A Rock and a Hard Place

Season 3, Episode 21, Aired
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Episode Summary

Was Cassus innocent or did he really murder an entire family? Hercules was determined to find out before the angry mob lynched Cassus. After a fight, the two men found themselves trapped inside an abandoned mine. A large slab of rock pinned Cassus to the ground, crushing his lower body and condemning him to death. When Iolaus found Cassus' estranged son Nico, and brought him to his father, Cassus finally told the truth: he was indeed a murderer. He hoped his confession might save Nico from making the same terrible mistakes in his life.moreless
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  • In Robert 'Salmoneus' Trebor's directorial debut, a suspected murderer is trapped under a rock fall in a mine. Can Hercules convince the man to confess before he dies? Although I like that this episode tries something different, not one of my favourites..moreless

    6.2
    "Fair"
    By Jay-Spacedust, Jan 11, 2008 Report Abuse
    This story is the first episode of the series directed by Robert Trebor, who plays wheeler-dealer Salmoneus in many episodes.

    As Hercules tries to convince the fatally wounded Cassus to confess to murdering a family before he dies, outside a circus of people enjoying the spectacle soon gathers. I liked the point the story was trying to make, with parallels to modern day media circuses seen in murder cases and suchlike.

    The actor playing Cassus' long-lost son Nico isn't one of the better American accents in the series, as his New Zealand tones keep showing through.

    I enjoyed the story for not being a run-of-the-mill episode, but by the latter stages I did find it rather boring, and wished it would hurry up and be over with!
    The ending itself, when it finally comes, is good, rounding off the story nicely.

    Although it would have probably made a good piece of fan fiction, this isn't one of my favourite stories.
    I admire the episode for trying to do something different; but such experiments usually have one of two outcomes: it is either a classic, or winds up as one of the weaker episodes. Sadly, this one pretty much turns out as the latter.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Nitpick: Hercules mentions Serena's murder to Iolaus, but with the time change in "The End of the Beginning", her murder never occurred and Iolaus shouldn't have known about it. Perhaps Hercules has told Iolaus about the missing timeline in between episodes?

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  • Notes

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    • Disclaimer: No convicts were squished like a bug during the production of this motion picture. Edit

  • Quotes

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    • Hercules: Look, we can spend all day trading insults or you can drop the act. Cassus: Act? I'm not the one strutting around like I'm a real man just because my father gave me muscles bigger than everyone else! Edit
    • Cassus: You just come back to hear me beg for mercy? Hercules: I came back because a dying man deserves to have his last words heard, and it looks like I'm the only one who will listen to yours. Edit
    • Lyna: (mourning her murdered family) I want to believe that someday the pain will go away. But I don't! Hercules: I won't lie to you. It gets better, but it never goes away. Edit

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