Summary
Ten years before the present. We start out on a plane
flying over the ocean. A young boy (young Arthur/Orin Curry)
watches dolphins swim below as his mother and stepfather
(cast member Lou Diamond Phillips, playing Coast Guard
officer Tom Curry) talk on the radio. Arthur has been helping
his mother with a research project, and he brags to his
father that he can hold his breath for almost five minutes
underwater (his father then remarks that he must be part
fish).
Suddenly, the radio goes out, and things start to get
strange. A bright light start to glow, and a giant beam
of light (followed by a huge tornado of water) emerges
from below the sea. Atlanna tries to maneuver around the
torpedoes of water that appear to be firing right at the
small plane. The plane is hit directly, and it starts to
sink into the ocean. Atlanna tells her son that “they’re
coming for you,” attaching a small necklace to his
neck and telling him to do good with his life.
Showing superhuman strength, Atlanna kicks open the plane’s
hatch as another superhuman creature starts to punch his
way through the plane’s hull. As the plane spins
down, Orin/Arthur is left to fend for himself. He’s
only able to survive when an army of whales lifts him to
the surface and carries him to shore.
We fast forward to Tempest Key, Florida in the present.
An older Arthur (known as AC, played by Justin Hartley)
swims among a school of fish. There’s something very
marine-like to his movement, and he seems to be able to
breathe underwater. Suddenly, he speeds at a super-human
rate to his boat (the Quint).
A sheriff comes to question AC aboard his boat about the
disappearance of five dolphins. Arthur claims he wasn’t
there, but photos prove that he was. He’s arrested
and promptly bailed out by his father, who seems to be
disappointed by AC’s “third arrest this year.”
But even after Tom lets AC know how devoted he is as a
father, AC wants to know more about his mother. It’s
been exactly 10 years since she disappeared, and Arthur
knows there’s more to the story. AC is putting off
college and appears to be wasting his potential, but he’s
promised himself that he won’t leave until he finds
out what happened to Atlanna.
We’re introduced to Eva (played by the beautiful
Amber McDonald) who’s threatened to take away Arthur’s
boat because of his lack of responsibility. When things
get serious, AC tells Eva that he felt like the dolphins
were calling him to free them, so he did. He calls it a
kind of “empathy” and it seems to win her over.
Then enters McCaffery, played by Ving Rhames. He says
he runs the lighthouse in town, and he’s seen AC
swim before. Arthur isn’t really paying attention
until McCaffery brings up Atlanna and her disappearance.
But as soon as AC is interested, McCaffery gets up and
leaves.
We shift to Mercy Reef, 25 miles away from Tempest Key.
A man is being brought aboard Tom’s rescue helicopter,
wearing a similar necklace to that of AC’s. He tells
Tom that “they’re coming” and that he “must
warn Orin.”
We then meet Rachel Torres (played by Denise Quinones,
who played the Avenging Angel in a fifth season episode
of Smallville), a fighter pilot who’s assigned to
fly over Mercy Reef. She looks to be out to prove herself,
and she’s encouraged to be given the chance. The
military is intrigued by the lone man in the middle of
nowhere, and she’s being sent to check for things
that are out of the ordinary.
Coincidentally, as Torres is flying, AC is swimming away
at full speed. Seeing her plane flying above him, Arthur
decides to kick it up into another gear to race it. And
amazingly, he’s able to keep up with the plane enough
to warrant Torres to look into what could possibly move
that fast underwater.
As she’s coming around, AC’s necklace begins
to glow. Again, a beam of light comes out of the water
and strikes Torres’ jet head-on. She ejects, as AC
dives underwater to safety. He grabs her and speeds off
with her to safety.
When she wakes up, AC is waiting by her bedside. She remembers
a flash of light, but she also remembers AC carrying her
at an incredible speed. He blames it on her brain losing
oxygen and walks to tell the nurse she’s awake.
On his way, his necklace begins to glow again. Inside
a nearby hospital room, he sees a similar glowing coming
from the lone man’s neck. The glowing intensifies
as the two necklaces get closer, and suddenly the man wakes
up and grabs AC. “Orin, they know you’re here!” he
says. He warns that “they” are coming for you,
but before AC can get any more answers, he’s interrupted
by a government interrogator.
Arthur follows him down the hallway, but the interrogator
doesn’t acknowledge any of his questions. Nearby,
a beautiful blonde watches AC closely.
The young man wakes up to find himself alone in a room.
Outside, an aide speaks with the interrogator. She says
that he hasn’t shown any violent tendencies “like
the others” but that his dental records are a match
for a pilot (named Thompson) who disappeared into the Bermuda
Triangle in 1945. Amazingly, Thompson hasn’t aged
a day.
