It dropped the ball as many times as it scored last year, but opening its second series a week ago, Atlantis impressed with an offering that dared to delve a little deeper and darker, while still remaining family-friendly fare.
Part two of opener 'A New Dawn' remains tonally consistent with what came before and is even more visually impressive, opening on a spectacular battle sequence that, while not quite up to Lord of the Rings standards, is a mighty impressive thing to have achieved on a BBC budget.
Pasiphae's forces descend on Atlantis in a flurry of blood and fire, but this Saturday night series still wears its 'suitable for kids' badge with pride - rest assured, there's nothing here that would traumatise a child.
Meanwhile, Hercules and Pythagoras carry a prone Jason through a cave system, pursued by an aggressive Cyclops, and while again these visuals cannot hope to compete with Hollywood's blockbusters, Atlantis wisely keeping the beast cloaked in shadow whenever it's on-screen and the final effect isn't half bad.
Wisely though, the series seems to be shifting its focus to more human villains - Pasiphae's reinvention as a warlord is great fun, her ruthless execution of Lord Sarpedon a grisly highlight, but this episode also adds more layers to the character as we see her exhibit compassion and what appears to be genuine love for Jason.
With their friend incapacitated, Pythagoras and Hercules must step up in the early going. The latter in particular takes on more of a leading man role, tackling the Cyclops to save his friends, and having witnessed Pasiphae save Jason, I'm intrigued to see what he'll do with his knowledge of her motives. All in all, plenty of positive progression for the one-time clown.
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Robert Pugh's short-lived Sarpedon is also afforded welcome growth, coming to regret his traitorous actions and confessing his crimes. I was a big Merlin fan, but for all that show's supposed superiority over Atlantis, its own insidious antagonists - such as Nathaniel Parker's Agravaine - were often more one-note.
Aishya Hart's maturing Ariadne - now a Queen, who is (no pun intended) under pressure - sentences Sarpedon to death. Though she ultimately opts to send him back to Pasiphae as a spy, the pressures of the Crown will clearly be taking their toll and sooner or later, Ariadne will have somebody's blood on her hands.
Sarpedon's failed effort to assassinate Pasiphae also throws up another twist, with potentially long-reaching ramifications - Medea has magic.
Though I don't think it's been explicitly stated on-screen what her connection is to Pasiphae, promotional materials confirm that they are aunt and niece, which - given Pasiphae's own connection to Jason - casts his upcoming dalliance with Medea in a new and... erm... complicated light.
But for all its positive qualities, 'A New Dawn: Part Two' is unfortunately blighted by a central plot that never bothers to extend beyond the utterly predictable. Step by step, the battle for Atlantis unfolds exactly as you'd expect - the Palladium being returned to its rightful home with little incident.
Of course, the deserters who'd fled then return to fill out Ariadne's ranks and the city is saved in the nick of time - even Jason doesn't sound very surprised when the absent soldiers make their timely reappearance.
Atlantis continues to pitch a shade darker here and benefits from it. A New Dawn: Part Two' is impressive on both a visual and tonal front and boasts some decent character moments, enticing in its foreshadowing of what's to come - It's just a pity that mechanics through which this particular episode resolves itself are so predictable.
