Written by Paul Robert Coyle
Directed by John Cameron
A chance encounter leads to Autolycus and Salmoneus on the run from a greedy sultan after escaping a death trap in his treasure horde. Complicating matters is the rare lamp they did acquire contains a genie who is willing to grant them three wishes, only for their wishes to make matters even worse.
This episode provides examples of:
- Badass Boast: Autolycus while facing the Sultan one-one-one.Autolycus: Let's get this straight. I'm the sultan of swat.
- Badass Normal: Tough!Sal effortlessly beats up the Sultan's guards. Even Autolycus is impressed.
- Batman Gambit: Jinni made the first two wishes so awful so that Autolycus and Salmoneus would give up their third wish, which allows her to claim their souls.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: One of Jinni's former masters is a creepy shephard, and Autolycus really does want to hear what he wished for. The guy's big complaint is that Jinni won't let him keep any sheep in the lamp.
- Beneath the Mask: The Sultan presents himself as a benign leader simply looking for goods to take back to his homeland, but he rigs a game so that he doesn't have to pay for said goods, threatens to execute those who wrong him, and promises to punish his underlings with hard labor for any failures.
- Big "SHUT UP!":Autolycus: [to Jinni] You think we were born yesterday?
Child!Sal: We were.
Autolycus and Salmoneus: Shut up! - Big "WHAT?!": Autolycus and Salmoneus over Jinni getting to claim their souls.
- Breather Episode: After a three-parter full of upheaval, we get a comedic episode starring two recurring characters.
- Bring It: "C'mon, Sultan, let's go."
- Call-Back: Salmoneus's latest business venture is selling pieces of art from "If I Had A Hammer..." and getting a commission.
- Continuity Nod: Falafel addresses Salmoneus as a friend. They met back in Season 2 during the Olympics.
- Contrived Coincidence: Falafel having a pitcher that resembles the lamp.
- Death Trap: In the room of treasures, the Sultan rigged a trap door in order to keep his prized lamp safe.
- Didn't See That Coming:
- Autolycus and Salmoneus over bumping into each other in the Sultan's vault.
- The Sultan had no idea that his prized lamp actually contained a genie.
- Duck Season, Rabbit Season: After resolving to get the lamp back and undo this mess, Salmoneus tells the intangible Autolycus to put it there, but their hands of course phase through each other.Autolycus: You did that on purpose.
Salmoneus: Did not.
Autolycus: Did to.
Salmoneus: Did not.
Autolycus: Did to.
Salmoneus: Did not.
Autolycus: Did not.
Salmoneus: Did to.
Autolycus: See?
Salmoneus: Stop it! - "Eureka!" Moment: When the inside starts shaking because someone picked up the lamp, Autolycus realizes he and the previous masters can all get out by running back and forth to tip the lamp over.
- The Fashionista: Jinni regularly dons new outfits and hairstyles when interacting with Autolycus and Salmoneus. The guys actually don't think much of her fashion choices, but they know better than to anger someone with magical powers.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Tough!Sal does this to Child!Sal to get him to stop blubbering.
- Greed:
- The Sultan exploits this by rigging his payment system. He says someone can either have a good bit of gold or as much as can be carried from a room of treasures in a limited amount of time. When Salmoneus goes for the latter, the Sultan comments on how no one ever goes for just the gold and chastises such greedy fools.
- When discussing how problematic genies can be, Autolycus suggests a hypothetical scenario of wishing for a mountain of gold and thus getting buried underneath it. Salmoneus eagerly says he'll just dig his way out.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Sultan is done in by his own death trap.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Jinni abducted her masters so that she'd have some company in the lamp. She is sincerely devastated that they actually want to leave, even crying openly. Autolycus and the others agree to wish for her to have copies of herself in the lamp in exchange for being freed themselves.
- Intangibility: Autolycus wished to be invisible in order to be a better thief, but Jinni went a step further and made sure he couldn't actually touch any of the objects.
- Invisible Jerkass: Autolycus gladly pesters the Sultan by whispering in his ear.
- Jackass Genie: Jinni deliberately makes Autolycus intangible instead of just invisible and creates two copies of Salmoneus that get him into all kinds of trouble. It's revealed she's done this with her previous masters so that they forfeit the third wish, which means she can claim their souls.
- Lethal Chef: For once, averted for Falafel. He has cooked up a new drink (coffee), and it proves to be a big hit.
- Literal Split Personality: Salmoneus wishes to get more done in a day, so Jinni creates two copies of him (one representing his inner child and the other being a courageous tough guy).
- Lovable Coward: Sal's inner child double. He's easily upset and hates being in dangerous situations, such as when breaking into the Sultan's vault.Tough!Sal: Don't be such a weenie. You're a Salmoneus. Act like one.
Autolycus: He is. - Manchild: One of the Sal's represents his inner child, so he is quite literally this.
- Never Heard That One Before: Jinni's response to Autolycus wishing to be invisible.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The promo included a quick shot of Hercules to suggest he would be in this episode.
- Noodle Incident: Though they never interacted in the only episode they both appeared in, Falafel addresses Autolycus like they have already met at some point off-screen.
- Off with His Head!: The Sultan's preferred method of execution. Salmoneus is only narrowly saved from this.
- Oh, My Gods!: Autolycus upon seeing three different versions of Salmoneus.Autolycus: Sweet mother of Zeus!
- Pragmatic Villainy: Retroactively. Early on, Autolycus and Salmoneus are evading the Sultan's guards and end up cornered. Jinni gives them a freebie to get out of this, which we later learn was so that she could still have the chance to claim their souls.
- Read the Fine Print: Jinni's list of rules and bylaws contains the provision about how the wisher forfeits his or her soul upon giving up a wish. Jinni exploited this by making the list appear excessively long and detailed, which prompted Salmoneus to suggest not reading all of it. When their souls are claimed, Autolycus reminds Salmoneus of this.Jinni: Always read the fine print.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the Sultan falls down his own death trap, his guards flee.
- Spoof Aesop: Autolycus says he's learned from this experience to never wish for something that he could legitimately earn or steal.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Stuck with Sal's tough guy and inner child copies, Autolycus remarks he's obviously being punished for something.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Hearing Jinni's actual motiviation, Autolycus, Salmoneus, and others end up feeling bad for her and agree to wish for her to have the kind of companionship that she's certain to get along with.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: "Tall, dark, and not too bad to look at" is how Jinni describes Autolycus.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The promo gave away the twist of Jinni claiming Autolycus and Salmoneus's souls.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Autolycus and Salmoneus spend just about every scene trading insults.
- Wham Line: "And now, your souls are mine."
- Written-In Absence: Due to Hercules being off in Eire and Iolaus being dead, this is the only episode in the entire series in which neither Kevin Sorbo nor Michael Hurst appear.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Autolycus had heard stories about genies and how wishes had to be worded carefully. He was reasonably prepared for a Literal Genie, but he was completely blindsided by the idea of a deliberate Jackass Genie out to claim human souls.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Jinni acquires the souls of her previous masters so that she'll have some company in her lamp.
