From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   4-01 Adventures in the Sin Trade - Part 1   
      
   First air date Sept 28, 1998   
      
   The episode starts with Xena riding hard through rain and snow and desert.   
   She rides up on Hades as he is choosing who goes to Tartarus and who goes to   
   the Elysian Fields. She wants to know where Gabrielle is. He says she didn't   
   come to him. Xena realizes Gabrielle went to the Amazon Land of the Dead.   
      
   Xena gets another horse and rides through snow and desert. She kills a deer.   
   She hears Gabrielle calling her name.   
      
   There is a flashback with Xena and Borias under a wolf skin, doing it. He   
   says he's in love with her. A guard brings in a shamaness, Alti, and her   
   apprentice, Anokin. Alti knows Xena is pregnant. Xena tells her to make   
   herself at home.   
      
   In the present Xena dresses in animal skins with horns. She rides on until   
   she sees a woman impaled on the branch of a tree. She pulls her down but has   
   to fight off soldiers or warriors. After she beats them, she takes the woman   
   and build a funeral pyre and chants a prayer over her. She is being watched   
   by the Amazons of this land, and they capture one of the men Xena knocked   
   out.   
   One of them says she recognizes Xena's mourning.   
      
   In a flashback Xena is carrying the dead Anokin. When Xena starts to kill   
   the young Amazon – Otere, Borias protects her.   
      
   Xena kills her horse to help her cross over to the Land of the Dead. Xena   
   awakens in the LotD and the woman she cremated is there. She tells her about   
   going with Alti to the LotD to find Anokin, but Anokin says Xena poisoned   
   her soul.   
      
   Xena remembers talking to Alti about Loa Ma's powers. Alti says they came   
   from self-denial but she wants to get power from darkness and death. She   
   promises to make Xena the Destroyer of Nations.   
      
   In the present LotD, Xena meets Queen Cyane, who was killed by Xena. Xena   
   says she looking for Gabrielle.   
      
   In the real world one of the Amazons wants to kill Xena but Otere won't let   
   her.   
      
   Cyane tells Xena that they can't cross over to Eternity because of Alti.   
   Xena heads toward a volcano to the Gate to Eternity, but can't go to it. She   
   has to do something that Gabrielle would want her to do.   
      
   The Amazons take Xena's body to a cave to protect it. Xena wakes up not   
   knowing where she is. Xena remembers Otere. Xena lets the prisoner loose and   
   tells him to tell Alti she is coming. Alti already knows it.   
      
   They all go with Xena to get Alti. They have to fight Alti's men. An   
   unbeatable warriors called the Berserker attacks Xena. She has flashbacks of   
   being beaten by her men in the Hercules episode, The Gauntlet, and she feels   
   the pain of being beaten. And the pain of being hit by Callisto, and having   
   her legs broken at Caesars' command. She manages to kill the Berserker, then   
   realizes Alti's spirit is in the horse. When she starts to attack the horse.   
   Alti's spirit leaves the horse.   
      
   To be continued.   
   ……………………   
      
   Quite a different look for Xena, both the character and the show. A lot more   
   magic and spiritualism than usual.   
      
   Did anyone notice that Renee wasn't in the opening credits???   
      
   A lot of flashbacks. Nice to see Borias again.   
      
   As a god, I would have thought that Hades would know where the Amazon Land   
   of the Dead was, but maybe he doesn't care.   
      
   Did Xena leave her Chakram with Argo? She sure could have used it against   
   the Berserker.   
      
   So why did the Amazons just leave their sister impaled on the tree limb?   
      
   Just from her looks, it appears that Alti is going to be more evil than   
   Callisto ever was!   
      
   Xena pretty much seemed to ignore Anokin at first, so I wonder what she did   
   to poison her soul. If anyone would have done that, it would be Alti, I   
   would think.   
      
   A good line by Xena – "I hate the dead. You can't take vengeance on them."   
      
   In the Interview clip, Rob, Lucy and Renee were together. Rob and Lucy said   
   a little about the episode. Renee had nothing to say, but since she wasn't   
   in it I guess she was just there.   
      
   I noticed that Rob pronounces Gabrielle as "Gobrielle."   
      
   But the biggest complaint I have about this episode is the title –   
   "Adventures in the Sin Trade." It makes absolutely no sense to me. I always   
   heard/read that the sin trade was slavery. Or selling slaves for   
   prostitution. And even if that is not what is meant, the title still has   
   nothing to do with the story. Unless the sin trade is supposed to represent   
   something else in the story. And if that is the case, why not let us know   
   what it is??   
      
   An odd episode, and kind of hard to rate. The stupid title, and no   
   Gabrielle, drop it a half point each. So, I guess a 8 out of 10.   
      
   ++++++++++++++++   
      
   Adventures in the Sin Trade I  ---  8   
      
      
   David   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)