Jason is hungry. Very hungry. In a world where no one seems to do anything for a living but sell fruit (and bread), it seems money does run out eventually. Jason is trying to wrangle a loaf of bread from a seller, but seeing as the oikos still owes him for the last three loafs, the seller isn't having any of Jason's rain check ideas so Jason is forced to look elsewhere for sustenance... or steal a loaf. Call me crazy, but I think we're going for 'filler episode' today.
Jason ruses though the streets with a loaf of bread, drops it in a fountain, fishes it out, breaks an entering and ends up in this creepy little oikos with skulls mounted on the walls, and animal parts and blood everywhere. Also, a creepy three-faced statue. Jason, I'm not sure you are supposed to be here. I am definitely sure you were not supposed to steal a pre-cooked goat's leg, which is exactly what he has done. He arrives home triumphantly, but no one's there. As such he is ‘forced’ to eat goat alone--he doesn't mind and munches away on the leg after restraining himself from doing so for the barest minimum of time.
Hercules and Pythagoras are drinking in a bar--well, Hercules is drinking in a bar while Pythagoras is trying to keep him from drinking more. Hercules is wallowing in his sadness and blaming Pythagoras for the fact he isn't dead. This is the quietest bar in the history of bars, by the way. The two friends bicker about love and friendship, and Pythagoras leaves in a huff. Hercules really is being an ass.
Back at the oikos, Jason has finished an entire leg of goat and if forced to smuggle away the remains of the meat while Pythagoras laments his hunger. Jason guiltily swallows the huge bite of said food still in his mouth. Best friend material, right there. Pythagoras says he can almost smell the meat... and then realizes he can actually smell it. Jason is saved by a drunk Hercules who comes home ad apologetically stumbles into his arms, giving Jason a chance to throw the carcass out of the window.
That night, a hooded man prowls the streets. He draws a knife and enters the creepy hut. He sniffs the air and realizes his leg of goat is gone--at that point in time he throws his head back and screams, baring pointy monster teeth and cultic tattoos. Oh boy.
Pythagoras wakes Jason, who seems to have fallen asleep on the floor instead of his bed. Jason is foggy on how he got there, but as far as odd things go, this is hardly the worst of it, so no one is too worried. Everyone but one of them is very hungry, though, and there is a solution: Pythagoras has gotten them a job protecting a food storage against rats. Their job: kill rats, all and any rats. While the boys eat, Jason gets down on all fours and literally sniffs out a rat. This is definitely a new skill for him. Wreaking things in pursuit of said rat, however, is not. Let us say that they are fired--especially when Jason punches down the merchant Maro (Simon Nehan). They make a run for it and Jason is having a bit of a hard time; he scratches his head like he's got flees, and walks off, slight dazed.
In the night that follows, Pythagoras is awoken by something in their home--a sound of a animal walking around and a growl. Once he gets up and outside, though, whatever it was is gone... until it suddenly pounces on him. It's a huge hound... and when he rushes back inside, he sees Jason is gone, his bed turned over.
Chickens reign in the new day and a nude and dirty Jason is laying between them, feathers in his mouth, sound asleep. He wakes with a start and spits out said feathers. That the hell happened? Carefully placed bits of straw, pottery, and a chicken keep Jason's privates private as he makes his way home in a panic. Said chicken, by the way? Yeah, he pecked there.
Hercules and Pythagoras are waiting for Jason once he returns. Hercules covers Pythagoras' eyes, but with the little boy-crush Pythagoras is nursing, he has to sneak a peek, of course. Hercules questions what the hell happened. Jason has no clue. Pythagoras puts two and two together and asks if Jason has done or been somewhere out of the ordinary. Jason tells about the creepy oikos and Pythagoras goes to explore. Entering the described oikos, he discovers it's actually a shrine... and he realizes they are in a heap of trouble--especially when it's revealed the creepy fellow from before has seen him.
