From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   6-08    The Ring   
      
      
      
   First airing was Nov. 20, 1999.   
      
   The story starts out with scenes from the previous episode, "The Rheingold."   
      
   Gabrielle, Brunhilda and Beowulf are walking through the woods looking for   
   Xena. They find blood on   
   a tree. Beowulf keeps insisting Xena is dead. Gabrielle says she isn't.   
   Gabrielle finds one of   
   Xena's forearm gauntlets and says again she isn't dead, she's escaped. Then   
   she suggests they split   
   up to cover more ground.   
      
   While Gabrielle is looking around, Xena comes up behind her and puts her hand   
   over her mouth, then   
   shows her the monster off in the distance. After it goes, Gabrielle turns   
   around, grabs Xena, and   
   tells her to never leave her again. Brunhilda and Beowulf find them. Xena says   
   she knows Gabrielle   
   won't go, but the other two should since it's her fight. Both Brunhilda and   
   Beowulf say they won't   
   leave Gabrielle.   
      
   They find Grindl's cave and go inside with torches. Gabrielle wants to know   
   who Grindl is. Xena   
   flashes back to making the ring. Grinhilda shoots an arrow through the ring   
   and recovers it. She   
   puts the ring on to have the power of a god to kill Xena. They fight some,   
   then the ring turns her   
   into a monster. Xena cuts off the finger with the ring and puts it on. Grindl   
   flees. Xena traps it   
   in the cave and puts the two-headed raven lock on as Grindl gets the ring from   
   her. Back in the   
   present Xena says that after 35 years, Grindl lost all love and now has the   
   power of the ring and   
   escaped.   
      
   They hear Grindl coming and they set a trap. Xena leads Grindl almost to a   
   place where the other   
   three are going to drop a large boulder on it, but it runs away. They chase   
   it. It knocks them all   
   down and everyone tries to fight it. Xena sees a timber holding up the ceiling   
   is cracked. She   
   tells them to run away. She throws her Chakram and breaks the beam, but she is   
   tripped up before   
   she can escape and is trapped with Grindl. While Gabrielle tries to dig   
   through the pile of rocks,   
   Xena is being beaten senseless.   
      
   Gabrielle gets through, picks up Xena's Chakram and runs toward the fighting   
   noises. She jumps on   
   Grindl's back and beats it with the Chakram, with little effect. She is thrown   
   off and Xena gets   
   the weapon. She jams it into its belly, then slowly rips upward, killing it.   
   She takes the ring off   
   one finger then sees it has all of its fingers.   
      
   They run away. Xena tells them the real Grindl is still alive. A raven is   
   watching them, then flies   
   to Odin. Xena tells Brunhilda to scout on ahead. After she's gone Xena tells   
   Gabrielle she doesn't   
   like or trust her.   
      
   Odin appears in front of Brunhilda with four Valkyries. She was supposed to   
   get the ring from Xena   
   but he accuses her of falling in love with Gabrielle. She makes excuses but he   
   isn't buying. He   
   tells the Valkyries to get Gabrielle because Xena will trade the ring for her.   
      
   The Valkyries confront the three of them and one yells to get the blond. Xena   
   and Beowulf fight as   
   Gabrielle watches. Brunhilda rides up on a horse, grabs Gabrielle and they   
   gallop up into the sky.   
      
             Xena and Beowulf keep fighting until Odin appears and yells for   
   everyone to stop. Xena   
   tells Beowulf to follow to see where they are going. Odin says he'll trade   
   Gabrielle for the ring.   
   Xena refuses, saying Brunhilda was acting without his knowledge. Odin tells   
   her she killed   
   Brunhilda's son. Xena tells him she's taking the ring back to the Rhine   
   maidens. He wants it for   
   himself to keep god-slayers like Xena from killing him.   
      
             Brunhilda and Gabrielle land. Gabrielle wants to go back after Xena.   
   Brunhilda is mad   
   that all Gabrielle thinks about is Xena. Gabrielle explains that she and Xena   
   are soul mates.   
      
             Odin goes to Grindl and tells her Xena killed her son and he'll take   
   her to her.   
      
             Xena and Beowulf are going through a bog looking for Gabrielle. He   
   says he'll go through   
   the fires of hell for Gabrielle. Odin and the Valkyries appear again. He   
   throws a fireball at her   
   and she dives away and comes up in front of Grindl who grabs her. Beowulf   
   fights the Valkyries and   
   is stabbed and falls. Xena gets loose and throws her Chakram, and Odin throws   
   his axe. The Chakram   
   breaks the head off. Then he keeps having to duck away from the Chakram as it   
   ricochets back and   
   forth. Xena fights Grindl. Xena is finally backed against a rock or large tree   
   stump and is   
   surrounded by Valkyries, Grindl and Odin. In desperation, Xena puts on the   
   ring and everyone waits   
   as she  gets godly powers. She deflects Odin's fire balls with her sword and   
   Chakram. Odin and   
   Valkyries are hit. Then Xena back flips away and runs off.   
      
             Brunhilda finds Xena but she can't remember her name. Brunhilda   
   talks her into giving her   
   the ring, then leaves to find Gabrielle. She tells her Xena has lost what she   
   values most - her   
   memories of Gabrielle and all they went through. She says she can't protect   
   Gabrielle from Odin and   
   the Valkyries in this form. She gives Gabrielle the ring then turns into a   
   pillar of eternal flame.   
   She expands to encompass Gabrielle and a large flat rock. Gabrielle is now   
   wearing a gold and white   
   dress with lots of cleavage. Gabrielle falls asleep on the rock.   
      
             Beowulf wakes up and finds Xena's sword and Chakram.   
      
             Xena is stumbling around the forest hearing voices. She falls to her   
   knees shouting out   
   "Who am I?"   
      
   To Be Continued.   
      
   ..........   
      
   Part Two of the Trilogy. And lots to like in this episode. Good lines, and   
   pretty good fights.   
      
   -- But first the nit picks - Grinhilda didn't seem to have very much power   
   after she put on the   
   ring.   
      
   Didn't notice it last week, but Odin's Norse accent sounded an awful like a   
   Kiwi accent.   
      
   When Xena remarks that Beowulf knows  his way around the bog, he says never   
   had a reason to go   
   there (before Gabrielle). So how did he know his way around?   
      
   Odin actually seems kind of like a wimp (I thought the Vikings were supposed   
   to be so tough. You'd   
   think their gods would be too. I'd have liked to see god-killer Xena and Thor   
   have a go at it.)   
      
   When Xena put on the ring, why did Odin and company wait until she got her   
   powers?   
      
   -- Things I liked / thought were cool -   
      
   The look Xena gave Brunhilda and Beowulf when they ran up to her and Gabrielle   
   after she was found   
   and they both wanted to know if Gabrielle was all right.   
      
   Also, the look on Xena face (and Gabrielle's) when both Brunhilda and Beowulf   
   said they weren't   
   going to leave Gabrielle.   
      
   As I said last episode, I liked that both Beowulf and Brunhilda were falling   
   in love with Gabrielle   
   rather than with Xena..   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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