Meanwhile Jason received a summons to the temple for another cryptic warning from the Oracle, this time of a woman with hidden intentions for him.
Eschewing the royal court, the tale centred on Hercules (Mark Addy) and his desperate affections. We see the lengths he is prepared to go to in order to win her love and some real emotional depth, especially when he talks about his father.
After deploying the Sirens’ song, realised simply as a sound effect from an old jar, we enjoyed charming scenes between with Hercules and a love-struck Medusa (Jemima Rooper). Despite the incongruity of their pairing and his unlikely position as a romantic hero, they seem a good match and Medusa opens up to him, revealing her loneliness.
Soon however, the witch’s machinations cause Medusa fall ill to a creeping skin disease. Interestingly Pythagoras steps up; recognising the contagion as a magical enchantment, it was encouraging to see him find a purpose other than that of sounding board. The sickness itself was well realised with make up effects, but we wonder if the story missed a trick in not linking the ailment to her curse somehow, although admittedly it has not been mentioned recently.
Heading back to the cave, viewers of a certain other BBC fantasy series may or may not welcome the return of the often seen magical ‘air punch’ as the witch turns on Hercules. Trailing his loyal friends who set out after him, Hercules’ transformation into a pig was amusing, although we saw the revelation a mile off.
Summoning of winged CGI beast, Circe engineers the situation for Jason to face her alone and there was a satisfying bit of action as he defended Pythagoras. Lucy Cohu (Torchwood: Children of Earth) pitches Circe as brilliantly unbalanced; creepy and yet alluring, we hope to see more of her. The revelation that she is Pasiphae’s sister did not truly surprise, as there are so few female characters from which to choose. Our only other thought at the time was perhaps the Oracle.
As ‘White Lies’ did for Ariadne, this chunk of back-story has granted the rootless Jason some focus, with a specific destiny to rail against lest he become the instrument of Circe’s revenge. That said, killing Pasiphae seems an attractive proposition if he can overcome his moral misgivings, she is hardly the most sympathetic character and we are sure he will have good cause.
While the story employed our three heroes well, it is clear once again that a scratch of the comedy shtick reveals ‘Hercules the Hero’ as the real star of Atlantis.
Aired at 8.15pm on Saturday 2 November 2013 on BBC One.
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