Atlantis S2E9 - "The Gorgon's Gaze" Recap

The new Oracle, Cassandra, declares that the Gods are angry because the rightful heir to the throne is not ruling. The gods have not recognised her as Atlantis' ruler. Pasiphae orders her to be taken away and begins to panic but is advised by her seedy sidekick to force Ariadne to publicly renounce her title and swear allegiance to Pasiphae. Ariadne refuses to do so, so Pasiphae has Delmos taken away to be tortured for her disobeying.

Ariadne gets a still-loyal guard to go to find Jason and the others. Medusa and Pythagoras are the ones met by the guard and Medusa advises him not to tell Jason for fear that he will do something rash. She does, however, have a plan. Pythagoras will go back into the city, since Hercules and Jason are both wanted men.

Delmos is returned to Ariadne's cell, badly wounded, but he makes her promise not to give in no matter what. Pasiphae later returns to the cell to press Ariadne again to give in but she refuses, preferring to die instead. But Pasiphae will not kill Ariadne. Instead, she kills Delmos.

Pythagoras makes it into the city to meet with friends Daedalus and his son Icarus. He says he needs to get back into the temple in order to retrieve Pandora's box. The plan works and Pythagoras makes it into the temple. Melas catches him and nearly calls the guards but Pythagoras convinces him that it is for the good of the city to help undo the bad he has done and so Melas helps him escape.

Pythagoras returns to Medusa and tells her she doesn't have to go through with her plan. She says she doesn't plan to live for long with this cursed state. She begs Pythagoras to not tell Hercules or Jason. Pythagoras only tells them that though Ariadne is still alive, others in the city have not fared so well. Jason want to run into the city but Pythagoras warns him that doing so without a plan would mean certain death and then Ariadne would have no one to help her.

Pasiphae has Ariadne strung up in the cell so Medea can torture her into giving in. Despite all the torture, Ariadne refuses to break.

Medusa says her goodbyes to Hercules and drugs his food so he won't be able to stop her from going through with her plan. It's then that Medusa and Pythagoras let Jason in on the plan. Jason doesn't want to use this plan but Medusa says she cannot live with the guilt of what she has done. She cannot live a happy life with everything she's done but her death can save Atlantis. She wants Jason to just use her head as the rest of her would "only slow them down." Medusa leaves, saying she will wait in a cave for Jason. Jason is the only one immune to her cursed gaze so he must be the one to wield her power. Alone in the cave, Medusa revives her curse.

Jason arrives and Medusa begs him to do this to save everyone. He leaves the cave with his bloody sword and Medusa's severed head in hand. Hercules wakes and Pythagoras must deliver the bad news. Hercules is devastated.

Jason enters Atlantis and turns guards to stone with Medusa's severed head. When Pasiphae hears the news, she orders him killed but no one can do so because of the gaze of the Gorgon. Perspire takes a sword from a guard and declares that she will take care of this herself. Pasiphae and Jason meet alone and she reveals that she is immune to the Gorgon's gaze, to which Jason responds that he will kill her himself. He easily disarms her and prepares to kill her but she then reveals that she is his mother. Jason seems to know that this is true so he moves his sword away from her throat. But when Pasiphae tries to escape, he knocks her out. Still, Jason is unable to kill her and tosses his sword aside in a fit of rage. Medea appears and confirms Pasiphae's statement. She then says that he, like Pasiphae, is touched by the gods and this is why he can wield the sword better than others and he is immune to the Gorgon's gaze. Medea also claims that the two of them have feelings for each other. Jason says he only feels hatred for her.

Jason heads to the cell and lets Ariadne out, also giving her a gauze to cover her eyes, warning her not to take it off no matter what. The two then walk out together, hand in hand.

Atlantis airs on Saturdays on BBC One at 9PM.