From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   1-19   
      
   Altared States   
      
   First air date –  April 22, 1996   
      
       The ep starts with a woman, Zora, packing food for her son, Icus (Ikus)   
   and telling him to run away until it is safe.   
      
       We next see Xena and Gabrielle's clothes hanging on bushes and the two   
   are skinny dipping while Xena is teaching Gabrielle to catch fish with her   
   hands. The boy runs to them, Xena pulls him under the water but he can't   
   hold his breath and the men chasing him grab him. Xena then walks out of the   
   water naked (no naked Gabrielle!! Darn it!!) and while the men are   
   transfixed by her obvious charms, she proceeds to beat them senseless with a   
   stringer of fish (apparently Xena's fishing lessons were successful). So the   
   men run off, but Mael, Icus' brother, tells Xena it's none of her business.   
   But when Icus says his father wants to sacrifice him to their god, it raises   
   Xena's dander, and her maternal instinct.   
      
       Xena finds a cave she's used before and tells Gabrielle to watch Icus so   
   she can go see Icus' father.   
      
       Mael and Anteus, the father, are talking when Xena finds them. She asks   
   which god wants the sacrifice. They tell her it’s the one supreme deity. She   
   has trouble with a god who would want to kill an innocent child.   
      
       Later we see Mael talking to his fellow zealots and convinces them Xena   
   has to die.   
      
       Back in the cave, Gabrielle is telling Icus the story about the Trojan   
   horse, but he's too distracted. He gives her nut bread his mother gave him,   
   and Gabrielle eats all of it.   
      
       Xena finds Zora praying to Hestia, the goddess of hearth and home. Zora   
   tells her about the changes in both Anteus and Mael, making Xena suspicious.   
   Zora gives Xena more nut bread, but Xena smells something funny about it and   
   rushes back to the cave.   
      
       Gabrielle is unconscious, and when Xena wakes her up, it's obvious she's   
   been drugged, with henbane-laced nut bread. And a VERY FUNNY, dopey   
   Gabrielle tells Xena how beautiful she is. Then Gabrielle starts crying when   
   she realizes she lost Icus. Xena tells Gabrielle to stay in the cave, and   
   Gabrielle begins to teach the stalagmites to sing.   
      
       Icus has gone home because Gabrielle passed out, and he is grabbed by   
   the zealots. Xena follows and while they're distracted, Xena pulls Icus up   
   to the top of a bluff where she's hiding. She takes Icus to see his father,   
   and they all go back home. When they get there, Xena tells Zora that Anteus   
   has been drugged. Mael shows up, as does a still-loopy Gabrielle. And she   
   once again gets a knife to her throat.   
      
       Xena and Gabrielle are thrown down a VERY DEEP well but Xena grabs the   
   bucket rope and grabs Gabrielle. Slowly Xena climbs the rope with Gabrielle   
   hanging on.   
      
       But Anteus is now taking Icus to the altar to sacrifice him. Xena and   
   Gabrielle finally get out of the well and follow.   
      
       Anteus hears thunder from a clear sky. It is Mael using a gong with   
   chains making it sound like thunder.   
      
       Icus gets on the altar, accepting his fate, but Anteus hesitates, so   
   Mael, using a loud talking thing, and pretending to be god, tells him to do   
   it or he will turn away from Anteus and his people.   
      
   Xena finds Mael on the other side of a gorge and begins crossing over a rope   
   bridge. Mael has thrown the loud talking thing away and Xena tells Gabrielle   
   to go after it while she goes after Mael.   
      
       He cuts the ropes one at a time, but as he cuts the last one, Xena leaps   
   to safety. But Mael loses his balance and is hanging over the gorge by a   
   rope. And rather than have Xena save him, he drops to his death.   
      
       Gabrielle is almost at the loud talking thing while Xena runs to stop   
   Anteus. Just as she throws her Chakram, a loud voice tells Anteus not to   
   kill Icus, and the Chakram just circles back to Xena.   
      
       After everyone is safe and happy, Xena and Gabrielle are leaving. Xena   
   tells Gabrielle is was a good thing she found the loud talking thing in time   
   to stop Anteus, but Gabrielle said she dropped it. Both look to the sky,   
   wondering whose voice it might have been.   
      
      
       Not being a religious scholar, even I knew this was the story of Abraham   
   and his sons, Isaac and Ishmael.   
      
       And I have to say right now that Gabrielle was as funny and as endearing   
   as she's ever been. Renee really let out all the stops playing a drugged   
   Gabrielle. But I really felt it when she climbed out of the well over Xena   
   and fell right on her face.  Using Gabrielle as the humorous relief between   
   the really serious scenes was perfect. I can't say enough about Gabrielle in   
   this episode.   
      
       And Mael – he was as mean and as despicable as Caesar ever was!   
      
       The shots of the scenery were as beautiful as any I've ever seen on ANY   
   show. Really magnificent!   
      
       While I would only rate the story, itself, about a 7, Gabrielle's   
   performance bumped it up to an 8.5 out of 10.   
      
   David   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)