In the penultimate episode, we’re finally travelling to the land of the dead! And… the methods with which we’re doing so are, well, interesting. In the book, the kids encounter Procrustes on their way down, Percy saves Grover and Annabeth, and then they visit Charon to get an express ride to the Underworld. In the show, these events are combined with questionable success. First off, Percy knowing the Crusty myth is pretty ridiculous, as it’s a very niche one. It would make sense for Annabeth to recognize him, but not Percy. And then we get Charon as this obscure hooded figure, not the exasperated doorman in Italian suits, which is a major letdown!
The scene I was most dreading in this episode was the Cerebus one. Annabeth throwing the ball for him, then sneaking past and wiping away a tear as she hears Cerebus crying for her… fucking ouch, that scene wrecked me as a kid! And in all the books onward, we never see Cerebus again! That hurts!
But that’s not what we get in the show, as if Riordan is aware this time around of just how sad that scene is. Instead, Annabeth plays with Cerebus, but there’s no real angst when the two part. Annabeth just mentions how her dad used to have a dog, so, sure. I guess we’re getting random Annabeth lore. This is a good place to put it; it’s not like anything else is going on right now!
(/s)
In an interesting twist, Grover loses one of the sea pearls in their scuffle with Cerberus, cutting them down to only three. Yeah, I guess this has a touch more drama than the book, so it’s not bad, but it does lessen things when the trio going into the Underworld with three pearls is an accident rather than an established point, you know? And then we have to have the kids explicitly talking about what having three pearls means, because subtlety is dead!
Oh, and then Annabeth gets stuck in the Fields of Asphodel because she’s haunted by some deep regret, and we don’t even find out what said regret IS! Clearly it’s something about her dad, since he was mentioned early on, but how is Annabeth’s guilt over running away from home worse than, I don’t know, Grover’s guilt over losing Thalia?? Make it make sense! Why are we adding ridiculous plot points like this??
After Annabeth transports herself away using a pearl, Grover’s flying shoes (remember those? No, why would you?) drag him to Tartarus, where Percy just manages to save him. And then… he opens the backpack, discovers the bolt in it, and realizes that Ares was the one who gave it to them! That’s it, mystery solved, everyone go home!
Ugh, why would they shift these plot points around? It’s so much more of an “oh shit” moment when the trio is talking to Hades, Hades says he has no need for more souls and didn’t steal the bolt, and Percy realizes he has it in front of Hades!! Putting the pieces together at that point is so much more intense!
I really don’t know why Hades is this… interesting interpretation. Instead of him being the terrifying dark presence from the book, he’s normal, wears eyeliner, and explicitly spells out the whole plot to Percy and Grover. Of course it’s not Hades who wanted the bolt, dun dun dun! You couldn’t figure that out from the show repeating “Hades stole the bolt!” every damn episode?
I did like the twist of Hades offering Percy protection in exchange for the bolt, but the freaking nerve to name-drop KRONOS at this point?? We’re falling into the Sea of Monsters movie trap of “jam in as many future plots as you can just in case the show gets cancelled!” The mystery of this book is just “Ares stole the bolt to start a war, but who was Ares working for?” THAT’S what we focus on for the next season, not revealing Kronos as the big bad just yet!
However, despite all my annoyances with this episode, Percy saying “Hold fast, Mom” REALLY got me. Look at that, the show can reference previous episodes! And this is a good one!
Throughout this episode, we get flashes of Sally struggling with little Percy, switching him between schools and trying to find a place where he can feel “normal.” I liked this inclusion, late as it was, and Sally’s talk with Poseidon, but… I don’t know, I feel like these clips show Sally in a bad light. I get that she’s having problems, but if your kid asks “Why are you trying to get rid of me?” and your response is to walk away from the table instead of reassuring him that that’s not the case, I’m giving you a severe side-eye.
Well, hopefully the Percy-Ares beach showdown will be fun! As I previously mentioned, Ares is one of the best book-to-screen portrayals in this show, so it’ll be nice to see him again! And figure out what’s going to become of the whole “the deadline has passed” plotline, too!
Here are my live notes!
