From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   4-18  The Convert   
      
      
      
             The first airing was April 19, 1999.   
      
             The story starts out with soldiers fighting priests or acolytes in a   
   temple. Xena comes   
   in and fights the soldiers. Everyone goes outside. Soldiers are kicking   
   someone around. Xena fights   
   off the soldiers again. Gabrielle sees that the someone is Najara.  The leader   
   of the soldiers,   
   Kryton, runs up on Joxer, who is holding a wicked looking knife with claws on   
   it. He impales   
   himself and dies. Xena asks Najara how she got out of prison. She says he   
   escaped. Xena is going to   
   take her back to prison. One of the novitiates says she tried to save them but   
   never fought back.   
      
             They take the dead Kryton to the village. When Joxer tells them he   
   killed him, he's   
   hailed as a hero and is taken into a tavern to celebrate.   
      
             Najara tells Xena she no longer uses a sword. Gabrielle believes   
   her, but Xena is   
   skeptical.   
      
             In the tavern, they find out that Kryton's men will seek revenge.   
   And maybe his son,   
   Armand, who is in an academy in Helios. A drunk Joxer decides he has to tell   
   Armand what he did.   
      
             Najara tells Gabrielle the Djinn stopped talking to her until she   
   stopped fighting, then   
   they returned. She tells Gabrielle about Eli coming to the prison she was in,   
   and the way of peace   
   seemed to be the right way to her. Gabrielle tells her they knew him in India.   
   Najara say she Djinn   
   told her she and Gabrielle would meet again.   
      
             Joxer argues with Kryton's ghost about being a killer like Kryton.   
      
             When they camp for the night, Xena has Gabrielle tie up Najara's   
   hands and feet.   
      
             Xena compliments Gabrielle on her powder / smoke compact she blew   
   into the soldier's face   
   to distract them.   
      
             Gabrielle tells Joxer that going to Kryton's son is the bravest   
   thing he's ever done.   
      
             The next day, Najara reminds Xena that she (Najara) wants to share a   
   life of peace with   
   Gabrielle but Xena wants to share a violent death.   
      
             At the academy, they find out that Armand thinks his father is a   
   hero - Kryton the   
   Courageous. Joxer can't tell him his father was a murdered. When they tell   
   Armand his father is   
   dead, he vows revenge. They convince him to travel with them.   
      
             Both Xena and Gabrielle tell Joxer he should tell Armand the truth.   
      
             Najara mentions the hospice to Gabrielle, but she says her place is   
   with Xena. She tells   
   Gabrielle that one day she will have to choose between Xena and her own soul.   
      
             When they make camp a young thug tries to attack Joxer for killing   
   Kryton, but he is run   
   off before he can spill the beans.   
      
             Gabrielle doesn't think Xena should take Najara back to prison now   
   that she's changed.   
   Xena tells Gabrielle not to trust her, she's still a fanatic.   
      
             Later that night, Najara tells Armand about Joxer killing Kryton. He   
   want to kill Joxer   
   for revenge. Gabrielle says the Joxer's guilt is a fate worse than death.   
   Armand agrees not to kill   
   him. He sneaks off in the night. Later he runs back because Kryton's men are   
   coming. He tells Joxer   
   he didn't kill his father, but an evil stranger who deserved to die.   
      
             The men attack.  Xena tells Gabrielle and Najara to run away. And   
   she tells Armand and   
   Joxer to ride off on Argo. When Xena is wounded, Najara grabs Gabrielle's hair   
   and keeps her from   
   going to help her.   
      
             Xena comes to Gabrielle's aid. Xena and Najara fight in the trees   
   using vines. Najara   
   gets the knife and tries to stab Xena, but she gets stabbed instead. They take   
   her back to prison   
   but she's in a coma.   
      
             Gabrielle says she thought Najara changed since Xena did. Gabrielle   
   laments that when   
   push comes to shove, sometimes you have to shove back. Xena says with her   
   around, Gabrielle won't   
   have to.   
      
             .....   
      
             "The Return of Najara."   
      
             "New and Improved Najara."   
      
             "Gabrielle Falls For It Again."   
      
             But other than that, this was a pretty good episode.   
      
             Another example of Gabrielle being wrong and Xena being right. And   
   it seems to me this   
   happens a lot. You would think that after all this time, Gabrielle would   
   realize that maybe, just   
   maybe, Xena would be a better judge of who is evil and who isn't.   
      
             But in Gabrielle's defense, she always wants to think that new leaf   
   is always there,   
   being turned over by the worst of the worst. Or maybe she just has a soft spot   
   in her heart for   
   Najara, for whatever reason she may have.   
      
   And once again, Najara says exactly what Gabrielle wants to hear - Eli, and   
   the way of peace -- a   
   way to break the cycle of violence.   
      
             Good zinger from Najara - "You forget-- hurting Gabrielle is your    
   job.  Or have those   
   visions gone away?  You know, the visions of your death and hers?  I want to   
   share a life of peace   
   with Gabrielle. You want to share a violent death.  You tell  me who's the   
   villain here -- me or   
   you."   
      
             Of course, Gabrielle got one in as well -- "Isn't it better to have   
   peaceful people   
   around who do good rather than people who fight?"   
      
               Xena:  "Like me."   
      
             Even Joxer got one in - "You know what, Xena? You're always in   
   everybody's business."   
      
             I guess this was the "Kick Xena" episode.   
      
             Joxer's first kill, even if it wasn't his fault. And for once he   
   wasn't the buffoon. But   
   if Kryton was dead, why was his heart still pumping blood out of the chest   
   wound? (And why was all   
   the dripping blood we saw black?)   
      
             I thought Armand's turn around was kind of quick - going from   
   wanting to kill Joxer to   
   being (almost) buds with him.   
      
             Gabrielle needs to have Xena show her how to tie up someone's   
   ankles, especially when   
   using a thick rope.   
      
             And the fight between Xena and Najara. Those knees to Najara's gut   
   while Xena climbed the   
   ropes was a new one. And what about Najara using her teeth to pick up the   
   knife and then climbing   
   back up the vines upside down? Xena could take lessons on that.   
      
             Can we presume Joxer and Armand and Argo are still fleeing the scene?   
      
             Didn't think much of Gabrielle's powder/smoke compact. Unless she   
   was blowing out   
   something like pepper powder or some other irritant, I don't see it being very   
   effective for very   
   long. And if anything, I think it would just piss off the attacker.   
      
             But even with all the criticisms, there were enough good things to   
   make this one better   
   than average. An 8 out of 10.   
      
   ++++++++++++++++++   
      
   4-18  The Convert ------------------------- 8   
      
      
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