Takes One to Know One

Xena, Cyrene, Joxer, Minya, Lila and Autolycus have organised a surprise birthday party for Gabrielle. But when Ravenica, a bounty hunter, is mysteriously killed, Xena turns detective when she is forced to discover and give up the killer to Discord, the Goddess of Retribution, before time runs out and she takes everyone.

Summary
On a stormy night, Xena enters the tavern owned by her mother, Cyrene. Finding the room suspiciously dark and quiet, Xena grabs someone hiding in the shadows. The lights come on, everyone yells surprise and Xena finds herself holding Joxer by the throat. Xena discovers that she has walked into a surprise birthday party for Gabrielle. All their friends are there: Xena's mother, Gabrielle's sister Lila, Joxer, Minya, and Autolycus. Also at the inn is Ravenica, a mysterious woman, who shares meaningful glances with several of the others. When Xena informs them that Gabrielle will not arrive until the next day, everyone retires for the evening.

In the middle of the night, Xena is awakened by a thunderbolt and sees someone quietly walking around outside. Suspicious, Xena bursts into Ravenica's room and finds her dead with a knife in the chest. Discord, the newly appointed Goddess of Retribution, is also there. Discord tells Xena that she must figure out which one of her friends is the murderer and turn him or her over, or else the goddess will take someone at random.

Gathering the suspects together, Xena inspects the body more closely. They learn that Ravenica was a bounty hunter looking to collect the reward for Xena. The bounty is confirmed when Gabrielle arrives with the news soon after. Xena suspects Cyrene may have killed to protect her daughter, while Joxer is wary of Minya because Ravenica is known for laming the horses of the people she hunts.

Autolycus also makes Cyrene for the crime, but when Ravenica's diamonds are found in the King of Thieves' possession, suspicion turns to him. Joxer is considered a suspect when it is learned that Ravenica was also after his brother, Jett, and Lila cannot account for her movements. Soon, everyone with the exception of Xena admit that they all saw Ravenica close to her death.

With all of Xena's friends and family having means, motive and/or opportunity, everyone becomes suspect. In addition, Discord becomes impatient and shortens the deadline to a few hours. Eventually, she declares that if the killer is not found, she will imprison everybody.

Gabrielle says she met up with Ravenica a few days back and put Joxer's gravy recipe in her water jug to give her the trots, and that must be what killed the woman. But the water bag is full, so that's not it. Xena says a bounty scroll is missing. Joxer has it. He says he got it because the woman mistook him for his brother Jett, and stole a love note he was writing to Lila. Joxer hit her in the head with an inkwell then, too. Ravenica took the note to her room, and when Joxer went to get it back he saw a bounty on Jett.

Joxer heard Autolycus and Ravenica arguing. Autolycus says he threatened Ravenica to save Autolycus. Discord pops in with her arrows and threatens to shoot Autolycus; Xena argues with her and she disappears again. Minya and Lila plotted to keep Revengika from Xena. Lila went to let the woman's horse go, so she couldn't follow Xena. Ravenica caught her, so Minya went to Revengika's room and talked loudly like a man to get her attention. Minya ran away when Ravenica confronted her.

When time expires, Discord and her henchmen arrive to apprehend everyone, but Xena and her friends fight back. In the scuffle, Xena notices the way a chandelier is swinging. Xena says she knows who killed Ravenica. She tells Discord that she knows who did it. Xena explains that Ravenica was trying to injure her horse, Argo, but the horse kicked her back into the room and set off a chain of events that ended with the knife being lodged in her chest. Since she cannot seek retribution against a horse, Discord unhappily leaves the inn.

With the mystery solved, everyone apologizes for suspecting each other. Gabrielle kisses Joxer on the cheek. Cyrene finds diamonds lying around, but Autolycus says they aren't his. Xena apologies to Cyrene for wondering if she did kill Revengika. Cyrene says she would kill to protect Xena. Gabrielle finally gets to have her birthday party, as everyone brings in a cake for Gabrielle and sings Happy Birthday to her.

Disclaimer
Argo was once again proven innocent during the production of this motion picture.

Background Information

 * Discord is now the goddess of retribution. She credits Ares for that.
 * This is the last appearance of Minya, though Alison Wall appeared one more time in season 6's "Send in the Clones".
 * This episode was originally known as "Bar Murder Mystery".
 * This is Bruce Campbell's last episode on Xena, but he makes one more appearance in the HTLJ Season 6 episode, "Hercules, Tramps & Thieves". Autolycus was rumored to be featured in season 5 and 6.
 * Though seen briefly on the series in Season 3's "The Deliverer", this is the first time Discord has come face-to-face with Xena.
 * Cyrene makes her first appearance since "The Furies", a gap of 40 episodes.
 * Having Minya do pretend voices in the background to draw Ravenica away from Lilla was an in-joke, since Alison was part of "The Loop Group" which regularly did background voices for Rennaissance shows.

Guest Stars

 * Bruce Campbell as Autolycus
 * Ted Raimi as Joxer
 * Alison Wall as Minya
 * Meighan Desmond as Discord
 * Willa O'Neill as Lila
 * Darien Takle as Cyrene
 * Natalie Duggan as Ravenica

People

 * Xena
 * Gabrielle
 * Argo
 * Joxer
 * Cyrene
 * Autolycus
 * Lila
 * Minya
 * Ravenica
 * Jett (Mentioned)

Gods

 * Discord
 * Ares (Mentioned)

Places

 * Greece