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Atlantis "The Day of the Dead" Review (Spoilers!)

12/16/2014

 
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by Helen Langdon

Usually when Atlantis does death, the only victims are random extras with their faces out of focus. But “The Day of the Dead” saw the show kill off and seriously injure several of its named characters. Not entirely permanently, though, as this episode was Atlantis’ foray into horror movie territory, using the most Greek of monsters... zombies.

The episode plays out like a checklist of all of the greatest zombie movie tropes. You’ve got the old friend dying and then returning as a zombie to attack those he once protected (Dion shambling along). Then there’s someone getting bitten in the first attack, and with no-one aware of how the virus (spell) spreads, he ends up dying, turning and attacking (Diagoras). And then someone getting bitten and hiding it, leading to an emotional death scene (Eurydice, with a neat set-up to send Orpheus into Hades after her). 
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So, yeah, you’ve seen all the beats before, but that doesn’t make it feel stale – it works really well for Atlantis. First off, Atlantis is really fond of setting things in caves, and it’s perfect for the horror movie vibe as the flickering torchlight means anything could be hiding in the shadows (it does raise the question of why they don’t try to use said torches to ignite the desiccated corpses, but maybe they thought they couldn’t get past the leather armour). And the design of the undead soldiers is brilliant, with the camera never lingering on the bodies long enough to see the make-up, and instead most of the dread coming from the unearthly screeching they make. Especially in scenes where the music drops out, the tension is racketed up as you’re waiting to hear the start of a shriek.

It might even end up being better than your traditional zombie film, given that there’s a coherent reason for the zombies rising from the dead (Pasiphae’s “dying” act) and there’s an actual way to defeat them that makes sense within the narrative (destroy the written curse). It doesn’t rely on stumbling across something magic that makes it all better, but rather uses Medea’s knowledge, Jason’s fighting skills and Hercules’ strength to save the day. 

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Every week, Atlantis is getting more... violent is the wrong word, but main characters are getting seriously injured, letting us know that the stakes are being raised. In “The Marriage of True Minds”, Dion died, Telemon was left for dead in the desert and Pasiphae was shot in the side. In “The Day of the Dead”, as well as killing off secondary characters, Jason broke his leg (he’s been injured nearly every episode – he’s turning into the resident swooning damsel) and Ariadne got stabbed in the side. She was doomed as soon as she declared her love for Jason – you should always wait until you’re out of a life-or-death situation to start talking about relationships.

Altogether, this was a brilliant episode of Atlantis, using the basis of a horror film to create an episode that felt unique to the show. It made sense, was scary and didn’t abandon character development for plot. And with several characters injured, who’s going to make it to the finale? Can the Oracle save Ariadne’s life next week?


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    TV Editor: Graham Osborne
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