From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
                                          4-04 In Sickness And In Hell   
      
       First air date was Oct 19, 1998.   
      
       The episode starts out with a beautiful sunrise. Suddenly Gabrielle   
   sticks one foot into the sleeping Xena's face. Gabrielle has foot rot! And   
   when Xena shakes out her sleeping furs, nits go flying. Gabrielle looks at   
   Xena's scalp, and she has lice. But Xena denies she has them.   
      
       They are following Argo's trail. But when they see her, she runs away   
   from them.   
      
       Joxer stumbles up with his hat/helmet turned around backward and he   
   thinks he's blind. Xena straightens it. He says he's on a mission to save a   
   village from marauders and wants Xena and Gabrielle's help. Xena says Argo   
   saw her and will probably meet up with them later.   
      
       Later, Gabrielle is hungry and starts to eat some red berries, but Xena   
   stops her because they will play tricks with her mind. Gabrielle decides to   
   go after a rabbit Xena saw.   
      
       Joxer shows Xena a knife from one of the marauders. Xena says it belongs   
   to Scythians, who are pure evil.   
      
       Cut to the Scythians, and the leader, Acestus, sees Argo and has him men   
   go after her.   
      
       Gabrielle feeds the rabbit the red berries and it changes into a psycho   
   rabbit and attacks her. She fights it as best she can – beating it against a   
   tree, punching it, and biting one of its ears.   
      
       Xena asks Joxer about her hair, and he tells her she has lice, which she   
   again denies.   
      
       Later, they are in a cave and eating Joxer's radish stew and ribbing   
   Gabrielle about the ferocious rabbit.   
      
       Xena realizes that Argo saw her ride off on another horse ("Adventures   
   in the Sin Trade I") and is hurt about it.   
      
       Gabrielle wedges Xena's Chakram into some rocks and uses it to scratch   
   her back. When Xena tries to get it, she won't touch Gabrielle because the   
   fungus is all over her belly and legs.   
      
       Joxer goes off to find Argo. When he comes back without her, Xena is   
   gone but she tied Gabrielle's hands to keep her from scratching her fungus.   
   Joxer won't untie her. Gabrielle vomits up the radish stew on Joxer's feet.   
      
       Acestus' men have captured Argo, but he says if he can't break her,   
   he'll have to kill her.   
      
       Joxer enters the tavern of the town he is protecting. They want to   
   attack him because they think he ran off. But he says he brought help, and   
   the very sickly looking Xena and Gabrielle enter. Xena tells them to collect   
   all their weapons, then she and Gabrielle run for the outhouse.   
      
       Xena and Gabrielle use the town's natural mineral baths to try to get   
   rid of the lice and fungus. Xena says the Scythians are after the Greek   
   fire – heated oil that is bubbling up to the surface.   
      
       Gabrielle is covered in something. She facetiously asks Joxer if it is   
   sheep dung. He says it's goat poo. He gives Xena medicine for her lice. They   
   both realize that Gabrielle now has the lice and Xena has the fungus and   
   they trade places.   
      
       After their baths, Xena tells Gabrielle that the owner of the inn is in   
   with the Scythians, and an assassin probably on his way.   
      
        Gabrielle drinks linseed root instead of putting it on her skin and it   
   makes her mouth go numb.   
      
       That night an assassin tries to kill Xena, but she puts the pinch on   
   him, then has to go to the outhouse. She tells Gabrielle to interrogate him,   
   but she can only drool into his face. They put him into a cell. He is   
   Euryalus, Acestus' brother, and he says Acestus won't let him rot in jail.   
      
       The Scythians attack the village as a diversion to get Euryalus out of   
   jail. Xena sees Acestus riding Argo. She whistles for her but Argo ignores   
   her and Acestus rides off, saying they will be back for the Greek fire.   
      
       Xena tells Joxer he is going to be the secret weapon. He is going to   
   neutralize the army while she gets Argo back.   
      
       Next they are in the bushes outside the Scythian army camp. Xena has   
   captured their cook and Joxer is going to be the substitute. He walks into   
   camp with a bucket of radish stew.   
      
       Xena sneaks into the tent where Argo is but she won't go with her.   
   Xena's hands slip on the reins and she falls down in front of several   
   soldiers. She fights, then gets away. When Acestus sees Xena he knows the   
   village is unprotected, but all his men have food poisoning.   
      
       Out in a field Acestus is riding Argo going after Xena. She stands her   
   ground to let Argo run over her. But at the last moment, Argo stops short   
   and Acestus flies over her head to the ground.   
      
       Xena promises Argo she'll never leave her alone for so long again. Argo   
   indicates that Acestus won her over with apples.   
      
       The villagers thank Joxer for saving them and hand him a pouch with 500   
   dinars in it, but when he sees Xena and Gabrielle  watching him, he returns   
   it.   
      
       Suddenly, Joxer gets a stomach ache and runs off. Xena is telling   
   Gabrielle about them being there for each other but Gabrielle has dozed off   
   leaning against a post.   
      
   ……………………..   
      
       So, where do I begin?  I guess they wanted a comedy episode after the   
   drama of the first three episodes of the season. And that's what they gave   
   us. Lots of goofy stuff, and some good laughs at everyone's expense. Maybe   
   it was a bit juvenile for some tastes, but I liked it.   
      
       With a story like this, there are no 'nit picks' because everything is   
   played for laughs.   
      
       Some of the highlights ---   
      
       Gabrielle fighting the psycho rabbit – running into the tree several   
   times, punching it and wrestling around on the ground.   
      
       Gabrielle drooling into the assassin's face.   
      
       Joxer thinking he was blind and then a miracle happened.   
      
       Xena flipping the crying nits from her hair.   
      
       Gabrielle picking off pieces of her skin and flicking them away.   
      
       Despite the comedy, the fight scenes were actually pretty good. Even   
   Joxer's bumbling took down a few of the bad guys.   
      
       It was obvious it was winter because more than once I could see the   
   steam from their mouths as they were talking (and from Argo snorting).   
      
       I know it wasn't supposed to be so, but I thought all that writhing   
   around and moaning Gabrielle was doing trying to scratch her back was kind   
   of erotic!   
      
       I guess that by the next episode, both women were cures of their   
   afflictions.   
      
   And I guess they decided to put off the explanation of where Gabrielle was   
   after "Sacrifice II" for another episode.   
      
   The video commentary was with Lucy and Renée, which is always so enjoyable.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)