The time has come to bring you our Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 4 review. Are you ready to battle the chimera!?
Ever since the two-episode premiere arrived on Disney+, the series has been winding its way through Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, doing a fantastic job of bringing the first book in the series to the small screen, and episode 4 was no exception. While this episode is markedly shorter than the others, it did bring one of the strangest creatures in Greek mythology to life in beautiful and horrifying detail.
Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3
Or listen to our Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 4 review in detail on our Percy Jackson podcast:
The opening scene kicks off with Young Percy in the pool with his mother, so that’s where we’ll begin this Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 4 review. While the other kids make their way through the water with the help of their parents, poor little Percy is too afraid to let go of the side of the pool.
Sally becomes increasingly frustrated by Percy’s desire to go home, and that quick mention of “we paid for this class” reminds us that the Jacksons aren’t exactly flush with money. She wouldn’t be asking Percy to do this if it weren’t important, and her follow-up line, “Percy, it could be dangerous if you don’t know how to do this,” is a stark reminder that she knows what’s coming for her son in just a few short years.
After seeing such a calm, cool, and collected Sally Jackson in the premiere episode, this frazzled, desperate, annoyed version of Percy’s mother only emphasizes the fear she has for her son’s safety. Everything she’s done has been to protect him and teach him the skills he’ll need to survive, especially because she knows the players on the field and how dangerous they can be. She knows there’s every chance in the world that she might not be there for him when he needs her most.
It’s a small detail, but I love that Percy doesn’t initially take to the water, despite who his father is. Some small part of me feels like it’s him subconsciously rebelling against his godly parent, as though he knows Poseidon won’t be a part of his life until after he discovers who he is.
As she’s on the verge of a panic attack, Percy reminds his mom to breathe, like she always tells him to when he’s scared. “Just breathe, Mommy,” delivered in Azriel Dalman’s sweet voice, is enough to shatter your heart, and you can see that the reminder lands hard with Sally. The show continues to emphasize Percy and Sally’s relationship, and I’m here for every second of it.
Unfortunately, Young Percy is thrust into the same prophetic nightmare we’ve seen throughout the series so far. He’s back out in the desert, the sky not quite as dark as last time, when the figure holding the lantern emerges from the dunes.
“Hello, little hero,” the voice says. “What sort of trouble are you up to now, hmm? A forbidden child attracts attention. A forbidden hero? Well, they attract doom. She is coming.” All the while, a pit opens up behind him, threatening to swallow him whole once more.
In the present day, Percy opens his eyes, blinking away the nightmare. It makes sense for him to dream of that day in the pool with his mother, considering the knowledge he now has of his godly parent. Seeing Young Percy thrust into the recurring nightmare only serves to emphasize how small he is next to the ancient giants who want him dead.
Interestingly, this is the first time the nightmare has felt more like a warning than a threat. The voice calls him a forbidden hero, telling him he’s attracting attention, before it informs him that she is coming. My guess is that the voice is referring to Echidna, who will be making her presence known very soon. More intriguing is why the voice is warning Percy. If this is indeed Kronos, then it makes sense he’d want Percy to stay safe long enough to join his side in the war against the gods. Too bad the son of Poseidon will never go for that plan.
Percy takes the opportunity to ask Annabeth about Thalia, considering she was the last forbidden kid who existed before Percy was claimed. Annabeth talks about Thalia’s strength, about the fact that she didn’t care who her father was, about how she made Annabeth earn her respect. It’s not difficult to see how much Annabeth respects Thalia, and I love that we’re already building up their relationship in season 1, considering we won’t be seeing the daughter of Zeus until the end of Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2. It’ll make her return so much more profound, knowing what it means to Annabeth.
But Percy doesn’t know that’s coming, and so he turns his attention to the gods and how they want their children to think and act. You shouldn’t have to burn offerings or beat up other kids just to get your parent to notice you, he argues. “People who are close to you aren’t supposed to treat you that way,” he says, and I love how emotionally vulnerable Percy has been in the series so far. He continues to point out the flaws in the system, even while everyone around him accepts the status quo. The show is already laying the foundation for what’s to coming in the final season.
Annabeth has a different perspective on the situation, however. She talks about how she was born from a thought in Athena’s mind and given to her father as a gift. Then, when her father met someone else and they had kids of their own, she became a problem. She left home when she was only seven, and that’s when Thalia and Luke found her in the alleway. “It isn’t the gods who think that way,” she says. “It’s everybody. But at least with the gods, you know the rules. Show them respect, and they’ll be in your corner, no matter what.”
