House of R - 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' Episodes 1 & 2 Deep Dive

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

We just need some more wine. Mal and Jo are here to dive into the first two episodes of 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' (07:20). After their initial impressions, they delve into their thoughts on Percy and the many characters and lore that stem from this beloved book series (16:22). Later, they also dive into book spoilers to see what may come ahead (1:54:22). Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And together we host The Big Picture, the ringers film podcast for new releases, career retrospectives, director interviews, movie drafts, top fives, and so much more. Twice a week, we break down the latest releases,

argue about whether movies are doomed, and debate our modern film canon. Listen to The Big Picture on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The playoffs are here, and you can predict the action all the way to the finals with Fandul Predict. Predict the spread.

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Do you know why we come to this cabin every year? Because it's near the septic tank, so it's cheap. Mom, how don't you know about that thing I saw? We come to this place every year because this is the place I met your father. My dad. What does my dad have to do with this? A long time ago, I met a man here on the beach. He was wise and brave and kind and noble.

From the moment I first saw him, I knew that I had never met a man like him before. And then I realized he was unlike any man I had ever met before because he wasn't a man at all. He was a God. You fell in love with God? Like... like Jesus? Not God.

God, a God. Percy, the stories that I have told you about great gods and heroes and monsters, they are real. And welcome to House of Ar, a Ringerverse podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin, and it is my absolute pleasure to invite you not only to Camp Halfblood, but also to our new-ish House of Our podcast feed. joining me today, very eager to know why there's half a goat in my pants. It's my house of our permanent title. Title, co-host, New York Times bestselling author of MCU, the reign of Marvel Studios, Joanna Robinson.

Mallory, aren't you so glad I put out the definitive book on the MCU and then no news happened after that? News just stopped. Hello. Oh my gosh. I'm so thrilled to be here with you today to talk about one of my favorite things on the planet, which is Greek mythology and also a beloved book series and new television show. But just an excuse to talk about Greek mythology. I'm so excited. Hello. You love a mythology corner. You love it. I do. I do. Joanna, mythology corner is here. Peter Johnson is here. But. Before we inform young Percy that he drools in his sleep, some quick programming reminders. House of our, we will not be with you on Friday, but we will be with you next week. We're going to have a pod on the Doctor Who Christmas special. That'll be coming to you during the holiday. Get hyped for that.

Quieter holiday run. We will be back to the normal volume in the new year over on a, the ringerverse. The Midnight boys. Beo, they're heading to Atlantis. They're potting about Aquaman on Friday, and I am consumed with jealousy.

I'm sorry. I can't wait to listen to the pod. That's my holiday treat is listening to that pod. We're more of like a Poseidon vibe, and they're more of an Aquaman vibe. It's two different. It is a big, like, seafaring moment, though, in the wider ringerverse,

the Rigervis podcast network. Yeah, great stuff. Yeah. Next week on the Ring of Verse, Midnight Mulligans, an annual tradition and a joy every time that's coming your way Wednesday. And then on Friday,

button mash on games of the year. Joanna, how can everyone follow along? Oh my God, thrilled and delighted and elated that you asked me this. Listen, here's what I would advise. What if you just followed the pod?

Yeah. It's almost the new year. It is the holidays. Give yourself a belated. Hanukkah treat and early Christmas treat and follow the pod, House of our Ring or Verse, I advise it. In addition, why don't you follow us on social on Twitter? And yes, we will still call it Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook, on TikTok, maybe soon to

comment on another platform, who's to know? But for right now, those are some great places to find us and check out the latest and the greatest from all of us. Also, and most importantly, I think, in these holiday times, you can find us at a lot of Hobbits and Dragons at gmail.com. No hobbits nor dragons so far in Percy Jackson. But the email address remains intact. We're not amending it to demigods and monsters.

You can find us at Hobbits and Dragons. But send the Percy questions and theories. We've got a whole season of TV ahead. We got a couple of Percy emails already. Like because the episodes dropped earlier than they were supposed to. Yeah. For no good reason as far as I know, that means we got like right when they dropped. Almost like, right after they dropped, we got emails for people.

And I was just sort of like, oh, I love it. Hello. You guys were ready. So here we go. We should say, by the way, if people are wondering, hey, I didn't hear you mention Percy episode three in the programming reminders you just went through, we were our plan. And hold the plans loosely, as always, is to check in at midseason. So the first week of the new year, we'll come back to chat about episodes three and four.

We reserve the right to amend our plans, as always. But that is the loose plan at the moment. So send your episode three and four emails because we'll likely be checking in. Last programming reminder, Joe, it's the friendly neighborhood spoiler warning. You're familiar with it. I am.

You're familiar with the premise, which is that today's podcast will feature plot points from the two-part premiere of the new Disney Plus series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. We will be sprinkling in book details as we go.

Here's the way the book info works. If you're worried about spoilers if you haven't read the books. In the bulk of the pod, we'll just be sprinkling in quotes, context for added insight and clarity. Anything that's coming later in the books, future

books, spoilers, we are only going to talk about at the very end in a clearly demarcated section, you will get another spoiler warning on the brink of that. So you can proceed safely until that point. All right, Joe. Hold fast. It's time to bud.

Beautiful. Steve. Steve. Oh, Steve. Absolutely. Beautiful. Godly. Divine.

Sublime. But make it sublime. Man, ambrosia in soundboard form there from Steve. I love it. Nectar for my ears. Yay. Joanna, we got two episodes. This is going to be an eight episode season.

We got two at once. Episode one, I accidentally vaporized my pre-algebra teacher. Episode two, I become supreme lord of the bathroom, honoring the chapter title styling here with the episode titles. Both of these episodes were directed by James Bobbin, written by the author of the novels, Rick Riordan, and co-scripted both of these by Jonathan E. Steinberg. 39 minutes and 44 minutes, including credits. So these were compact, relatively compact and contained episodes.

Tasty little morsels. We're going to start as we always do Before we dive deeper into the episode With our opening snapshot Take your shoes off before you get into my car You understand me? Joe I'm going to hit you with a trifecta here

Relationship to the book series Relationship to the original movies And your quick thoughts Just a taste Because we're going to go beat by beat later on the two-part premiere. You can hit those in any order. You can hit them in tandem.

Do what feels right. Yeah. Well, I think it's safe to say, you know, you and I are not precisely the same age, but we're close enough and is-ish. And when it comes to something like Harry Potter, I would say you're more of the Harry Potter generation and I was like a little old when Harry Potter came out. I think we were both a little old when Percy Jackson came out. would say neither of us can necessarily claim to be of the Percy Jackson book generation, right?

Right. The first book was published in 2005, the first film released in 2010. Yeah. Yeah. So this is not something that we read when we were kids. This is something that we both read this year for the first time, earlier this year, several months ago. And so we are both new to the books. And I had a great time reading Rick Rorden. But as a bookseller, back of the day, I definitely sold gobs and gobs of not only the Olympian series, but he's got like the Egyptian God series, like, you know, all of those books. You could reliably sell, especially for boys, which I think was like you, loves a pantheon, loves a loves a pantheon, loves a mythology. He sure does. Yeah. Sure does. But like, you know, I really valued those as

books that like really got boys into reading in a, in a section of the store, in an age group where I saw so many book series angled towards young women, which I love. But like these, these were a book series. I mean, I think anyone can read them obviously. But like the, we'll talk about sort of the first person, you know, I'm a 12 year old boy point of view of the books and how they just really connected with boys and often with boys who didn't like, who weren't big readers necessarily. And we'll talk about sort of why. This felt like an access into story. My nephews are, well, my older nephew, I think my youngest is too young for them still. But like, is really into these books.

And so that's my relationship to the books. And then the first two movies, I actually still haven't seen the second movie. I know you watched it. I haven't watched it. I watched the first movie, like, a couple years ago, just out of like sheer curiosity when I heard about the TV show happening.

And then I watched it again this last weekend. And then I really enjoyed these two episodes. And as a... like we love talking about adaptation. So to have this like a book series, recent movie attempt that was pretty soundly rejected by the book's author, like he was not a fan of the films.

So the movies and then the TV show, so you've got this sort of refracted story. So figuring out like what they pulled into the movies versus what they left behind. And then what Rick put in these episodes, you know, then you can really understand what is super important to this author when it comes to the adaptation of the story. Does that make

sense in terms of like triangulating the signal on the three different retellings of this same story? So yeah, I had a great time. Love it. Love it. Yeah, as you noted, I dove into the book series this year for the first time actually started while traveling. And that was a really fun, like feeling like I was on a quest while reading about a quest. Great way to start. Loved it. have been having a blast, an absolute blast, reading the books, which are absolutely delightful, and you can see why they're so widely beloved. The movie, when I saw the Lightning Thief film for the first time, I thought, this is like a pretty poor movie, but I was not offended by it because I didn't know why I should be revisiting that first movie this weekend after having read the first book

was absolutely gobsmacking and galling. I mean, we are talking numerous core characters who are not incorporated, a massive through line of the plot, absent entirely. But I think worst of all, really, is just the complete whiff on the tone, the vibe, the sensibility, so much of the wit

and the charm and the humor that is present, but not just present, like in 12, and extricably from the intensity and the emotion, the very specific Percy brew that people latch on to, just not there in the film at all. And so that was one of the main things that, you know, I think we and like many people who have had any exposure, whether it's been for years now or mere months to the books,

we're looking to see in the television adaptation. Like, did it feel right? And I think it's an interesting way to greet a new series where you are simultaneously, sort of three things at once. right, like judging it against the infamously failed prior adaptation. And the bar then is really only like it needs to be better than that. And I think like a lot of the, we should say the series has been met broadly with like effusive praise in the early reviews. It's a really positive reception.

And that's, I think definitely a through line of the response is like, this isn't a disaster again. Thank God. Because what a tragedy that would be for people who love the story. right, to see it botched again. So there, I think, is this really palpable sense of relief? Then there's also just, is it a good adaptation on its own? And then there's also, is it a good show? And those are related, but kind of independent, right, in a way as well.

And I also had a really good time with the premiere show. I thought it was quite charming and captivating to start. I enjoyed the second episode on balance more than the first, but I thought it was an effective way to plunge us into the world. First has like a heavy lift. Yeah. Yeah. Into the world and into the quest.

You're the opposite? I think I maybe prefer the first. We'll talk about some of the adaptive reasons why, but there's stuff that, another thing that has gotten me so hyped about this story is the creators behind the show. Because it's not just Rick Reorden, who's working as an exact producer and a writer, but Jonathan Steinberg, who co-wrote these episodes is the showrunner. And Dan Schott's EP. And that creative pair made Black Sales, a show that I really, really, really. loved, which was sort of like a prequel adaptation-ish of Treasure Island, and then the old man, the Jeff Bridges FX show, which is ongoing. They're doing both shows at the same time,

which is Wild Whiplash, another show that I really, really liked. And so they're just creative minds that I really, really enjoy. And so watching, looking for some of the stuff that I feel is additive to the book, because it's not just, I think, a faithful adaptation of a middle reader book series that is beloved, I think they're also attempting to deepen it and complicate it in a way that might be part of the reason why it was as appealing to critics. You know what I mean? Because it's like you could faithfully adapt the book and it would just be like a fun and interesting and emotional story for kids. But I think there are some like, there's some ways in which they made the story less dark in the show and we'll talk about those. But there are ways in which

they made the story more complicated, which I'm really excited about. Yeah, so there's a lot going on. Yeah, there really is. This is a lot to dive into. We are going to go through both episodes now chronologically, and we're calling this deep dive, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Deep Diver. Okay, Joe, we begin, episode one with a very book. like opening. Just an important initial. Word for word. This will be the faithful.

