From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   5-03    Succession   
      
      
      
   First air date was Oct 11, 1999.   
      
   The story starts out with Ares and Mavican coming out from under sheets where   
   they have been having   
   sex. Mavican expects to be the one to give him an heir. He says no, she was   
   just a good time. She   
   knows it's Xena he wants and wants to know how she got the job. He says she   
   never asked for it.   
      
   Cut to an off camera fight between Xena and five bad guys, they all go flying   
   while Gabrielle is   
   begging Xena to let her help. Next Gabrielle is taking two water skins to fill   
   at a fountain and   
   complaining to herself about Xena. Ares appears and sympathizes with her. Ares   
   compliments her on   
   her use of the sais. He disappears and suddenly two knives fly through the air   
   and cut holes in the   
   water skins. Mavican tells her she's looking for Xena to kill and wants to   
   start with Gabrielle.   
      
   Mavican throws a spear at Gabrielle and Xena intercepts and breaks it in two.   
   Mavican throws a lot   
   of knives or throwing disks at Xena but she deflects them. Then Xena throws   
   her new Chakram. It   
   splits and ricochets off everything while Mavican ducks, dodges and dances   
   away from them. They   
   draw swords and begin fighting. Ares appears and throws a god-orb and they are   
   thrown backward. He   
   doesn't want them fighting in the temple of Demeter. Mavican throws her sword   
   at Xena but Gabrielle   
   diverts it with one of her sais. Mavican tells them she wants to be Xena's   
   successor.   
      
   Ares opens a vortex portal and says if they want to fight, it will be where   
   they can do no harm.   
   Mavican jumps through. Xena refuses, but the portal gets stronger and sucks   
   her and Gabrielle   
   through. Gabrielle lands in a dark room with a light coming down through the   
   roof. Xena and Mavican   
   are in the woods somewhere. Xena discovers that she and Mavican have no   
   weapons. They fight until   
   Xena knocks Mavican down into a ravine or down a steep hill.   
      
   The sun sets and now Gabrielle is in the woods and Xena is in the room. There   
   is a vision portal so   
   Xena can watch Gabrielle. Gabrielle comes up to a campfire but isn't sure   
   whose it is. She does   
   something to a vine, then lets it out as she goes into the camp. Mavican jumps   
   down from the trees.   
   Gabrielle jerks on the vine and a small log tied to it trips Mavican. But in   
   the end Mavican knocks   
   Gabrielle out. When she wakes up she's in a sapling cage hanging from a tree   
   limb. Mavican tells   
   her her destiny is to beat Xena.   
      
   The sun rises and Gabrielle turns into Xena. Mavican throws sharpened sticks   
   at Xena. One goes into   
   Xena's belly. Mavican gets close but it's a trick and Xena knocks her around.   
   The cage falls to the   
   ground. Xena tips it over onto Mavican and gets out, but Mavican has escaped.   
      
   Ares appears to Xena in the woods. He tells her Gabrielle can't see Xena when   
   she's in the room.   
   Xena realizes Ares is testing Gabrielle and not Mavican to be Xena's   
   successor. Xena tells him   
   she'll never follow him, but he says he hasn't heard his offer. He questions   
   if Xena really knows   
   her anymore.   
      
    Xena sets some traps for Mavican including using thorned vines. Just as Xena   
   ties her up, the sun   
   sets and Gabrielle is back. Mavican knocks her back down and unties herself.    
   Gabrielle sees a   
   staff leaning against a tree. She goes for it and it releases a log on a rope   
   that hits Mavican in   
   the belly and knocks her down. She throws a piece of flint rock and hits   
   Gabrielle in the shoulder,   
   Gabrielle runs off.   
      
   Gabrielle finds a cave and at the back if it is a very very deep pit with   
   vines hanging down it.   
   She builds a fire and waits. She finds a note written on bark tied to the   
   staff. It's from Xena. It   
   says she can't kill Mavican because Ares wants her to.   
      
   Ares appears to Gabrielle in the cave and wants her to hear him out. He says   
   Xena is too set in her   
   ways. And he wants Gabrielle. She asks what will happen to Xena. He says   
   she'll go home to her   
   mother knowing someone she trusts is in control. He gives her one of her sais   
   and tells her not to   
   take too long , and when she kills  Mavican he'll know she's ready.   
      
   Mavican comes into the cave and they fight. Gabrielle gets the chance to kill   
   her but doesn't. She   
   throws the sai away. The sun comes into the cave and Xena appears. Mavican   
   gets the sai and they   
   fight. Xena leaps up to some vines, jerks on them and the cave entrance is   
   blocked by boulders.   
   Xena and Mavican  end up hanging from one of the vines over the bottomless   
   pit. Mavican yells for   
   Ares' help. He makes the portal appear and Xena (and Gabrielle) are sucked   
   back to the temple. He   
   leaves Mavican hanging.   
      
   He appears back at the temple and tells Xena she won. Xena say she and   
   Gabrielle won. He says she   
   gave her the opportunity for greatness and Xena says following him isn't an   
   opportunity, it's a   
   curse.   
      
   Xena promises Gabrielle she will see her a she really is even though it's hard   
   for her to face. And   
   she says the next seven little bad guys they come across, Gabrielle can fight.   
      
   ......   
      
   Another Xena wannabe. And like the others, she's pretty tough. But I guess   
   (Jenya Lano) Mavican's   
   main claim to fame is her massive cleavage. No Wonderbra for her!   
      
   Ares was back to his old smarmy, self-serving, manipulative ways. It was good   
   to see him again.   
      
   A few comments -   
      
   If I had been Gabrielle trapped in the spotlight room, I think I would have   
   been looking for a door   
   or window instead of just squatting down to wait.   
      
   Not sure if I really like Xena's new maternity warrior outfit. Give me a few   
   more eps to make a   
   decision. I do like Gabrielle's, although the loincloth panel hanging down in   
   front looks kind of   
   funny.   
      
   I thought it was odd that so soon after abandoning the Way of Love Gabrielle   
   wanted to kick some   
   butt, and even complaining about Xena not letting her. In for a penny, in for   
   a dollar, I guess.   
      
   I never quite understood the conditions of the contest. If Mavican kills Xena,   
   she's the new   
   successor/heir. But if Xena kills Mavican, she stays in the other dimension   
   (presumably separated   
   from Gabrielle) forever? Or was it that Xena couldn't kill her because she   
   wouldn't die, and only   
   Gabrielle could kill her dead?   
      
   No need to ask how Mavican was able to cut down all those saplings and build a   
   cage out of them in   
   such a short time   
      
   I did like the part that Ares said anyone could ask for his help, but that   
   Xena remembered that he   
   once told her that if anyone asked for his help, they didn't deserve it.   
      
   (So I wonder, did Mavican fall into the pit, or did she manage to get back to   
   hard ground and   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)