This was an excellent episode, scripted by Katherine Fugate and directed by John Fawcett. It plays like a dark mirror to season two's Remember Nothing. In that episode, the Fates showed Xena how things would have been different if she had never picked up the sword. This time, we see what might have happened if Caesar hadn't betrayed Xena (as shown in the episode Destiny).
This "what if" scenario allows the cast and crew to tell a very engaging story - one that deals with themes played out in countless examples of fan fiction. (Most notably, the idea of Xena and Gabrielle as soul mates.) Ultimately, the message of this episode is that you can't avoid your fate - you can only put it off for a short period of time. Despite his machinations, Caesar still dies at the hands of an ally. Alti may hold the blade instead of Brutus, but Caesar's just as dead.
This episode shows a wonderful awareness of Xenaversian history. If Caesar doesn't betray Xena, she never travels to Chin and corrupts the Green Dragon. As a result, Lao Ma is still alive and offering a treaty to Rome. This is only one of many changes that flow naturally from the single question the supports the whole plot.
This historical awareness does raise some interesting questions. First and foremost, how did Alti become high priestess of Rome? If Xena never traveled east to Chin, she never would have met the evil shaman; when did the relationship between Alti and Rome develop? This seems to be the only questionable feature of the new world, as everything else makes sense.
A common idea that accompanies the theme of fate (or destiny) is that certain things are meant to happen. Another idea is that certain people (let us, for the sake of discussion, call them heroes) shape the warp and weft of destiny by their very presence. Robert Jordan uses the term ta'veren in his Wheel of Time series. Stephen King uses ka and ka'tet in The Dark Tower. Other fantasy and science fiction writers have played with similar ideas.
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