Recap / Atlantis S 1 E 12 Touched By The Gods Part One

Jason sees Circe in Atlantis, who tells him he must kill Pasiphae in three days’ time. When Jason thinks about refusing, Circe warns him that he isn't the only one who will die for failing her. Jason walks into the temple to see a body covered by a shroud. He removes the shroud to see the corpse of Hercules.

With a gasp, Jason awakens from his nightmare. To reassure himself, he checks on Hercules, who is peacefully sleeping, but the mark that Circe put on Jason’s arm starts to burn.The next morning, Jason tells Pythagoras and Hercules that time is running out and he has no choice but to kill Pasiphae. Hercules and Pythagoras both offer their full support.

Hercules: Good, so all we need to do is break into the palace, get past all the guards, kill the queen and then sneak back out without getting caught. How…how hard can it be?

King Minos predicts that he won’t live much longer. He asks Pasiphae and Ariadne to swear to stand together to protect Atlantis when he is gone. After Ariadne leaves, Pasiphae gives Minos another dose of poison.

Jason, Pythagoras, and Hercules come up with a plan for getting into the palace. They have arranged to be smuggled into the palace in wine casks, and they will knock out the guards with a special sedative Pythagoras has made from seaweed. As they prepare, Pythagoras sees how depressed Jason looks and asks him if he is sure about this.

Pythagoras: I know the queen is evil and no one more deserves to die, but do you really believe that you can take her life in cold blood?

Jason: If I don’t do it, then Circe will kill us all.

Pythagoras: Well then, at least you’ll die with a clear conscience.

Jason: I would die knowing that I’d failed to do everything I could to save my friends. And that is unthinkable.

As night falls, the plan is set in motion, and the trio hide in their wine casks to be smuggled into the palace.

Pasiphae discusses her plans with Heptarian. Because Heptarian failed to marry Ariadne, he isn’t in line to take control of the throne when Minos dies. Therefore, they will need to find some way to neutralize Ariadne before she can take power.

The plan to assassinate Pasiphae begins with some minor setbacks, first Hercules gets stuck in his barrel, and then Pythagoras has difficulty knocking out one of the guards due to the sedative being designed to knock out a smaller person. Then Hercules barely manages to lower Jason down to the lower level without being seen by the guards. Eventually, Jason reaches Pasiphae’s bed chamber. He prepares to stab her through the heart while she sleeps, but can’t bring himself to do it. As Jason hesitates, Pasiphae awakens and sees a figure standing over her. She screams for the guards as Jason flees. Pythagoras and Hercules hear the alarm bell ringing and wonder if Pasiphae is dead. Hercules wants to flee before the guards find them, but Pythagoras insists that they wait for Jason. Jason is shot by one of the guards as he runs. As the guards get closer, Pythagoras and Hercules are finally forced to flee. No sooner have they gone, Jason arrives at the courtyard and calls for them to lower the rope, but it is too late. Unable to escape that way, Jason keeps running through the palace.

A very shaken Pasiphae orders Ramos and Heptarian to search for the assassin, saying she wants him caught alive. The fact that the assassin didn’t kill her when he had the chance scares her almost as much as the assassination attempt.

As the guards keep searching the palace, Ariadne pokes her head out of her room to see what the commotion is about. Jason hides in her room, having nowhere else to go. Heptarian stops by to tell Ariadne to stay in her room, and Ariadne keeps Jason hidden. Jason explains to Ariadne why he tried to kill the queen.

Pythagoras and Hercules manage to escape by sliding down the rubbish chute.Ariadne bandages Jason’s wound and asks what happened. Jason tells her that when the moment came, he was unable to kill Pasiphae. Ariadne says that she too has wanted Pasiphae dead, but taking a life in cold blood is not an easy thing. Though Jason plans to get out as soon as possible to avoid implicating Ariadne, Ariadne insists that he remain hidden in her room for the night. If the guards assume that the assassin has already escaped, it will be easier for Jason to slip out in the morning.

Ariadne: I will gladly risk my life for you. As you have for me.

Pythagoras and Hercules arrive home and are dismayed to not see Jason anywhere. Unfortunately, there is nothing they can do except wait and see what happens.

As day breaks, Ariadne and Jason wake up and have a brief romantic conversation together. Ariadne shows Jason a secret passage that leads from the palace to the temple of Poseidon.

Pasiphae is furious when she is told that the guards haven’t found the assassin. She orders General Ramos to do another more thorough search of the palace and warns him not to fail her.

Jason comes home and apologizes to his friends for not being able to kill Pasiphae. They try to come up with another plan but are unable to think of anything. Exhausted, Jason goes to get some sleep.

Pasiphae and Ramos find some of Jason’s blood on the door to the secret passage. Since the keys to the passage are possessed only by members of the royal family, Pasiphae concludes that there is a traitor in the court.

Pythagoras and Hercules wake up and realize that Jason sedated them so that he could leave to face Circe alone.

