Percy Jackson Season 2, Episode 3 ‘We Board the Princess Andromeda’ showcases how much Percy has grown and yet also underscores how much of this journey there’s still to go. It’s a great episode that doesn’t feel filler and that allows Walker Scobell to shine, but that also leaves space for the ensemble to be more than secondary set pieces.
Scobell is, of course, the standout, because Percy isn’t the lost and confused kid we met in Season 1. He’s more self-assured now. He knows himself, he knows his friends, and he trusts in both. And that means that he can sail on a quest to save Grover, he can bring Tyson with him, and he can stand in front of Annabeth and tell her that he trusts her with a secret that he understands could change his life.
They aren’t meaningless words, either. When he tells her that he doesn’t need to know, he’s being honest with her. He trusts Annabeth that much. But he also trusts what they’ve built, what they’ve been together. You don’t go through what these two went through in Season 1 without a little bit of healthy co-dependency. But then again, you don’t go through what Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia went through without some of that either. That’s part of the problem.
BOOM
It’s a good compromise. A codeword that will allow Annabeth to tell Percy when he’s doing something he shouldn’t be doing. Or at least, it seems like one. Percy is sure. Annabeth, not so much. “I hate that I can’t tell you. And pretty soon, you’re gonna hate it too, no matter what we try,” she tells him. But the truth is, Annabeth hates keeping a secret from Percy even more than he hates not knowing about the prophecy. Because for Annabeth, not telling Percy is a betrayal. And she doesn’t betray her friends.
Except she will, if that’s what she needs to do to save them from a fate worse than death. At least, that’s what she thinks at first. She will make the sacrifice, even if the sacrifice is going against everything she believes in. But it weighs on her so much. That’s why she breaks at the end. Because she thinks Percy deserves to know, yes. But also because she can’t be the one keeping the secret anymore.
Of course, the problem is that then, we are left with “you were right. I wish I didn’t know.” Knowledge is a burden. It was so for Annabeth, and it is now so for Percy. Is the burden better if it is shared? That’s what we’re about to find out.
IT’S PROPHECY. THE WORDS ARE NEVER CLEAR
Perhaps the smartest thing Percy says this whole episode is basically “pff, prophecies.” And he’s kinda right. Why should we trust them? They never really mean what you think they mean, except when you think they don’t mean what they mean, and then that time they do. They’re vague on purpose, and they’re confusing, and you never really know what to expect with them. If I were in his shoes, I’d also be like “I can’t live my life worried about a prophecy.” But that’s so much harder to sustain when you actually know the words of the prophecy that’s supposed to refer to you.
I won’t go into the ironies of this prophecy about a single choice, either saving the age of the Gods or destroying it, because we’re far from needing to discuss it. But I will say that this episode doesn’t just set up the prophecy; it also sets up how all the characters react to the topic of destiny. That’s important information to have going forward.
LUKE & TYSON & CLARISSE
Scobell’s Percy and Leah Sava Jeffries’ Annabeth might be stealing the show so far this season, but this episode gives Charlie Bushnell’s Luke, Dior Goodjohn’s Clarisse, and Daniel Diemer’s Tyson a chance to prove that the series is more than just those two—and that’s a good thing. This might be Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but the world of Percy Jackson is bigger, richer, and much more defined than some other magical worlds out there.
Because Tyson adds so much to not just the show, but also Percy. Warmth and kindness and loyalty. Because Clarisse is not just a bully, not just Ares’ daughter, but the kind of character who can be annoying sometimes, but can also be a good ally. And Luke is misguided and willing to go way too far to get what he wants, but he’s also… not wholly wrong?
There are other books, other shows, that have given us one, two, three good characters. Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 has built a world where absolutely everyone we meet feels like someone we can not just invest in, but defend. And that is, perhaps, the most groundbreaking thing about the season so far.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2, Episode 3 ‘We Board the Princess Andromeda’? Share with us in the comments below!
The first two episodes of Percy Jackson Season 2 are now available to stream on Disney+.
