From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   1.12 Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts   
      
   First Air Date – Jan 15, 1966   
      
   This episode starts with Helen of Troy having nightmares about an assassin   
   who kills all of her guards. So she has one of her trusted soldiers find   
   Xena. I assume Helen doesn't mind waiting a few years or so while he   
   searches all of Greece.   
      
     Xena and Gabrielle are walking and talking about not getting enough   
   supplies (food) when they left Mount Poulis.  What, Xena doesn't hunt   
   anymore?   
      
       They see Maltiades (Helen's man) being attacked by several other men and   
   Xena rides to the rescue, leaving Gabrielle to bring up the rear on foot.   
   Just as Xena gets to the action, Maltiades is stabbed. Xena fights, and   
   Gabrielle does also. She's getting pretty good with her staff. Xena unmasks   
   one of the attackers and cuts his cheek. She then lets him run off. No   
   reason I could see not to run him through, but that was Xena's call.   
      
       Maltiades tells Xena about Helen wanting her to come, then he dies.   
   Gabrielle is surprised Xena knows Helen, although by now she should know   
   that Xena knows EVERYBODY!   
      
       Xena and Gabrielle arrive at Troy and have to run through Greek soldiers   
   hiding in trenches or foxholes who jump up to attack them. Must be a hard   
   way to make a living – lying in wait for hours at a time waiting for some   
   unsuspecting someone to come along trying to get into the city.   
      
       While Xena and Gabrielle are fighting their way to the city gates,   
   Perdicus recognizes Gabrielle and has the gates open for them. Of course   
   Gabrielle is surprised to see Perdicus.   
      
       King Menelaus (who wants Helen back, and has been laying siege to Troy   
   for ten years) is meeting with a mysterious stranger wearing a dark cloak,   
   and at first I thought it might be Ares again. But it was only your typical   
   traitor.   
      
       After they are inside the city walls, Xena wants to go see Helen and   
   Paris, but Perdicus tells her no one sees them without permission. Of course   
   Xena isn't one to follow rules. And afterward, Deiphobus, Paris' brother and   
   Captain of the Guard or something like that, chews out Perdicus for letting   
   Xena inside. No one seems to be particularly concerned about Gabrielle,   
   though.   
      
       Xena talks to Helen, who wants to go back to Menelaus so the war will   
   stop. Xena tells her sorry, won't help. And Deiphobus breaks in looking for   
   Xena. Helen stops him and then they go to the temple to see Paris. I guess   
   he was doing some praying. While in the temple, Xena sees the guy she let   
   get away, confronts him, and Deiphobus kills him (before he can be   
   interrogated).   
      
       In the meantime Gabrielle and Perdicus are talking when Greek archers   
   start shooting over the walls, and kills a friend of Perdicus. He pulls the   
   burning arrow out of the guy, climbs to the top of the wall, gets a crossbow   
   and shoots, presumably, the man who fired the killing arrow. Perdicus is the   
   hero, with lots of backslapping, etc. But Gabrielle isn't very happy about   
   it. She looks at Perdicus with real disappointment and sadness in her eyes.   
   I'd sure hate to know I did something to make her look at ME like that!   
      
       Xena finds Helen trying to sneak out of the city, and then both see   
   Deiphobus sneaking out. Xena follows him and sees him conspiring with   
   Menelaus. Xena confronts him in front of Paris and Helen and he says he's   
   brokered a peace. And at that moment it is announced that the Greeks are   
   pulling back and they have left a large wooden horse as a parting gift. Xena   
   warns Paris to beware of Greeks bearing gifts and is thrown into the dungeon   
   as a traitor to Troy.   
      
       Of course she escapes with the aid of three prisoners she has to fight.   
      
       The next morning Gabrielle and Perdicus are talking about the previous   
   night's celebration and memories of their childhood.   
      
       The Greek soldiers exit the horse, open the gates and let the rest of   
   the soldiers inside. I don't really remember much about the Trojan Horse   
   story, but I thought they sneaked out of the horse in the middle of the   
   night. There is much fighting going on, and Gabrielle acquits herself rather   
   well considering she was using only a staff against battle hardened soldiers   
   using swords.   
      
       Xena tells Perdicus to round up as many people and have them go to the   
   Temple of Aphrodite. But when we see the temple, there is some kind of ugly   
   gargoyle over the doors. That's not something I would think Aphrodite would   
   approve of.   
      
       Xena finds Helen and Paris, who apologizes to Xena for misjudging her.   
   For all the good it did, the city was still burning. During the confusion,   
   Gabrielle and Perdicus, thinking they may die, kiss.   
      
       Deiphobus kills Paris so he can have Helen all for himself. But when he   
   tries to take her out of the city, Xena is waiting for him. They fight, with   
   Xena barely winning. I guess he was tougher than he looks since he was the   
   hooded stranger in Helen's nightmares.   
      
       Xena, Helen, Gabrielle, Perdicus and a few others hide in the horse as   
   it is pulled out of the city as a souvenir for Menelaus. I guess Perdicus   
   didn't mind running away from the lost cause. He and Gabrielle decide they   
   might have said some things earlier that they might not have meant, so they   
   part ways. Perdicus decides to travel to a new city, and Helen asks to go   
   with him. So I guess he now forgets all about Gabrielle (but with the fabled   
   beauty in his company, can you blame him?).   
      
       The episode ends with Gabrielle asking Xena if they should take the   
   horse with them since it's bound to be a collector's item (got a GOOD laugh   
   about that), but Xena said only if Gabrielle wants to pull it herself. She   
   decides not.   
      
      
       I kind of liked this episode. Of course liberties were taken with the   
   time line. That should be on Xena's business cards – "We go anywhere,   
   anywhen."   
      
       And I thought that Galyn Goerg, who played Helen, was exceptionally   
   beautiful. Too bad I've never seen her in anything else, that I can   
   remember.   
      
       Not too much to nitpick about. While looking through Whoosh for the   
   correct spellings, etc., in the section 'Things to Look Out For' I found   
   this – "In THE RECKONING, Xena plays along with Ares' proposal to bring back   
   anyone she names from the dead and she suggests Hector, Achilles, and   
   Agamemnon, but they're long gone. In BEWARE OF GREEKS, those three people   
   play major parts in the siege of Troy."   
      
       Despite that little OOPS, and the few other things already mentioned, I   
   gave this one a 7 out of 10.  I'm still waiting on an episode I can rate a 9   
   or 10.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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