In Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 episode 1, Percy Jackson explosively returns to Camp Half-Blood after he, his mom, and Annabeth all had concerning dreams. We know that demigod nightmares tell the future, so they’re on edge from the get-go. They barely escaped fireballs raining down on them and Tyson’s elimination, only for the camp directors to not take their nightmares seriously.
In their own ways, Annabeth and Percy aren’t ones to give up on their friend or their camp. The Gray Sister’s ramble of numbers finally makes sense as Percy tracks it on a map. Now, they need to somehow get a quest approved, but first, from the preview for season 2 episode 2, it looks like they’ll be doing the chariot races. Not like the camp is in danger or anything. This can’t end well.
Percy Jackson season 2 episode 2 reveals what happened to Chiron
Danger looms overhead as the barrier continues to weaken. The demon pigeons are waiting to attack as Percy and Annabeth worry about the camp and Grover. As Annabeth conceals herself with her cap of invisibility, Percy waits for punishment since he’s been spotted. King Tantalas and his assistant leave the office in search of Percy which allows an invisible Annabeth to slip in unnoticed and call upon the Goddess Iris.
She calls Chiron, who’s in Miami visiting relatives. He worries because he’s restricted from calling campers after Dr. D revealed that he’s one of the many children of Kronos. Being the clever girl she is, Annabeth contacted him, so he’s not breaking any rules. Of course, he was concerned with what King Tantalus did to his office.
As Clarisse seems to be making heart eyes at another camper, she tells Percy to shut up since he’s staring, and people are laughing when the guy tells her to back up. In anger, she wonders why Percy isn’t in lockdown, which is when King Tantalus and his assistant walk up. Percy announces that he knows how they will save the camp. All they have to do is heal Thalia’s tree before the barrier fails.
Chiron confirms that the Golden Fleece has been lost in the Sea of Monsters, and no one knows where to begin to find it, but we do know the coordinates 30 degrees-31 minutes north-75 degrees-12 minutes west, that Percy learned the exact coordinates in a dream, is the place to start.
Percy tells King Tantalus those coordinates and that they’re right up the coast of Florida, near the Bermuda Triangle. King Tantalus tries to throw Percy’s house arrest in his face, but Percy’s prepared with a rule stating he can participate in the chariot race. Even though he’s being punished, camp-wide activities aren’t off-limits. Percy hit a nerve with using the camp rules against King Tantalus, who threatens that he will collect if Percy is run over by a chariot or impaled by a spear.
The Great Prophecy and the Golden Fleece
As Annabeth pleads with Chiron to help them get a quest authorized, Chiron reveals that there’s something bigger at stake. Only a select few know about the Great Prophecy, and it is the very reason Percy can’t accompany Annabeth on the quest under any circumstances. Kronos is behind the poisoning of the tree, and he does nothing by chance, which means he wanted this quest to happen.
Chiron tells Annabeth that she can’t let Percy fall into Kronos’ trap. He puts her in an impossible situation; not only can she not tell Percy, but she can’t reveal that she knows something he can’t know. As much as she doesn’t want to lie to him, she’s going to have to.
She crafts a perfect workaround for her situation: Chiron said that Annabeth needs to win the chariot race so she can ask for anything. She’ll ask for a quest to find the Golden Fleece. Percy’s confused because they’ll be unbeatable if they race together: his dad created horses, and her mom invented the chariots. Yet Annabeth says that’s why they need to separate, but we know she’s trying to protect him. She assures him it isn’t about choosing Tyson over her last night when Tyson was sad and lonely. Instead, she spins it so that it doubles their chances of winning, and the other person picks someone to join them on the quest.
Percy rolls in the chariot wheel, where Tyson is working on another compass for Percy to take on his quest. Tyson tells him he wrote a letter to Sally telling her they made it to camp. He reaches for the wheel and says he’ll fix it, since he made the compass in less than a day.
As he’s fixing the wheel, he asks Percy about meeting his father and if he can meet him. But, sadly, it’s up to Poseidon when he shows up, but he assures him that he’s probably busy and wishes he could see them more. To cheer him up, Percy asks if Tyson wants to get out of the cabin since he finished the wheel during their conversation. He states that it’s against the rules, but with a smile, Percy says he can fix that.
The chariot race
The day of the chariot races arrives, and just like they promised, they’re racing separately. First team thrice around the tracks wins, weapons are allowed, dirty tricks encouraged, and it’s okay if killing happens, according to Dr. D and King Tantalus. They prove further that they don’t care about the impending danger looming over the camp.
As a last-minute addition, Percy and Tyson roll up to the starting line as everyone yells glory to their parents. While Percy tells Tyson to leave Annabeth alone, Annabeth tells her partner to take out Percy if his team pulls ahead. She’s saying it because they’re so close, and she wants to keep him from going on the quest. My head is spinning from all the secrets Annabeth has to keep.
The shell sounds to start the race, immediately sending Clarisse to take out the chariot beside her as everyone races forward. This thrills Mr. D and King Tantalus, who encouraged the teams to play dirty. The race grows more intense as Clarisse’s partner fails to take out Tyson and falls off the chariot. Tyson, being sweet, apologizes as they advance. He may be a cyclops, but he acts like a cuddly bear.
Clarisse continues to sword fight with Percy as a chariot explodes behind them. As Percy’s distracted by the demon pigeons, Clarisse cuts off their wheel, sending Percy to the ground and handing on as the chariot keeps going. Thank goodness for Tyson pulling him up. But the celebration doesn’t last long, as the demon pigeons break through the barrier and swarm over the chariot arena.