Back in the oikos, Pythagoras reveals that the shrine is a shrine to Hekate and Hercules grumbles. No one really seems to like Hekate. I could write an essay about how inaccurate this is but--oh, wait, I already did once! Anyway, Atlantis!Hecate is pretty terrible, it seems, and solely the Goddess of witchcraft. Too bad no one on this show picked up a copy of Hesiod's work. For those of you not looking to read the essay about Hekate I wrote, let me suffice with the TL;DR version which basically goes: Hekate is and was a household Goddess who every ancient Hellen prayed to at least once month during the dark of the moon. Yes, witchcraft was in her portfolio, but it does not mean what you think it does. Now, please excuse me while I suspend disbelief to get through the rest of this recap.
Jason tries to hide the fact he stole Hekate's sacrifice but he eventually has to come clean. The boys are not sure what happens now, but whatever it is, it is not good. Hercules is under strict orders not to let Jason go anywhere as Pythagoras tries to find some answers. It's all rather uncomfortable. In the next scene, Pythagoras rushes through scrolls in the library and finds something that upsets him greatly. He checks the position of the sun and sees it's almost dusk. At this, he rushes home.
The house is turned up-side-down, and Hercules is lying on the floor, out cold. He mumbles something about Medusa before Pythagoras dumps water on him and he wakes up with a start. Pythagoras rushes to explain: according to some sources, the hounds that accompany Hekate are not actually hounds at all, but her priests turned into monsters. Hercules doesn't believe, but Pythagoras is adamant that Jason has been cursed by Hekate.
Hound!Jason, meanwhile, is stalking goats--and he kills one while the owner wakes up and looks one, frightened out of his skull. the next morning, he returns home naked again, and is promptly knocked out with a frying pan by Hercules. It wasn't exactly necessary, but Hercules is a little bit freaked out by all of this. To keep Jason--and himself--safe, he dumps Jason int he hatch they previously used for Pandora's box. Pythagoras, meanwhile, is making a mess of the library.
The owner of the goat has ran to the palace guards--and Ramos (Joe Dixon), captain of the City Guard, in particular who then rushes to Heptarian--and tells his tale. Heptarian asks to be kept in the loop. Elsewhere in the palace, Minos is ill, and keeps getting sicker because Pasiphaê keeps poisoning him.
Pythagoras has--sort of--found a cure. It may kill him, but at least it is a chance. It also requires silver--a precious metal they are not actually in possession of right now. So, they turn to the one person they know who can get it: Ariadne, who comes to the temple of Poseidon to pray at the same time every day. She's even in the correct position to do so--hands raised to the sky, palms up, and standing. At least this episode got one thing right.
Seeing as there are guards around Ariadne, the boys think of a plan: Pythagoras sets his cloak on fire, rushes out, and gets the guards to follow him while Hercules rushes up to Ariadne with a note and a message: 'it's for Jason'. Ariadne looks shocked and I cannot blame her. The guards save Pythagoras, Hercules smiles sweetly at Ariadne and the boys are off, mission accomplished. Ariadne reads the message--which says to bring a pouch of silver to the temple at dusk--and looks worried.
On the way home, Maro, the merchant who they were supposed to catch rats for but who they ended up wrecking the warehouse of catches up to them with a couple of friends and they are dragged to the warehouse. They will be let go when they have cleaned up the mess and taken care of the rats. Worried they will not be done in time, they get to work. Meanwhile at the oikos, Jason has woken up and is none too pleased by being locked up.
At the palace, Ariadne gathers anything silver she has and wraps it into a bundle that promptly falls to the floor as she bumps into her
Hercules is eating while Pythagoras works and worries. Herc does, however, figure out that baiting the rats will actually get them the rats. Ariadne meanwhile takes a secret passageway out of the palace and makes it to the temple. Sadly, Pythagoras and Hercules aren't there yet and at the oikos, Jason has broken his way out of his tiny cell--just in time for dusk to fall.
Ariadne can't wait anymore; she leaves while Pythagoras and Hercules enter. The two realize that Ariadne might have gone to the house and that she does not know what's wrong with Jason. This is, indeed, the case--a very naked Jason opens the door to a shocked Ariadne. He throws the door shut and covers himself before opening the door again. As they talk, the sun sets and Jason starts changing into the wolf while Pythagoras and Hercules are still rushing towards the oikos.
