 First aired November 5, 1998 Directed by Andrew Merrifield Written by John Loy Summary A grown-up Ruff is a prisoner of a freak show. Iolaus and friends break him out.

FoxKids Spoilers

• The fire-breathing Basilisk, Ruff, returns to Corinth as the star attraction of a traveling sideshow. When the boys see their mistreated, malnourished friend, they are overwrought with concern and inadvertently free him. Once again, it's a race against time to get Ruff to safety before he is captured by the evil sideshow barker or a mob of angry townsfolk.
• Hercules, Jason and Iolaus learn that their former pet serpent, grown to monstrous size, is being kept by a freak-show operator who refuses to release the creature.

TV Guide Promo

• The trio discover that Ruff, their monstrous former pet, is being held by a freak show owner. When the ringmaster refuses to sell him, Iolaus and Hercules sneak in and free Ruff, who then escapes and runs rampant threatening Corinth.

Synopsis

Title card - End credits can be found here.

The guys are all in Corinth. A freak show is in town and its star attraction is Ruff. Iolaus recognizes Ruff, despite the fact that he has really grown. Ruff seems to recognize Iolaus too.

The guys try to buy Ruff from the "circus guy" but he says the monster is not for sale.

Later Iolaus decides to free Ruff and Hercules helps. They rescue him and take him to a cave. Where, once Iolaus removes the muzzle, Ruff shoots a ball of fire at them and runs off.

Ruff "attacks" a villager's farm -- burning it to the ground. The people turn into a mob and set out after "the beast".

Iolaus and Hercules decide to try to find Ruff before the mob. Jason also helps by taking a sentry detail out to find Ruff.

But, Jason is caught by "circus guy" and thrown into a pit.

Hercules and Iolaus find Ruff, but Ruff runs off.

Ruff falls into the same pit that Jason is in. "Circus guy" looks down at his captives. Hercules and Iolaus show up. Iolaus takes a swing at "circus guy" and winds up in the pit. Hercules and "circus guy" duke it out and "circus guy" ends up in the pit.

Hercules gets everyone out and the guys take Ruff to an island. Hercules says that Ruff will be safe here.

Hercules: Kora says the island is sacred to Artemis. Jason : Kora? What does Kora have to do with Artemis? Hercules: I don't know.

The guys say goodbye to Ruff once again. And Iolaus says he will miss him.

Characters (in order of appearance)

• Vendor Ben
• Official Headband Guy
• Woman in Shiny Corset and Sleeves
• Hercules
• Iolaus
• Jason
• Barker
• Barker's Associate
• Man (a.k.a. Male Traveler Norman)
• Woman (a.k.a Fruit Vendor Sacha)
• Ruff
• Farmer John
• Guard Webley

Characters (mention only)

• Amazing Three-Legged Man
• Zeus
• King of Thrace
• The 800 Pound Man
• Medusa
• Lowacks Gang
• Kora
• Artemis

Places

• Corinth
• Corinthian Marketplace
• Thrace (mention only)
• Corinthian Palace
• Corinthian Throne Room
• Cavern of Hephaestus's Torch
• Farmer John's Farm
• Forest
• Artemis's Sacred Island

Items

• Unicorn Poster
  • More items from this episode...

Mythology

• Basilisk

Plot Arcs

• Herc's Obsession With Zeus

Other Pages

• Moussaka
• Very Punny

Television Tropes

• Stock Phrases:
  • You can't make an omelette...

Quotes

Hercules: Hi, Prince Jason, hi. So let me kiss your feet, baby. Let me kiss your feet.
Iolaus: Ah, let me wipe the sweat from your royal brow.

Hercules: Whoa, hold on, wait a second. Are we sure we know what we're doing?

Iolaus: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I can handle him.

Hercules: Okay... Hold on a second. Now why doesn't that make me feel better?

Iolaus: I think you would have been okay. I think he kinda likes ya.
Jason: Yeah, medium rare.

Trivia & References

Pop Culture References and Greekisms - The Barker's line of "But you can't make a moussaka without cracking a few eggs, huh?" is a Greekified version of the quote You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, a quote commonly attributed to either Joseph Stalin or Lazar Kaganovich.

Reality Check - Iolaus says that he thinks Ruff is a vegetarian. But would he have even know what a vegetarian was back then? According to Wikipedia, the earliest records of vegetarianism as a concept and practice amongst a significant number of people concern ancient India and the ancient Greek civilizations in southern Italy and Greece. In Greece during classical antiquity the vegetarian diet was called abstinence from beings with a soul (Greek ἀποχὴ ἐμψύχων). As a principle or deliberate way of life it was always limited to a rather small number of practitioners belonging to specific philosophical schools or certain religious groups.

Guides, Scripts, Transcripts, & Reviews

• Discussion Page - Discussions, Opinions, and Random Thoughts about the episode.
• The Mysteries of Life Transcript (Dialogue Only)
• Whoosh.org's transcript.
• Whoosh.org's Episode Guide
• IMDB's Episode Guide
• TV.com's Episode Guide
• ShareTV's Episode Guide
• Watch the full episode online at Hulu.com.
• Ty's Reviews: 1.23- The Mysteries of Life

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