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"Last week, it was Hercules (Mark Addy) feeling the bitter sting of heartbreak and now it&amp;#039;s Jason (Jack Donnelly) who&amp;#039;s suffering from unrequited love pangs as the Royal family - absent from last week&amp;#039;s Atlantis - return to the fore.  Jason is devastated when he learns that the woman he loves has been promised to another and when King Minos (Alexander Siddig) announces a fighting contest, the Pancratium, to mark his daughter&amp;#039;s impending nuptials, our headstrong hero signs himself up\u2026 Herein lies the biggest problem with &amp;#039;The Rules of Engagement&amp;#039; - it&amp;#039;s hard to buy into the passionate relationship between Jason and Ariadne (Aiysha Hart) simply because they&amp;#039;ve spent so little time together on screen - episode five &amp;#039;White Lies&amp;#039; being a rare exception on that front. With their Romeo and Juliet tale having taken up so little screentime, Jason&amp;#039;s affections come off like the crush of an impetuous young man and so many of his actions in this episode feel immature and ill-judged. This issue - which it should be made clear is more down to scripting than performance - is briefly addressed, with Jason and the princess acknowledging that they share strong feelings despite having spent &amp;quot;hardly any time at all&amp;quot; together. But the whole thing still doesn&amp;#039;t quite ring true, despite Donnelly and Hart&amp;#039;s best efforts.  It&amp;#039;s a pretty big flaw, though not a fatal one and once the Pancratium - or &amp;#039;the battle of the shirtless hunks&amp;#039; - begins, there&amp;#039;s plenty to enjoy. This week, Atlantis indulges in scenes of violence a little more visceral than viewers might be used to, with thrashings, stabbings, broken bones and dislocated limbs\u2026 Heptarian (Oliver Walker) certainly benefits as a character from these battle scenes. As a villain, he&amp;#039;s still a little wet - little more than Pasiphae&amp;#039;s lapdog - but the Pancratian scenes do at least allow him to display a little of his physical prowess. As the contest continues, Jason is injured repeatedly in combat, ignoring Ariadne&amp;#039;s pleas to exit the contest and Pythagoras&amp;#039;s urgings to throw the contest in Heptarian&amp;#039;s favour. But for all Jason&amp;#039;s posturing, &amp;#039;The Rules of Engagement&amp;#039; is really Ariadne&amp;#039;s story - when Jason emerges triumphant in the final contest, she uses his unlikely victory as evidence that her union with Heptarian is not the will of the Gods. His victory gives her strength, strength to stand up for what&amp;#039;s right, and let&amp;#039;s hope that the cruel demise of her servant at episode&amp;#039;s end has hasn&amp;#039;t quenched that fire. Ariadne&amp;#039;s far more fun as a brazen young woman - exchanging barbs with the wicked Pasiphae (Sarah Parish) - than she is as a simpering princess.  &amp;#039;The Rules of Engagement&amp;#039; also devotes a little time to correcting a big mistake from &amp;#039;The Song of the Sirens&amp;#039; - the resolution to last week&amp;#039;s Hercules / Medusa plot was badly bungled, with her horrified reaction to his misdeeds being played for laughs and, worse, occurring off screen. This episode does at least give Hercules&amp;#039;s efforts to repair his relationship with Medusa (Jemima Rooper) significant screen time and builds on one of the previous episode&amp;#039;s most satisfactory elements - its exploration of Hercules&amp;#039; backstory. While Medusa is a little to quick to forgive her friend, his sad confession about his inflated reputation and her move to defend him from his friends&amp;#039; jibes are both lovely moments, played just right by Addy and Rooper. But ultimately &amp;#039;The Rules of Engagement&amp;#039; is pretty indicative of Atlantis as a whole, blessed with the same strengths and riddled with the same weaknesses as many of the show&amp;#039;s past episodes. There&amp;#039;s strong performances, some decent visuals and some impressively-staged action scenes, but they&amp;#039;re all propping up a frustratingly underdeveloped script that never digs quite as deep as you&amp;#039;d like it to.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/atlantis/news/a529292/atlantis-episode-7-review-sharp-blades-and-sharp-cheekbones/>