For someone with such an analytical brain, I can see why this would be appealing to Annabeth. It’s nothing more or less than a simple equation where she can get the same result time and time again. There is a simplicity in the gods’ rules, a guarantee, and after surviving her childhood, I can only imagine how comforting that is to her.
Grover wakes to inject some humor into this scene. Hungry and sleep-deprived, this is a side to the satyr that we haven’t seen before. And neither has Percy, for that matter. Annabeth’s remark that Percy hasn’t been on the road with Grover before serves to remind him that Grover was her protector first and that she has a history with him that stretches back farther than his with Percy. But unlike previous scenes, there’s no malice hidden behind her words, and the trio get up to get Grover some breakfast.
What follows is another example of the way this show weaves storylines together, providing us with important information but keeping it relevant and concise. Percy’s concerned about how they’re going to find the entrance to the Underworld, considering none of them have been to Los Angeles before and they’re, you know, children, but Grover just wants to put one hoof in front of the other and complete the next task on their excruciatingly long to-do list.
Spotting a small herd of centaurs out the window, Grover explains that they’re not as abundant as they once were. After the god of the wild, Pan, went missing a few thousand years ago, humans have taken over, destroying the wilderness and causing their numbers to drop exponentially. Only the bravest satyrs take up the search for the missing deity, like Grover’s Uncle Ferdinand.
This once again highlights the benefit of having a complete series of books to pull from. Introducing the search for Pan this early on not only gives us more insight into Grover’s personality, interests, and motivations, as well as his relationship with his uncle, but it also sets us up for Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2, when Grover goes off on his own quest, as well as future installments of the show. I love that this foundation is here, opening up the world to fans and newcomers alike, and yet not derailing the current story to the point where it feels like we just took a sharp left turn into unknown territory.
Which is probably as good of a hint as any to get back on track with this Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 4 review. Commenting on Percy’s earlier concern, Annabeth tells him, “The harder you work to understand, the harder [the prophecy] gets to understand.” If you’re at all familiar with how prophecies work, especially in Greek mythology and the Percy Jackson universe, then you know they have layers of meaning and plenty of possible interpretations. In other words—stop worrying about what’s to come, Percy, and focus on getting to Los Angeles in one piece.
But that’s going to be a little difficult considering a glowing orb falling from the sky just smashed through their cabin window and destroyed everything inside. The officer investigating the mess calls Annabeth a little girl, and the way she stares up at him, with the fire of a thousand suns in her gaze, made me cackle with excitement. If I didn’t already know Leah Jeffries was the perfect Annabeth Chase, that look in her eye would’ve solidified it for me.
Under the attentive gaze of the police officers, a woman approaches the trio and tells them she doesn’t think they caused that mess in their cabin. Within seconds, Grover spots glass on her jacket and surmises that she’s the one who came barreling through the window. It would’ve been easy to give this moment of realization to Annabeth, who’s always quick to put the puzzle pieces together, but I love that Grover gets to be the star of the show here. He even figures out the woman’s true identity at the same time as Annabeth—she is Echidna, the mother of monsters.
The woman says this has always been a family story, and she’s not wrong. The Greek gods are an incestuous lot, which makes their squabbles even more dangerous. Not only is Gaea Echidna’s grandmother, but she’s also Percy’s great-grandmother, meaning the mother of monsters and the son of the sea god are related. The monster notebook in episode 1 features a drawing of Phorcus, who fathered Echidna, the gorgons, and the Gray Sisters, among others. Meanwhile, Echidna is the mother of many monsters we’ll be seeing over the course of this season and the show as a whole, including Cerberus, the chimera, the sphinx, the Nemean Lion, the hydra, Ladon, the manticore, and more.
Suzanne Cryer does a phenomenal job of marrying the two halves of Echidna’s personality. Yes, she is a monster herself, but she’s also a mother. She is at once maternal, compassionate, and empathetic, while also being utterly unhinged. Echidna’s smile is as wide as it is sharp, especially when she says, “This isn’t your fault. But sadly, you’re going to have to bear the burden of your parents’ mistakes today.”
Unsurprisingly, much of this show, and therefore this Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 4 review, is about parental figures. We see Percy’s mortal mother doing everything she can to prepare him for his life as a demigod in the same episode we hear about how Annabeth’s father turned his back on her when life got complicated. Meanwhile, Athena is willing to stand in Annabeth’s corner as long as she shows respect, while Percy questions why his father can’t just do the bare minimum without expecting something in return.
Perhaps more interesting is Echidna’s take on these family dynamics. Yes, she is the mother of these so-called monsters, but in her world, it’s demigods who cause the most harm, who are the most violent, who destroy everything she loves. “If I exist for anything,” she says, “it is to stand in the way of monsters like you.” What a fascinating perspective, especially after discovering Medusa’s complex story that paints Poseidon as the true villain of her tale.
