My Review of Atlantis's 2x07: "A Fate Worse Than Death"

Written by Howard Overman
Directed by Lawrence Gough

Pasiphae (to the Oracle): “You should be glad that the gods do not allow you to see your own fate”

It's been nearly four months and a cancellation announcement since the show has last aired and the first of the final seven episodes kicked off on Saturday with surprisingly little fanfare. I say surprising but oddly enough, unlike the lifeless two part opening for Series 2, this episode actually did something interesting. It killed off the Oracle.

I'm not going to mourn the character's loss, not because I disliked her but because Juliet Stevenson had been criminally wasted in the series that killing off the Oracle actually seemed like a good thing. One thing I am grateful for though was that we got some lovely bitchy scenes between Stevenson and Sarah Parish as both the Oracle and Pasiphae didn't hold back on what they thought of each other one last time.

Having an unwitting and desperate Medusa be the one to actually kill off the Oracle was a bold move, especially as Pasiphae remained true to her word and actually cured the former as well. In some ways, I don't think Pasiphae should've bothered. With this episode hammering home that killing the Oracle is a massive no-no, I think it's a safe assumption that Medusa's cure will be both short lived and her relationship with Hercules even more doomed than before.

Of course, the episode loses points for me with the ridiculously contrived manner in which Jason was found guilty of the Oracle's death and sentenced to death. It reeked of extremely lazy writing, considering that everyone knew that it was Medusa/Pasiphae responsible and just seemed like a contrived way of halting Jason and Ariadne's inevitable nuptials (which even the gods seemed in favour, hence Pasiphae's desperation to bump off the Oracle). Hopefully the idiotic plot is resolved quickly in the next episode.

- BBC Announcer person - it was December 20th that the last episode aired, not the 22nd.
- Yet again, another episode where Pythagoras had bugger all to do. At least Medea played a part in acquiring Medusa. Not a shocker that both Pasiphae/Medea are immune to Medusa as well.
- Emmett Scanlan popped up her as new advisor/right hand soldier bloke, Delmos. Despite his disapproval of Ariadne/Jason, it might be possible he doesn't turn traitor for the next few episodes.
- Jemima Rooper's name is back in the credits. I assume Juliet Stevenson's will be removed from next week onwards, right?

Not a bad return episode but at times, there were things in "A Fate Worse Than Death" that made me see why the show got cancelled. Aside from the wavering plotting at times for the sake of drama, the show still has a habit of plodding here and there. Pasiphae would be a lot better if she just made a better claim for ruler rather than continuing on her entitled, tyrannical spree.

Rating: 6 out of 10