The Disney+ fantasy adventure series, Percy Jackson & The Olympians, continues with its 2nd season as the protagonist and his two friends finally board the cruise ship that is supposed to take them to the Bermuda Triangle. In the season premiere last week, Percy had learned that the supporters of Kronos, led by Luke Castellan, were in search of the Golden Fleece, a magical artifact that can heal anything or anyone in no time. Deciding to find the artifact before the bad guys, Percy set out on an adventure to reach the Bermuda Triangle, where the Golden Fleece is known to be found. Now, in season 2 episode 3, the protagonist faces a tough challenge aboard the cruise ship, as it turns out to be an elaborate ploy to trap him.
Spoiler Alert
How does Clarisse carry out her quest?
Percy Jackson & The Olympians season 2 episode 3 begins with Clarisse La Rue back at Camp Half Blood, where King Tantalus had already selected her to carry out a quest in the previous episode. When Percy had shared his discovery about the Golden Fleece being able to heal the Thalia Tree back to its full potential and keep the camp safe again, Tantalus had intentionally chosen Clarisse to lead the quest to go fetch the magical item. Tantalus obviously favored Clarisse over Percy because she had always followed his orders blindly, quite opposite to the protagonist. Although Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson had already sneaked out of the camp to journey to the Bermuda Triangle in search of the Fleece, Clarisse is still technically bound to carry out the quest, and Tantalus now gives her a new objective as well. Clarisse is to find and punish the three teenagers, who are now officially considered outlaws, while on her journey to the Bermuda Triangle.
As is customary at Camp Half-Blood, Clarisse has to first visit the Oracle of Delphi to hear a prophecy about her quest, and the episode begins with her entering the messy attic where the remains of the priestess are kept. Seemingly, Clarisse does not believe in such predictions about fate, or perhaps she fears that the predictions for her will only be negative, which is why she tries to strike off the head of the priestess even before she comes to being. However, she is possibly not aware of how mere blows and injuries that are enough to kill humans or even demigods have no effect on the Oracle of Delphi, who makes herself whole again to make her prophecy about Clarisse’s quest. The prophecy claims that the teenager will journey on a legendary ship and even find what she seeks, but warns that she will possibly lose it all after being ‘entombed,’ a key detail that will surely come into effect later on.
Clarisse is given the choice to pick two new companions to go on the quest with her, but she decides to not take anyone and instead go alone. One of the primary reasons behind this choice of hers becomes evident as soon as she leaves camp, for she is visited by her father, Ares, the defiant god of war. This confirms that Ares is well aware of his daughter’s quest and so will be playing a significant role in it from time to time. This also makes it very likely that Clarisse has her own plans of betraying Camp Half-Blood, maybe by intending to hand over the Golden Fleece to her father, who wants to put it to some other use. It is Ares who gives Clarisse her means to transport to travel to her destination—Ironclad, a supremely tough warship fitted with numerous heavy-artillery weapons all over the deck and the bow. Ares mentions that he has recently retrieved Ironclad from the depths of the ocean, where it had sunk, and has restored it to make it usable once more.
Along with the ship, Ares also gifts Clarisse an entire crew, all of whom have been brought back from the dead for this specific purpose. It is common law according to Greek mythology that whoever dies in battle automatically becomes duty-bound to Ares, and this is how the god of war had arranged for the crew to accompany his daughter on her journey. As Clarisse sets sail on the Ironclad, she initially has a very tough time controlling the crew, as they do not consider her a worthy captain. Everyone very openly expresses their feelings about the teenager leading them into the important mission, and they refuse to take her seriously. Even though the crewmates, all gathered from different places on Earth and from different time periods, start becoming friends with each other, they refuse to accept Clarisse as their captain. However, this ultimately changes by the end of the episode, when Clarisse makes a rousing speech about how they can redeem themselves and turn from losers into heroes who helped recover the Golden Fleece, which will lead them to the esteemed Fields of Elysium when they return to the underworld. Thus, they now finally accept her as their leader and continue sailing towards their destination with a newfound motivation and courage.
What do Percy and his friends find aboard the cruise ship?
Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson are seen on the small boat that Hermes had given them in the previous episode, and they finally make it to the cruise ship that is supposedly going towards the Bermuda Triangle. But something feels off right away, especially when Tyson reveals that he can smell monsters aboard the boat. As the trio go to the deck to check the matter out, they see three Laistrygonians, the same cannibalistic giants that had attacked Camp Half-Blood at the beginning of the season. The giants casually walk around on the deck, among humans who have come to spend a vacation on the cruise ship, which is simply quite odd. Annabeth believes that the magical Mist is working extra hard to keep the giants’ real selves invisible, but the Laistrygonians soon walk into a hall, accessing some special card privileges by directly speaking to an employee.
A young woman on the deck suddenly notices Annabeth and calls out to her, soon introducing herself to Percy and Tyson as Alisson Simms, a graduate from Camp Half-Blood, where she used to know Annabeth quite well. Alarmed at the monsters roaming around on the boat so openly, Annabeth immediately tells Alisson about it and asks for her help, only to realize that she is actually now a mercenary demigod working for Luke Castellan. Alisson launches an attack on the trio in an effort to capture and take them to Luke, but she is no match for them and ends up falling into the sea. Percy leaves the spot with Alisson’s bag, and while going through it, he finds a similar card to the one noticed on the giants a few minutes earlier.