Forget the cold, choppy ocean. This is the warm hot tub that you've been waiting to sink into. Percy sets the stage for us. For the future, for what awaits. Look, I don't want to be a halfblood. Being a half blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. If you think you might be one of us, my advice is turn away while you still can. The book version of that is, but if you recognize yourself in these pages, if you feel something stirring inside, stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And I always just love when stories start this way. This is so very when Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke on the dull grade Tuesday, our story starts.

It's like that hour, that you, that us. Percy, there's an ominous note to the beginning, right? It's a warning, but even in the form of a warning, it's still an invitation because of the way that we are directly called upon and brought into the world. I love that opening note. It's so funny that you mentioned that because that's like the only time that Harry Potter really does that, right? The beginning to bring you in. Yeah. The reader.

I was reminded of the Lemney Snicket books, a series of unfortunate events. that does that throughout. The opening line of a bad beginning is, if you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only others, there are no happy ending. There's no happy beginnings, very few happy things in the middle. So that like ominous warning, but that very much throughout like direct address you. And something we'll talk about a little later on too, but that idea that like, again,

the way these books try to hook in, like if you're like me, Percy, I'm excited that you're reading this book, but like think about the ways in which your, your life might be fantastical too, you know? Yeah. Brilliant device. Absolutely. I love it. Not quite as, as alarming as if you think this is a happy ending, you haven't been paying

attention over in the Thrones verse, but still, you know, we're on our heels. We're welcome to we're on our heels all at once. We get to meet Percy and Grover in the early moments here. This voiceover from Percy continues. He tells us his name and his age, Joanna. He says he's 12 years old. Now, this might seem like it does not bear remarking a place. fun, but this was a big, big, big change in the film adaptation.

Percy's 16, the kids are aged up, the movies, and like, we say this as a pod that is routinely in a house of our after dark, sexed up territory. Those movies are sexed up in a way that was like, it just completely shifted the vibe, right? And so to like orient us back here in a true coming of age moment, Percy's age is chosen deliberately because, of where he is in life and the aspect of trying to figure out who you are as your body is changing

everything about you is changing you're coming to grips with like your sense of self and that is manifesting for Percy in this like deeply extreme macro capacity and so the age feels correct here.

I mean with I love Logan Lerman in general the actor who plays Percy in the movie so like there's no knock on Logan Lerman is just like it just felt like an incorrect move to age the character up. And I don't know if you saw this fan campaign. Because there are people who love those movies.

Because they were the right age when they came out. They captured something that they loved about the books. And I remember when the casting news is coming out about this TV series, there was this big campaign to get Logan Lerman, who played Percy Jackson, the originals, to play Poseidon and this one. They're like, you know, bring Logan into the fold. Not yet.

Not yet. But Walker Scobal, who they've cast as Percy, who I really, like, I really love this kid. He was so good in The Adam Project. And not only was he playing a young Ryan Reynolds, not only was he so good in that movie, but he was so good on the promotional tour for that movie doing interviews next to Ryan Reynolds and, like, holding his own, like, charisma-wise. So the fact that he cast his kid was, like, perfect. But it is giving me slight, edgy, like,

like stranger things. Oh my God. Kids at this age grow so quickly. And I know that they like, they haven't been greenlit for season two, but they are already working on the skirts for season two because I know that they know, like he was cast in January 2022. If you look at promo interviews that he did for season one, you know, in the last couple months, he already, you know, he's 14.

He's 12 when he was cast. He's 14 now. He's just, they grow. Kids grow. And so I'm just like, you guys got to go fast, fast, you know, while he's still. But I love the way his voice is like. cracking in this like, you know, intro. It's so good. I know. I know. Yeah, we got to get ahead of the full Mike Wheeler, you know? Yeah. Tall, tall person, Jackson.

Six foot five NBA starting roster quite yet. Let's get a couple seasons out first at least. Exactly. Joe, we learn about these strange and inexplicable things that Percy has seen his whole life. He grows up seeing a Pegasus on the roof, seeing mechanical bull in the street. And he says, these impossible things that felt like they walked right out of the stories my mom always told me. So this is going to be, we already started talking about this with like the meta aspect of the story here. But this is a real like through line of these two opening episodes. What Sally Jackson has been priming Percy for. if not with the outright full truth,

then through these tales. And that idea, like you said, that mythology, that the mythology you grow up hearing, that you could find yourself inside of that and that could be your life. Incredible. But before we get to the, like,

epiphany and the awakening and the awe of that, we're in this state with Percy of feeling unmoored and unsure. In the book, he says, I have moments like that a lot when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something

is if a puzzle piece fell out of the, universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. Like, what a, what an effective framing that you feel like you were staring at the blank space, that you can't latch onto something. And we see, like, kids at school calling Percy a loser, picking on him. That sense of isolation is very keen immediately. It is, and this is a slight change from Percy. Because Percy in the book is more of, like, a troublemaker, like, not. not like a juvenile delinquent, but like moving in that direction. You know, he's got kicked out of school a lot.

It's not that he's like a nerdy, lonely loser. He's like a rebellious anti-authoritarian, like kid. But I love a nerdy, lonely loser. So, you know, I'm happy for this change. As a mythology, hardcore head when you saw the Pegasus right away, where you just like, this is a brilliant Poseidon connection right from the go. Well, what's so interesting about Pegasus is we should talk. about it a little bit later when we get to the statue that Sally and Percy are standing in front of.

But Poseidon is, Pegasus is the offspring, it's a very loose term, sired by Poseidon and Medusa. So, yeah. It depends what, it depends what story you read, how exactly that came about. Was it like when the blood hit the earth? Was it, you know, actual sex? Like, what was happening? So, yeah. This is like one of the, we both grew up as like mythology nerds, but this was really one of the fun things about reading the books for the first time.

Like I love, and this is something we like in general in like a mainstream pop culture, whether it's a literary series or a show or a movie, whatever the case may be, this incorporate, like you're learned, you really are learning something as you read and the way that like to think of all the kids who read the Percy books and like learn something about these figures from lore. That's just like a really cool way to introduce so many people to all of these figures. I love that part reading it. It was great. You're learning, but also if you are already a nerd head, then you get the whole, like, you get to be one step ahead and you're like, ooh, I bet that's, oh, I bet that cap is decorated this way because that's what God it's, you know, associated with stuff like that. It's really fun. I love it.

You love like a little treasure map, clues along the way. I do. I love puzzles. Yeah. You know, the end. credits, not to jump ahead, but the end credits. What a path they set in the end credits for series. I love that.

They were gorgeous, too. Something changes, Joe. And it is Grover. When he said something changed, I met Grover, my heart exploded. It surged and it exploded and it melted and it melted. And it is not just because they're both, quote, bottom of the food chain kids. It's a narrator.

He's 24. Love Grover saying I'm 24. later when Sally calls them both boys. Yeah. It's that Percy feels like he has someone he can talk to. Like he doesn't have to be ashamed of the things that he's seeing and feeling and wondering about. And we get to see this notebook where we saw him first sketching the bull.

And it's full of a treasure trove of Easter eggs, but this is full of these figures. From mythology, we see Grover pass over the mythomagic card with the Minotaur. It will come into play, obviously, inside of this episode. and this idea that unfurls for us over the premiere that Grover has been, and Sally and her way, priming Percy for the nature of who he is. Like, Grover, fellow pod prep guy, Joe. That was my takeaway. Grover loves to prep. He loves an outline.

Wow. It reminded me, I mean, like, the fact that they're looking at, like, myth of magic cards, sort of magic the gathering type of, um, thing. It reminded me a lot of like Eddie Munson's speech about Dungeons and Dragons at the beginning of the last season of Stranger Things, this idea of like these are these magic the gathering, dungeons and dragons, like these various deeply nerdy pursuits that we presume a lot of house of our listeners either directly interacted with or tangentially interacted with. Like these are the things, often the things that bind these people who feel at loose ends in the usual, you know, strata structure of school. Like if you feel like you don't belong here, there, or the other place,

like, that's usually, the, the nerd catch all net is there for you. And so I just love that like, you know, it's, it's both helping Percy prepare the monster guy, but also it's like, it's magic the gathering,

you know, at the same time. This is their hellfire club. Never a bad moment to invoke Eddie. Great work. I love, I need to send you a photo I saw Paul Meskull, Paul Mescal and Joe Quinn. I saw it and I also said I need to send this to Joanna. Yes.

Okay. Good. I'm glad we're on the same page. Incredible. You're the best. But it's a, it's, I really, I love, I love that you're, that observation because like, that sense of, we talk a lot about found family, right? And it's interesting the way that this manifests in the series, like our entry point here with Grover, this very like intimate one-on-one friendship, but more broadly. and we get access to this over the two-part premiere,

one of the, like, great, truly great things about the series, like about the Percy tale, period, is that it takes certain things that might make kids feel alone or out of place, like, whether it's your wandering mind or your ADHD or your dyslexia, all of which Percy experiences, and make them these actions. attributes and characteristics of a hero, like these sources eventually of not just belonging,

but strength. And that's just such a comforting and empowering and exciting thing for people to see. There's a part of that that I love, right? Your ADHD is actually your superpower. Like, I love that. Yeah. There was one line that stuck out to me in the book that I was like, which is like when Annabeth is talking to him about this a little later on. And she's like, of course your teachers want you to take medication. They're all monsters. And I'm like, as a proponent of like the right dosage for the right, you know, a thing that's going on with you, I would prefer not to have such like anti- language in the book.

But other than that, I really do enjoy that as a comment. I mean, it's a thing we see over and over again. This, we'll talk about this when we get to the Met and stuff like that next. But this idea that we've been talking about a lot as we cover like Doctor Who or a few other things, which is sort of this magical world just around the corner, like just out of sight from your ordinary life. Yes. And, you know, we have a million and one Harry Potter comps we can make

because you're a wizard Harry and your demigod Percy is like, there's so much of that in here. But also, like, you're a vampire slayer Buffy. Like this idea of like you feel alone, powerless, outcast, abused by the Dersley's if you're hairy, you know, a... cast off if you're Buffy or like a vulnerable young woman in the world. And it's like, no, actually, you're extremely powerful. I'm like, that's such a strong story to read at almost any age, I would say.

Yeah, yeah. That message never, there's no expiration date on when that message is a meaningful thing to encounter. Yeah. Speaking of encountering, it's time to encounter monsters at the Met. The Yancey Academy kids are heading to the Met and just for clarity, because I know you were wondering, it is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, not the Met Opera House. I know that's on your mind from the Gilded Age season two. I'm a show that I am desperately trying to get you to share with me.

