So far, the two-year wait between Percy Jackson and the Olympians seasons 1 and 2 has been beyond worth it. Although there have been some changes from the Sea of Monsters book, they’ve been wonderful for the story pacing and character development.
From the get-go, our heroes are thrown into action when their demigod nightmares warn them about danger at the camp and Grover’s disappearance. Nothing goes to plan as they fight to get a quest approved to hopefully save Thalia’s tree, camp, and bring Grover (Aryan Simhadri) home safely.
King Tantalus (Timothy Simons) and Mr. D (Jason Mantzoukas) laugh at their nightmares and give the Golden Fleece quest to Clarisse (Dior Goodjohn). Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries) tries to keep Percy (Walker Scobell) safe from the knowledge of the Great Prophecy. His hurt feelings send him to trusting Hermes (Lin-Manuel Miranda), who sets up a cruise ship for his adventure. He barely escapes with his life as Annabeth and Tyson (Daniel Diemer) escape with him on a boat towards the cruise ship.
Percy Jackson season 2 episode 3 shows Clarisse’s vulnerable side
Clarisse’s visit to the Oracle isn’t pleasant, as she looks defeated and scared when she leaves. King Tantalus wants Clarisse to pick two new quest mates since Percy and Annabeth are dead to them. Even though he shot at them, he accuses them of leaving the camp in its time of need, leaving out that Percy and Annabeth are trying to save the camp. Clarisse makes the executive decision not to pick anyone for her quest, and honestly, I can’t blame her.
She tells Ares (Adam Copeland), her father, that she’d rather go alone than have dead weight dragging her down. Who can blame her when the Oracle threatened her about failing? That’s a lot of weight to carry on your own without the weight of someone else. But, she won’t be entirely alone. Her father respects her choices as he leads her to her help, the only help he can give. He raised a crew from the dead to assist her on her first quest - she may be the first in her class in training, but she’s inexperienced in the field. She needs to succeed and beat Percy, who has a head start on her.
After struggling to rein in her shipmates, they start to listen to her when she reminds them they need to succeed as much as she does. They’re the failed shipmates of the God of War, so they must work together to succeed as they head towards the Sea of Monsters so that they can return to the underworld as heroes.
As she’s giving her speech on failure, it’s really refreshing to see her vulnerable side, since she’s often seen as a bully. But even bullies have a heartbreaking side. It’s beautiful to see her take charge of something in a softer, commanding way than how she was in the chariot races. She’s her own Captain now; she’s only relying on the dead shipmates. Although her need to succeed propels them towards their destination, her anger resurfaces as she realizes King Tantalus lied about the coordinates, while Percy has the right ones.
Princess Andromeda stowaways
Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson stowaway on the Princess Andromeda cruise ship. As Annabeth and Percy are coming up with a way to keep Percy out of trouble from the things he can’t know, Tyson smells multiple monsters on board the ship. This can’t be good. On the deck, they run into the fireball monsters who seem welcomed and not shunned. They’re immediately on guard and wondering what Hermes sent them into.
They innocently warn Allison about the monsters until Percy realizes she was in his nightmare about Grover. Her cheery demeanor quickly shifts to battle as they draw their weapons. The fight ends for the time being when Allison (Beatrice Kitsos) falls overboard into the sea. They may be on the open sea in Poseidon’s territory, but they soon realize they’re on Kronos’ ship, making it Luke and his crew’s turf. Hermes brought them straight to Luke (Charlie Bushnell), but I’m not sure he thought that plan all the way through.
I love how Percy tries to explain what the Titans mean to Tyson, and he’s just like, “But he’s in pieces, so how is he getting revenge?” Tyson is the embodiment of the entire audience wrapped in a character who’s learning this mythology for the first time or relearning it. It can get twisty and confusing. I love that they’re showing that through Tyson’s character. He’s not just a cyclops; he has a purpose in this story. He may not know as much as Annabeth and Percy, but he becomes so much more in this episode.
Our heroes run into a trap
Percy doesn’t think Luke can be saved, and personally, I agree with him. Yet, I also see Annabeth’s side, as she feels that Luke stabbed her sister in the back when he poisoned Thalia’s tree. I can’t imagine the pain she feels when she comes face-to-face with Luke again after Tyson’s eavesdropping reveals Allison survived her fall and tells Luke where the heroes are.
Seeing Annabeth’s face fall as she hears Luke’s harsh voice toward them broke me. It’s bad enough reading that betrayal, but seeing it played out on screen hurt so much deeper. This cast is top tier as they bring this book to life and hit all the emotions so deeply.
The trust between Annabeth and Percy has grown so much from season 1, from when he thought she might betray him. They’re fighting for the greater good while also building relationships among themselves; juggling all of that can’t be easy, yet they do it so easily. Although they are trying to save the well-being of everyone they care about, I don’t think Luke should be one of those people. Maybe capturing him alive will be the best thing if they can.
Luke reveals his evil plans
They separate Tyson from the group with promises he’ll be safe as Luke commands the room. Luke is beyond saving, no matter what Annabeth feels, as he shows that he’s all for Kronos and his bigger plans. Luke continues to rub salt in the wound when he throws that he knew Thalia longer than Annabeth knew her. He thinks that Thalia would be happy that he’s overthrowing Olympus and letting it fall because of the sacrifice she was forced to make by her father. He needs the Golden Fleece to do that. He forced a quest and then threw it back in Annabeth’s face. He slips up when he mentions the Great Prophecy that Percy doesn’t know about, further letting Luke throw in their faces that the Gods are trying to divide them. He’s good at being evil and manipulating to put others down, and I don’t think that’s something he can come back from, no matter how much Annabeth wants to try.
To make matters worse, Luke tries to recruit Percy into his agenda. He may want to make a better world for demigods and monsters to live as one, but Annabeth points out that it will break the Earth and destroy humans. So, although he wants to make a better life and nurture the talents of children of the Gods, he’s also destroying something to gain something else.
Luke thinks he’s helping Tyson nurture his inventing abilities until he reveals he’s been creating a bomb. He becomes the unsung hero by assisting their escape from Luke’s claws for now. Tyson may be a cyclops, but he’s also the son of Poseidon and Percy’s brother, while being a hero in his own right. Tyson made the bomb because real heroes stand up for each other, further proving he’s a cuddly bear and wants to help others.
Annabeth’s doubts overwhelm her
Luke’s manipulation starts to break Annabeth’s trust in her knowledge about Thalia and how well she knew her. It makes her doubt that she knows everything, as she reveals that Chiron only told her the gist of the Great Prophecy, not word-for-word. She believes Percy should learn his fate. Even with Percy trying to tell her that Luke is believing Kronos' lies, Luke planted that seed of doubt in Annabeth, and she can’t shake it.
The Great Prophecy states that a demigod of the big three at the age of 16 will either save Olympus or destroy it based on one decision. Chiron thinks Percy will be the one to destroy everything, while Annabeth seems unsure, making Percy wish he didn’t know the prophecy. Because the more you know, the more you have to lose.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 streams Wednesdays on Disney+.