From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
       4.19 Takes One to Know One   
      
   First airing was on April 26, 1999.   
      
   The story starts out on a dark and stormy night. Xena rides into a town,   
   then goes into a darkened room (of a tavern). She hears a noise, pulls her   
   sword and grabs someone. It's Joxer. Then Cyrene, Lila, and Minya come out.   
   It is a surprise birthday party for Gabrielle. Xena says her birthday isn't   
   until tomorrow. Joxer says that's the surprise. Xena then pulls back the   
   hood of someone sitting at a table, it's Autolycus. At another table is a   
   blond woman who doesn't look too happy. They are in Cyrene's tavern in   
   Amphipolis.   
      
   Cyrene and Xena go upstairs for the night. Later Xena gets up to close the   
   shutters as the storm worsens. She sees a woman going somewhere in the   
   storm. She hears a noise and goes to Cyrene's room to check on her. Cyrene   
   isn't there.   
      
   Xena breaks down the door of the blond woman and sees her lying dead with a   
   dagger sticking out of her chest. Some half naked man is there and tries to   
   attack Xena. Just as she is about to beat him up, a feisty woman appears and   
   introduces herself as Discord and says Ares has made her the Goddess of   
   Retribution. She gives Xena  until sunrise to find the killer, or she'll   
   take one of Xena's friends.   
      
   Everyone is gathered in the dead woman's room  and they start going through   
   her things to try to find out who she is. They find chains and manacles and   
   wanted posters. Cyrene says she's a bounty hunter. Xena takes Cyrene aside   
   and wants to know if she killed her to protect Xena. She says no.   
      
   Autolycus says her name is Ravenica. They find a wanted poster of Xena   
   offering 200 dinars. Minya says she knows that Ravenica cuts the tendons of   
   the horses of her bounties to slow them down. Joxer accuses Minya of the   
   murder.   
      
   Gabrielle then runs in and says a bounty hunter is after Xena, then sees her   
   on the floor and thinks Xena got to her first. Xena says she didn't kill   
   Ravenica.   
      
   In the kitchen Autolycus accuses Cyrene of the murder to protect Xena. He   
   then tries to leave but when he opens the door is flung backward into the   
   room. Discord appears with more naked men and starts to shoot Cyrene with a   
   bow and arrow. Xena uses her Chakram to deflect the arrow. Xena reminds her   
   they have until sunrise.   
      
   They find a locked pouch of Ravenica's. When it's opened they find rocks.   
   Gabrielle finds Autolycus' pouch on the kitchen floor with the diamonds. He   
   admits he stole them.   
      
   Xena says there is a bounty scroll missing, and whoever took it repacked   
   Ravenica's saddle bags with the chains on top of the fruit. And someone was   
   wearing lavender perfume, but a bounty hunter would never do that. Only Lila   
   wears lavender. Joxer defends her. Gabrielle tells Xena she can't suspect   
   Lila but Xena says she suspects everyone.   
      
   Back in Ravenica's room Gabrielle finds a long stick but there is no   
   fireplace or stove, and doesn't know what it means. Xena finds an extra   
   candle on the floor. Autolycus says the door was locked on the inside.   
   Gabrielle checks the window and says no one came in through it.   
      
   Minya confesses the dagger is hers. Xena tells them the knife was a half a   
   hand below Ravenica's heart and it didn't kill her.   
      
   Gabrielle confesses to killing Ravenica. She says she ran into her two days   
   before and she put Joxer's gravy recipe into her water bag. She must have   
   been allergic to it and it killed her. Discord appears to kill Gabrielle but   
   Xena tells her Ravenica never drank the water, and once again tells her she   
   has until sunrise. Discord makes the sand in a magic hourglass to be halved,   
   and their time is cut in half. She says next time she will take everyone.   
      
   Xena demands straight answers. She then grabs a bit of parchment from Joxer.   
   He says he got a love note with lavender on it from Lila and was writing her   
   a note to let her down. Ravenica grabbed him from behind thinking he was   
   Jett. And then tore the note in half and told him not to get in her way.   
   Joxer says he sneaked into her room and found a bounty scroll on Jett and   
   took it. He  heard her coming and dived out of the window where Argo is in a   
   stall. He says he heard her with Autolycus.   
      
   Autolycus says he knew her and was trying to talk her out of going after   
   Xena. When Xena asks if he did that for him,  he confesses, and Discord   
   reappears with more men. Xena tells her that Ares wouldn't like it if she   
   let the real killer get away, and she disappears again.   
      
   Minya says she and Lila conspired to help Xena. While Minya was pretending   
   to talk to Lila to fool Cyrene, Lila took Minya's knife and was going to   
   free Ravenica's horse, but she found Lila with her horse and took away the   
   knife. Minya went into Ravenica's room with an extra candle pretending to be   
   a man to distract her from Lila, but she was found out, dropped the candle   
   and ran away.   
      
   Discord appears when the sand runs out had has a dozen men with her. They   
   attack. Gabrielle hustles Lila and Cyrene into the kitchen. Xena, Autolycus,   
   Joxer and Minya fight Discord's men. Xena sees the candle chandelier   
   swinging and calls a halt to the fighting. She tells Discord she knows what   
   happened and if she doesn’t agree she can take Xena, which will score points   
   with Ares.   
      
   They go into Ravenica's room. She demonstrates that Ravenica leaned out of   
   the window to cut Argos' tendons. But she has an instinct for danger and   
   kicked Ravenica back into the room and the window locked itself.. The knife   
   hit her in the chest but didn't kill her, but when the swinging chandelier   
   hit her in the head, she fell on her chest and drove the knife in up to its   
   hilt.   
      
   Discord is angry saying she can't take a horse, then disappears.   
      
   Autolycus offers to help Cyrene clean up. They find a diamond or two and he   
   says it isn't his. Xena apologizes to her for suspecting her. Cyrene says   
   any mother who loves her child would kill to protect it.   
      
   While Xena and Gabrielle are talking everyone brings out a birthday cake and   
   sing to her as she blows out the candles.   
      
   …………….   
      
   A murder mystery. A dark and stormy whodunit.   
      
   And it wasn't too bad. Although I never did figure out how Xena knew what   
   happened just from seeing the chandelier swinging, and in the middle of a   
   fight, to boot.   
      
   Wasn't too much to complain about, but here are a few observations –   
      
   No explanation why Xena and Gabrielle weren't traveling together.   
      
   Minya is still kicking butt.   
      
   I took me a while, using the pause and the step forward on the final scene,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)