The card bears the sign of Kronos, and as the friends turn on the TV in the room to seemingly find more information, things become extremely clear to them. The cruise ship, Princess Andromeda, is actually owned and operated by Kronos, and so it is obviously a safe haven for monsters and villains of all kinds. The Mist is indeed much more effective and strong on the ship, which allows monsters, demigods, and gods to conceal their real identities in front of the humans. This strong presence of the Mist is touted as the most attractive selling point of the Princess Andromeda cruise ship. It now becomes evident that Hermes had known about this crucial fact, and yet had not told Percy about it. Hermes had seemingly pushed Percy towards Kronos, despite knowing that the King of the Titans wanted to get hold of the boy. Therefore, Hermes’ real intentions also need to be questioned, but for now, the protagonist and his friends need to sort out the matter at hand, as they decide to go see Luke and directly confront him about his plan.
Why do Percy and Annabeth have differing opinions?
Before the confrontation, though, Percy and Annabeth have a war of words like they have been having throughout this season, as their opinions largely differ while discussing what to do with Luke. In Percy’s mind, Luke has clearly become the most notorious villain, who has to be stopped at all costs, even if it means ending his life. Percy knows that, as a demigod, he must never intentionally cause harm or bring death to anyone, but then Luke’s actions in the recent past, and most importantly his attack on the Thalia Tree back at camp, were simply unacceptable. Therefore, he does not actually mind even killing the villain at the moment, but Annabeth sees things very differently, particularly because of her shared past with Luke. As revealed in season 1, Luke and Annabeth had once been very close to each other, and Thalia had been an important part of their group as well.
Annabeth now reveals that seeing Luke attack the Thalia Tree felt like witnessing her elder brother hurting her elder sister, since she had been so very close to both of them. Thus, she is completely against Percy’s plan of killing Luke if need be. Annabeth wants to hold Kronos responsible for whatever Luke is doing, as he is the real mastermind behind the plan, and she wants to ultimately bring Luke back to his senses and out of Kronos’ influence. She is ready to put up a fight for the sake of Luke, it seems, and it is actually her plan to go confront her old friend aboard the cruise ship, since they are all at the same place.
But Luke’s angry rant a few minutes later seems to change Annabeth’s mind, as she starts to feel that she might not have really known Thalia and Luke as well as she believed. Luke states that Thalia hated Zeus as much as him and that she would have joined any plan of action against the King of the Gods had she had the choice to do so. He goes on to say that Thalia would have hated the fact that Zeus had turned her into a tree, and so the Thalia Tree back at Camp Half-Blood is really a sign of mockery and disgrace towards the teenager’s brave spirit. It is unclear whether Luke tells the truth about Thalia in this scene or if he lies simply to convince Percy and Annabeth to join his side, but perhaps more will be revealed later on in the season.
What is the Grand Prophecy?
It is Luke who first makes a mention of the Grand Prophecy, which, as the name suggests, is a significant prediction about the near future, and it is clearly pertinent to the young protagonist. Although Annabeth states that she knows only some of it, as Chiron had not revealed the entire prophecy to her, she knows the main crux of it, which she later reveals to Luke. According to the Grand Prophecy, a child of one of the eldest three Gods will become a super weapon the moment they turn 16, and they will decide the fate of Olympus. The eldest three gods refer to Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, meaning that one part of the prophecy already confirms that the hero mentioned in it is actually Percy. In fact, most of the gods, including Chiron and even Kronos, seem to have the knowledge that Percy is indeed the hero, which is why there are significant efforts on both sides to appoint him. Kronos, through Luke, wants Percy to join their cause because he will soon hold the power to completely destroy Olympus and kill all the gods, which perfectly aligns with the intentions of the King of the Titans. Wary of this potential, Chiron had asked Annabeth to keep an eye on Percy and his shifting moods, and the girl had feared that her best friend would ultimately turn against the gods and join Kronos.
What is the next step for Percy and his friends?
Even before Percy learns about the prophecy, he does not seem too convinced by Luke’s tall words about defeating Zeus and creating a new world order where demigods and gods would be equal. The protagonist is more aware of the manipulative nature of Kronos, it seems, than Luke, who has lost all ability to think freely. Although Percy and Annabeth are a bit more open to Luke’s plans some time later when he shows them his training arena on the cruise ship, Tyson ultimately makes the choice to get them off the ship. He senses danger for Percy and Annabeth and uses his intelligence to make a bomb, which distracts Percy and his fellow demigods. This gives the protagonist enough time to get away from Luke, and in the end, he, Annabeth, and Tyson leave the cruise ship aboard a small emergency boat, which they steal from the ship. Together they sail towards the Bermuda Triangle, and the short post-credits teaser reveals that they are soon about to cross paths with, and even join, Clarisse aboard the Ironclad.