At a marina party, AC sees a group of fisherman not obeying
the “catch and release” rules. He wants to
stop them, but Eva tells him not to do anything that will
land him in jail. Arthur backs off but is immediately approached
by the mysterious blonde who introduces herself as Nadia.
She seems to be a lover of marine animals, like AC, and
tells him that maybe one day the fish will get their revenge.
Nadia tells him that she’s heard he’s pretty
good underwater, and AC cavalierly offers to take her out
the next day. But Nadia leans in and, like a siren, tells
him they should do it right now. Almost in a trance, AC
agrees.
Out in the water, Nadia tells Arthur that they met a long
time ago, but he doesn’t remember. She dives underwater,
and her legs instantly turn into a “tail.” AC
gets worried when she doesn’t come back up for air,
but instantly, a white creature comes up and scratches
him on the chest. But before she can attack him further,
McCaffery shows up and shoots her with a crossbow.
AC swims to shore and asks McCaffery what she was, but
he only tells the young Aquaman that they “need to
talk” and walks off.
He tells AC that Nadia was a siren, and that Arthur was
under her control. He also tells him that the only way
to kill a siren is to shoot them between the eyes. AC,
confused, asks the old man who he is, and McCaffery answers
that he’s “an exile like you and your mother.” An
exile, he says, from Atlantis.
Arthur thinks the man is crazy until he uses the name “Orin,” which
stops Aquaman in his tracks. McCaffery explains that AC’s
parents were the rulers of Atlantis and that AC is an Atlantean
prince. He also explains that Atlantis has never been found
because its been shrouded by the Bermuda Triangle.
Explaining the recent history of Atlantis, McCaffery explains
that Orin’s father was a man of peace, but he was
overrun by a legion of Atlanteans who wanted to wage war
against the surface. McCaffery was able to rescue Orin
and his mother and take them to the surface. He left them
in the care of Tom, but McCaffery tells him its time for
him to embrace his destiny : “to protect this world
you’ve embraced as your own and protect the ocean
from which you were born.”
AC is overwhelmed by it all, and he tries to walk away
from it. But McCaffery won’t let him run away.
Arthur tries to explain it all to Eva, but she’s
skeptical about it all. But when he tells her that he thinks
the siren is behind his mother’s disappearance, she
starts to believe him. He’s going to try and fight
her, and he tells her to leave town to stay safe. Either
way, a storm is coming.
Its storming outside the military barracks where Thompson
is being held. Suddenly, Nadia appears behind him and thanks
him for leading her to Orin. With that, she stabs him.
Torres is being debriefed by the government interrogator.
He asks about the burst of light that took her ship down,
and he offers to show her proof that the Triangle is mysterious.
He shows her a picture of a terrorist who was killed trying
to blow up a platform. But he’s no ordinary terrorist;
he’s a sailor who disappeared into the Triangle more
than a hundred years before. The interrogator asks for
her to join his project to discover the mysteries of the
Triangle, and she reluctantly agrees.
Suddenly, the interrogator learns that Thompson has been
killed, and Torres tags along. They find his body covered
in blood and his mysterious necklace beside him.
AC is helping Eva prepare the restaurant for the storm,
when the power goes out. He goes to check the circuit breaker,
but when he turns around, he sees that Nadia has impaled
her with her claws. She then hits him across the face and
grabs his necklace.
On the Quint, AC wakes to find himself and McCaffery tied
up. Nadia has taken them both and is towing the boat out
to sea. They’re being taken to Atlantis to be executed,
as a sign of the end of the resistance. Covering himself
with water, AC gets the strength to tear the ropes off
himself and McCaffery. AC wants to fight, but McCaffery
tells him to go. He vowed to protect Orin, and that’s
what he’s going to do.
The old man calls to Nadia, who transforms back into her
human form. He fires his crossbow at her head, but she
catches it before it can strike her. Using his weapon against
him, Nadia demands to know where Orin is.
Suddenly from out of the water, AC shows back up to save
his new friend. The two wrestle on the boat, and AC uses
his strength to knock her across the boat. The two continue
to fight as the boat approaches the Triangle. Pulling the
trident out of his leg, McCaffery throws it to Orin, who
stabs Nadia in the forehead. She disappears, and the light
from the sea goes out. Victorious, McCaffery tells Orin
that his father would be proud.
Inside the government’s storage room, full of files
of people who have disappeared into the Triangle, the interrogator
looks at a picture of Torres. An obviously old picture
(meaning Torres disappeared as well), the interrogator
asks himself how much she really remembers.
And looking over the sea, McCaffery offers AC a warning.
This is only the beginning, and his job is to prepare the
young prince for the worst. He hands AC a copy of Henry
IV, telling him its part of his training. When AC fights
back, McCaffery offers one last piece of advice: “the
lesson isn’t in the ending, Orin. It’s in the
journey.”
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