HTLJ Review - Atlantis
Time for today's HTLJ review!
Atlantis
Season 3 Episode 22
Now we know why they did a cheap episode - so they'd have more money for this one, which had to have cost quite a bit.
A dark-haired woman wakes up in a sweat after dreaming about falling into a pit and being rescued by Hercules. The dream sequence was done well, bringing in the sense of premonition. The woman says, "He's coming."
Herc is on a ship, and the crew jumps overboard because of a storm, while Herc gets knocked over by some rigging. He washes up on the beach, where he's found by the dark-haired woman, Cassandra, who says she's been waiting for him. It's interesting that S3 starts with a shipwreck and ends with one, too. It's almost the same visual, with Herc waking up on a beach. Cassandra tells him they're on Atlantis.
Back at Cassandra's home, they talk more about the storm, and she reveals to him that she's been expecting him because of her visions, and that Atlantis is going to be destroyed. She thinks he's going to save them. Herc is skeptical, but he seems to sense that this woman is not crazy.
She takes him out to the garden to pick some corn, but the corn is sick. She says she hasn't been able to keep the garden alive. She tells Herc more about her dream, and that she hasn't told anybody yet because she's an outsider, and they wouldn't believe her. Herc tells her she needs to let the others know, and she agrees.
They go into the city. Herc has to wear a gold toga to fit in with the other citizens, because Cassandra would be punished if she were caught with an outsider. (On the way there, a plane flies low over their heads, and Herc is amazed, since they don't have those in Ancient Greece.) It's clear that the other Atlantians don't like her much. There's a short bit where a salesman tries to sell Herc a crystal-wave oven, until he finds out he's with Cassandra. Cass tells Herc that everything on Atlantis is powered by crystals. They're much more technologically advanced than the Greeks, and they don't believe in the gods, but Cass isn't surprised to find out that the old "myths" are really true when Herc tells her he's the son of a god.
Cass and Herc go to warn King Panthius about the island's imminent destruction, but he laughs at them. They don't believe in visions, and Panthius accuses her of spreading fear and superstition. They don't believe in things that they can't explain with reason.
That night, Herc and Cass are back at her house, sleeping, when Cass has a disturbing vision of fire, and right then some of the Atlantians come with torches and burn the hut to the ground. Herc saves her by tossing her through the thatched roof, then tumbling through the wall of flames and catching her. The people are amazed to see Herc passing through the fire without getting burned, so they take their story back to King Panthius, who tells them it's all nonsense, and that it couldn't have happened.
The next day, Herc and Cassandra are walking outside. She asks him what life is like in the rest of the world. H: "It's beautiful. Every place is different-- its own-- unique
people-- customs." I think this trip is making him appreciate his homeland. While they're in the forest, they see a giant, steaming fissure in the ground, and Cass notices that the birds are gone, because they know what's about to happen.
The two get stopped by some guards carrying crystal-powered weapons. Herc saves Cass from getting blasted with one, but ends up taking the brunt of it himself.
Panthius brings the two back in to question them, and this time he takes them a little more seriously, and tells them Cassandra will be punished: "She has greatly upset the order of our society by bringing you here! In Atlantis-- order-- and progress-are supreme. You might say they're _our_ religion." He also shows them his new crystal-powered weapon, which he uses to blow up the ship that Herc came in on. Herc thinks the crew has been killed, but Panthius doesn't care. He orders Herc to be taken away.
Panthius also talks to the people and does a trick with mirrors, making it look like he's walking through fire, to assuage the people's fears. Then he tortures Cassandra by putting her in an electric chair and forcing her to tell what she knows (which she's already done, but he doesn't believe her).
Meanwhile, Herc breaks out of the prison and discovers the crew working in an underground mine. They put the facts together and realize that the island is sinking because the mining is weakening the foundation, and the underground is flooding. Herc helps the men to reach the shore, and makes Demetrius (the captain) promise to go on without him if he doesn't make it back in time.
Herc has to make his way back to the city to save Cassandra while being shot at by some airplanes. He gets there just as the whole city is crumbling, and people are being crushed by falling pillars. He manages to save Cassandra from falling into a pit that has opened up in the floor of the building, thus fulfilling her dream about him. They manage to get away in one of the abandoned airplanes, and they find their way to the ship as Atlantis and its people are sucked into the ocean.
Cassandra says she'll miss her home, but she thanks Herc for believing in her. She gives him a sweet kiss on the cheek in appreciation. It seems like they were trying to hint at a possible romance between the two, but I didn't sense any sexual sparks between Sorbo and Claudia Black, so I'm glad they didn't push it. I like the friendship between them, though.
This was a strong finish for S3 (much better than "Cave of Echoes," for sure, which Eric Gruendeman and KS poke fun at in the interview for "Atlantis). They also speak warmly of Claudia Black, who was a fantastic guest star, beautiful and having a strong, memorable presence.
The idea of using the Atlantis myth was a good one, and it gave us a chance to see a contrasting society from the Greeks on HTLJ, and yet, we find that they're really not so different at all. We still had an angry mob with torches, a dictatorial ruler who's gotten his hands on a WMD, and a lonely outsider who is treated with scorn by the other people.
I don't feel like this episode is really anti-science, although it seems like it might be on the surface. The thing is that the Atlantians aren't really about scientific reasoning at all, because their knowledge has become (pardon the pun) crystallized into an alternate to religious dogma. They're not willing to question the universe, because they think they already have all the answers, which is anti-science.
I also think Cassandra's visions aren't supposed to push us in favor of clinging to myth and superstition, but rather to show the importance of being in tune with nature and intuition. Cassandra, like the disappearing birds, takes her cues from the land, and is open to the possibility of things that can't be explained with facts that are already known.
"Atlantis" is not the very best episode of S3, but it does provide the season with a strong dramatic finish, showing that TPTB were still innovating, and boding well for the fourth season.
Disclaimer: WARNING: Crystal-waves were used during the production of this motion picture. Pregnant women should leave the room immediately.