Just a quick update to cover the last three episodes of Merlin in sandals adventure series Atlantis.
In The Song of the Sirens, Hercules is manipulated by the enchantress Circe in order to bind Jason to the future assassination of Queen Pasiphe. It seems a little odd that the death of the current primary antagonist should be a price, but it plays up Jason's sensibilities quite nicely, as well as reinforcing his loyalty to his friends, as he accepts the price to save Medusa, who has been fatally overcome by Hercules' date-rape drug.
And, yeah, that's the problem of the episode, as it hinges on a desperate Hercules buying a date-rape drug - well, bottled siren song - to make Medusa love him. It's a shame, because it makes him highly unlikable just as they're starting to dig beneath his boorish exterior.
Overall, these are three good episodes for the self-styled world's mightiest mortal, and Mark Addy flexes his not inconsiderable acting muscles to make the hard-living heavy a sympathetic character despite his vainglory and hypocrisy. He displays considerable loyalty, courage and compassion throughout; it's just a shame we had to kick it off with a magic ruffie plot.
Rules of Engagement comes back to our 'hero', Jason, who learns that Ariadne is to become engaged to Pasiphae's nephew. He sulks, and even his emo strop is bland, and then enters the celebratory pankration to try to win her hand. Ariadne does better than Jason out of the proceedings, almost achieving the level of actual characterisation as she first compromises, then declares her open resistance to her stepmother, with the upshot that her handmaiden and confidant is assassinated as a lesson in power. It's actually quite a dark and powerful moment; more so than anything Jason gets.
Finally, The Furies is Pythagoras' episode, introducing his brother and some background about a murdered father, and culminating in an attempt to defy the Kindly Ones, here a consuming sandstorm rather than the tormenting Furies of legend. There is also a fairly dull side-romance between a couple of supporting players, and a sacrificial one-off character whose death is barely remarked on by anyone, despite his managing to become slightly more interesting than Jason in just a dozen or so lines.
In The Song of the Sirens, Hercules is manipulated by the enchantress Circe in order to bind Jason to the future assassination of Queen Pasiphe. It seems a little odd that the death of the current primary antagonist should be a price, but it plays up Jason's sensibilities quite nicely, as well as reinforcing his loyalty to his friends, as he accepts the price to save Medusa, who has been fatally overcome by Hercules' date-rape drug.
And, yeah, that's the problem of the episode, as it hinges on a desperate Hercules buying a date-rape drug - well, bottled siren song - to make Medusa love him. It's a shame, because it makes him highly unlikable just as they're starting to dig beneath his boorish exterior.
Overall, these are three good episodes for the self-styled world's mightiest mortal, and Mark Addy flexes his not inconsiderable acting muscles to make the hard-living heavy a sympathetic character despite his vainglory and hypocrisy. He displays considerable loyalty, courage and compassion throughout; it's just a shame we had to kick it off with a magic ruffie plot.
Rules of Engagement comes back to our 'hero', Jason, who learns that Ariadne is to become engaged to Pasiphae's nephew. He sulks, and even his emo strop is bland, and then enters the celebratory pankration to try to win her hand. Ariadne does better than Jason out of the proceedings, almost achieving the level of actual characterisation as she first compromises, then declares her open resistance to her stepmother, with the upshot that her handmaiden and confidant is assassinated as a lesson in power. It's actually quite a dark and powerful moment; more so than anything Jason gets.
Finally, The Furies is Pythagoras' episode, introducing his brother and some background about a murdered father, and culminating in an attempt to defy the Kindly Ones, here a consuming sandstorm rather than the tormenting Furies of legend. There is also a fairly dull side-romance between a couple of supporting players, and a sacrificial one-off character whose death is barely remarked on by anyone, despite his managing to become slightly more interesting than Jason in just a dozen or so lines.
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