We are here not to spend time with Bertha Russell, but with Mr. Bruner, aka. Kyron, as we'll learn, who is taking the kids to learn about the great gods. He tells them what you see here, they are not fictions. They are not fantasies. Love this. What you see here are the truest and deepest parts of yourselves. Friends, the gods, the monsters, the heroes you see in this room are

reminders of what we are capable of. Now, the gods of this story have a lot of flaws and we will encounter them throughout, but this idea that there's something that isn't actually unattainable in these aspirational, like, legendary figures that you've learned about your whole life. There's actually something that connects to a root inside of you is obviously a very interesting thing. I do think that it's, as Percy mentions in the book, I think he says this explicitly in the book. Maybe it's a show a little muddled in the last 48 hours of rereading and rewatching. But like that mythology comes from trying to explain lightning and, you know, the weather and all these other things. That's why we created these gods in the first place.

And so this idea of like what you're reading about when you're reading about God's mythology, heroes, all this sort of stuff. like that are these outsized mythopoeic explanations for your everyday, your ordinary, you know. And so they're, you know, outside of the idea that someone could literally say you're a demigod, there is this idea of our connection to mythology. Yes. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, there's that great moment where Chiron, after Percy learns the truth of who he is, says, if you were a God, how would you like being called a myth? Yeah. An old story to explain lightning.

What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people will call you a myth just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers. So that idea not only of how the myths took root in the first place, but how they might perpetuate and how Percy and our experience with this tale might be a part of that great tapestry is like a really...

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Sign up for Fandual Predicts and predict it from the couch. Offered by Fandual Prediction Markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant. 18 plus. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with our consumer protection tools. Kairon like us is a halt and catch firehead. He's heard Joe say. It's never about where we were going.

It was always about how it felt. He tells the kids, he wants them to pick a subject and describe not is what they see, but how it makes you feel. This also made me think of an incredible Julie Schumacher series that I just read and the absolutely iconic professor Jay Fittker, who embarks on an experience of broad program where this is the assignment every single day. We see the words like swirl off the worksheet as Percy is looking. And then he ports back to a memory as he's looking at the statue, Perseus with the head of

Medusa and thinks about an experience that he had with his mother, Sally, when he was younger, looking up at this very statue. Steve, can we hear this? Perseus, that's me. That's who you're named after. Is that why he named me after him? Because he was a hero? What makes you think he was a hero? Because he kills monsters.

What makes you think that she was a monster? Mom. Not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero. And not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster. I named you after him because when he was a very little boy, he and his mother were placed in a wooden chest and cast out into the sea by a very angry king, alone, afraid, and at night his mother would whisper in his ear,

Hold fast, Perseus, brave the soul. brave the storm that was made to break us for we are unbreakable as long as we have each other. And against all odds, he managed to find his way to a happy ending. I loved this. So much. I think genuinely, I think this might be the most important scene of the whole two episodes for me. It's not in the books. Virginia Cole, who plays Sally Jackson, I think, is phenomenal.

phenomenal. Asriel Dalman, who was playing tiny Percy, is like so cute. Like, what a perfect little, like, young Walker casting that they did there. I love this change, adaptive change for Sally, who's given, like, a much more active role, I think, in a lot of what's going on here. And also, it feeds into a theme we like to talk about a lot, which is, like, Like, again, take us to Bilbo's birthday at the Shire. Like, spend time in the shower.

Show us what's worth fighting for. Show us worth what's worth defending, right? And so if Percy's mom is something worth chasing after, we need to know her really as well as we can in the space of an episode. She has an episode to make an impression on us. And so this is, I think, done really well and really important. I want to talk a bit about Medusa. Anything you want to say about how Sally is described in the book? Yeah, I think like the first encounter we have with Sally is Percy returning back to the apartment right after leaving Yancey.

And he gives us this, a word about my mother before you meet her. Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. So that is a consistent thing, right? That the instant, we are instantly drawn towards Sally. It may be in different fashions, but we have to understand right away, like, the depth of affection and devotion between Percy and Sally and how much she means, especially as a point of contrast to this missing godly father who has not been a presence in his life,

that she was there every beat and every step along the way. So we get that here. We get it back at the apartment when she just like envelops him in her arms and he's trying to explain why he's sorry. And she's like, you don't need to worry about this at all. It was a quick call. Like I told him, I believe my kid. We just see right away what a caring and supportive and nurturing figure she is in Percy's life, a life where there's like a lot of like feeling of being at unease in different ways and that she's of like a steadying presence. So I loved that. I thought this whole scene was wonderful.

The way that Sally whispers hold fast Perseus, which obviously sets up the way she says hold fast to him at the end against the Minotaur. That line, like, gave me a chill. I just thought that was incredible. Obviously, this does a lot here to give us insights on Perseus as a namesake in terms of the tie to mythology there. But these lessons from Sally, the idea of like the worthwhile nature of hoping for, a happy ending, even amid the turmoil? Like, there's a lot of setup and foreshadowing here in general, like, across this entire

scene, but there's just so much to hold on to emotionally. I think to your point, your broad point from the beginning about part of what makes the double premiere successful, there's an emotional depth on offer for us that, like, we're learning about the characters in real time, right? But we have to understand the bond. We have to understand what they mean to each other. We have to understand what they would do for each other. And so before Sally makes her sacrifice, we know, we know clearly that.

that she would. And especially when you contrast, if you contrast the film to the TV show, you have an incredible actress in Catherine Keener in this role in the movie. One of the all-time greats, in my opinion, and you feel like almost none of the connection between mother and son, because it's just the text isn't supporting that, giving that performer that opportunity. But I think what's most important to me here in this section is what makes you think he was a hero, right? Not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero, not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster. It of course makes you think of our favorite line from Station 11, like, to the monsters were the monsters. And that's, that is so key as it pertains specifically to Medusa's story, which takes us into

mythology corner, because Medusa is here, Medusa and Andromeda, which we can talk about later, blah, blah, but like Medusa is one of the most important in Perseus stories, right? And so it's fitting that, we should get the statue of Perseus. There are many statues of Perseus that exist holding the head of decapitated head of Medusa aloft. This is like one of his most famous feats. And the thing about Medusa is that in some tellings, she's just a hideous, gorgon, snake-haired monster. But in many, she is a young woman who was, your mileage may vary. sexually assaulted or happily had sexual Congress with Poseidon,

Percy Jackson's father, Percy Jackson's father in the temple of Athena. And Athena was so pissed about this. And she didn't punish Poseidon. She punished the girl and turn her into this hideous gorgon and gave her this affliction that meant that she could never have any kind of intimacy, be it friendship or anything, ever again because anyone who looks at her turns a stone, awful, cruel punishment. The gods are so often cruel. And Athena specifically, like, if you think about, like, her turning arachne into a spider

or whatever, like, Athena is often, like, quite creatively cruel in her punishments. But that idea that, like, Medusa, and what's interesting about the Medusa story and when the Medusa story starts becoming a story about a woman who was, a young woman who was, I think, unduly punished for something that a god did, comes first from Ovid. Like, Ovid is the first poet to sort of write about Medusa that way, and it's interesting because when you read Ovid's telling of Greek mythology and the metamorphosis and other things, he is such an anti-authoritarian writer that so many of his versions of the stories are, the gods are bastards, are they not? And so,

to give us this story, the concept of the demigod in the first place. So often, if you like this term, I don't, but like bastard children of gods, right? Who are, like, abandoned to the whims of whatever, Zeus' father's so many children and just lets his, like, wife who is justifiably pissed, like, but not justifiably take her, like, vengeance on them and all this sort of stuff like that. Like, the demigods are one of the greatest examples of the actual, like, monstrousness. of the gods. And so this is a story of demigods. This is a story of abandoned children. These are a story of children who don't know their fathers or their mothers and all the sort of stuff like that. And so to wrap Medusa into that, and for Sally to call that out, for Sally who does not speak ill of Percy's father, who says she loves him, like, you know, speaks of him wistfully and lovingly.

So she's not angry at Poseidon, but she is clear-eyed. about what the gods are and what they can do. And she is instilled that in Percy, which I really love. So this is why I think this is, I think this is the most important scene in the two episodes. And I love that it's here. Yeah, I agree. I thought this was crucial and moving.

Great combo. Now we're on the lookout, right? In a story of heroes and monsters, who was really what they claim to be. Important opening note. When Percy kind of snaps out of this memory, out of this recollection. He says, he calls for his mother aloud.

He earns mockery, not for the first time, from Nancy Boba Fitt, who we will exclusively refer to as Nancy Boba Fett. This is a requirement. And Kairon comes over to his aid. I think that one of the real central aspects of the opening chapters of the book that is a little muted in the adaptation

is like how much the bond with Mr. Bruner means to, Percy, like what it feels like for a teacher, for an authority figure in his life to see promise and potential in him. There's this, I love this little line. This is after he realizes he's leaving, where he says, I'd miss Latin class two, Mr. Bruner's crazy tournament days, and his faith that I could do well. Like, that is just so shattering that that idea that somebody had faith in you would be a rare thing. But for Percy, like outside of his mother, it has been. It was.

It is. And so that was like a meaningful thing to find in a person who was protecting him, but also lying to him. Right. There's another complex aspect of the morality at play in these figures in the tail. And he gives him a pen here. This pen, as we will see shortly, is actually a celestial bronze sword, anaclusmos riptide. sick name for a sword. Grecian pronunciation.

Thank you. I doubt that's true, but I appreciate you saying it. If you want to hear more about like the hero's journey and getting your magical weapon, please tune into our Trots course episode we did about magical swords. But, you know, it's interesting to compare when he gets the sword here versus how he gets it in the book versus how it happens in the movie. Again, like, you know, to figure things out. I love that he like breaks his. pencil. So this is real like sort of smooth. Here's a pen moment.

To your point about Mr. Brunner-Kiron and maybe downplaying that connection a bit, I guess because I think a lot of when he, when the stories my mom told me gets brought up again and again, in the book, it's the stories Mr. Bruner told us, right? So they transferred some of that importance over to Sally. And as we already discussed, I think that's important. But you're right that it slightly cools the temp on the teacher-child relationship. I love this Grover-Persy conversation outside for two reasons. Percy's talking about tossing Nancy in a dumpster.

hilarious. And it says, Grover says, no, if there's one thing I know about bullies is that you should never ever stand up to them personally. He says, that doesn't sound right,

right? So, like, Percy's right just kills me. So good. Yeah, and Walker's delivery, it was so funny. But there's a silent,

okay, to talk about, like, the sense of history that I think these show, these particular show creators are so good at. it's the absolutely silent moment where Percy and Grover swap the meat and the cheese in their sandwich because Grover's a vegetarian and Percy isn't. And they just do it without talking about it, without looking at each other.

A thing that they must have done one million times together as friends. And it's just sort of like a friendship move. Like Percy gives up his cheese, you know, a friendship move and just like a history. Yeah. The rhythm of their bond. That's just like a clever bit of just like, here's some history. you know, in a second in a story, you know. Beautiful.

