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While Hercules and his double, the Sovereign, were stuck in the Netherworld, Iolaus traveled back in time to protect young Alcmene. But he couldn't prevent Callisto from killing Hercules' mother. Callisto then found her own family and, through a series of instinctive actions, she killed her mother and father. As more events began to go wrong, Hercules sent Iolaus a telepathic message: Get the Cronus Stone from Xena's scepter to travel back in time without Ares' help. Using a makeshift lightning rod, Hercules joined Iolaus in the past and sent Callisto back into the vortex, setting the time line right.moreless
  • With Hercules and the Sovereign trapped in a limbo world, Iolaus follows Callisto into the past to try and stop her from killing Alcmene. But events alter the time-line that see Xena continuing her evil ways and taking over the world. A classic episode...moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    This review contains spoilers.

    The conclusion of this two-parter lives up to the great first part, and even surpasses it.

    Hercules and his double, the Sovereign, pretty much spend the entire episode trapped in the limbo-like Netherworld. Much of this is due to writing around Kevin Sorbo's medical problems which hampered the latter half of the fourth season. However, there's so much else going on in this action-packed episode that it is hardly apparent. Besides, Michael Hurst has long since proven that he is more than able to carry the weight of the episode on his own.

    The only thing that I don't like about this storyline is the same thing that bothered me in 'Stranger In A Strange World' if a person in one reality dies, the counterpart in the parallel world also dies. It is a concept that only affects these parallel-based episodes and not the rest of the series; if it did, people would suddenly be dropping down deal all of the time. As with 'Stranger In A Strange World', I personally like to explain this away that it only happens when the two worlds are perfectly aligned.

    Callisto inadvertently killing her own parents whilst trying to save herself as a young girl is full of Greek tragedy, and very ironic.

    It is great to see Xena as she would have turned out if Hercules hadn't been around to set her on the path of good, and glimpsing the evil land with her as its ruler, and breaking poor Gabrielle's legs.
    Although she doesn't realise it, Xena possesses the Cronus stone, introduced in the third season episode 'The End of the Beginning', which is the key for Iolaus to undo the messed up timelines.

    I wasn't too sure about Hercules being able to telepathically communicate with Iolaus at the climax of the story, but it served to help drive the story towards its conclusion.

    This story is really well filmed, with some excellent action sequences, and it wraps up well.
    Possibly the best of the season.moreless
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