Atlantis: Review: Series 1 Episode 7: The Rules of Engagement

Jason enters a no holds barred fighting contest held to mark Ariadne’s engagement…

The humour quotient is considerably lessened in this week’s episode, which sees Jason almost permanently in some quite vicious combat – the knightly jousts in Merlin may have been equally violent overall, but there were times that this strayed towards pornographic levels of violence, particularly for a family show.

Things certainly seem to be hotting up: Ariadne starts to develop a spine, and learns exactly what price her stepmother will exact for any disobedience on her part; said stepmother’s wicked plans are made clearer, and some of them are, at least temporarily, thwarted; Pythagoras becomes intrinsic to the plot… Okay, no, that last one didn’t happen, but the throw-forward does hint that it might be the case next week.

The Hercules/Medusa subplot isn’t as dead as I’d hoped it might be, although it does seem to have been toned down to make it a little more palatable. There are also some very clear indications about how the producers are viewing the story of Hercules in this show – basically, the “Labours of Hercules” didn’t happen, or at least not in the way that the myths have been passed down over the years.

Verdict: Watchable, and better paced than many of the episodes so far: 6/10

Paul Simpson