Atlantis S1E11 - "Hunger Pangs" Recap

Jason steals a scrap of bread out of starvation and a lack of money. He is chased by the merchant and he still keeps the bread with him even after it has fallen into a fountain. He escapes into a mysterious shack and stumbles across a giant slab of meat near what appears to be some sort of ritual. Jason returns home with the slab of meat intending to share it but when he finds the others aren't there, his hunger gets the best of him and he devours the whole thing himself.

Hercules is drowning his sorrows in liquor and Pythagoras tells him he can't keep wallowing like this. They have a big of a tiff and Pythagoras leaves, telling him he can walk home alone. Jason feels guilty over the leg and hides the bone and dish when Pythagoras returns home. Pythagoras nearly finds out about the meat, but Jason is saved when Hercules stumbles home drunk.

The following morning, Pythagoras finds Jason on the floor where he appears to have slept. Jason is confused, not remembering choosing to sleep on the floor. The trio discuss that they need food and money, and Pythagoras tells them he's found them a job killing rats to prevent them from chewing through a man's supply of grains and other possessions. At one point, Jason sniffs out a rat wand chases it while Pythagoras and Hercule feed on one of the man's watermelons. The man comes in and is enraged by what he sees and Jason snaps, knocking the man down. The trio run and Jason apologises, saying he doesn't know what came over him.

The following morning, Jason awakes in a chicken coop, with feathers all over himself and completely nude. He returns home and is questioned by Pythagoras and Hercules. He tells them he doesn't remember what happened or how he ended up in the chicken coop. Pythagoras points out that this incident, combined with the increased aggression in his behaviour, indicate that something has happened to him. Pythagoras questions Jason on whether he has been anywhere or done anything out of the ordinary. Jason tells Pythagoras about the shrine, and Pythagoras goes to check it out before returning home, not realising that a mysterious man with razor sharp teeth has seen him visit. He tells Jason that the shrine was for a goddess and when Jason confesses about taking and eating the meat, Pythagoras leaves to find answers regarding Jason, leaving Hercules to guard Jason. Pythagoras finds some scrolls and looks alarmed by what he finds, and hurries home concerned for Hercules' well-being. He finds Hercules passed out on the floor and wakes him, sharing his suspicion that Jason has been cursed into turning into a beast each night - think of it as an Atlantis version of lycanthropy.

Wolf-Jason attacks someone and returns home where he is knocked out by Hercules, who is scolded by Pythagoras, who tells him he's only dangerous at night. After Pythagoras leaves in search of more answers, Hercules stores Jason under the floorboard, and piles the table on top of it before beginning to drink.

The attack is reported to the palace, where Heptarian becomes determined to find and kill the beast. The king is still ill, as Pasiphae continues to poison him.

Pythagoras returns home and tells Hercules that they'll need a great deal of silver to cure Jason of his curse. They head to the temple to recruit Ariadne's help, but she is guarded so Pythagoras lights a part of his cloak on fire and panics, asking for help, and while the guard chases after him trying to put the fire out, Hercules runs up to Ariadne and gives her a note, saying it is for Jason. The note asks her to bring a pouch of silver and meet them in the temple at desk in order to help Jason. On the way home, Pythagoras and Hercules are reprimanded by the man from earlier with the rat problem and locked back into his storage facility. Jason wakes and begins trying to break out of his imprisonment beneath the floor.

A servant catches Ariadne leaving her room with the silver. Ariadne says that she must go do something for a friend and that she will be back later. After cleaning up the storage space and catching the rats, Pythagoras and Hercules are released. They head to the temple, where Ariadne has already left after waiting for them. They realise she might have gone to the house and head off after her as the sun begins to set. Jason breaks out of the floor just in time for Ariadne to knock on the door. He panics when he opens the door (naked) and slams the door in her face. He covers himself and is about to let her in but then begins to refuse as he sees the sun is setting. He wants her to leave, saying that it's dangerous for her. He finally lets her in, not wanting to be rude, but he is panicking as he sees he is beginning to change. Ariadne is concerned for him and heads to the kitchen to get him some water. While her back is turned, Jason is about to pounce on her but Pythagoras and Hercules arrive home in time to grab him and shove him into another room where he cannot reach Ariadne. She questions them on what is wrong with Jason, but they are evasive. She gives them the silver and returns to the palace. They find that Jason has escaped.

At the palace, Heptarian and his men are preparing to hunt down the beast. Pythagoras and Hercules melt the silver down and prepare to get Jason back, after which he must drink the silver. They manage to find wolf-Jason and get him locked up, prepared to keep him in there before the sun comes up. Pythagoras voices his desire to be able to measure the passage of time for situations such as this or any other time, and Hercules goes to sleep, bored by his intellectual ramblings. The following morning, Pythagoras wakes Hercules, saying that a swinging pendulum could be used to measure the passage of time, and when they head inside, they find Jason. Right as they prepare to leave, Jason is attacked by the man with the razor sharp teeth previously seen spying on Pythagoras. As the trio fights the snarling man, Pythagoras says that wolfsbane and mountain ash have been used to fight these creatures but eventually knocks one of the stone statues over to kill their attacker.

When they return home, they give Jason the silver and Jason's first words after finishing gagging over the concoction are, "Please tell me Ariadne doesn't know I was a dog." Pythagoras says she probably won't remember and Hercules retorts that womyn have longer memories than the gods. Pythagoras scolds him, saying he's trying to not make Jason worry. Jason shares his concerns, saying that he virtually slammed the door in her face, might have sniffed her, and that he growled at her. Leave it to Jason to be more concerned about embarrassing himself in front of the girl of his dreams than the fact that he nearly just died. Again.

Atlantis airs on Saturdays on BBC One.