But the kids don’t have time to discuss this particular philosophy with Echidna. The chimera attacks, though all we see is its barbed tail sting Percy before we get a peek at it through the eyes of the mortals, in which it looks like a cute little chihuahua. The kids escape the train and immediately head toward a sanctuary dedicated in Athena’s name. And did you notice that Grover is still wearing the winged shoes?
As the trio approaches the St. Louis Arch, Annabeth regales them with information about the monument, like the fact that it’s basically held up by math and it’s totally earthquake-proof. She says this is how you show Athena your love—a monument to the power of perfection. Inside, however, Grover doesn’t take too kindly to the memorial celebrating western expansion, which only solidifies his thoughts on how humans have destroyed the wilderness in Pan’s absence. “Just because we’re prey doesn’t mean we need to be helpless” could be the demigods’ life motto.
Grover stalks off to buy another bus ticket, and Annabeth and Percy have a surprisingly heartfelt conversation in which she recognizes she snapped at Grover and Percy affects a terrible British accent as he pretends to be Athena. Annabeth laughs—laughs!—and it feels like they’ve made some inroads here. Especially after Percy says, “Honestly, you’ve done more for me in the past few days than my father has done in my entire life.” Annabeth makes a joke about percy almost calling her a friend, saying the oracle is around here somewhere laughing at them, and we’re reminded that the prophecy still hangs over their heads.
But we don’t linger here, as Percy collapses from his wound and Annabeth and Grover try reviving him by splashing him with the water in the middle of the fountain outside. The hilarity of this scene is cut short by both Percy’s pale face and Echidna’s arrival. Without another choice, Annabeth tells them they must go to the highest point with the best view and ask her mom for help, despite her reluctance to reach out in the last episode. That’s how worried she is for Percy. That’s how far they’ve come in just a few days. Percabeth shippers everywhere are probably rejoicing at the crumbs they’re serving us in this episode.
Back inside, we learn that Annabeth heard Echidna speak inside her mind, just like Alecto spoke to Percy outside the museum. The fact that Echidna and the chimera were able to cross into the sanctuary proves what Echidna said was true—that Annabeth’s impertinence wounded her mother’s pride. It doesn’t matter if it was Percy who sent Medusa’s head to Olympus. Annabeth went along with it.
Speaking of crumbs, I love how Annabeth’s first thought was that Athena wouldn’t help them save Percy from the poison, while Grover was worried about the arguably more immediate danger—the fact that there are two monsters hot on their heels. Percabeth, indeed.
At the top, Annabeth tries sacrificing herself to give the other two time to get to the river, heal Percy, and then continue on to Hades. But Percy has another idea, pulling a pretty smooth move to switch spots with her. He was never going to make it anyway, he says, and he doesn’t think his father would help him now when he’s never bothered to do it before.
As the chimera stalks forward (incredible CGI, by the way—I know we’re supposed to be afraid of it, but I just want to give the big kitty a snuggle), Percy tries to fight, but given his weakened state, he’s no match for the creature. As he dangles from a hole in the floor, Echidna quips, “So unfair. You never had a chance, did you? If only someone cared enough for you to provide you with one.”
Ouch.
Poseidon, for all he hasn’t done, proves both of them wrong when Percy slips and the god reaches out with an aqueous hand from the nearby river to catch him, correcting a mistake from the books in which Rick wrote that Percy fell directly into the river below.
In the murky Mississippi, Percy gets caught on detritus at the bottom of the river, and as he struggles, we get the barest glimpse of a nereid in the distance. His father sent her, she says: “Your father is here. He’s always been here. It is so hard for him to stand back. To see you struggle. It is so hard for us all. But he is here. And he is so very proud. Trust him. Trust yourself. Just breathe.”
You’ll rarely find me saying a single bad word about this show, but if this Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 4 review proves anything, it’s that I’m capable of doing just that. Don’t get me wrong—this week’s installment was excellent from start to finish, but I’m so disappointed at how short this one was, coming in at only 33 minutes. I loved ending the episode the same way we opened it—with Percy struggling in the water—and I loved that the nereid was the one to repeat his words back to him this time. We also get confirmation that Poseidon is watching and taking care of his son when he can, and that it’s not been easy for him to stand back when Percy’s struggling. It’s a wonderful moment, and that single gasp of oxygen while Percy’s still underwater was epic and thrilling. I just wish we could’ve lived in this part of the story a little bit longer. And as a huge fan of the books who’s finally gotten a chance to see an accurate adaptation on screen, can you blame me!?
‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ airs Tuesday nights on Disney+ at 9pm ET
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