TV Recap/Review: "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" - Season 2, Episode 6: "Nobody Gets the Fleece"

Recap:

In the depths of the ocean, Tyson (Daniel Diemer) is sinking to his doom after the destruction of the iron clad. Looking around, the cyclops is pleasantly surprised to see a messenger of the aquatic kind that helps him to safety. Not all hope is lost for the lost son of Poseidon.

Percy (Walker Scobell) is having a nightmare where he sees campers dead in the Big House at Camp Half-Blood. Kronos barges through the front door and zaps him with a bolt of energy, which wakes up the son of Poseidon from his nap on their ship. Percy is anxious when he wakes up and when Annabeth (Leah Jeffries) wonders what’s wrong, Percy feels like they can’t waste any time and they need to get the Golden Fleece now. 

Annabeth reminds him that Polyphemus (Aleks Paunovic) can hear a pin drop and will smell them if they are coming. Their plan is to use Polyphemus’ sheep to cover their scent and sound and rescue Grover (Aryan Simhadri) through the hole in the roof of the cave. Percy tells Annabeth about his dream, and how he saw Thalia (Tamara Smart) at camp. They agree to get some sleep because they raid Polyphemus’ island at dawn. 

Polyphemus explains that the beauty of his island is the gift of living alone. He describes how he has made the island a world unto itself. All outsiders are enemies because in his mind, you shouldn’t trust anybody. Grover and Clarisse (Dior Goodjohn) listen to this soliloquy, and the child of Ares has had enough. Clarisse tells Polyphemus that for someone who likes to be alone, he certainly can’t shut up. The monster tells her that being alone is not the same as silence. 

Grover learns that the Golden Fleece was brought to the island by Pan, the god of nature himself. Clarisse pipes up that she thinks Polyphemus is scared of the possible reinforcements that are coming to help. 

Polyphemus admits that is true, because demigods will cross oceans to save their friends. As Percy and Annabeth make their way onto the island, Polyphemus tells Clarisse and Grover that is why he kept them alive, to be used as bait for anyone else who is on their way.

Percy and Annabeth initiate their plan to use the sheep to sneak up on Polyphemus. When an Iris message forms near Annabeth, she sees Luke (Charlie Bushnell) who warns her that Polyphemus is cunning and dangerous. Annabeth is not going to fall for his lies. She tells her former friend that Thalia would never stand with Kronos, and then she tries to appeal to him to change, when Percy disrupts the message and tells her they need to get moving because Polyphemus is leaving his cave. 

Masquerading as sheep, Percy and Annabeth slowly make their way towards the cave. Polyphemus, the ever-dutiful shepherd is on his way to tend to his flock, and the two demigods need to blend into the sheep world they have jumped into. The flock is let out, and Percy and Annabeth scramble to keep up and inch closer to the Golden Fleece.

On the crest of the cave, Percy and Annabeth watch as Polyphemus wanders away, and Percy takes action to recon the area. Looking down into the cave, Clarisse and Grover try to alert Percy that it’s a trap, but Percy doesn’t understand and is very excited. Back with Annabeth, he tells her that Clarisse is alive and with Grover. In the cave, Clarisse lifts Grover up to smash a mirror and then use the broken class to cut her restraints. The daughter of Ares is not going to miss this fight. 

On top of the hill Percy and Annabeth are trying to strategize how they can now rescue Clarisse when they barely have time to get Grover. Percy suggests they could always leave Clarisse. (This is a nice moment that shows the humor and sarcasm that Percy the character has lived and breathed on the page for decades. It’s a subtle use of a trademark Riordan skill, and Scobell executes the line perfectly.)  Naturally, Percy is kidding, and they set out on their rescue plan. 

Percy and Annabeth set their rope, and he starts to climb into the cave. Clarisse is feverishly cutting her restraints. Annabeth waits at the top while Percy climbs down. At the top, Annabeth realizes that the fleece hanging from the tree is a fake, and that is when Polyphemus starts to make his way to the top of the hill. Annabeth knows it’s a trap and tries to warn Percy. Polyphemus cuts the rope, and Clarisse catches her ‘friend’ perfectly. 

Annabeth has hidden herself under her invisibility cap, and taunts Polyphemus. He tries to find her by randomly smashing his staff. Taunting the ancient monster with what happened with Odysseus makes Polyphemus angrier and forces the monster to make some rash decisions.

Luke has arrived on the island because he needs the Golden Fleece to heal Kronos. (I like this addition to the story. Giving Luke more screentime and allowing Charlie Bushnell to develop his character more is a perfect change, and a necessary addition to the show.)

In the cave, Grover leads Percy and Clarisse through the piles of treasures that Polyphemus has kept searching for the real Golden Fleece. Luke is slowly making his way to the top of the hill where he finds the fake fleece unprotected and quickly steals it. However, Luke sees that the fleece is fake, at the same time that Grover finds the real one in the corner of the cave.

Polyphemus knows that something is wrong and returns to the cave. Grover shows Percy and Clarisse what he has found and this success motivates Percy and Clarisse to work together to try and escape the cave. When Polyphemus opens the cave, he is attacked by Annabeth who is then promptly knocked unconscious by the cyclops. 

Percy is forced to watch from a crack in the entrance as Polyphemus stands over the helpless Annabeth. Just as the situation looks dire for the daughter of Athena, Tyson arrives to protect his friends. Polyphemus asks Tyson to step aside because he has no fight with his ‘brother’ cyclops. Tyson refutes this claim and states he has a brother, and he is in the cave. The battle of the cyclops’ begin, and Tyson begs Polyphemus that he does not want to hurt him. This only enrages the older monster and then Tyson tackles Polyphemus off the cliff plunging to the ocean below. 

Luke arrives and while Percy screams at him to leave her alone, Luke tells Percy that she is dying. Realizing they could use the fleece to heal her, Percy tries to grab it, but Clarisse is unwilling to sacrifice the item. There is no way to save Annabeth unless they hand the fleece to Luke through the crack in the entrance. 

Clarisse is unwilling, and while Grover is reminding the daughter of Ares that she just said she would never sacrifice another warrior on the battlefield, Percy grabs the fleece from her and hands it to Luke. 

Thankfully, Luke lays the fleece over Annabeth, and her salvation is imminent. She comes around from her comatose state, and Luke is forced to show his friends that he is not as bad as he believes himself to be. However, he picks up Annabeth and the fleece and walks away. Clarisse tells Percy that he just killed them all. 

Grover tries to defend his friend and while Percy is questioning his choices, Tyson has climbed back from the ocean and removed the boulder blocking the entrance to the cave. Percy gives his brother a big hug because he worried he would never see him again. Wondering where Luke went, Tyson directs the group, and Percy retrieves Annabeth’s invisibility hat.

Wondering what next, Percy tells everyone that they get Annabeth and the fleece back, but no one knows how to get to Luke’s ship. That’s when Tyson reveals his gift from the sea and the arrival of Rainbow the hippocampi and some of his friends.  

The Tridents Review:

Having Charlie Bushnell appear in this episode and making him a part of the narrative on Polyphemus’ island was a smart decision and allowed the character a greater arc than what he gets in the book.

There are a lot of great aspects to episode 6 that make this bit of television a 4 Trident masterwork. We get development of Tyson, Luke, and Annabeth, while also allowing Dior Goodjohn the time to show why Clarisse is a fearless warrior and one person that every camper should try to be friends with.

Finally, we are reunited with Grover, and most importantly, we get our introduction to Rainbow and his hippocampi friends. 

This is only episode 6, and the series is building to an epic conclusion, I can’t wait to see what else comes in on the tide of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.