From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   6-02    The Haunting of Amphipolis   
      
      
      
   First airing was Oct. 9, 2000.   
      
   The story starts out with Archangels Michael and Raphael looking down on Xena,   
   Gabrielle, and Eve   
   (on horseback!) on their way to Amphipolis, and saying Xena has killed most of   
   the Olympian gods   
   and she is the only mortal prepared to face - this.   
      
   They arrive after dark to a long-deserted Amphipolis. They go into Cyrene's   
   tavern and it is   
   equally empty, cob-webby, and littered with leaves. Eve mentions how cold it   
   is inside. Xena goes   
   upstairs to check and Gabrielle goes to the back. Xena sees a vision of   
   someone dragging Cyrene by   
   the arm, but they disappear. Livia lights candles and hears a deep voice say   
   "Livia."  She sees two   
   men dragging Cyrene toward her, and they pass through each other.   
      
   Eve tells Xena she felt Cyrene's spirit, she's dead, and in pain. She says   
   there are other souls   
   there. Xena says the tavern is haunted. Eve says she can feel the realms of   
   heaven and hell taking   
   sides for a battle. Xena leaves for the family mausoleum.   
      
   Gabrielle is eating fruit. Eve sees it is covered with maggots. Gabrielle runs   
   away. Gabrielle is   
   washing  her hands, then a maggot crawls out of her hand. Others follow. Her   
   hands get bloody, and   
   suddenly both hands are bloody skeletons.  Eve sees blood coming from between   
   the stones of the   
   floor. She says, "In the name of Eli and the powers of heaven, I command this   
   evil presence to be   
   cast out." After a couple of times, everything changes back and Gabrielle's   
   hands are normal.   
      
   Xena finds Cyrene's burned bones on top of a tomb. A man comes in and tells   
   her Mephistopheles sent   
   evil spirits to the tavern, and Cyrene went mad. When the crops failed the   
   townies accused her of   
   being a witch and burned her at the stake.   
      
   Gabrielle sees a picture in a stone of the floor. She bends down to listen and   
   hands come up   
   through the stones and pull her down, She is under water with (?) evil souls   
   keeping her down. One   
   says she isn't the messenger. Xena sees the stone, thrusts her arm down   
   through it and pulls   
   Gabrielle back up. Gabrielle is now wearing a leather bikini. She screams that   
   her skin is burning.   
   They get her to a shower and she strips while letting the water cleanse her.   
      
   Xena explains about Mephistopheles and Cyrene being burned. Gabrielle tells   
   them the evil souls   
   said they seek the blood of the messenger - Eve. Xena sees a vision of   
   herself, dead Lyceus, and   
   her mother slapping her and blaming her for his death.   
      
   Still showering, Gabrielle's hands get bloody. Then she is bleeding where she   
   had spikes driven   
   through her hands and feet when she was crucified. She falls to the floor.   
   When she looks up her   
   eyes are yellow and she is possessed by Mephistopheles.   
      
   Xena sees the naked and possessed Gabrielle hanging upside down. Gabrielle   
   dives down on her and   
   they roll around fighting. Xena grabs rags, dress her and tie her up.   
   Meph-Gabrielle says since the   
   Olympian gods are dead it's time for his reign on earth to begin. When Eve's   
   blood is spilled he   
   will be made flesh.   
      
   Mephistopheles shows Xena a vision of Cyrene being burned.   
      
   Several times Eve commands the evil to be cast out. Eventually Gabrielle is   
   back to normal.   
      
   Eve wanders back outside. Suddenly Xena's left arm and Gabrielle's right arm   
   are joined into one   
   arm connecting them. Then their legs are stuck together. They go outside to   
   find Eve. She commands   
   they evil be cast out and they are disconnected.   
      
   Mephistopheles' voice tells Xena that  few drops of Eve's blood will bring him   
   into the mortal   
   world and Xena can fight him there, otherwise her soul, along with Cyrene's,   
   will belong to him.   
      
   Xena tells Gabrielle she's going to fight him in the spiritual realm. She will   
   put the Pinch on   
   herself and wants to show Gabrielle how to release it. Gabrielle protests,   
   saying she doesn't know   
   how. Xena shows her the places on her neck, Gabrielle wants to know why she's   
   showing her that NOW.   
   Xena says they have no choice, but she believes in Gabrielle.   
      
   Xena puts the Pinch on and goes into the spiral realm. She sees Cyrene bloody,   
   with a bloody axe,   
   crying about killing her husband, Orestes, because she had no choice. She   
   disappears.   
      
   Mephistopheles appears behind Xena and they fight. After a while he tells her   
   she can't hurt him   
   the this realm, only if he is made flesh. But whoever kills him will have to   
   rule over hell.   
      
   Eve goes after water to help wake up Xena.   
      
   Mephistopheles tells Xena that the right pressure in the right place may cause   
   Eve to spill her own   
   blood.   
      
   Eve gets a bucket of water but a head is in it. It is the head of someone   
   Livia decapitated. Others   
   that Livia had killed appear. Eve looks into a mirror and sees Livia. Livia   
   steps out of the mirror   
   and tells her if she spills her own blood the souls of those she killed will   
   be released from   
   torment. Eve and Livia merge and Eve is horrified. She draws Livia's sword,   
   then drops it.   
      
   Gabrielle tries releasing the Pinch several times before she hits the right   
   spot and Xena wakes up.   
   Xena tells them she's going to give Mephistopheles what he wants - Eve's   
   blood. Gabrielle protests,   
   but eventually goes along with Xena's plan.   
      
   Xena gets into place next to the opening in the stones. Gabrielle holds Eve as   
   she cuts her palm   
   and lets her blood drip down. Xena sends Eve and Gabrielle away.   
      
   Mephistopheles appears and she and Xena fight. He repeats that if she kills   
   him she will have to   
   take his place on the throne of hell. Xean stabs him in the gut and he   
   disappears.   
      
   Cyrene's ghost is holding hands with Eve. She says she never gave up hope.   
   Then she disappears.   
      
   Eve asks what's wrong. Gabrielle mentions the legend about killing the king of   
   hell and wonders   
   what will happen now. Xena says she has a feeling it's isn't over yet.   
      
   .........   
      
   The Halloween episode, although it was three weeks early.   
      
   One of those episodes I remembered almost nothing about, so it was almost like   
   a new for me. And it   
   was a good one.   
      
   It's about time they started riding horses.   
      
   Apparently, after Cyrene's burning, everyone abandoned ship, so to speak.   
   Unless everyone was   
   hiding inside their homes at night.   
      
   Kind of cool seeing Cyrene turn to a skeleton when she went through Eve.   
      
   Lots of blood on poor Gabrielle.   
      
   The fights between Mephistopheles and Xena were pretty good. A could of times   
   I saw where Xena   
   could have used her Chakram but didn't - when Mephistopheles first appeared in   
   the flesh and was   
   stretching, for one.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)