It's like when Steve is ready to give us a bad baby, no squeasy. And people who come to the pod for the first time are like, how did he know? It's like they've been swapping sandwiched meat for hours. Hundreds of hours. Phrasing. Bad baby. Up the drop after invoking it, you know? Sure.

You know? Yeah. Yeah. We, we did listen. The critique of the sexed-up films, which you can read a lengthy blog post about from Mercury Art and himself, never said that would mean we wouldn't make sex jokes on the pod. House of R contains a don't content. I almost made a pickle reference because it's like it's like the friend who loves pickles

versus the friends who hate pickles. And they're like, do you want my pickle, right? Do you? Phrasing, but also like there are people who don't like pickles. I don't understand them. But I've experienced them in my life and I will always gladly. Take their pickles. I'll gladly take the pickle.

God's is being good. House of our, we love pickles. Okay. Nancy throws food at Grover's face, Joe. Not nice. And Percy, there are so many Harry Comps, as we've noted in Will again, but Percy channeling his son of the sea god magic and hurling Nancy into the fountain without realizing how is just so all of it right the parcel tongue snake ending up on the roof at a school

without knowing how making his hair grow back shrinking the sweater he doesn't want to wear it's just this is this is like incredible and we're not the only ones who noticed that something happened the fury a kindly one arrives mrs dodds sees him we hear this really menacing threat. Shout out Megan Malali. Like, shout out like, well, as we know, monsters don't die that easily. That's right.

Persia didn't know that when he stabbed her to death here, though. Yeah. My guy is a cold, flooded killer. I had no idea yet that monsters can return. None. But yeah, he's a, Megan Malali, we didn't love the visual effects on this. And it's tough.

The creature effects are tough. The creature effects in this are tough. Later, they try to do some things like cloaking the minotaur in rain and darkness. And that always helps with the visual effects. There's only so much you can do with a certain budget. But like, it's not my faith. But Megan Malawi's performance, I really love, very menacing. What did you compare the dust that she turns into?

Two milderbin. Voldemort confetti. What about you? Can you, um, can you, um, can you buy Voldemort confetti at Weasley, Wizarding Weezes? Like, do they sell it there in bags? It's a poor taste, even for, even for the Weasleys. In Buffy Vampire Slayer, when you dust a vampire, it's a very similar, like, they just turn to dust, which is a nice way to not have to deal with dead vampire bodies all over Sunnydale.

But also there's so much of this that reminds me of Buffy. What if your terrible math teacher who you hate is literally a harpy, like literally a fury, right? Like, and which is Buffy Vampire Slayer, like, what if your bullies were literally monsters? What if your bad boyfriends were literally vampires? Like, all that sort of stuff. And that, like, sort of, and there's also just like a lot of American God stuff in here. Like when we use stuff like the, in the book, we already have reference to the Empire State Building as an important place. or the St. Louis Arch,

like these landmarks in the United States as structures where the gods have left their fingerprints. That's very Neil Game in American Gods. It's really fun. I love it. Unfortunately, Percy is not able to enjoy these comps because he is busy confronting the fact

that Mr. Bruner and Grover are telling him Mrs. Dodds doesn't exist. He's in the headmaster's office getting expelled from school. Shout out Rick. Rick Reardon cameo. Just hanging out in the corner of this office scene

sitting in the chair. Shadowy. Yeah, I loved this. And Grover Ratsaw Percy. We will learn in time that this was to protect him. Once the monsters have found you and know you're here, you can't stay.

This makes sense. But in the moment for Percy, it is such a, like, this is my friend. And he has betrayed me. What is left? Right? How devastating. You gotta leave another school, but also, like, I thought I could trust Grover no matter what, and he turned on me too.

He just feels so lost and alone. And so even Chiron's effort to comfort him does nothing. Percy is just in the state of despair. He tells him to stop. He says, I don't need any more stories about how special I don't realize I am. They aren't helping. Like, there's nothing tangible about that sweeping promise for Percy in the moment. It just feels like another missing puzzle piece, right?

Another blank space that he has to stare into alone. It's very sad. Not as sad as making your way home to Gabe, though. We go back to the city, Joanna. We're smelly Gabe and the building super are arguing over Gabe's massive toilet wrecking shits. We can hear this exchange. There's nothing wrong with the plumbing in this building.

Maybe you should see a doctor. considered eating more fruit? I was in stitches. Which is just like a really delicate, a really delicate elevated poop joke. Just like really just sort of like, it's subtly there. And then I opened our dock and Mallory has written

massive toilet clogging shits in our dock. And I was like, all right, Mallory's like, why beat around the bush? I loved it. It just really killed me. I thought this was so funny. There's another incredibly funny thing coming in mere second. but I love this.

And then you do have this moment between Percy and Eddie on the, Eddie, the Super on the doorstep where Eddie's like, hey, don't apologize to me like, I'm leaving. You're the one

who has to go inside and be around this? And so even amid the humor, there is this real sense of the misery that awaits when Gabe is a part of your life. Percy opens the door

and we see Gabe poker table behind him, the horse races on TV. He's got his laptop open. He's, quote, losing an imaginary poker, as Percy puts it. But none of that matters.

I would like to draw your attention, Joanna. To the most extraordinary indictment I have ever seen in the history of television. I'm serious. Okay. Stepdad Gabe has on his wall a framed Zach Wilson jersey. Zach Wilson, infamous quarterback of the New York Jets. infamous draft bust. Not only does he have a Zach Wilson jersey,

sure, they took him second in the draft. Plenty of people bought the jersey. He has framed it and draped it on their living room wall so that he can look upon it constantly. This was astonishing. I don't know who on the production is either a deeply bitter Jets fan

or a gloating AFC East rival. like maybe someone's a Patriots fan or a Bill's fan or a Dolphins fan and they're like, I know how we can show that Gabe is a complete joke. But someone executed this move with brilliance and grace and I fucking loved it. This killed me. Now, you I know, love to talk about sports on the podcast. How did you feel about this framed Zach Wilson jersey and what I told us about Gabe, who also talks about the Knicks multiple times in this sequence?

As I've already told you, there's very few people that I don't have to, like, Google when you name drop them to me. You'll, like, you'll make a comp and I'll be like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh, meanwhile Googling. This is not one of them because we've spent minutes, nay, maybe hours of my life talking about Zach Wilson and his many off-the-field exploits. And what a piece of garbage he is. One like an extraordinary, like, top-tier piece of garbage he is. It was one of the thrills of my life to get to text this screenshot to our beloved colleague and a long-suffering Jets fan, Sean Fennacy last night. I do not know if he was watching Percy Jackson, but I did get to say,

The loser, evil stepdad has framed Zach Wilson jersey on his wall and just let him sit with that. I'm not a bet man, but if I were to bet, I would say Sean Fennessexie. he's not watching Percy Jackson. All right. We'll see. The man who hated Wonka? No. Yeah, a real fork in the road for you, too.

You'll make your way back eventually. We have a lot to get too still, but I would like to ask you. I think it would be irresponsible not to if you have any insights to share on the way that the stepdad Gabe pronounced. Nostradamus. Any thoughts? Feelings? Questions?

No notes. No notes. I loved it. Oh, this was great. What you've noted here in the notes, and it's true. And we'll get to this a bit more in the book reader section because it has bearing on later in the story. But they have softened the edges on Gabe. And John Steinberg gave an interview talking about why, just, you know, basically like you can kind of, he's much more abusive, we'll say, in the book than he is in the show.

And I don't know if it was a mandate from Disney that, you know, this is airing on Disney Plus. Let's like round the edges off on that a little bit, perhaps. But I would say they soften the edges on Percy's juvenile delinquent behavior and on Gabe's violence. Like those are edges that they've softened. But we'll be killing monsters. Like it's okay to kill monsters. But like, you know, on the human side, let's keep things a little bit Disney Plus friendly, I suppose. Yeah.

They definitely turned Gabe into someone who was willing to say, please and things. thank you for the hot peppers you wanted on a sandwich and the pleasure of Sally's company during a Knicks game. Which again, I mean, like, it does change. So there's this idea that Sally has married Gabe because Gabe smells bad and can hide the smell of the half blood. Yeah. So, and so then she is putting up with, like, abuse in order to do so.

So, like, oh, what a noble sacrifice from Sally. I know. But I think that, you know, in the slight rewriting of Sally, as they're doing in the show, having her as someone who, like, is enduring him but also stands up to him, has him sort of on a leash is sort of their preferred. If you watch Black Sails or The Old Man, you know, these creators have a real take that I really admire on the way that they write female characters. And they've hired some brilliant women in their writers' rooms who work on that as well. But I love that we go from Gabe when we first see Sally in the present day, not on the flashback, and she's sitting outside in the rain. On the fire sky.

Maybe to get away from the smell of the toilet. But also it just makes, like, like, Sally Jackson is mortal. Like, she's human. But it makes her look like a water nymph to be sitting there, like, you know, just like in the raindrops. Rocking out to Olivia Rodriguez. Yeah. Logical, a little logical. Great stuff.

Yeah. Now the current's stronger. It all fits. It all tracks. Are you a Rodriguez head? It's just like, you know, looking at the lyrics and the subtitles. So it's like, okay, well, I always love to parse the lyrics of a chosen song to see why it was selected. This was the moment we cited earlier where she just like wraps him up and we're just so, so warmed to her right away.

Really wonderful. Give some of the blue food, Joe. What I love about the rain part. is she looks like she's cold, but the hug looks so warm. You know what I mean? It's like both of those things at the same time. I love it.

We get the little like glimpse of the love language in the book of the blue food for Percy. Yeah. She can tell that he's very scared. Like deeply scared. It's time, right? It's time to tell him who he is. It's time to go to Montauk.

They're taking Gabe's car and we are ready for our, Percy, you're a demi-god moment. But on the drive, our guy Percy he drifts into a dream state we get one of these dreams in each of the first two episodes

a shadowy figure is holding a light now in this stream the shadowy figure says who are you so weak so scared so sad run away little hero before you get hurt

very ominous safe to say here this is a very very ominous note and the fact that it recurs across episodes is drawing our attention to it. We'll save further commentary until later in the pot. They enter the cabin. We're getting these storms just like in the books, right? The weather is a mess. What is happening?

And there's a little moment in the kitchen before we get to the big talk about who Percy is, who his father is, about marshmallows, where Sally tells him that she found marshmallows that won't burn. And Percy says, I don't think it was ever the marshmallows fault that I wasn't paying attention. And I don't know why. Like every now and then there's something in a show or a movie or book where like it's not meant to be the centerpiece of the scene, but a line just like floors you. And this was one of those for me. This just shredded me and crushed me because like Percy is so hard on himself all the time.