Ariadne worries about water while Jason changes further. Before Jason can fully change and attack Ariadne, Hercules ruses in and tackles Jason into a spare room. While the boys try to come up with an explanation for Jason's weird behavior to Ariadne, it sounds like Jason is fully transforming. Ariadne hands over the silver and the boys rush into the room. They are, however, too late; Jason is out the window.
A patrol spots Hound!Jason and Heptarian is informed. The garrison takes off on the hunt while Pythagoras and Hercules mlt the silver. They fix the cure and now they only have to find Jason--who will be where Hekate's presence is strongest: her temple.
It's a rush against time and the garrison and they manage to win it. They lure Hound!Jason into the temple and he miraculously remains quiet enough for the garrison to pass by. While Pythagoras and Hercules wait for the sun to come up, Pythagoras realizes they need some way to measure time--something the person he's based upon is famous for.
The next morning, they unbar the door to the temple and find something for Jason to wear. Jason has, indeed, changed back. Jason only has enough time to pull on pants before Hekate's priest Eos (Michael Jenn) attacks him. Jason gets bitten by him but the three of them manage to kill the priest--by dropping Hekate's statue on him and squashing him between the altar and the statue. Ouch, and that is both for the man and the horrible desecration to my beloved Hekate's 'temple'.
Back at the oikos, Jason drinks the potion and manages to survive it. The first thing he asks is if Ariadne knows he was a dog for a while. He's very worried about his future love life, and the boys aren't helping matters any. Poor Jason, at least he's not a dog anymore.
Next time on Atlantis: Circe is back to remind Jason of the oath he swore way back when, and Mission Impossible is on.
How are you feeling about this week's episode? Personally, I was hugely offended by the portrayal of Hekate and the fact that there are suddenly werewolves in ancient Hellas, but I realize this is a show and one not made with Hellenists in mind. Would you like to share your thoughts on the subject?
Personally, I gave up after four episodes, not just because of the misrepresentations of Hellenism, but because it's so dull! Every episode is about 20 minutes too long and are basically just rehashes of old episodes of Merlin, but in a different setting.
ReplyDeleteSo you're braver and more tolerant than me to still be watching!
Personally i found it a pretty funny episode! Hekate..hmm not too sure about it as it was a very vague description of her as a goddess other than being of witchcraft, which is in her portfolio, but she is a bit more than that I would say! All in all i think it was a filler episode and didn't really move the story along at all, except now we know what pasiphae has been doing to her husband the past couple of weeks, which i think is setting up the storyline for the next episode, which i can't wait to see!
ReplyDelete@Rob Buckley: Sometimes I wonder why I still watch, and mostly why I still recap, but you know, it's not like we have much to choose from and I'm used to picking at scarps from spending time in the lesbian scene. We get far more representation now in that community so we can make demands--but beggars can't be choosers and I will support anything set in 'ancient' Greece.
ReplyDelete@UltravioletAngel: I look forward to the next episode in the hope it forwards the plot. Hekate's representation drove me nuts, and it spoiled the episode for me but you know... we are not the target audience. It is what it is, I fear.
I know what you mean about scarcity. I did do a round-up of TV programmes based around Hellenism a while back and there wasn't that many I could list - if you can think of others, let me know. My favourite is still The Aphrodite Inheritance, which is available on YouTube as well.
ReplyDeleteNice round-up! At first glance I can't find anything to add, but I'll think about it. I missValentine, by the way. Loved that show!
DeleteThanks! I quite liked Valentine. The weekly match-making plots didn't really work for me (not being a teenager…) but the ongoing plots involving the gods were really good - if they'd stuck to them, they'd have had a great show. I wonder if they just assumed no one watching The CW would be interested otherwise.
ReplyDelete@Rob Buckley: Yeah, the matchmaking wasn't my thing either, but I enjoyed it well enough. The stories of the Gods were totally the best, and I enjoyed them very much. But yes, I guess they figured this would be the only way... Too bad, really.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I would add (and I know I'm more than a year late with this!) is that surely it was in Greek mythology that Lycaon of Arcadia was transformed into a wolf which is where we get the word lycanthrope from. I seem to remember that Hesiod (among others) wrote about it. Of course I could be wrong..... ;-)
ReplyDelete