Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 2 recap: The sea god stakes his claim

Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 2, “I Become Lord of the Bathroom,” picks up where we left off with the premiere. Percy has made it safely to camp but he’s still sleeping off his encounter with the Minotaur. As he fades in and out of sleep during a storm, Annabeth watches over him, commenting that he drools when he sleeps.

By the time Percy comes to completely, it’s morning and Grover is the one watching over him. He assures his best friend that he’s safe but Percy’s eyes drift over to the Minotaur’s horn on the table. Grover tells him that it’s a big deal to kill a monster like that and that he informed everyone that Percy was the one to do it, but that’s not at all Percy’s concern. His mind is on his mother, and he asks Grover if he saw what had happened to her.

He acknowledges that he did and tries to broach the conversation after he apologizes and wonders whether if he’d said something sooner about Percy’s origins if Sally would still be alive. Percy cuts him off as he doesn’t want to discuss his mom’s death or how it might have been prevented. It’s clear he simply wanted confirmation that what he’d seen was real and that it’s a reality he must accept. 

Percy rolls outof the infirmary bed to get dressed and lets Grover off the hook. While his friend might believe it was his job to keep him safe, Percy puts it plainly. It was his job to get him to Camp Half-Blood alive and that’s what he did, his job is done. Now Percy has a new mission, one of his own making. He’s going to find his father since it was so important for him to get there. Grover tries to warn him that it isn’t that simple but Percy closes the door on him mid-sentence.

The first look we and Percy get of the camp is of the shore where campers are preparing kayaks. When he turns, he comes upon Mr. D lounging in a chair with shades on. The interaction does not go well at first as the camp director refers to him as Peter Johnson. Grover comes running, pulling his friend away to inform him who the man is and that the D is for Dionysus (god of wine, theatre, vegetation, festivity, insanity, and more).

Mr. D also has jokes because he tells Percy that he’s his father. It’s in poor taste considering Percy just lost his mother and has been dropped into a world with little understanding of how anything works but Dionysus has a plan. He wants Percy to go get him a bottle of 1985 Château Haut-Brion and then he’ll tell him whatever he wants. Grover attempts to intercede, obviously trying to keep his friend from being manipulated, but he’s not the bravest of souls so when Dionysus tells him not to ruin it, he stays quiet.

Thankfully, Chiron arrives. The centaur, who Percy knows as his teacher who uses a wheelchair in the ordinary realm, informs him that not only is Mr. D not his father but that he also has been forbidden by Zeus to consume alcohol, in order for him to do so a demigod would have to get the drink for him hence the camp director’s scheme. Demigods can do things for gods that said gods can’t do for themselves. With that explained, Chiron asks Percy to go on a walk with him but keeps Grover from tagging along which doesn’t feel right to the young satyr. 

As Chiron shows Percy around Camp Half-Blood we get the Cliff Notes of what the place is. It’s a training ground for heroes that humans can’t see, monsters can’t enter, and the world can’t touch. As the camp activities director and trainer of the demigods at the camp, it’s no wonder Chiron gave Percy the pen in episode 1 that turns into a sword. Though the preteen thought he lost the weapon, Chiron tells him to check his pocket. Apparently, unless Percy surrenders the sword himself, it’ll always come back to him. Pretty cool, right? Now if only keys worked that way.

Keep this in mind, as Chiron puts it, magical items don’t obey the physical laws of the ordinary world. His wheelchair is much the same. I’m sure that tidbit about magical items is going to come up again. I love a good seeded bit of info to hold onto.

The last place the centaur takes Percy is where he’ll be staying. There are 12 cabins at Camp Half-Blood, each representing 12 Olympian gods. Which cabin you belong to is determined by which god has claimed you. As an unclaimed demigod, Percy is shown to Hermes’ cabin. The god of travelers has his own children but his cabin is also where the unclaimed reside. 

Chiron tells Percy that the gods do things by their own design and at their own time but the demigod jumps straight to the silent part, his father could never claim him. Chiron doesn’t dispute that and looks sadly at the boy when he says that even now his father wants nothing to do with him but Chiron puts his foot down when it comes to where Percy’s place is. He does belong at Camp Half-Blood and he won’t have him think otherwise.

Used to being bullied, Percy assumes that an older camper and his friends are going to give him a hard time when they approach. He tells them to do it tomorrow but is surprised to learn that the camper just wants to share his condolences because he’d heard what happened to Percy’s mom and he knows what he’s going through. The camper introduces himself as Luke.

As night begins to settle at camp we’re reunited with Grover who’s making his way into the woods. A woodland being greets him and notices that he’s been picking at his horns. She notes that he’s too hard on himself and always has been. Clearly the events of the last day have been trying as he carries guilt for what happened to Sally.

The being leads him to the Cloven Council. We don’t get to see the scene but we do find out what was said just not in the moment that he goes running to Chiron and Mr. D to tell them what he’s learned. For the sake of expediency, I’m just going to tell you what’s revealed at the end of Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 2. At the moment of her impending death, Hades reached out and took Sally. She’s being held in the Underworld. That’s why she wasn’t squished by the Minotaur and evaporated. Chiron and Mr. D, however, have no intention on telling Percy any of this at this point in the episode.

Grover is forbidden from sharing what he knows with Percy. Chiron says it’s because the truth can be dangerous if not handled carefully. Mr. D is more gruff with it, saying there are powerful forces at work and that they’re very close to laying waste to the Earth just like they’ve done before, so Grover will not be saying anything no matter how much he doesn’t want to lie to his friend.

