This review contains spoilers.
The fourth season has its fair share of dud episodes, but it also has great ones such as this. This is the largest scale, and quite probably the best offering of the season.
Things open in the final scene of 'Xena: Warrior Princess'' 'Maternal Instincts', where the seemingly dead Hope is on a funeral pyre. But it's far from the end of Hope, as her supernatural ashes re-gather and re-form elsewhere. The girl just won't die! Hope is now a horribly disfigured, and her plan this time is to bump off Hercules.
The return of Hope and Callisto, paired with the return of the Sovereign (introduced in 'Strange In A Strange World' earlier in the season) makes for a top notch episode, crammed full of things going on.
Callisto is at her most powerful and evil. It makes up for a slightly lackluster appearance in 'Maternal Instincts'.
The scenes between Callisto and Ares play well, and overflow with tension (both sexual and otherwise).
There are a number of good scenes in this episode, and it goes towards making up for some of the other duds in the season.
I wasn't too sad to see Strife killed off, as he wasn't exactly one of my favourite characters. Even so, it comes as quite a shock, and makes the threat to Hercules all the more apparent. I've always liked evil twins, so naturally I like the Sovereign, Hercules' evil double from the parallel world. He reminds me a lot of the evil Garthe Knight, from another favourite of mine, 'Knight Rider' (second season feature-length episodes 'Goliath' and 'Goliath Returns').
A grand adventure and one that really leaves you wanting to see the conclusion.moreless
Episode Summary
EDIT
Hope, the treacherous daughter of Dahak and Gabrielle, went to the Ixion Caverns and freed Callisto. Hope gave the warrior-goddess a mission: rid the world of Hercules. Callisto joined forces with Ares, and the two reopened the vortex to the alternate universe. When the Sovereign appeared, Ares snatched his pendant of Hind's blood -- the only substance that can kill a god. But Callisto ripped the pendant from Ares' neck and used the blood to kill Strife. Hope then sent Callisto back in time to kill Hercules' mother, so Iolaus convinced Ares to send him back as well.moreless
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GUEST STAR
Amy MorrisonHope
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GUEST STAR
John ManningKing Tyndareus
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GUEST STAR
Rodney CookePasserby
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Kevin Sorbo
Hercules
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Michael Hurst O.N.Z.M.
Iolaus
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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TRIVIA (1)
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Hercules and Iolaus are involved with the Dahak storyline from Xena for the first time. It will become a major storyline in Hercules' fifth season.
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QUOTES (5)
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Hercules: Don't you have any scruples?! Strife: Huh? Ares: What?!
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King Tyndareus: (inviting them to a wedding feast) Won't you both join us? Iolaus: rhetorically) Hey, is the world supported on the backs of four giant elephants?! King Tyndareus: (pauses to think about it) Good! Well, that's settled then.
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Strife: Callisto? She's a twisted sister. Next to her, the Furies are... mellow.
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Ares: (drinking a toast) To victory! Callisto: To a world without Hercules! Strife: There's no stopping us now! Callisto: Us?! Ares: You obsequious toad, you weren't even there! Strife: Far be it from me to steal your thunder. You're the Man with the Plan, you're the Mistress of Mean! I'm just proud to be on the team. Callisto: (to Ares) Does this brazen brown-nosing actually work with you?!
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Strife: (after Callisto defeats Ares) Let me be the first to welcome you to the club. Callisto: But I wouldn't want to be in a club that would have me as a member!
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NOTES (4)
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This is the only episode that real-life mother and son Liddy Holloway (Alcmene) and Joel Tobeck (Strife) co-star in on Hercules.
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Although there have been previous continued storylines, this is the series' first 'official' two-parter.
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Hercules and Iolaus are involved with the Dahak storyline from Xena for the first time, continuing the Callisto and Hope storyline from the Xena season three episode "Maternal Instincts". It will become a major storyline in Hercules' fifth season.
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Disclaimer: Once again, Alcmene's fence was not finished during the production of this motion picture.
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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When Iolaus asks rhetorically if the world is supported on the backs of four giant elephants, he is referring to the Hindu myth that says the earth is supported on the backs of several levels of giant animals. The elephant Maha-Pudma stands on the back of the tortoise Chukwa, and they support the world.
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Ares: You're not in Neverland now, pal. You're in my yard. Neverland is the magical home of Peter Pan, from the play and book of Sir J. M. Barrie.
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