Recap / Hercules The Legendary Journeys S 4 E 14 Armageddon Now Part 2

Written by Paul Robert Coyle, Gene O Neill and Noreen Tobin

Directed by Mark Beesley

While Hercules fights to stay alive in Limbo, Iolaus interacts with a world without Hercules.

Tropes

• Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: In the regular reality, Xena reformed her ways and became a notable hero. In a world without Hercules, the Destroyer of Nations rampaged across the known world. According to Ares, her empire spans from Rome all the way to the Far East.
• Armor-Piercing Response: Iolaus insists to Xena that he knows what the future holds.
  Xena: Oh, that's a good line. I bet it works great on the yokels.
  Iolaus: I know about your son, Solan.
  Xena: Solan? Nobody knows about Solan. Who are you?
• Bad Future: Without Hercules, Xena stays evil and takes over the entire Roman Empire.
• Beware the Nice Ones: After Callisto succeeds in killing the younger Alcmene, an enraged Iolaus vows to hunt her down and use the Hind's blood dagger to kill her.
• Big Damn Heroes: Callisto is poised to roast Iolaus for his interference, but then Hercules emerges from the gateway.
• Big "NO!": Callisto right before Hercules throws her into the gateway.
• Bittersweet Ending: The timeline is restored, Hercules has escaped the Netherworld, and Callisto is left trapped for now, but both heroes are now aware that a powerful evil is out there and will have to be dealt with.
• Blood Knight: In the altered timeline, Xena is somewhat bored during the attack on Cirra, agreeing with Ares's disappointment that everyone just keeps rolling over for her and saying that it would be so much more interesting if someone at least tried to put up a fight.
• Bring It: After Hercules escapes the Netherworld.
  Callisto: Oh, I've been looking forward to this.
  Hercules: So have I.
• Call-Back:
  • Iolaus reflects on how knowing Hercules made him a better person, a sentiment he made in a recent flashback.
  • King Quallus tries to curry favor by giving Xena a certain stone.
  • Evil Xena crucifies Gabrielle the same way Caesar did to her.
  • "Surprise!"
• Crapsack World: The end result of a world without Hercules. Iolaus arrives in an altered present, where Xena rules with an iron fist and has managed to conquer much of the known world. The only rebellion is crushed when its leader (Gabrielle) is captured, with onlookers too scared to do anything.
• Divine Parentage: Alcmene is confused why someone would want to kill her baby and can't believe Iolaus's claim that the child will go on to become Greece's greatest hero.
  Alcmene: How can a son of mine be a hero? He'll grow up with no father.
  Iolaus: The man you thought was his father was Zeus. Your son is the son of the king of the gods.
• The Dragon: In the altered timeline, Darphus is this to Xena. Because she stay committed to being a warlord and actually got even worse, he never dared to defy her. Xena openly scoffs at the idea of him being The Starscream when Iolaus mentions it.
• The End... Or Is It?: As the two heroes depart, it's revealed they're being watched by Hope.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Seeing the gateway is still open, Hercules realizes exactly how he can keep Callisto out of everyone's hair for the time being.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In the altered timeline, the mere mention of Solan's name is enough to snap Xena out of a frenzy.
• Everyone Has Standards: Iolaus passes up a chance for revenge against Callisto in order to save a child from a fire.
• Fights Like a Normal: At the start of their fight, Callisto uses conventional fighting moves on Hercules. It's only after getting knocked around that she breaks out the fire blasts.
• Foreshadowing: Callisto will escape the gateway in the "Sacrifice" two-parter on Xena, with the Hind's blood dagger being crucial to the climax.
• Genius Bruiser: Hercules uses brains to figure out how to use the Netherworld's environment in order to escape back to the real world. He builds a makeshift key and lets the lightning do the rest of the work.
• "Hell, Yes!" Moment: Iolaus when he learns that Hercules is still alive.
• Heroic Vow: In the darkest sense. After burying Alcmene, Iolaus mourns her and Hercules before loudly vowing to avenge them by hunting down Callisto and killing her with the Hind's blood dagger.
• Hope Crusher:
  • As Ares muses over the possibility of a champion stepping up on behalf of all mortals, Xena admits that would make things interesting before killing the supposed champion.
  • In the altered present, Gabrielle is a captured rebel leader that insists her group's spirit is unbreakable.
    Xena: The cure for spirit is fear. You'll serve as an example. [to a guard] Put her on the cross. Break her legs.
• Hope Springs Eternal: The two heroes don't like the prospect of the evil that was truly behind all of this still being out there, but they're confident they can deal with it by working together.
• I Owe You My Life: Iolaus says he'll do anything to save the man that changed his life for the better.
