Recap:
Percy (Walker Scobell) surfaces from the Mississippi River to see the St. Louis Gateway Arch smoking, and in search of his friends. Grover and Annabeth (Aryan Simhadri and Leah Jeffries) reunite with Percy on the riverbank.
Apologizing for shoving them into the stairwell, Percy is shocked by Annabeth’s embrace, and Grover makes a joke about how Percy is not as dead as he appears to be. Percy tells them that they need to go to Santa Monica because his father Poseidon is going to help them. The problem is, as Grover points out, that the police think they crashed an Amtrak train, and blew a hole in the Gateway Arch. The three a very much wanted by the police.
Instead of trying to get on public transportation, they start to walk. As they travel down the road, Percy is ruminating about who could have stolen the master bolt, and Annabeth and Grover are looking at their friend with amusement. Percy explains that things are different now since his dad saved him. He wants to be more involved in what is happening on the quest.
Annabeth explains that back at the Arch, she saw the three fates, and one of them cut a piece of fabric. Both explain to Percy that this means that someone is going to die. (Nice inclusion from a missed moment earlier in the book.) As the three are debating the actions of the fates, a biker stops beside them and offers some help.
Turning him down, the biker tells them that they are behind schedule, and they could use his help. The biker is Ares, (Adam Copeland), the god of war. Telling them that he’s doing the same thing as them, Ares tells the group to meet him at the diner up the road if they want help.
Arriving at the diner, they see Ares picking a fight on Twitter, and he shows them video of his stepdad Gabe, blaming Percy for everything. Ares tells them that it doesn’t matter what happens if the bolt is returned or not, Zeus is going to war with Poseidon. Giving Percy a quick family history lesson, Ares describes how Kronos, his grandfather, ate all the Olympians, and then Zeus made him regurgitate everyone and chopped him up into bits.
Percy asks Ares if he has a way to help them on their quest. The god of war wants them to visit an abandoned amusement park up the road and retrieve his lost shield. Annabeth mocks Ares over losing the shield, and the god of war shows his deadly side with an intense threat to the daughter of Athena. (Adam Copeland is perfect as Ares.)
Ares says that Grover must stay with him for collateral. (This is very different from the book.) Grover assures Percy and Annabeth not to worry and for them to go and get the shield. Percy and Annabeth head for Waterland.
At the amusement park, Percy talks about how the park gives him horror movie vibes, and Annabeth says she has never seen a movie before. Percy says they should change that if they survive the next few days.
Trying to enter the park, Annabeth notices a trap that was built by Hephaestus. Analyzing the trap, Annabeth advises Percy to push through the gate. Annabeth has realized that the machine isn’t designed to hurt them but scare them.
Back at the diner, Grover tries to engage Ares in conversation. Telling Ares that he’s a fan, the god of war denies that this is possible. Grover works hard to convince Ares that he likes him, and soon gets the god of war on his good side.
Annabeth and Percy realize that Ares and Aphrodite must have rendezvoused at the park, which Hephaestus, her husband built. As the Trill Ride O Love lights up, the two determine that Ares’ shield must be in the ride.
Boarding the boat for the ride, Percy and Annabeth plunge their way into the tunnel ride. Music comes on, and both are wondering what is happening. The tunnel lights up with the animated story of Hephaestus. The calm boat ride turns into an aquatic thriller as Percy and Annabeth plunge deep into the ride.
Discovering the shield at the bottom of the ride, Percy uses his new waterpower abilities to help save Annabeth and make it to land. Unsure of how to get the shield from the statue in front of them, Percy and Annabeth are wondering what to do next.
Ares is lamenting about how much he hates kids, and how he doesn’t like listening to them. Grover tells him it must be a kid who stole the master bolt. Grover mocks Athena, which makes Ares open up to the young satyr.
Thinking they know how to get the shield, it comes down to which one would sacrifice themselves, Percy tells Annabeth that he will sacrifice himself so that she can get the shield. Convincing the daughter of Athena that this is the only way, Percy sits in the golden chair in front of the shield. Turned to gold, Percy is now part of the chair as Annabeth retrieves the fallen shield.
Unwilling to leave her friend behind, Annabeth starts fidgeting with the chair trying to free Percy, when Hephaestus (Timothy Omundson) arrives. Telling Annabeth that she can’t undue what happened to Percy, he informs Annabeth that if she leaves with the shield, she will be a hero and her mother Athena will proud.
Annabeth rejects this idea, and tells Hephaestus that Percy is not like the rest of the Olympians and that she doesn’t want to be like her mother. Moved by her speech, Hephaestus reverses the chair and Percy is freed. The god tells Annabeth that he doesn’t want to be like the other Olympians either and he will put in a good word with her mom.
Returning to the diner, Annabeth, and Percy hand Ares his shield, and want to know where there ride to California is. In the parking lot, Ares opens the back to a transport truck labeled Kindness International (Kindness is not something I would associate with Ares. Also this is a nice call back to the book.) that will get the kids to the Lotus Casino where Hermes resides. He gives them clothes and cash and tells them to go.
Ares insults Percy many times, and before they depart, Percy stands up to the god of war and tells him that they are not going to fail. Inside the truck, the group is disheartened by their traveling conditions. Grover informs his friends that Ares wasn’t telling the truth, and that he thinks he knows who stole the master bolt of Zeus.
Review:
There was a lot that had to happen in this episode, and much was condensed but I really like the introduction of Adam Copeland as Ares. Seeing Copeland enter the episode was like watching the words of Riordan come to life in perfect form.
Adam Copeland has that stark intensity in his eyes that would mask the presence of the god of war perfectly. He also exudes a physical presence that few others could do so effortlessly in this role, and perfectly plays up the petty childish side to Grover during their one-on-one piece in the diner.
There are a few changes from the story in the book to make this episode such a dynamite hit. While the episode is clearly built on fostering the relationship between Percy and Annabeth, the Grover and Ares matchup steals the episode, and cements Adam Copeland as a great actor who has a brilliant future in film and television.
Episode Rating: A+
For even more, be sure to check out this week’s installment of the From Page to Screen series looking at how this episode was adapted from the book series.