I'm beginning to lose faith that Atlantis will ever be consistent in quality. Series Two started with a bang, but has slowly decreased in my eyes, back to the very depths that Series One fell to. I know Howard Overman to be a good writer, and an original one, but his latest episodes have not matched his A New Dawn: Part Two or Pandora's Box at all. They continue to be cliched, sticking to a format that wouldn't fool a ten year old and unfortunately, they now seem to be going nowhere.
The last episode left a lot to be desired, with an isolated setting and uneven performances, mostly from the main cast. The Grey Sisters has similar problems, with the story revolving around Ariadne's survival and Jason's loyalty to her, which is definitely old school by now - we've seen it done before and there's no point showing it again.
I'm trying to keep things positive, but it's very difficult with very little content to relate to. My favorite moments are definitely Hercules and Orpheus' discussion and Pasiphae finally talking to Jason. The themes of love and devotion are quite strong, but they unfairly disregarded thanks to an overwhelming subplot where swords are clashing and hearts are bursting. It was nice to hear Hercules thinking about poor Medusa for once (perhaps a hint to some future encounter).
However confident the actresses were, the Grey Sisters are bizarre and nonsensical. Their unoriginal concept (the power to see beyond sight) is insulting to begin with, but their constant blabber of words and ridiculous dialogue is very off-putting. So instead of being wary of these strange beings, I'm actually forcing myself to stop laughing at the incredulity of the whole scenario. Good make-up and costume aside, they left a very bad mark on this episode for me.
To follow on from that, a completely unnecessary edition to the episode were the flying pterodactyl creatures. They were only there as a diversion from the main story and it did nothing to better the story, if only to get Jason captured and imprisoned again for the umpteenth time. Essentially, they were only a cheap trick in order to cause a rift between the characters, and Pythagoras' explanation for their ability was awfully executed.
To complete my rant, the ending wasn't a surprise, and although last week's got us to watch this week's, I'm not that excited or thrilled to be continuing from here, but duty calls and so I must for the sake of these reviews. The Grey Sisters provided some (and I mean some) interesting developments, but not enough outweigh the cliched attempts at improving this series' reputation. Soon, I may only be watching Atlantis to fill my Saturday evenings.
5.5/10
- A New Dawn Part 2 - 8/10
- A New Dawn Part 1 - 7/10
- Telemon - 6.5/10
- The Marriage of True Minds - 7/10
- The Day of the Dead - 6/10
- The Grey Sisters - 5.5/10