I like this ep. I think that Najara is a decent villian. I want to
credit her victory over Xena to help from the Djinn (I'll go with that
spelling ) but I'm sure that they would help her with that. I get
the impression that they don't like her dark side very much and
Najara's dark side was front and center in that fight. I guess you
can also credit it to the sucker punch but Xena's only falls for a
sucker punch when it moves the plot along. LOL.

I really liked the scene where Najara caught the arrow. Very similar
to the scene where Callisto catches the chakram.

I also liked the line about how hurting Gabrielle was Xena's job.
Ouch!

Did you notice at the beginning the guy told Najara that "A" (as in
one) warrior was beating up the men but when we actually see the fight
there are clearly TWO warriors beating up the men. Why doesn't that
guy give Gabrielle some credit there? She's doing a great job taking
on two guys with that staff of hers.

As good an actress as Katherine Morris is, and she does a really good job
walking the fine line between dedicated bad-guy fighter and lunatic, once
again I think she was mis-cast due to her muscle-less body. She's supposed
to be a warrior - someone so powerful that she even beat up Xena. Yet this
woman has absolutely no muscle tone whatsoever! I understand that when
casting, acting ability has to come first (and again, I think she handled
the role very well). But I just wish they could have come up with someone
who was physically more believable.

It is for this reason that I found this episode bothersome. It seemed just a
little too contrived and easy for Gabrielle to be willing to leave Xena to
go off with Najara to start the hospice. Funny, Season 3 is always referred
to as "the rift" season, but in some ways, this season is more about them
growing apart than last season was.

"Ahroo" hotmail.remove.com> wrote in message
news:rWMMi.11109$JD.1148@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net...

Well, I DID have a problem with Hudson's physique as well. No, it didn't
necessarily have to be a lady wrestler, but it should have been someone who
could be believable as an outstanding fighter. You, yourself, have commented
on Gab's abs - Renee, while short in stature, was in great physical
condition and was therefore believable as the fighter Gabrielle developed
into. Hudson is a great actress and was phenomenal in the role - except that
her scrawniness did impact her believability for me. They did some good
casting for some of the later-season Amazons (Vicky Pratt and Tsianina
Joelson in particular) to find women you could believe as warriors.

Ahroo wrote:

Lucy isn't exactly muscular either; they resorted to a bag of tricks to
make her appear sturdier than she is. On the other hand, someone who is
in great physical shape can appear quite slender. They need not look
like a swimmer at all. Summed up, I think one shouldn't overstate looks;
they could be deceptive, and the misjudgement dangerous. ;)