It can't just be the marshmallow's fault. It has to be his. And again, the way that like Walker delivered that line is just like really good. And I think that comparing it to what what happens right here in the book or a little, little later, Sally in the book says, your dad would be so proud of you. And he says, I wondered how she could say that. What's so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with the D-plus report guard kicked out of school for the six time in six years. Okay. So that's a, that's a tidy recap, an okay way to tell us about a character. But it's so much subtler to have this mushroom,

I'm sorry, marshmallow conversation. Not a mushroom's a different show entirely. A marshmallow conversation. And it goes and it goes back to that flashback with Sally where it's like, you can tell us she's the best person in the world, but you can also show us. And that, you know, like that's that's the rule of, you know, show don't tell and storytelling. It's like showing us via the flashback in front of the statue, showing us with this marshmallow conversation rather than like Percy just saying like, here are the blunt facts about me. Again, it's like really, really elegant adaptation. Yeah.

Show us who feels unworthy. Show us who's willing to stand by you no matter what. That's great. He tells his mom that they need to talk. He is used to feeling weird. He says, I'm used to the world

feeling weird to me, but something is different now. And when he begins to tell his mom what happened at the Met, she asks him what, quote unquote, she said. And Percy's like,

wait, what? How do you know it was a she? What do you know? How do you know this? What is happening? Your horses. Record scratch. And then we get the opening clip that we started today's episode with.

It turns out that they do not go to this cabin in Montauk every year because they're passionate fans of the Showtime classic The Affair. Oh, I was going to say. Devastating to learn. Eternal Sunshine of this ball is mine as my Montauk touchstone. An actual classic, but you know. That's fine. That's fine.

They come here because this is where Sally met Percy's father, who she does not name me. yet. The claiming comes later. I thought that the willpower when she was listing all of the things that drew her to Poseidon to not also say, like, extremely hot and fuckable was just extraordinary. And I would like to commend Sally Jackson on that restraint. I was waiting for it. The Jesus line is hysterical. It's so funny. So funny. And that's that like signature wit and wry humor at the of the character in the heart of the books. It was great to get that here. Steve, can we hear the next part of this exchange?

In those stories, I have told you about how gods and mortals would sometimes have children together, children called demigods, and sometimes they are known as half-bloods. The monster call me. Mom, what's happening? You are a half-blood. And half-bloods are not safe in the world. Once they reach a certain age and they begin to understand what they are, terrible forces are drawn to them, driven to harm them, before they can become strong enough to fight back. That is what you have been feeling.

It has always been a part of who you are. It was always coming. I just... Why are you telling me this? Percy, I know that this is hard to understand, but you have to believe me that this is real. This is crazy. Okay, I'm not a God.

There is something wrong with my brain. I understand that I'm weird. Believe me, I get it. I'm afraid something may be really broken out. And now you're telling me stories, like it's going to make it okay? I'm not a baby. I know there's no six things as monsters. I know there's no six things as gods.

And I know for certain that there is no such thing as demigods. His little, you know, on the edge of puberty voice. My heart. Also, Walker has this, like, there's the Tom Holland quality about him that there's for sure, but there's just like a slightly sharper edge to it that, like, is why he was a perfect young Ryan Reynolds, the casting choice in the Adam Project. Like, he's just so good, so good.

Fantastic. This broke, that idea of I'm broken, will come back around and like Sally's beautiful goodbye to him. that we'll talk about in a little bit. But I just, you know, I love this interaction. Also, while we're listening to that, Mallory was sort of like head bopping to the score that's in the background. We haven't mentioned it yet, but it's Bear McCrary

and his company, you know, worked on the score for this show and it's, you know, top tier. Wonderful. Score of television. Yeah. Shout out Battlestar. Now and always. Shout out at least the Outlander score.

And we'll give it that. Great score. great scene. I loved this. We've talked before about the moment at the orphanage where Tom Riddle finds out that he's a wizard and that moment where he's looking down at his hands and saying like, always, you know, I knew, I knew there was something. I knew they were special. And to get the opposite of that, right, a character who like cannot accept that there is something distinct and mighty about him and has to learn to embrace that in time and move past this doubt of feeling like he's broken and unworthy.

What a, what a wonderful thing. Good old Percy. Great character. When he later, when he attacks the Minotaur. Yes. I think so valuable to think about him as someone who's not like, okay, I've got my sword, here's a monster, here I go. He's not that guy.

But like his mom means so much to him. Yeah. That's why he throws himself into battle in that moment, you know? Yeah. Even after that when it comes to. Yeah. This is what I was bored for. Right.

You know what I mean? Yeah. When it comes to like looking for the feats of glory, he's not like hey what about the sword even then even later it doesn't it's it's yeah Grover arrives joe at the cabin he's early so early in fact that sally has gotten to very few of the key details that percy needs to learn uh but the mist the mist is subsiding and so percy can see that grover has the legs of a goat this is great special effects I thought really great.

They keep it out of frame and then there's just like one shot and I don't, I think it's like physical. I don't think it's, maybe it's CGI and people at home are laughing at me but like it looked like they, you know. You think that they had half a goat in the pants? Well, it's a pan down.

It looked like it was like it could have been practical effects or something like that. I was like, that's good. And then we don't see them really, you know, until later in the dark and the rain, you know, so. Grover explains in the car because they have to get going. Monsters are on the way.

that he is a sater, that he is the protector. He explains how the mist works, Joe, and also crucially, how unusual the current circumstances are. He says, of the mist, it's the veil that hides the magical world from the human world. My legs, Dod's his wings,

even Dods his absence. But it isn't supposed to hide things from me. That never happens. Something powerful is at work here. We'll get more moments like this later when Chiron is taking Percy around Camp Halfblood and explains that humans can't see or access to the valley. an actual magical boundary,

etc. But we're learning more and more about what people can perceive about the magical world and how that hiding in plain sight idea that you mentioned earlier, very like, leaky culture,

nine and three platforms, nine and three quarters. That portent from Grover, though, that note that like, what is unfolding here is uncommon, we are getting these harbingers, the dreams, what's happening here is not great,

the fury attacking. And then in short order here, of course, the Minotaur. Before the Minotaur attacks, though, Percy has to learn about camp. And he learns from Grover that it is a sanctuary for half-bloods, a space where you can learn who you are and what the world is like on the other side of the mist. Are you a camp person? This is a question I wanted to ask. You got a shout out, Juliet Lippman, our beloved pal and collie, who is the queen of camp. Is camp a part of your life?

How do you feel about learning who you are while at camp? That's the least surprising thing in the world to hear that Julia Lippon is the queen of camp. of camp. Makes so much sense to me. I never did like a sleep away. I'm on there on my own camp, but my family used to go. UC Berkeley has this alumni camp called Layer of the Bear up in Pinecrest Lake here in Northern California.

There's Camp Blue. Layer of the Golden Bear, Lear of the Bear, yeah. Or the Layer is what we would call it. And we would go there every August, week 10. and for a week we would camp with other families and like, you know, you go off with your like age group. You had your little like, you know, nine and ten year olds like go off with the camp counselor or stuff like that. And your parents do, I don't know, drink. I don't know what you do when you're an adult.

At the lair I never was one. But, you know, and there's like talent shows and, you know, fishing and like all this one's stuff. So I like, I loved, I loved going to that camp. But I never had the quintessential like sleepaway camp sort of experience. How about you? in like by yourself. We were sleeping there, but like as a family in a,

in like a platform, what intent thing? How was your camp relationship? I went to sleepaway camp for four years. I started a little bit later. So for some people like, like Juliet, it's just like formative from day one,

a part of your own coming of age journey. I went to a sleepway camp in Maryland called Camp Louise for two summers. And there was a, that was the girls camp. and there was a boys camp called Camp Airy. And it was very exciting when we would get together for dances. That was a thrilling time in a young person's life.

And then I went to a four-week overnight camp called Pine Mirror for the next two years with two of my best friends growing up, Allie and Marcy. And it was, those were special summers. You learn a lot. You do. You really do. It doesn't have the same grip on my life now many years later that it does enjoy. but it was it was memorable.

Is the hold it has on Juliet that like she's still friends with her camp friends? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense to me. Yes. Among other things, but yes. I understand that camp friends are a thing.

Like I have read the Babysitters Club books. I have watched the parent trap movies. Like I understand the hold that sleepaway camp can have on you. Should we go to camp? Do you think should we do it? Should we go to camp for a summer? By the way, I was a day camp camp counselor for a couple years. I was the arts and crafts council.

counselor. Also loved day camp. Day camp's great. Yeah. Love day camp. Arts and crafts. I can run a tie-dye session. Oh, hell yeah.

I can start a lanyard. I can do whatever you need in your camp. Oh, landyards. Yes. I made so many lanyers at camp. The best. I did try archery once at camp. I was thinking about that, watching Percy attempt to work a bow.

I also had no skill at that. It'll shock you to hear, I'm sure. The minotar attacks, Joe. Yeah. The car crashes. they kicked their way out. It's a tough go for Gave's Camaro. There they are.

The hill, the boundary, and the absolutely gutting realization for Percy that he and Grover can cross, but his mother, who is human, cannot. He has to confront this in real time. Everything is happening very quickly. And Sally, there's this really intense moment where she makes Grover swear.

Unbreakable vow. Swear, yes, to keep her only, son safe. This was harrowing to watch. Our attention was drawn to this, certainly. There is a Greek mythology version of this, which is if you swear on the river sticks, that's an unbreakable vow sort of situation. But yeah. The goodbye. The goodbye between Sally and Percy. Percy going to his mother saying he doesn't understand, Sally saying. You're not broken, you're a singular. You're a miracle. And you are my son. Hold fast. Fast. Brave the storm. I love. love you. Hold fast and brave the storm.

Again, that's show language. That's not book language. That's stuff that I added for the show. There is, I was looking, I was looking to see if there was, like, if there was any, if that language came from anywhere, or if this was, like, just the, the writer's inventions. There is a very famous poem, Seminides of Seos, like, one of the

first, like, ancient creation poems about Perseus and his mother in the trunk in the storm. But And it's about like her prayer for Perseus. But that is more like, please take care of my baby. Oh, my dear sweet baby sort of thing. This like hold fast, brave the storm, you know, sort of language. And like, you know, I hope we hear it again in the show.

I think it's perfect. Yeah. It feels like it's going to become the creed, like the motto of the series. And if he just like hears her voice in times of like, you know, need or something like that, hold fast, brave the storm, Percy. I love this. I love this so much. He looks over, as she's using his jacket, lead the Minotaur to the scent, play Matador here.

And he looks over, here's the Roar, and he looks over and sees the Minotar, pick up his mother, and then she turns to Goldflex. Now, we will talk about what Grover deduces about this in the next episode, but whether or not the actual outcome is death, we're glad Sally's alive, but like, irreligious. Right? Because she's willing to make the sacrifice play, willing to make the sacrifice for her kid. It's Lily sacrifice, etc. And this is when Percy charges, Joe. He charges with Riptide on caps the pen. The first slice, like that moment, it is, I'm sorry to mention Harry so much, but it is like so Harry getting on the broom for the first time. Just this thing that, like, you wouldn't think you'd be good at that just feels so natural to you. That's so funny. That was not my read of his face in that much. moment. But not his face, not the way he's processing it, but just his skill. Like, he gets, he lands a swipe. He gets a slicing, but it's not what I like about it is that he's not like,

oh my God, I'm brilliant. You know, he gets knocked around, like all this shit happens to him in this fight. And sort of throughout in the next episode two, we're just going to see him sort of like be inept at a lot of things. Yeah, he asks if there's a great god of disappointment. Right. Like, I like that about him. So I like that he gets knocked around a bit. It feels a bit different to me than Harry being, you know, the youngest seeker of, you know, ever in the hogwarks history. But yeah. Well, but Percy's skill is the same ultimately with the blade, right? He just has to like embrace it.

