Recap/Review: "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" - Season 2, Episode 4 "Clarisse Blows Up Everything"

Recap:

Annabeth (Leah Jeffries) has brought Percy and Tyson (Walker Scobell and Daniel Diemer) to a hiding place from long ago. Removing a hidden cache, she remembers back to when Luke (Charlie Bushnell) and her were on the run. We learn that the hidden cache of goods is something that he and Thalia had used before, and while the younger Annabeth is scared, Luke reassures her and gives her a special bracelet, that he claims is a magic protection charm, (it isn’t), and though the younger version of Annabeth is content, the present day Annabeth is remembering back to this moment, and the good that was once inside of Luke. 

In the past Thalia (Tamara Smart) warns Luke and Annabeth that they have been found and they need to get into position to defend themselves. Just as they are about to be attacked, the group learns that the person following them is Grover (Aryan Simhadri) and he is there to bring them to Camp Half-Blood.

Tyson and Percy are talking on the beach and tells Percy how he doesn’t like hearing someone talk so negatively about his brother. Percy takes time to tell Tyson that prophecies don’t always go the way one may think they should develop, and then in an act of brotherly humor, Percy burps in Tyson’s ear. Chasing after his brother, Percy and Tyson just avoid being killed when their lifeboat from the Princess Andromeda is destroyed in an explosion. (Clarisse must have arrived.)

Off the shore sits the civil war ironclad, and Clarisse (Dior Goodjohn) with her crew of failed warriors. They come ashore and Clarisse wants the coordinates to the Sea of Monsters. Annabeth tells Clarisse that she will gladly tell her the co-ordinates if they take them with them. Clarisse is not in favor of that, and Percy challenges her to single combat. He even taunts her by stating that this was how he beat her dad, Ares.

There is a lot of animosity between Clarisse and Percy. They battle back and forth on the beach. While Clarisse is distracted, Annabeth has donned her invisibility hat and proceeds to destroy all of Clarisse’s crew. Annabeth appeals to Clarisse’s desire for success. With a depleted crew, she is forced to take Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson aboard her warship. 

Onboard, Percy and Clarisse argue about who is more stupid (very funny, love this moment between Scobell and Goodjohn). They are arguing about which is the best way to enter the Sea of Monsters, and when Annabeth joins them, she chooses to face the monster Scylla. That’s who Odysseus faced. Scylla has six tentacles and all that Clarisse needs to do is spare six of her dead crew. To Percy and Annabeth this is a no brainer, but Clarisse won’t sacrifice her crew. She promised them the chance to rest in the Fields of Elysium if the quest was successful. Annabeth reminds her that that is only a decision to be made by the gods. 

On deck, Annabeth is staring at her bracelet that Luke gave her, and remembering back to the night she, Thalia, Luke and Grover were on the run to camp. Luke and Thalia are not enthused about going to camp even though Grover tells them that the older they get on their own, the more difficult it will be to survive. 

Annabeth in the present tosses the bracelet into the sea, but the ocean throws it back after she walks away. At the helm, Tyson tells Percy that he hadn’t been on a boat before Monday, and now he’s been on four. When Tyson wonders where they are, Percy can recite their precise speed and latitude and longitudinal location. Wondering how he knows this information, Tyson reasons that Percy is a son of Poseidon, so it would ne natural that he would know where he is precisely at sea. 

When Annabeth meets up with Tyson, she sees him holding her bracelet and wonders how he got possession of it. Back in the past, young Annabeth wakes up in their camp and wanders into the forest only to be surrounded by three cyclops. Present day Annabeth wants nothing to do with the bracelet and throws it back into the ocean. 

Annabeth tells Percy about how she put everyone in danger on the road to Camp Half-Blood. Having doubts in her intelligence, Annabeth is worried her plan for the quest could fail easily.

As they got closer to camp, Annabeth describes how on Half-Blood Hill, the furies surrounded them, and Thalia made a choice to sacrifice herself for the good of her and Luke. Thalia had a target on her back, the same as Percy. Annabeth wants to believe that if she can just think six steps ahead, she can save Percy. However, Annabeth is worried about the million little human choices that she can’t see. 

Clarisse informs her crew that they will soon enter the Sea of Monsters and that there will be trials to face. When she asks for volunteers to man the deck guns against Scylla, Clarisse is amazed to see everyone raise their hands. She warns them this will be a highly dangerous duty, but the sailors are willing to follow her anywhere for victory and Elysium. 

Later, Percy sits with Clarisse, and she wants to know how he survived his quest last year. Percy explains that he wouldn’t have survived if it weren’t for his friends. Clarisse wants to make her dad proud, and Percy reminds her that they do much of what they do for their parents, but that they are people too. Clarisse is worried that if she can’t get the Golden Fleece she won’t have anywhere to go. Camp is home to her, and there is nowhere else to go. (Dior Goodjohn is perfect as Clarisse. She has the perfect blend of recklessness that a child of Ares needs, but the emotional wanting of success that every teenager feels.) Before leaving the room, even though Percy has been very nice to her, Clarisse reminds him that they are not friends.

Back on deck, Clarisse calls her sailors together and tells them they are entering the Sea of Monsters, and this is the day that they get to sail into glory. The storm on the horizon does not dampen their spirits and the sailors cheer their captain.

Through the cloud of grey mist, and the islands of mystery, the ship plods through the waves and what awaits them in the dark. Percy, Annabeth, and Clarisse watch as tentacles descend from the sky, and sailors abruptly disappear from the deck. Scylla is there and wants sacrifices. Clarisse cannot watch any more of her crew be taken and steers the ship towards Charybdis. Wondering what she is doing, Clarisse tells Percy and Annabeth that heroes slay monsters and that is who they will face entering the Sea of Monsters.

Clarisse prepares for battle and heads to the deck to fight Charybdis. Manning a deck gun and firing with all her might keeps Clarisse busy while Percy and Annabeth make a plan to use his nautical powers to push the boat through the sea, while using Hermes wind power to escape the vortex. Tyson ramps of the power in the boilers. Annabeth is nearly thrown overboard but loses the thermos of winds in the engine room, and the power of these bottled winds destroys the ship. 

(An end credits preview shows fans what’s to come in the remainder of the season.)

The Tridents Review:

(Each episode gets a Trident ranking. 1 equaling the value of a rough day at sea to 4 being the equivalent of the most perfect beach day ever imagined.)

"Clarisse Blows Up Everything" is an apt title for the actual destruction that Clarisse brings physically, and her ability to destroy the myths of what a warrior should do. Yes, she should easily sacrifice her crew to Scylla. However, the warrior that is Clarisse, has a heart, and wishes not to sacrifice the valiant men who serve her. She is duty bound to their honor, and Dior Goodjohn makes a transition in character between the fiery nature of Clarisse to her emotional center perfectly.

Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, and Daniel Diemer are great, but this episode belongs to Goodjohn and I am so thankful to see such brilliant work by Goodjohn, and the show giving her the extra time to shine in the part.

"Clarisse Blows Up Everything" gets 4 Tridents of nautical excellence.