Monday, May 18, 2015

My Review of Atlantis's 2x12: "The Queen Must Die"


Written by Howard Overman
Directed by Julian Murphy

Pasiphae (to Jason): "You stupid boy. It'll never be over."

It's been a week for last ever episodes (possibly a year too) and something tells me that one won't be winning any polls. That being said, while this episode didn't exactly end the show on a high and had a lot of the usual meandering that's been a hindrance to the series, there was some good stuff as well.

First off all, while it didn't stick, this episode at least had Pasiphae temporarily pay for her crimes by getting captured by Jason and executed by Hercules with her men then choosing to follow Ariadne once again. However, given that this show clearly enjoys Sarah Parish's OTT antics, it wasn't long before Pasiphae was resurrected and took over the city yet again.

Which means that between getting married and dealing with the issue of Medea, Jason and Ariadne were mostly on the run once again with Pythagoras and Hercules but their numbers were increased when both Icarus and Cassandra joined the team as well. As for that cliffhanger - Colchis is a long way away but the hope of obtaining the Golden Fleece is alluring. Oh wait, that's right - it's something the show won't be able to resolve. Well, boo to that one then.

Other than that, it was kind of the same as usual. The story deserve props for some nice characters and moments but too often, it was also the same repeat of scenes that we've have as well since the first episode. That being said, props to the show for the way it revealed Pythagoras and Icarus's relationship, topped off by a rather appropriate reaction from Hercules as well.

- Along with revealing Pythagoras/Icarus as a couple, we also got to see the latter use his wings as well. Fortunately, this didn't result in death.
- Medea was smart enough to get the hell out of Atlantis during the first half of this episode and wait in Colchis for Jason. Leading to another point ...
- Instead of this being two episodes, it was just a 90 minute episode merged into one.
- We even got a dragon in this episode. Does this count as a Merlin crossover? I'm joking.

It wasn't a bad finale but "The Queen Must Die" still suffered from the one step forward, several ones backwards syndrome that's always been a problem with the show. Atlantis had the potential to be an enjoyable slice of Saturday night telefantasy and maybe if more effort and care had been put into it, it could've been but sadly, it was more a case of wasted potential. I wish the cast well in future projects though.

Rating: 7 out of 10

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