• I Warned You: Expecting Iolaus to restore the timeline, Hercules gets to work building a makeshift key to get out of the Netherworld and cautions the Sovereign not to touch the pole. The Sovereign does so to annoy him, only to get a nasty shock when lightning strikes it. Hercules remarks he tried to warn him.
• Internal Reveal: Picking up from Part 1, Alcmene has no idea why Callisto would want her or her baby and thinks the father is her dead husband. Iolaus ends up having to spell out the truth for her, though per the show's rules about time travel, she won't remember this conversation after he returns to the present.
• Irony: After being told the whole story about her second son, Alcmene admits she was actually hoping for a girl this time around.
• It Amused Me: The only reason that Callisto indulges Iolaus in the past is because of all the fun she's having. After he saves Alcmene, though, she's done playing around.
• It's Personal:
  • The Sovereign already hated Hercules for trapping him in the Netherworld, but learning that his family died when our Herc's did enrages him even further.
    Hercules: I did. Hera killed them.
    The Sovereign: So, she kills your family for something you did, and when yours died, mine did, too!
  • Callisto had no personal feelings towards Iolaus, until he prevented her from getting to Cirra by saving Alcmene. Back in the present, she tries to make him suffer.
• Lampshade Hanging: Callisto says that Iolaus's time traveling and setting things right prevented her from even going to Cirra, even though he remembers his experiences (including seeing her there and saving her younger self). Iolaus displays a complete look of confusion over all of this, as he tries to process it.
• Late to the Realization: It finally dawns on the Sovereign that his counterpart must've had a wife and three kids like he did.
• Never My Fault: Learning what Hera did to Deianeira and the kids, the Sovereign blames Hercules for what happened to his own family and how that affected his life. Hercules calls him on this attitude.
  Hercules: I'm not responsible for what happened to you, or your family, or what you became. You're not a victim. You are who you choose to be. We all are.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Their fight is initially fairly even, but after blocking a hit, Hercules just gives Callisto haymakers right in the face and then a kick powerful enough to knock her across the courtyard.
• Oh, Crap!: Gabrielle a mere moment before her legs are broken. Iolaus (watching the whole thing) is left horrified.
• Purgatory and Limbo: Hercules is trapped there along with the Sovereign
• Rapid-Fire "No!": When he finally comes to, the Sovereign sees the open gateway. He does this, while feverishly trying to reach it before it closes (which it does).
• Required Spinoff Crossover: Alternate versions of Xena and Gabrielle appear to demonstrate how different the world would be without Hercules.
• Secret-Keeper: It's revealed that Xena had previously told Iolaus about Solan.
• Stable Time Loop: Averted. Callisto travels to Cirra, only to accidentally kill her own parents, so she leaves her younger self to die, but the kid is saved by Iolaus. Callisto later points out, however, that this isn't how it originally happened. This actually occurred in an alternate timeline branching off from when she killed Alcmene, which accounts for a number of contradictions and differences: the attack taking place during the day instead of at night, Xena outright ordering her troops to slaughter villagers instead of having a Never Hurt an Innocent mindset, villagers running around in a panic instead of being holed up in their homes, a younger King Quallus being executed when he lived longer, and Xena ending up with his prized stone instead of it staying in Quallus's museum. Iolaus ultimately saving Alcmene sets the timeline back in order, and Callisto explicitly says this prevented her from even going to Cirra in the first place (much to the confusion of Iolaus, of course).
• This Means War!: Callisto is ready to roast Iolaus alive for putting the timeline back in order and thus denying her the chance to try to save her family and undo the misery of her life.
  Callisto: I was playing with you last time. I'm not playing anymore!
• Unable to Cry: After realizing who he saved from the burning barn, Iolaus suggests the younger Callisto cry to help process her grief, but she refuses because she wants to remember this moment.
  Iolaus: You know, if you cry, it might help.
  Young Callisto: No. I will never cry.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Callisto's sister never appears during the scenes in Cirra. Paul Robert Coyle admitted they dropped the ball on that one. The error was attributed to having to get the two-parter written in a short amount of time.

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Disclaimer: Although Alcmene's barn was blown to smithereens, remarkably she and Iolaus were not harmed during the production of this motion picture.