My Review of Atlantis's 2x09: "The Gorgon's Gaze"

Written by Julian Jones
Directed by Lawrence Gough

Medusa (to Pythagoras): "The curse I received for killing the Oracle is not a physical one, but it is no less painful."

And this was finally a good episode. No, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Unlike the previous two, there was proper tension and some actual character progression as well, not to mention a notable sacrifice. This is where the Medusa part of the episode came to the fore.

I'm actually really bummed we lost Medusa in this episode. On one hand because it meant we'd never see Jemima Rooper go all deliciously evil on us and also because her sacrifice was genuinely poignant and Medusa's desire to right the wrong she had caused by killing the Oracle was beautifully handled as well.

I knew that she would get Pythagoras and Jason to aid her suicide mission into becoming the gorgon again and having Jason use her severed head in his own mission to rescue Ariadne was actually pretty surprising as well. Of course the bigger surprise came from Jason when he learned directly from Pasiphae that she was his mother.

The last five minutes of this episode actually made for the best of the week. Jason's disgust over learning Pasiphae's true connection to him was actually handled pretty well along with his grudging feelings for Medea as well. As for Ariadne - she endured some torture courtesy of Pasiphae and Medea and lost poor Delmos but other than that, Jason's attempts to rescue her actually worked, even if we're now led to believe that he's heading for darkness.

- Daedalus from the previous series appeared briefly in this episode along with his son, Icarus. The latter will be back for more episodes.
- Cassandra angered Pasiphae by telling her the truth about the gods being angered by the latter's usurping of Atlantis.
- Given that Medusa was the central image for the second half of this series, I'm surprised they didn't keep her for a bit longer.
- Hercules choosing pie over wine. Another unexpected thing of this episode.

Now if Atlantis produced more consistent episodes like "The Gorgon's Gaze", I honestly think the show wouldn't be counting down to it's last episode. This was a solid character piece that actually pushed things forward. More of that please.

Rating: 7 out of 10