Ariadne weeps as she visits her father, who is nearly comatose. Pasiphae informs Ariadne that the assassins’ escape route has been discovered, and she tells Ariadne to watch out, as there is a traitor in their midst. After Ariadne leaves, Minos briefly awakens and asks for her, but Pasiphae tells him that Ariadne has not visited him that day.

Jason confronts Circe and tells her he was unable to kill Pasiphae. He offers to sacrifice himself if Circe will spare the others. Circe refuses and attacks Jason, throwing spears at him with her magic, which he manages to avoid. Circe uses an illusion to duplicate herself so Jason can’t harm her, but when he figures out the real Circe has a reflection, he stabs her. Before she dies, Circe throws dragon teeth on the ground that sink into the earth. Jason sees the mark of Circe disappear from his arm, seemingly confirming that she is dead. Hercules and Pythagoras arrive, relieved that their troubles are over. The dragon teeth sprout into skeletal warriors, which battle the heroes. Hercules figures out that the skeletons can be destroyed by smashing their bones and the heroes defeat the skeletons.

Back at the palace, Ione, Ariadne’s maid, cleans Ariadne’s room and finds a bloody cloth that Ariadne had used to bandage Jason. Ione is about to report this when Ariadne swears her to secrecy and admits that the intruder from last night was in her room. Ariadne is planning on burning the cloth, but Ione offers to do it instead, since Ariadne might be seen with it.

Ione immediately takes the bloody cloth to Pasiphae and tells her everything. Pasiphae orders Heptarian to ask Ariadne to join her in the council chambers.Ariadne is brought before the court and charged with treason by Pasiphae.Back in Atlantis, Jason returns home with food for his friends, but his mood turns somber when he is told that Ariadne has been arrested.

At the temple of Poseidon, Ariadne stands before the court in chains while Ione presents her damning evidence. Ariadne doesn’t deny the charges, but notes that Pasiphae does not have the authority to put her on trial, and that King Minos should be told of what is happening. Pasiphae replies that the king has not been conscious for days. Ariadne refuses to give the name of the assassin, and Pasiphae sentences her to death by brazen bull. When this sentence is passed, Ariadne loses her composure and begs for mercy, but no one steps forward to help her.

Pythagoras informs Jason that Ariadne is to be executed tomorrow night.

Tropes

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Ariadne is initially defiant to Pasiphae, but when she is sentenced to death by brazen bull she quickly begs for mercy from such a horrible death.
• Annoying Arrows: Downplayed, but still present. Jason gets shot by one of the Atlantean archers. He pulls out the arrow and keeps running, but is badly wounded and needs Ariadne to bandage him soon afterwards. It's possible that Jason's armor may have reduced the impact of the arrow.
• Anything but That!: Ariadne says this when she is sentenced to be burned in the brazen bull.
• Beardness Protection Program: Once again, Hercules suggests this as a way to escape Circe.
• Camping a Crapper: Hercules suggests killing Pasiphe when she’s on the latrine, but Jason vetoes this idea.
• Catapult Nightmare: Jason wakes up from Circe’s vision like this.
• Dem Bones: Circe plants dragon teeth which grow into skeleton warriors.
• Did They or Didn't They?: While hiding from the guards, Jason and Ariadne spends the night in Ariadne’s bed. When they awaken, Ariadne wistfully thinks about how she could marry a commoner if she weren’t a princess, and Jason says he enjoyed the last night more than any other he’s had since he arrived in Atlantis.
• Gilligan Cut: After Jason notes that Circe will kill them for failing to kill Pasiphae, Pythagoras says they will think of something. Cut to Hercules saying he is completely out of ideas.
• Instant Sedation: Pythagoras invents a special sedative out of seaweed that can be used like chloroform. Subverted when Pythagoras tries to use the sedative on a guard, and it takes some time before the guard is knocked out. As Pythagoras explains, the guard’s body mass was greater than what the sedative was designed for.
• I Want Them Alive!: Pasiphae orders this about the assassin, as she wants to know why he tried to kill her and why he didn’t do it when he had the chance.
• It's All My Fault: Hercules takes responsibility for causing the sequence of events that led to Jason being indebted to Circe.
• Missed Him by That Much: Hercules and Pythagoras flee just before Jason returns, and because they aren’t in position he can’t get out the way he had planned.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Jason's attempt to kill Pasiphae (combined with his failure to do so) leads to Ariadne being caught helping him. Ariadne's actions give Pasiphae a perfect excuse to get rid of the princess and secure power for herself.
• Noodle Incident: Hercules keeps bringing up odd stories from his past.
  Hercules: I’ll have you know I once tossed a rabid bull off a cliff.
  Pythagoras: How is that even remotely relevant?!
• One Dose Fits All: Subverted. Pythagoras' seaweed sedative works on three different guards, but one of the guards takes quite a bit longer to fall unconscious than the others. Pythagoras realizes that he forgot to take different body mass into account when he made the sedative.
• Shout-Out: In mythology, planting dragon teeth in the ground causes warriors to sprout, but this episode portrays the warriors as skeletons, just like in Jason and the Argonauts .
• Squishy Wizard: Circe turns out to be this. While she is skilled at manipulating and cursing people, it only takes one stab from Jason to kill her.