Just as Harry has to embrace that he needs to go out to the Quiddish pitch with Oliver Wood. After Percy kills the Minotaur, eliminates the Minotaur with the horn, a little brain jab. He hears these voices. He comes to briefly. Real they have a cave troll energy. Real Legales ride in a cave troll moment. All of these monsters and all of these stories should wear like metal hats. They should definitely wear helmets.

It's a lot of just exposed cranium. Yeah. Percy hears Ann about saying. Some goggles to hope. Yes. The eyes. I mean, yeah. Though I guess we have to have tales where these foes are vulnerable.

Otherwise, how would our heroes win? he comes to when he hears Annabeth say, before we've properly met her, he must be the one. Kyron, we've been expecting you. On to episode two. He wakes in the infirmary. First, you sees Annabeth kind of lurking. This is when she observes that he drools. It's a tough crowd.

And then in the daylight, when he wakes properly and fully, he sees the Grover's been waiting by his bedside. There's no nectar air and brogia here to help her see her, which was devastating, because I was really looking forward to seeing how they rendered that. In the book, you drink the nectar and it tastes like the best most comforting thing that you could ever have. And for him, it's Sally Jackson's warm gooey chocolate chip cookies, which is great. I really wanted this. I was sad we did get this. There is the severed minotaur horn, though, because Grover is a pal and he says it's a big deal to kill a monster and he wants everyone to know it. And I love this.

I was just like, this is best friend stuff right here to brag about you. And we're going to see because Clarice is walking around like, you didn't kill the Minotauri. you're a fraud. So Grover boasting about Percy's accomplishments. On the one hand, I guess it invites that. But on the other hand, he's proud. He's proud of his guy. And I love it.

We should all count our pal's achievements. But you don't have to say New York Times best selling author every single time you introduce the podcast. Through at least this calendar year. Okay. Great. That would mean this is the last time, though. No, there's Doctor Who. Yeah, but you're hosting that one.

Great. Last time. You heard it in there. You heard it here last time. What I love about this sequence, in sharp contrast to the film, is we know that Sally's not dead. We'll know more people will know by episode end that Sally's not dead. Percy doesn't know that. And in the movies, he's like, look at this sick-ass summer camp, not holy shit, my mom's dead.

And here we get this like shot of him in bed, sort of rolling over on his side, just looking absolutely got it in the book, there's this line when he's walking around and looking at the camp for the first time. My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful. Right? Like, so these things need to, even if we're going to get a surprise, she's alive, like, very soon, it should, these need to have deeper impact than the movie had time for. Yeah.

I love the little look aside. Like, his girl over wants to talk and he doesn't. He can't even bear to make eye contact with him. That was really heartbreaking. He's got a mission. Like, I was supposed to come here because my dad, well, let's go find him. And he walks out to the porch and out of the corner of his eye and the corner of our screen, we see Mr. D.

Friend of the pod, Jason Manzoukis is here. Sunglasses on. Tiger Shirlon reclining with a diet Coke in hand. I think napping is just an absolutely incredible first glimpse. Chef's kiss. No, no. Excuse me. I'm Percy Jackson.

new here. Peter Johnson is here. Okay, that isn't really my name. This was just such a fantastic introduction. Here's the thing. And we're going to hear a little bit of it in a second, but like, Zooks is one of the funniest humans alive. That's true. The best. Like, you've known him well as like a pal for a while. I've just admired him from afar mostly. Like, I just, I think he's an absolute brilliant genius comedian. Everything he said, everything is so funny. The fact that I think Walker holds his own in a scene with him. Again, that's just like, astonishing great casting.

Great job. Yeah, yeah. That isn't really, my name was quite funny. Yeah. Very, very, very amusing. This is just a truly sensational introduction

from a character who was bafflingly not present in the Lightning Thief movie is a truly bonkers exclusion. And so it's wonderful. But it's a touch of the touch of the toch, a little stand with Tucci. Eventually.

Eventually. Eventually. The sequel. Yeah, yeah. To have Mr. D, camp director, got a whine here right away. Wonderful. For it to be, as you noted,

comedic genius and friend of the pod chase, Samanzukas, what a treat. Steve, can we hear this? Excuse me, Your Highness. Oh. I think my dad may be around here somewhere. I don't know how to ask him. I don't even know his name,

but I think I should see him. I just, I think I really need that right. now. Can you help me? Actually, I think I can. Son. Dad? Yes, Peter. It's Percy.

Exactly. Now, before we get to know each other, there's something very important I want you to do for me, okay? In the galley, there is a bottle of 1985 Chateau-Oprillon. you go fedside for me. Just remarkable. Wonderful.

What a true, sincere pleasure this was. Yes, Peter? It's Percy. Exactly. Yes, Peter. Yes, Peter killed me. This is so perfect.

And again, this is... Sure point. Like, I think the book is funny. Yeah. Like, it's a funny book. A lot of the funniest stuff in this, though, is show invented.

And maybe that's Rick punching his own stuff up. that's whoever else is working on it or whatever. But like this, this is way funnier than the Mr. D intro is in the book. It's so good. Fantastic. Can I talk about Dionysus? Yeah. You want to tell us a little bit about Tyrion Lannister's favorite god, the god of tits and wine?

Let's hear it. Son of Zeus. Dionysus. Dionysus is actually like a really interesting person to talk about here because he's kind of a demigod in that his mother was immortal, a mortal, not immortal, a mortal, and, you know, she's pregnant with him,

Hera's jealous as she usually is, and so she sidles up to his mom, and she's like, what if you told your boyfriend? It's my husband, but let's not talk about this, that you want to see him in his full glory.

And she's like, swear to me on the river sticks that, so she gets, his mom gets Zeus to swear on the river sticks that he will like show himself to her, again, unbreakable vow. And he's like, I don't want to do that, but okay.

And he shows himself to her and it burns her up because that's what happens when you look on the full glory of Zeus in all of his unmistified filteredness. He scoops up the fetus, puts it inside of his thigh, soothes it into his thigh to continue growing it and then births it out of his thigh later. That's okay. He does this all the time. Athena sprung out of his head. Like, listen, it's just a thing that Zeus does. But that's what makes, because he was birthed from Zeus. Because Dionysus is birthed from Zeus, he's like not quite a demigod.

He's like, demigod plus. You know what I mean? Like, he's just like a little bit extra. You're using Andy Greenwald's Disney Plus voice, but I love it. It's perfect. So later in life, when Dionysus goes up to, you know, Olympus and is like, hey, you got 12 chairs here and they look like they're all occupied. But I feel like I should deserve one of them. And in a move that has annoyed me since I was a child,

Hestia's like, okay, I'll just go take my fully, completely divine ass and go sit by the hearth and tend to the fire. You take my chair. I'm like, pull up another chair. 13 chairs is fine. Let Hestia keep her seat. But anyway, she gives up her seat. So Dionysus, a demigodish is sitting on one of the 12 seats in Olympus until, you know,

in the lore of this. book he gets kicked out for being too horny, which, you know, whom's among us. But in a story about demigods, in a story about children of gods, not only children of gods, but children of like, you know, the main gods, Zeus beside in Hades or whatever, Dionysus is a very interesting figure. It's fun to end the year talking about Dionysus because we talked about the beginning of the year and we talked about yellow jackets. We did.

Yeah. Because we talked about the main ads, his like, frenzies maiden. Boy, did we? Bacchus Bacchanalia. Boy, did we. Oh, my goodness. That feels like quite a long time ago. Wild to think that that was this year.

My goodness. We not only learn that Kairon, who emerges here, Mr. Bruner, here he is, in Centaur Forum, is the Camped Activities Director and Immortal Trainer of Heroes per Grover, hype man. Always ready with the full CV. Kiron explains why? Mr. D is trying to get Percy to fetch the wine. And in addition to the specific reason for Mr. D's point of view,

we get this larger insight. Demigods are able to do things for gods that gods are forbidden to do for themselves. Will that come into play later? Will that come into play? I wonder. Who knows? Quick. Greek and Follody corner side bar.

Yeah. way. Please. Just, I love all the Greek mythology stuff you can learn from Percy Jackson books. There's some stuff that's in there that's not correct, which is when Chiron introduces himself to person, he's like, yes, Tis I, Kairon, I trained Hercules. That never happened. Kiron is not a trainer of Hercules. He trained many heroes. If you're a Song of Achilles fan, you know that he trained Achilles and Patriclus. Jason of the Argonaut's fame. Like, Kairn's done a lot of things, but he did not train Hercules. And not in any version of any story.

Greek mythology is messy. There's a lot of different versions, but not in any version did he do this. But it did remind me of one of my favorite overlooked Disney animated films, which is Hercules. In which they decide that a Sater named Philictides train him, which is also not true. But it reminded me of like... You love an update, you know? I love Hercules, the animated Disney film. and I've for some reason, unrelated to this,

been listening to that soundtrack a lot lately. I think I was just, like, in a really bad mood and nothing gets me out of a bad mood, like Disney's Hercules soundtrack. I think it's one of the best Disney musical. I thought my number one Disney animated film, but it might be my most played Disney animated soundtrack. More than Milan?

I mean, not more than I'll make a man out of you. Yeah. That song is the most played. But overall, overall, Moulon, no. You're unsuited for the rage of war. So back up. Well, so. Sorry, this is not relevant.

I apologize. But what is relevant, and then we'll move on, is I was remembering a line from Philictetes, the Seder's song in Hercules, because Hercules is a demigod who he's training, and he says, the line is, Demi Gods have faced the odds and ended up a mocker, don't believe the stories that you read on all the crockery. It's one of my favorite lines of all time.

Great stuff. So, yeah. Anyway. You've been doing a lot of singing on trial by content, and I've really been enjoying it during the recent trial royal. I just want to say. Can I just be really honest? I love you so much. I love you with all my heart.

Most of the time, I don't believe that you listen to trial by content. And then you come through. You're so busy. You have so much to do. I don't know how you have time to listen to trial. by content. I suppose because technically you're my manager, you should. I don't know. I did not know. I love that. You were listening to trial by content. Check out the holiday movies trial royale. It's fantastic. Joe is singing. Chris Math is iconic. The last two weeks

I've been doing a lot of singing this week, I made the boys sing for way longer. We did a karaoke round of the reindeer games with just the boys singing, and it's delightful, genuinely. It's fantastic. Check it out. Trial like content. Did you make sure that Dave wasn't Googling the lyrics in real time? Like the trivia? I'm actually not sure. I didn't call him out on it, but I did see a slight flash of his screen. So he may have cheated again.

We'll see. Great stuff. Follow Trial by content on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Thanks, Mallory. Before we leave this. What a Grover move for me to really hype up my other shows. I appreciate you. Listen, I was just going to mention our guy, Grover.

