The second major episode entails a chorus-like reaction to the situation by the Corinthian people: a collage of scenes of men and women expressing their feelings about Medea. Men speak with men in their places of work and women with women at the water fountains, in their homes, and at the temples. All unanimously want the family to leave, constantly repeating the phrase "foreign woman".

The third scene. Medea tells her boys that Jason should be able to strike a deal with Creon but warns that they may have to move again. Suddenly Jason enters, dismisses the boys and tells Medea of his "good news." Medea listens with great anticipation. After learning of the fate that he has in store for her, she is dumbfounded and starts muttering in her native Colchian dialect and, in her behavior, gives every indication of being a foreign woman. Finally she runs from the room, screaming and tearing at her clothing.

Fourth scene: conversations between Jason and a former Argonaut, Medea and her nurse (split scenes). To Orpheus, Jason says that, as a Greek, he understands the people's fear of Medea. Although he is intrigued by her foreign beauty, her mysterious ways of dealing with life are hard to comprehend and thus frightening. He focuses on the fact that in the feudal world in which Greek nobles live, full of palace intrigue and seized opportunities, there were certain unfortunate realities which women had to accept. His marriage with Glauke was going to be one of convenience. He had every intention of joining Medea from time to time in her new setting, a convent of priestesses dedicated to the goddess Hestia. He admits that he was still in love with Medea and that her aggressiveness both in her clever and dynamic solutions to problems and in bed were so attractive. He concludes by stating that he has the well-being of his sons in mind: they will now have a stable Greek education and will have the same priviledges in feudal society that Jason and even Medea herself have always enjoyed.

Medea, on the other hand, rehearses all that she did for Jason: she showed him the trick of yoking the bulls, knowledge of which was passed on from king to king. Only the royal family knew the whereabouts of the fleece and that there was no dragon guarding it. Her brother Apsyrtus, who had stumbled on Medea and Jason making love in her apartment in the palace, had to be killed. She remembers the shock on his face as he saw his sister's betrayal; she remembers his terrorized look as she plunged her knife into his heart; she remembers his muted curse as he looked up from beneath her bed. She further recalls all the times in which she saved the Argonauts with poisoned draughts, clever ruses, and pretenses of magic. Although she knew she was brighter than Jason, still he was so handsome and her maternal instincts made her want to nurture his boyish dreams. Then suddenly she flies into a rage as she imagines (we see this scene) Jason in bed with the young blond haired, vapid daughter of the king. Following this, she imagines her sons being reared in Greek society, a repulsive thought. She had no respect for the democratic culture of the Greeks as opposed to the stern autocratic discipline of the Colchian court.

The next scene is another choral interlude: once again we overhear various conversations in Corinth; the men and women discuss the affairs of kings and queens much as we discuss the rich and famous. One thing is clear, all are frightened of Medea, a foreigner who acts so much like a man and is reputed to have demonic powers. From these conversations we get a surrealistic portrayal of the Argonautic journey and events leading up to it: the attempted murder of the young Phrixus and Helle, the jouney on the ram, etc. In this impressionistic recapitulation, the monsters one finds in the myths (dragon, harpies, Symplegades, etc.) are shown in Harryhausen style.

Medea at first is uncertain what she will do. So she decides to pray in the temple of Aphrodite. On her way there she observes that the people avoid looking at her; mothers drag their children away from her line of sight. At this she hurls insults in Colchian which the people, who believe she is a witch, interpret as an incantation. This not only confirms popular fear of Medea, but it also gives her an idea—she can use the superstitious fears of the Corinthians to put an end to Creon's plan and save her marriage with Jason.

That evening, she tells Jason that she has come to her senses and agrees to withdraw to the shrine of Hestia. In fact, to prove her good intentions, she urges Jason to ask Creon and Glauke to come to their home at dawn the next day so that she might perform a special Colchian rite that will make the bride-to-be fertile. Creon and Jason are convinced and relieved. Medea asks that the boys be sent to the temple of Hera, goddess of marriage, to make prayers to that Greek divinity, while Creon and Glauke sit on thrones surrounded by vessels containing wheat, wine, and infant clothing. Jason is to go to the Argo, which the Argonauts once called their mother, and await the completion of the ceremony.

On the next day once everyone has taken their various places, Medea appears in public, dressed in Colchian garb and carrying a basket of unidentifiable items. She approaches the city's main fountain and casts herbs in the waters, uttering prayers and incantations and staring wildly at everyone. She then goes to the palace and paints weird symbols on the door. Finally she goes to the altar in front of the temple of Aphrodite, removes her clothes, and dances wildly. Upon finishing her dance, she puts her clothes back on and shouts out that she is going back to her home to get more herbs. The people are stunned. To them, it would appear that she has poisoned their water, put a curse their king, and offended one of their main divinities. Angry mobs, unaware of the whereabouts of the king, gather in the agora. Medea's boys, frightened by the shouts, run back home. Medea, however, has not run home, but rather to the port where Jason awaits completion of the ceremony. The empassioned citizens rush the home and set it on fire, believing Medea inside. Creon and Glauke die in the conflagration, just as Medea had expected they would. One thing she had not counted on was the inclusion of her own children in their destruction.

At the port she finds her husband seated below the prow of the Argo. Noting the flames, she informs him of the deaths of Creon and Glauce and explains that she would do anything to keep him. She further advises that they leave immediately to avoid the mob. Jason, though shocked, acknowledges the need to flee. Although his plans went awry, at least, he thinks, he has his sons; and Medea was always good at getting them out of difficult situations. In an almost forgiving tone he says, "Come on, Medea, let's find our sons." They go to the temple, not seeing the boys inside, they rush terrified to their house. The crowd in the meantime had carried off the bodies of Creon and Glauke for ritual purification and lamentation. Entering the ruins of the house, they discover the charred bodies of their sons, torn apart by the ferocious mob. Medea once again screams and tears at her clothing. Jason sits down dumbfounded and tells Medea: "You foreign bitch, evil incarnate, you have destroyed all the dreams I had for my boys. They too one day might have sailed to the ends of the earth." Medea, through her aching sobs, remarks "Yes, Greek, you have lost your dreams, but my reality has gone up in these flames." Instinctively, Medea rises up and cradles Jason's head in her arms and strokes his hair while he breaks into uncontrollable sobs. As the camera pulls away, the crowds descend upon the port and destroy the Argo, tearing it apart piece by piece as they had done to Jason's boys.