Recap / Atlantis S 1 E 1 The Earth Bull

Our story begins on the steel hull of a modern ship, where Jason, a handsome young man, looks out at the sea below. The captain of the ship asks Jason if he’s sure he wants to go through with his plan on diving down. Jason holds the necklace that his father gave him and says he needs to know what happened. To investigate the disappearance of his father, Jason takes a minisub to dive down below and investigate the spot where his father’s sub was wrecked.On the seabed, the minisub comes across a piece of wreckage with the words “The Oracle” written on it. Suddenly a great light shines out through the water, and the alarms start beeping inside the minisub. Jason tries to call the ship for help, but the sub is drawn toward the light, and the portholes shatter.

The eyes of a mysterious woman open widely, and she telepathically whispers to Jason as he washes up on an unknown beach, very confused, and completely naked except for his father’s necklace. Jason sees two men about to sail away in a boat. He calls to them for help, but they don’t hear him. Out of desperation, Jason puts on a tunic that the men left behind on the beach. Climbing the nearest hill, Jason sees a large ancient-looking city nearby. Wandering into the market, Jason realizes he has somehow been transported from the modern world to this ancient mythological place. Jason wonders if he is dreaming when he comes across a bizarre lizard-like creature with two heads. The monster attacks Jason and chases him through the marketplace. Numerous market stalls are disrupted before Jason manages to subdue the creature by covering it with a basket and beating it with a stick. Two soldiers approach in armor and helmets. Not waiting to hear Jason’s explanation, they draw their swords, forcing Jason to run away. As Jason runs up to the city ramparts, More soldiers begin shooting arrows at Jason, one of them striking him in the arm. To escape, Jason leaps off of the ramparts to the roof of a house below.

Inside the house, Pythagoras, a young blonde man, sits working with pen and paper. When he hears the commotion caused by Jason, he investigates and helps pull Jason in through the second-story window. Jason hastily tries to explain what happened. The guards come in and tear the house apart, but don’t find Jason hiding in the storage cupboard under the floor. After the guards leave, Pythagoras checks on Jason and sees that he has passed out from blood loss. Pythagoras patches up Jason, and explains to him that he is in the city of Atlantis. Pythagoras introduces himself to Jason, who identifies him as “the triangle guy.”

At this point, the owner of the house returns, a stout middle-aged man who introduces himself as Hercules, much to Jason’s surprise. Before leaving, Hercules asks Jason to leave before the guards come back, as he doesn’t want to endanger himself for a stranger. Pythagoras asks Jason why he came to Atlantis, and Jason says he was searching for his father, though he has no idea where to start. Pythagoras notices Jason’s necklace and says the necklace has the mark of the Oracle, whom he can find at the temple of Poseidon.

Jason goes to the temple to speak to the Oracle. There he sees Hercules and other Atlanteans participating in some sort of ritual. The priest takes Jason to see the Oracle, and Jason asks what this place is.

Oracle: This world and the world you journeyed from are just two worlds among many.

Jason thinks he has vague memories of Atlantis and asks the Oracle how that can be. The Oracle explains that Jason’s father took him from this world when Jason was only a baby. When Jason asks more about his father, the Oracle says that he walks among the dead. She cannot say who Jason’s mother is. Jason has more and more questions about why he is here, but the Oracle says only he can bring an end to the people’s fear and suffering. Jason is more confused than ever, but all the Oracle tells him is that the first rays of the rising sun will light the path that he must follow. After Jason leaves, Melas the priest asks the Oracle why she didn’t tell Jason the truth, and she says that it will be safer for Jason if he doesn’t know who he truly is.

Pythagoras asks Jason if he will be returning home. Jason says he has no idea where home is now. A procession of men and women walk to the temple of Poseidon, led by two men in bull masks. Pythagoras explains that tomorrow people will be chosen as tributes to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Pythagoras says Jason can spend the night with him and Hercules. He says Hercules won’t even notice he’s there.

Hercules immediately notices Jason and is upset that Pythagoras is harboring a fugitive, but eventually he agrees to let Jason stay the night.That night, Jason sees Hercules sneaking outside, and goes to wake Pythagoras. Pythagoras realizes that Hercules is trying to flee the city before the tributes are selected tomorrow. They go out to find Hercules before the guards do. Hercules says the Oracle foretold he would be a tribute, so fleeing is his only chance to survive. The guards pursue the three men with hunting lions. The heroes narrowly escape by climbing up to the rooftops.

