The new BBC show Atlantis is clearly designed for fans of Merlin. That’s clear from the premise (mythology), the monster-of-the-week format, the blatant fanservice and the close male friendship that’s being developed as the main relationship of the show. But this is a quick review, so let me just give you some initial thoughts.
Atlantis follows the story of Jason, a young man raised in modern times who ends up in said lost city when he goes looking for the wreckage of the submarine his father went missing in. It is, to be frank, a premise badly dealt with. You get all of five minutes in the present day before he is sent back, and the audience is left with absolutely no idea of the kind of person he is (other than “daddy issues”) before he’s sent back in time. It makes you wonder if the discovering the lost city gimmick is worth it. If they wanted to write Greek mythology, why not make Jason a country boy travelling to the city to find himself – or his father? It worked with Merlin. It’s clichéd yes, but much less so than having him sucked into a swirling portal under the sea and ending up in Ancient Greece.
Once in Atlantis, Jason meets Pythagoras. Yes, you heard me. The triangle guy. And it’s funny, and unexpected, and completely bizarre. The BBC has clearly realised why Merlin was so popular, and it wasn’t the great special effects. Jason and Pythagoras are clearly written to be shippable – their first interaction consists of Jason falling on top of him. It bothers me, mostly because it’s just so obviously there to get the slash fans, and we can already guess that they’re not going to write in a queer relationship. It’s Merlin and Arthur all over again, which I find both funny and irritating as hell.
Long story short, Jason goes to fight a Minotaur. An attractive woman who looks as though she’s been shoehorned in as a love interest but has had absolutely no character development of her own other than “daddy issues” gives him the thread find his way get though the labyrinth. He kills the Minotaur in an anti-climatic scene, discovers he has a dramatic destiny and walks off laughing and joking with his new buddies.
All in all, it was clumsily written, but I know I’m going to watch it anyway.
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