Eager to win, Clarisse laughs as she nearly runs over Annabeth, who is staring in horror at the danger above them. Again, Mr. D and King Tantalus prove that they shouldn’t be leading a camp full of kids, as King Tantalus tells everyone not to panic, but then Mr. D slaps at the demon pigeons while King Tantalus screams in horror. From the look on Annabeth’s face, even she’s annoyed by the adults.
Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson quickly go to Chiron’s former office in search of something that can make a high-pitched noise. As if we’re in an '80s movie, Percy holds up a gold boom box as it plays a high-pitched song with the help of a shell horn. Finally, the demon pigeons start to retreat as the unwanted sound goes higher and higher. They retreat into the skies as Percy cuts off the song, and King Tantalus tries to get in on the victory, even though he was hiding the entire time.
And the quest goes to?
Gathered for a meeting, Dr. D confirms, yet again, he cares more about the chariot race than the campers when he’s excited that it’ll be rescheduled when they repair the track. To make matters worse, King Tantalus says that Thalia’s tree won’t fail for another week, and then he says they’ll just have to run for their lives.
Then, he steals the combination of Annabeth and Percy’s nightmares and delivers it as his own. Saying that three must journey to find the Golden Fleece to save the camp. He even tells the camp the travel coordinates and that the champion will brave the Sea of Monsters.
Unknowingly, he gets the numbers wrong, but the campers cheer him on regardless. Without fail, he names Clarisse the champion because she continued the race. No one will listen to Percy’s saying he had the dream, while Clarisse says she’ll save the camp.
As Percy is trying to put together a plan, Annabeth offers her quest experience, and Clarisse says yes. Percy offers up his water powers, which will be helpful in the sea. But before she can choose him, Annabeth whispers in her ear. She chooses Chris Rodriguez to be the third person on the quest to find the Golden Fleece.
To make matters worse, King Tantalus rubs salt in the wound. He pulls out the rule book and states that no one can leave camp until the boundary is fixed, other than the quest campers. If campers try to cross the border, the border patrol has been ordered to shoot on sight.
Tyson, with his eavesdropping skills, heard what Annabeth said to her chariot partner before the race began. This leads Percy to pack a bag hastily. He promises Tyson he’ll be safe at camp when he leaves. But he doesn’t answer him about where he’s going.
The iconic wedding dress
Percy falls into a deep sleep as Grover appears over him in his dream. He shows him the sea, as he closes the door, he’s in a wedding dress, while Grover is in a camp shirt. Grover rushes to tell him he found it in the cave, and he doesn’t have time to explain because he needs to tell him so much more. As close friends, Percy has to know. They switch clothes, and Grover says the wedding dress keeps him safe from the monster, Polyphemus (a cyclops), who took him because of bad eyesight.
Tyson’s snore scares Grover, leading him to ask Percy how Annabeth feels about a cyclops in his cabin. When Percy responds in anger, Grover grows worried for his friends; he’s not taking sides because he doesn’t know the details. But he reminds Percy that Annabeth may have good reason to betray him, like Grover did last year. His anger and hurt can’t let him believe she has a good reason.
The dream starts to shake as the Polyphemus heads towards Grover’s sleeping form. He has convinced him it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, which is next week. For now, he’s passing his goat sense off as a perfume to keep himself from becoming dinner. As he lets down the veil, Percy says he looks beautiful, then wakes up in his dark cabin.
Percy sets off on his own
Percy slips into the night with only a bag and lots of emotions weighing him down. He goes to the water to talk to his father to confirm he won’t stop him from doing what he’s about to do. Although he has questions about Tyson, he’s not going to let not going on the quest stand in his way.
As he’s bending down to ask for his father’s blessing, Hermes (Lin-Manuel Miranda) comes out of the fog and says that his father permitted him to go on the quest. But, he’s the God of lies and thieves. He reminds him that he helped him last year and is now giving Percy a cruise ship. Percy doesn’t care that he’s not telling him everything and accepts his help.
Meanwhile, Annabeth shows up at Poseidon’s cabin, where Tyson opens the door. He doesn’t hold back that Percy’s mad about what Annabeth said before the chariot race. He wonders what it’s called when someone leaves alone instead of as a group of three. Annabeth is stunned. I’m stunned that he didn’t keep Percy’s secret. In a way, I’m glad he didn’t.
Now it’s a quest
Hermes crafts words together in a way that pokes at Percy’s anger until he cracks. Instead of receiving help from his father to help his friend, Hermes wants to save Luke, who is trying to destroy the Olympians. I can tell Percy is over getting looked over while others get what they want, even when they don’t deserve it. Because he doesn’t think Luke wants to be saved, but Hermes doesn’t believe that, as he believes his son can be saved.
Hermes disappears, and Annabeth runs onto the beach. He uncovers that he figured that Chiron told Annabeth that Percy couldn’t go on this quest. As Percy is accusing Annabeth of changing, she reveals that all the experiences she tried weren’t fun for her. Even though half of him was hidden from him, she says that at least he can still be a kid while she can’t because she’s just a demigod. She can’t talk about what he can’t know because it’s scary.
As they are having their moment, King Tantalus comes out and threatens them to say their last words. He wants the Gods to know that he is enforcing their will. Tyson knocks him down and gets the boat going towards the cruise ship, but the arrow blows a hole in the boat. They leave King Tantalus having a tantrum on the beach. Yet, Annabeth confirms they can’t ever return because they broke the rules. To lighten the mood, Tyson is happy they’re going on a quest.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 streams Wednesdays on Disney+.