Before we leave this little porch sequence here, one of the other things that is less present in the two-part premiere than in the early chapters of the book. Though I don't think this means we're not going to get it. I just think it's presumably like redistributed is these like hints and allusions to some trauma in Grover's past, like something he is carrying with him, a feeling of shortcoming, right?

Failure. And we do get that this is one of the moments where we get to glimpse that for just a second because Grover's looking after, he's looking out as Kyron and Percy walk off and he says that something just feels, doesn't feel right. And Mr. D's response to that is, what?

Success? Which is like a quick thing, but it tells us a lot. Yeah. Right? The very idea that success might be the thing that felt foreign, that felt unfamiliar to Grover.

It's so funny. It's time to tour the camp. Camp Halfblood. It's so much more expansive in the show than in the film, it is, like, astonishing. This is where Chiron explains the magic at play to Percy that we talked about earlier. This is a sacred valley, Percy. He also explains the magic of Riptide because Percy thinks he's lost it. And Chiron's like, check your pocket.

Unless you surrender it, it'll always find its way back to you. Magical objects don't obey the physical laws of the ordinary world. He says, we're in your father's world. love learning about riptide and then we get to see the 12 cabins with the 12 Olympic gods the children of each god reside in their respective cabins what if you're unclaimed then you go to hermes and percy when he's learning this realizes that he is unclaimed this is another well this is what I was going to say yeah you keep calling the sword riptide which is its name but it hasn't been named in the show yet but my question is do you think our guy Percy would have figured out who was dad was if he knew his magical sword was called riptide. He hasn't figured out that his association with water means anything. I know. I mean,

but like, do you think riptide would have done it for him or would he still been like, I don't know. Maybe Apollo. I don't know. Luke has a line later where he's like, let it rip. And I'm like,

oh, boy, is this how we're going to end up naming riptide? I'm concerned. I'm troubled. Oh, God. That's totally rolling out. I don't know.

This aspect of being unclaimed is like elemental in the book. Very present here in the second episode, basically completely removed from the films in a way that just is completely confounding because this is a crucial thing, not only in terms of Percy's relationship with his father specifically, but more broadly, a story about,

like, the quest for belonging and sense of self, right? So you go through your life, not really knowing who you are, feeling like an outcast. You finally arrive at Camp Half Blood, the place where you're theoretically meant to be. And the first thing that happens is you're thrust back into a state of doubt because you're wondering, will you be claimed?

Will I find a place where I fit in? Like, this is important. So I was, I'm not surprised that it was in the show, but I was very relieved. And you could kind of figure it out if you look around the corners of it in the show. But like, the reason that he's on like the floor of the Hermes cabin, the Hermes cabin, the place where like all the unclaimed kids get to go. But it's way more underlined in the book that there are full-blown cabins that are Zeus's, Hares, Pisacens that are empty. not only because Zeus and Hades and Poseidon have swore not to have kids

because their kids are too powerful but just sort of like we don't defile the big gods, you know, like they don't claim their, you know what I mean? It's just like everyone piled in a Hermes cabin because like sure, Aries is going to claim his kids or whatever, but there are some gods who are just sort of like, we don't talk about this.

Aries. We're not going to... I loved the inside of the Hermes cabin. Like it's the wood, the wood and the bunk beds, but like the, in particular, the really high ladders up to the loft space. I just thought that was great interior design. I loved it.

Also on the unclaimed front, at least in the context of the show, it's a cool win for Annabeth that like she figures it out before he does, right? And so that like is a like, oh, who's this girl and what does she? Right. She seems smart. Yeah, I like that. Indeed. Speaking of new figures in Percy's life, inside of the Hermes Cabin, we meet Luke.

When Luke first comes up. Percy is like bracing to be bullied again. He just assumes that's what's about to happen. He says, like, can you just wait till tomorrow to give me a hard time? I can't handle it today. And Luke extends his hand. He offers sympathies for what happened on the hill. More Luke soon in subsequent scenes.

We go to Grover. He's got a lot on his mind. He's thinking about what he saw with Sally Jackson turning into golden flex. Sparkles. Not Voldemort confetti. No. But sparkles. This is beautiful.

It was like we were back in Thor Love and Thunder. Yeah. Gold everywhere. Yeah. Grover seeks guidance from the Cloven Council, and then he goes to find Chiron and Mr. D who are the thick of a game of cards. Mr. D offers a sooner or later you'll have to choose to Kyron that I like, it's not actually there, but I heard a dun, dun, dun, done, in the score in my own mind.

100%. Yeah. I love the moment when Grover's like, is it a different? campaign erupt and Kyron says, sure. And she's like, no. And he tells him, Sally didn't turn to jelly in the Minotar's

hand and I'm pretty sure Sally wasn't killed and I've been doing some research, been looking into it. And it turns out that Hades can pull you on the brink of death. And I think this is what happens. And the response is not, Grover, how have you uncovered this unbelievable truth? It's,

yeah, we know. And we have no interest in sharing this with Percy. And Grover says, doesn't he deserve to know the truth? Kairon says, Grover, the truth can be very dangerous if it isn't handled carefully. Mr. D is a little bit more specific. He says, come on. There are powerful forces at work here, boy, forces that have laid waste to the earth before and are close to doing it again. So you don't want to lie to your little friend too bad.

This is another classic fantasy trope, right? like a figure, not Mr. D, but Kyron in this case, who is your wise guide withholding something from you. Like it's got Dumbledore all over it, it's got Obi-1 all over it, it's got Colter and Israel all over it. From a certain point of view, your mom is definitely gone. Not up here anymore. Oh my God.

Not walking around on the earth anymore, your mom from a certain point of view. Yeah. This, this, this, uh, this move sucks. So does Dumbledore's decision not to tell Harry literally anything ever. Oh, it's painful. It's painful. Training day. Toilet day. Great montage. Wonderful stuff.

We start with a dream. Here it is again. Shadowy figure. Here's what we hear this time. Ah, he left you here. Left you with nothing. I know how you feel. You want what's been taken from you.

You want justice. Oh, my God. Where are the podcast awards for like most unnecessary verb, put it on a line read. Incredible stuff, Mallory. Thank you. I was transported my nightmares. Loved it. I'll send you a voice memo later just like about nothing related to this, but I'll use

that voice. More Zach Wilson drama. please, but in that voice. Count on it. Count on it. Thanks. Joe, I thought this was interesting because obviously it's a very disturbing dream,

but there's this, I know how you feel idea, this attempt to forge a common tie. And when Percy wakes, it's like, I'm inclined to be embarrassed, and Luke is there to tell him it's okay. Nightmares, ADHD, ADHD,

dyslexia, daydreams, we all deal with that here. Demigods just processed reality differently than humans do, Luke says. For the first time in your life, you're just like everyone else. And this is like truly one of the great gifts anybody could give to Percy, right? Taking specifically the things that made him feel like a part before and saying this is now something that we all share. That's a major, major, major development in his life. Luke is so welcoming here. Percy wants to know what else they might share. Yeah. Trying to ask about Luke's parents and Luke, this, ready to share.

He says he's not unclaimed. Hermes is his dad, but he also says it doesn't matter. And when Percy asks why the gods are able to get away with treating their kids this way, which is a good question. Great question. Thank you for asking. Luke says, spend too much time trying to figure out why the gods do whatever it is they do. you'll drive yourself crazy.

Sooner you stop worrying about that, the sooner you can enjoy what this place actually does offer. What's that? Glory. And he explains what glory means to him and to the demigods. He says, it's like this stuff that attaches itself to your name makes it bigger, scarier, more important. People listen closer when you talk.

They work harder to be your friend. It's so interesting, this use of like attaches itself to your name here because there is this recurring bit in the book that is absent here, which is like every time Percy uses something's name, there's like ominous thunder rumbling and like Mr. D and other people are like, don't just toss names around names of power. You know, it happens like nine times over the course of two chapters right around here and Percy Jackson.

So like, you know, is that, you know, it's interesting that it's missing entirely from this adaptation. Clarice enters the chat All the bullies are women Not getting percy around calling him a liar All the bullies are girls The furies are women Oh man

Luke defends Percy Yeah to Clarice And Percy's like wait a minute All this glory talk maybe this is how I can get my dad to pay attention Luke says you can't force the gods to do anything. They begin training. They begin looking for Percy's feats of skill. Joe, it is not archery.

It is not blacksmithing. No. This is when he asks at meal time if there's a great god of disappointment. Perry Sweet and sad scene. Chris has an iconic reply to this. It's like, oh, here's actually the answer to this question. We learn about the burnt offerings.

Luke says, woman. Yeah. You burn what you'll miss the most. Then they know you really mean what you're about to say. So they listen. And then Percy takes his little bag of blue candy that his mom gave him. Goes the Wood responsibly starts a fire in a coffee can.

Good job, Percy Jackson. Yeah. I feel like Percy could win Survivor. He'd be ready for the Firemaking Challenge at the end. I was going to say this is like an Eagle Scout move, but also Survivor. And then he tosses, yeah, the blue candy in there. And he talks about Luke says he's a real friend. I think they might really like me.

Imagine that. And then he talks about his dad. So he says this thing like, your dad's not here, whoever he may be. I haven't figured it out yet. Give me a minute. But he says he doesn't, he can ignore me. I don't care. But he doesn't get to ignore you.

And I love that. And there's a line in the book, again, this rebellious streak from Percy. which is much more pronounced in the book than it is in the show thus far. In the book, he says, I felt angry with my father, right? And I don't feel like we get full-blown like I feel angry with my father yet, but this is as close as he doesn't get to ignore you. Sort of on behalf of his mother, he's angry, determined. Yeah.

Yeah. I think the anger starts to bubble a little bit more in the closing scene of the episode when he's like, how dare you ask me to make a quest on this asshole's behalf? But I like the progression to that point. Yeah. When Percy walks back from this solitary fire and burning. Responsible.

Very. Very responsible. Candy burning. The Ari's kids are waiting. Clarice and the goons are there. They take Percy into a bathroom to their goal, their plan, their intention is to shove his head into the toilet water.

The water is sucked down into the toilet water. and then Percy water bends. The water shoots out and attacks the airy's kids. She's so proud. And I love Percy. I think he's a wonderful character. A little slow on the uptake with the potential sea god connection here. It's just a lot happening with water.

A lot. A lot. Annabeth is paying attention, though. She's standing there watching in the doorway and says she has specifically been waiting, quote, to see if something like this would happen. So I'd know if you could help me. I love her. I'm a big fan.

Yeah. We learn a lot more about Anabeth actually in the next sequence because it's about to be time for Capture the Flag. And as they are prepping, Luke tells Percy about Capture the Flag, but also about Annabeth, how she's always, quote, six steps ahead and also about their history, how they came to camp together, how they lost someone, Thalia. Shock of my life to learn that this was not pronounced Talia. It's just I'm a... All cool. Exactly. A quote, forbidden kid, Zeus's kid, in this case.

