KING CON

Joxer wins big money gambling and is quickly conned out of it in an amusing little scene by two con men. Thinking himself all the richer, Joxer walks away with fool's gold. But the real trouble starts when some thugs from the gaming house beat Joxer up when he doesn't have the cash on his person. (Some people are just sore losers!) Xena and Gabrielle find him near death and take him into their care. (Gabby's got a freshly sprained ankle!) Xena finds the two con men, Eldon and Rafe, and recruits their help to go up against the owner of the gaming house, Titus, and his son, Leo. In the process, Eldon bets Rafe that he can't get Xena to even kiss him.... The plan is to take Titus for all he's worth. And Xena quickly guesses their petty bet concerning herself. Damn! They head to the gaming house where Gabby soon gets caught sneaking around. (Intentional!) Xena steps in and even has a tempting murderous moment that Gabrielle pulls her out of. Later, after Xena shamelessly undresses and dresses infront of Rafe, we find Joxer has come back to consciousness. (He wants to go after Titus for himself.) The gang trick Leo into coughing up one of Titus' jewels and so the depletion of riches begins. But now Joxer is missing! Wait...they found him. A fight! Later, Rafe and Xena nearly kiss for real. And we learn that Eldon is giving inside help to Titus. Hm. The next thing we know, Rafe comes after him for being a traitor and Eldon stabs him in the side. All this happens infront of Titus and everyone else in the gaming house. The kiss happens. Thinking he won't be tricked with Rafe dead, Titus agrees to play Xena in a card game; winner takes all. Xena wins. Rafe, alive, joins the following fight. (Yes, it was all a scheme. Even Eldon's part.) And, in a humorous ending, they begin to try to explain the whole story to Joxer -starting with the "gold nugget." Poor Joxer. (P.S. Xena finds Rafe to be genuine after all.)