As Percy ventures into the world of Greek mythology, Episode 2 takes the brunt of the world building for Camp Half-Blood. “I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom” introduces Percy to his central cast of Grover and Chiron (a reintroduction, anyways), Annabeth, Luke, and lastly, Clarisse (our resident bully).
One of the most important things this episode sets up is the first meeting between Percy and Luke Castellan, son of Hermes. Despite Percy’s expectation to be made fun of, Luke welcomes him to camp, essentially taking him under his wing (and putting himself in the best position to execute the plan). Later, Luke tells Percy about forbidden children and Thalia, delving into his past with Annabeth- how she’s like a sister to him. Later, Percy has a brief altercation with Clarisse, wherein he truly becomes “supreme lord of the bathroom”.
Desperate to both prove himself to his fellow campers and his father, he sets out in the hopes to earn some glory in capture the flag. We get to see some action as Percy clashes with Clarisse and co., ultimately distracting his opponents long enough for his team to win. However, the show does omit the catalyst event that reveals the possibility of a traitor within the camp. In the books, at the end of the game, a hellhound appears from the forest and attacks Percy, who is healed by the creek as his father claims him. Chiron says that someone must have summoned the monster from inside the camp, which is where the notion of a traitor first appears.
Though it isn’t fully captured in the show, Percy does stay at camp for around a week before setting off on his quest to first save his mother, then find the master bolt.
“We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium” took all my previous expectations and promptly trampled them underfoot. In a major change made by the television’s writers, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover all knew that Aunty Em was actually Medusa from the very beginning, whereas in the source material, they have no clue she’s a monster. The way that the show has been written and directed thus far, it highlight’s Percy’s desire to be different from his godly family when he tries to give Medusa a chance despite Annabeth and Grover’s skepticism. For a minute it seems to be working, but nevertheless, it still results in conflict. In the end, Percy sends the head to Olympus. Annabeth warns him of his impertinence in doing so, but ultimately, she lets him.
Well, that decision backfires horribly in “I Plunge to My Death”. Echidna, the mother of all monsters, chases Percy, Grover, and Annabeth in St. Louis, cornering them to the Arch. While Annabeth believes that the monument will protect them, Echidna reveals that because of her “impertinence”, Athena has turned her back on them. Good old tough love. Percy forces Grover and Annabeth back down the Arch, and dukes it out with the Chimera. Minus a few deadly injures Percy receives in the book (and poison in his calf), he hangs from the hole in the arch, falls, blah blah blah, and gets accused of being a terrorist that crashed the Amtrak train and blew up the arch.
Fun fact: in the source material, when Percy is cornered, he actually makes the conscious decision to jump, praying to his father to not become a pancake.
In “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers,” Annabeth and Percy venture into a theme park specifically designed to humiliate Aphrodite and Ares in order to gain the latter’s favor. Grover stays behind with Ares and attempts the foolhardiest and one of the coolest on-screen feats yet seen from him: emotional manipulation. Not only did this specific event not happen in the book, but the entire gold chair and Hephaestus’s appearance were new as well.
“We Take a Zebra to Vegas” also was rewritten to Grover being aware of the Lotus Eaters before entering their hotel. It was a little pointless, since it still resulted in him being separated and forgetting the quest. This episode also dropped a subtle cameo from Nico Di Angelo, and his older sister Bianca, both children of Hades. Noticing a theme yet? Well, Gods are awful at keeping promises (to absolutely no one’s surprise). Around the time Grover is shown in the gaming area where he and other kids are playing VR games, a voice is heard saying, “Bianca.” Given that Nico is the only one with Bianca canonically at the casino, it’s probably Nico speaking.
Another instance where the trio go into a situation already aware of the danger is when Percy confronts his cousin, Procrustes. In the most anti climatic way possible, Annabeth ambushes the monster, and traps him in a bed. In the book, I distinctly remember them struggling a bit more, but ultimately, they enter the underworld unimpeded in the TV show.
“We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of” changes the game with a fourth pearl given to Percy, which ultimately makes his quest easier than the one described in the books. Originally, he only receives 3 pearls in the quest, which puts pressure on the question of how he was going to save his mother and get out of the Underworld with his two friends and himself. Oh, and Grover nearly gets dragged into Tartarus by the shoes Luke gave them. Upon connecting a few important dots and clearing up some misunderstandings, Percy promises to retrieve Hade’s helm of darkness, rescue his mother, and sets out to battle his jerk relative (Ares, in this case). The episode ends in a dramatic shot as Percy faces him with Riptide.
Sabrina Glow, a sophomore drama student, says, “Although there were parts from the book that I felt they missed out on or brushed over, I actually liked some of the changes. Specifically, I liked the Medusa scenes, and how they gave her more of a personality, and it gave a whole new perspective on what the heroes view as ‘monsters’. I though the throne and flashbacks were also very impactful changes. That being said, there were some parts that I was disappointed that they didn’t add, like the DOA records.”
While the series had a lot to contend with the book, it carved out its own place in the Percy Jackson fandom. Stay tuned for the final part…