We learned that Talia did not make... Excuse me, I can't help it. I've just been saying that as I've read. As I've read, I've been saying Talia. We learned that Thalia did not make it. And Percy asked, what does that mean for forbidden kid? And this is what you referenced earlier, this idea that the big three, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, agreed that they would cease siring demigods because their kids

were becoming too powerful, which of course sets us up for the magnitude of the end of the episode. Percy's a forbidden kid. A forbidden kid, Luke says here, attracts trouble. So the implications of this impending Poseidon reveal are seismic. Annabeth, Luke tells Percy, is waiting for her quest. This isn't just about capture the flag. Kyrion has been promising her for years, Luke says.

It's not just about the House Cup. It's not about Slytherin versus Grypenter and acquittishment. Ten points to Neville. Okay, yeah, no, wrong story. But speaking of Neville Longbottom, let's talk about fate and prophecy. Oh, Joe, one day. Yeah. Luke says, a demigod would arrive who was fated to go on a quest that even Chiron couldn't prevent.

And when that happened, she could join it. And listen, your two podcasters here are fated someday to do a multi-part tropes course podcast series on fate and prophecy. One day. We can't do it in one. Oh, God. We've talked about it. We're like, it's going to have to be a whole series. Can you imagine?

Day two. It might have to be like a month. That would be great. That would have a blast. Yeah. Sure. March? March Prophecy month?

could be. Who says no? Dune? I mean, it's a perfect talk. It is soon, though. We're bound by nothing that we say. This is not a legally binding document. No, it's a living document, Joe.

Always. We will talk more about Percy and prophecies throughout the season. In the meantime, capture the flag. It's just one rule, Joe. And here it is. There will be no maiming and no killing. It's like the one rule. This is so funny.

And Clarice's replying to it's like the one rule by saying she would forego her dessert. Yeah, she's like, oops. Oh, I guess I can. I'm like, ooh. Well, we should say in the book, when Kairan is like giving a tour, he's like, you know, sparring, blah, blah. It's not lethal usually. So like, can't have half blood. It's a kind of a tough place to go.

They're not making land ears, actually. But I love that. Annabat's like, I know exactly what to use you for for Capture the Flag. Yeah. it's Bade Yes That she has this Yankees cap

Her like A cap of Fug the Invisibility I'm glad that you said that forcefully Everyone heard you A gift from her mom Athena right

Quick mythology corner Just as Medusa is this like really important person Percy's his story The reason he was able to defeat Medusa is he had Hermes wing and shoes Hades helmet of invisibility

and Athena's sword. So, like, these are... It's Athena's sort of helmet of invisibility in this case, but, like, these are the trappings of the Perseus story. So... Do you think the cap of invisibility was gifted to Annabeth with a note that said use it well? Do you think Athena,

when she was a student at Camp Half Blood, got up to No Good? Solomily swore. Solomily swore that she was up to No Good with her cap. of visibility, possibly. One of the really... Great montage, hilarious montage. This is so funny.

Just shows us how charming and funny he is by like petting a lizard. Peeing. Taking a piss, dancing, swaying. Luke's like he's going to be ready. Oh yeah. And then he's like, listlessly flossing is what he's doing.

This was so good. Clarice. takes the bait. The Aries mates attack. She just wants Percy to admit that he's a fraud, but here is the thing, Joanna. He's not. And he holds his own

in this impromptu duel the shriek that Clarice emits when he snaps her spear. Again, but crucially, he holds his own but also gets his ass tremendously kicked. Some cuts. I mean, it's three on one. Three on one, yeah.

So he probably should have gotten his ass more kicked. Yeah. But like he gets pretty badly pumbled. Yeah. And it's sort of just by luck and leverage that he snaps her sphere on the shield. He wasn't really like the latching of the tip. Like, yeah, you know.

He definitely should have been, I think, even more bloodied and bruised in the show adaptation here. But still, he has enough cuts for Ann and Beth to prove her point. She is deduced who he is, kicks him into the water. where he heals rapidly and looks up to see the Trident. Steve, can we hear this? Your dad's calling. You have been claimed by Poseidon.

Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. As a forbidden child of the sea god, you are singular amongst demigods. And your father's only hope to prevent the outbreak of war. I love Earthshaker Stormbringer. Woo!

So good. Joe, that takes us to the end of the episode where Percy receives his quest. Now, he is reluctant when Chiron and Mr. D initially explain Zeus. I don't want it. Zeus,

deciding. There's some resentment. They're locked in a dispute over the missing master bolt. And Percy, you've been claimed. They think that you're the culprit now. And Kyron's like, I think that the third, the third brother, the 80s. We should go to the underworld because that's probably where this is. Here's the quest. Your father needs you. And Percy's like, excuse me? What has he ever done for me? You are his son. I am Sally Jackson's son. And Mr. D.D. says, who's Sally Jackson. And Percy's reply here is just so good. She's the one who cared enough to call herself my mother. She's the one who got herself killed so I could be safe here. Like that line, she's the one who cared enough to call herself my mother. There's so much room

inside of that for what family can be. Right. And it's just really, really, really lovely to see Percy stand up for her. I'm Sally Jackson's son. And again, I think they did such a good job of showing us how special she is, that it's like, you know, in a story where, like, I'm the son of Poseidon should be like the big declaration, I am Sally Jackson's son still holds a lot of weight to it, you know? Beautiful. Speaking of Sally Jackson, Grover pops in and he's like, ah, you're talking about Sally? You're talking about the underworld?

I have an update. And it's that I think your mom's alive and I think she's in the underworld too. So should we go? Yeah. And that's all person needed to hear. when do we leave? We get a little teaser, a little preview at the end of these episodes

for next week. Next time on, yeah. Next time on, delightful. Love a preview. And we have a lot to look forward to. Easter eggs show. If there's one thing I know about Easter eggs, is that you should never count them.

Did you have a favorite Easter egg in the two-part premiere? I really like the camper beads. They never explain them. But we know in the book that you get a bead for the beads determine like sort of how long you've been there. So you can sort of look at who's wearing how many beads and figure out their stint at Camp Half Blood. How about you? Is it, how could it be anything other than... It's obviously the

Zach Wilson jersey? It's not even close. I did really like the notebook full of the doodles, but I mean, it just gets... It has to be the Zach Wilson jersey. Normally, you might be expecting to hear at Whigwatch TM with Joanna Robinson TM. Guess what? You will in future weeks when there are wigs and general headdresses. to discuss. Yeah, stay tuned. That brings us to a very quick book reader corner. We told you we would issue another spoiler warning. This is it. The next few minutes are going to be on future book events. If you don't want to hear that, you can bounce. We'll see you next time. If you do want to hear that, I trust these rules will be respected. Let's dive in. Okay, Joe, we're not going to obviously go through every single thing that happens later in the books. But like in terms of what this, the two-part premiere, or took pains to establish. I think the loop stuff is really well done. I text you, I was like, what are we doing with book spoilers?

And you're like, well, blah, blah, Luke. And I was like, Luke is why I'm texting. Like, how much should we say about Luke? Yeah. But like. How did you think they did in setting the stage for what's to come? I think it's really, I think they threaded the needle really subtly. I think even more subtly than it is in the book of, I think Luke comes off as much more

better in the book when you first meet him versus this guy is just sort of like, I'm here to help, man. I'm your pal. I'm your guy. I'm your friend. I'm Luke. And then I thought the Kronos dreams are really good and really spooky. And like the voice acting's really good on the dream Kronos.

So that's exciting too. I was delighted by Dream Kronos. I mean, Kronos not being in the Lightning Thief movie is just like, I don't even know really how to think about or process that. It's just bizarre. really glad that this is here. Obviously, this will be a crucial through line.

I also thought that the Luke setup was really effective because he is such a welcoming presence for Percy and, like, my heart was breaking when Percy was talking to Sally during his burnt offering about having a friend because you're like, if you know what's coming, you were just filled with rage, like, toward Luke for what he will do to Percy and how he will make Percy feel. It's like, I just can't believe he did.

that to Percy. It's so cruel and sad. But the little beats subtle, though they are that we get from Luke, look, you can't force the gods to do anything, et cetera. It's effective. And of course, we talked about the line a lot earlier from Sally, but not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero. Certainly feels like it's about a lot, but it certainly feels like it's about Luke as well. About Luke as well. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. On the game front. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we did get, we got one listener email about this. I'm not going to read the listener email out necessarily, but just sort of this question of like in the book, since Gabe is this like horrible abuser, Percy's mom ends up killing him with like the Medusa head.

And it's like, are we going to do that here? Are we just going to like, I don't think this game necessarily deserves that. He deserves like, you know, to be divorced and, you know, live in misery on his toilet. But I don't think he deserves to be killed by the Medusa head unless he does something else later on. And John Steinberg in an interview was just talking about like, um, If they had taken the game from the book and put him on the screen, he says it's all in your face and it's all presented in a much louder way. The character's still an idiot. He's still somebody you desperately want a person to get rid of in his life, but he doesn't make me want to turn the TV off.

And again, I don't know if this is a Disney manate to be like, what if we don't have an abusive father? The mother then kills later with a Medusa head or something like that. But I don't know. I don't know that I need it. And I think this is fine. Yeah. I would have to do with the Medusa head, though. That's if not this.

Where's it going to wind up? up. Good question. How do you feel about skipping the fates? Bad. Yeah. Bad. We love the fates on House of Mar. I know. I couldn't wait to see how they did this to see them stitching the giant socks and getting off the bus and the way that Percy can hear the snip of the thread and like reverberates through him and Krober's just like, fuck. Yeah. I really want that. Yeah. Maybe it'll do it later. Yeah. Yeah. It can happen on the road really at any point, honestly. Doesn't have to be here. But I, I, I, I, I understand why, like, with the two-episode premiere, again, on the Disney Plus, whatever, like getting to the end of this episode, it's like, your Poseidon, here's a quest, is like a, okay, let's go sort of way to launch a season. And if they had, you know, taken a little bit more time to do the Fates chapter, you know, you might grow impatient.

They took more time than the movie does, but less time than maybe some people would want to get here. And I'm just hopeful that we get the fates in a later episode. I would really love that. We do love the fates. We love the fates. We love a snipped thread of fate. Yeah, we do. Give it to us, please. Okay, Joe, that's it. Any final thoughts? I had a blast. I want to talk about, you know, I want to talk to you midseason. So again, again, we're doing it. Oh, we're doing it. We're doing it. Great. We'll be back in two weeks. If you made it to the end of the pot, you have that, you have that certainty. Lucky you.

All right. A quest is always undertaken by three. And so the three of us, Joanna, Steve, me. We thank you. Thank you for joining us today. We've reached the end of the pod. Thank you to our favorite demigods, Steve Allman, for producing this episode,

Arjunna M Gapal, for his additional production work on this episode and Jomi Adon for his work on the social for this episode. Remember? Head over to the Ringervverse for the Midnight Boys Aquaman pod on Friday. Joanna and I will be back with you

next week on House of R for a Doctor Who Christmas special extravaganza. Can't wait. And then we'll be back the week after in the new year to talk about Percy episodes three and four. We'll tell you that what we're doing next.

Someone else. You know, some House of Our early year traditions come in. Almost hype draft time. All right. Until then, remember no, me, man. It's like the one rule.