Elsewhere, Percy is having yet another dream about the mysterious creature holding a lantern. The creature says that “he” left him here with nothing and that Percy wants what’s been taken from him. Presumably the “he” is his father and “what’s been taken” is his mother. It says Percy wants justice before the desert ground Percy is standing on crumbles under his feet and he jerks awake.

Luke informs him that what he just experienced is normal for them. All the demigods get intense recurring nightmares and daydreams. They also all have ADHD and are dyslexic. It’s because they process the world differently from their human counterparts. Luke also shares that Hermes is his father but he doesn’t place too much stock in who’s claimed and who isn’t because they’re all on one team.

Percy questions why it’s just treated as okay that the gods bring them to Camp Half-Blood only to ignore some of them but Luke discourages him from thinking too hard about it. Putting too much thought into that line of questioning will only drive him crazy and keep him from enjoying the camp itself. In this place, glory is currency. It’s also how the social hierarchy is defined. 

Our young hero has already started making a name for himself because he killed the Minotaur. The attention, however, puts him on Clarisse’s radar. The daughter of Ares shoulder checks Percy as he’s walking by and though Luke intercedes and tells her to give him a break, she doesn’t. She doesn’t believe he killed the beast and it’s obvious she’s going to be an antagonist.

Latching onto Luke’s lesson, Percy believes that if he earns enough glory his father will have no choice but to acknowledge him. You can’t make the gods do anything, but he’s of the mind that if he’s a big enough deal, it’d be hard for his dad to ignore his existence, so he asks Luke where he can get started. He tries archery and nearly takes everyone out with a fire tipped arrow. Blacksmithing isn’t his forte either but Luke is determined to find what Percy’s good at and isn’t giving up on him.

At night, after learning about burnt offerings, Percy goes to the woods to burn some of the candy his mother gave him. But he’s not praying to the gods and begging them for their service. He’s talking to his mom. That got me right in the heart. The bond between Percy and Sally is beautiful and this show is keen on making sure we all know the impact she’s had on his life.

He tells her that he’s made friends at Camp Half-Blood which is a first for him because he’s used to telling his mother that people are awful and that he doesn’t fit in but here people like him. What’s not working for him is that his father isn’t there and the god hasn’t acknowledged anything that's happened. It bothers Percy that his dad is ignoring his mother and that’s not something he can countenance. He vows to make his father see them both.

Making his way back to camp, Percy encounters Clarisse and her lackeys. They attack him in the bathroom and attempt to give him a swirly but to no avail. Before Percy’s head can touch the water, the liquid recedes into the toilet before blasting out in water whips that throw the trio into the wall, drenching them. They run off, leaving him in the destroyed bathroom on his own.

Finally, Annabeth arrives. She’s been watching Percy trying to determine whether or not he can help her win Capture the Flag and judging by what just happened, it’s a pretty safe bet that he can. The next day, Luke explains that the camp event is mock warfare and that Annabeth is not only the head counselor of the Athena cabin but also his little sister.

The two had met on the road when they were running with a forbidden kid named Thalia. In Percy Jackson and the Olympians the forbidden demigods are the children of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. The three gods agreed that their kids were getting too powerful so they made a pact to not father anymore. Thalia was Zeus’ daughter. She and Luke found Annabeth hiding in an alley. At first they were worried about taking her in but then they saw her fight and the rest was history, they became family to one another. Unfortunately, Thalia died and it’s been just Luke and Annabeth since.

It’s during the Capture the Flag sequences that we begin to understand why Annabeth, the strongest warrior at camp, has been keeping her eye on Percy. While the others square off against the Red Team, she leads Percy deeper into the woods before leaving him after donning a Yankees cap, gifted to her by Athena, which makes her invisible. It turns out she was leaving him as bait for Clarisse so that the others could take the red team’s flag.

In a stunning action sequence, Percy takes her and her lackeys on with his sword. At first, he’s outmatched but as he gets the hang of fighting he begins to best them until finally he breaks Clarisse’s javelin, proving to her that he’s not the fraud she thought he was.

Outraged, Clarisse pulls him up by his armor but the horn blows and it’s revealed that the blue team has won Capture the Flag. That marks the fourth time Annabeth’s team has won the camp event. She lets Percy know she’d been there the whole time which not only shocks him but also bothers him because he needed help.

Annabeth apologizes but then pushes him into the water. Earlier in the episode, Luke said that she’s always six steps ahead of everyone. It seems she may have had an inkling who Percy’s father is and how to get him to notice him because the water heals the young demigod and then Poseidon’s trident hovers above his head. The sea god, whom Chiron refers to as Earthshaker and Stormbringer, has claimed his son.

Because of this Percy is moved to Poseidon’s cabin and informed by Chiron and Mr. D that he’s his father’s only hope to prevent war. Zeus and Poseidon have been clashing over the master bolt which is the symbol of Zeus’ authority. It’s been stolen and the sky god has accused Percy of taking it even though obviously he has not.

Poseidon has one week to return the bolt. If it’s not returned by the summer solstice there will be war. Percy’s quest is to retrieve the master bolt from the Underworld but he’s not interested in helping his father at all until Grover tells him that his mother is alive. She’s being held by Hades and that’s the only reason Percy agrees to go on the quest. Finding her could mean that he can bring her back to the world of the living.

This quest is also the one Annabeth had been waiting for. The one Chiron promised her she could go on. Chiron said that a quest is always taken by three and we’ve met this show’s trio–Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. See you next Wednesday for episode 3, “We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium.”