The next day, the people of Atlantis assemble before the royal court. King Minos orders that the tributes be selected by drawing stones from the mouth of a bronze bull: a white stone indicates safety, while a black stone indicates death. Hercules draws a white stone. Watched intently by the beautiful Princess Ariadne, Jason also draws a white stone. Pythagoras is unlucky and draws a black stone.

Back at home, the three companions try to come up with a strategy to survive the Minotaur, but Pythagoras thinks the situation is hopeless. Even if he were to flee Atlantis, someone else would have to be sacrificed to the Minotaur.

Back at the palace, Ariadne is upset that seven people will be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Though King Minos claims that the gods must be appeased, Ariadne questions if Minos is not the one the gods truly wish to punish. Queen Pasiphae slaps Ariadne for her words.

Pasiphae:There is a limit to a father’s love for his daughter. Even one as beautiful as you. You would do well to remember that.

As dawn arrives, the rays of the sun shine on Pythagoras’s black stone. Remembering the words of the Oracle, Jason takes the stone and sets out to take Pythagoras’ place as a tribute.Privately, Ariadne asks Jason why he is here when she remembers him drawing a white stone the day before. Jason tells her he has come to save his friend, and that the words of the Oracle make him think he might be the one to slay the Minotaur. Ariadne gives him a magical clew, or ball of thread, to help him find his way out of the Minotaur’s Labyrinth.

Pythagoras and Hercules find out what Jason has done and arm up to go rescue him.The tributes are taken to the entrance of the Labyrinth. Pythagoras and Hercules are spotted and captured. The guard general Ramos orders that they be taken into the Labyrinth, and releases two of the other tributes.The tributes are forced into the Labyrinth. Jason ties one end of Ariadne’s clew near the entrance.The tributes try to stay together, but soon the Minotaur attacks and forces them to split up. Jason runs into the minotaur in a large room of the Labyrinth filled with bones. Amongst the bones, Jason finds a dagger and manages to stab the Minotaur as it charges at him. After being stabbed, the Minotaur turns into a man. The man thanks Jason for freeing him of the curse the gods placed on him. He says he betrayed Jason’s father, and he warns Jason that Minos must never know who Jason truly is, for he has a great destiny ahead of him.

In Atlantis, the Oracle senses that the Minotaur is dead, and the priest takes this as confirmation that the prophecy is about Jason after all.Minos thanks the hero who defeated the Minotaur: Hercules! Jason returns Ariadne’s clew and thanks her. Seeing the enamored look in the Princess’s eyes, Pasiphae asks suspiciously who this young man is, though Ariadne insists he is of no consequence.

Tropes

• Break Them by Talking: Referenced. Hercules suggests that Pythagoras could bore the Minotaur to death by talking about triangles.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Several odd things happen in this episode that don't get brought up again.
  • Jason being from the modern world only seems to be so he can be a Naïve Newcomer to Atlantis. Though it is revealed that he was born in Atlantis (making him a Fish out of Temporal Water twice over) it is never explained how he ended up in the modern world in the first place.
  • The market of Atlantis is never seen to have monsters in it after this episode, and what the two headed lizard was is never explained.
  • The Atlantean guards never send out hunting lions again after this episode.
• Gilligan Cut: Pythagoras says Hercules won’t notice Jason is still in his house. We then cut to Hercules asking why Jason is still there.
• Instant Expert: Averted. When Hercules and Pythagoras arrive at the Labyrinth, Hercules tosses a sword to Jason, but Jason is immediately disarmed by the Atlantean guards. Being the hero in a mythological setting doesn’t automatically make someone good at using a sword.
• I Owe You My Life: Plays a big role in the friendship between Jason, Pythagoras and Hercules. Pythagoras saves Jason when he is shot with an arrow, Jason saves Hercules from the hunting lions, and then Jason takes Pythagoras’s place among the tributes.
• It Will Never Catch On: When Jason teases Hercules over taking credit for slaying the Minotaur, Hercules argues that it makes for a better story.
  Hercules: Say what you like, whoever heard of a hero called Jason? It’s a ridiculous name. Now Hercules, that’s a name to father a legend.