The battle for Atlantis’ future looks set to be lost…
The second half of this opening story maintains the pace and fervour, and sets up various threads for the season – not just for Jason, but for Hercules and Pythagoras, as well as Ariadne and Pasiphae. There are a lot of secrets being kept hidden and it would seem likely that some are going to be revealed and cause serious rifts between characters.
That’s all to come: in this episode, the fighting is as dark as it’s ever been (and wasn’t part of the point of Atlantis to carry on the family-friendly spot that Doctor Who had carved out… although, come to think of it, even Doctor Who isn’t doing that anymore!). There may not be the requisite amount of blood, but there’s a great deal of death and violence, treachery and deceit – and not everyone survives (at least intact).
Mark Addy in particular gets some strong material, and the days of Hercules simply being the comic relief seem definitely far behind us. Aiysha Hart similarly is going to be pushed to give more this season, and is rising to the challenge.
Verdict: A fitting conclusion to what’s effectively been the pilot for a rebooted show. 7/10
Paul Simpson
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