Beware small dogs on Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1 Episode 4 “I Plunge to My Death.” This is the shortest episode of the season so far, and one of the more action-oriented.
The trio gets a few moments of peace, or a least long enough for Grover to bemoan humans ruining the Earth and explain his quest to become a searcher and find the missing god Pan. That R&R is short-lived though when they are questioned for why there’s a giant hole burnt through the side of their train cabin (how did that get there?).
Their run-in with Echidna, the mother of monsters, is properly scary and unlike with Medusa, there’s never a question of who the bad guy is. Suzanne Cryer plays the character with just the right amount of malevolence but also a demigod-hating “Karen” vibe that works perfectly.
If only those pesky demigods would stop killing her sweet, innocent children!
All of the fights in the show have been slightly rushed, but at least with this one, you get the build-up of them escaping from the train and making it to the Gateway Arch so it feels like more of a proper chase.
The chase and battle with the Chimera works better than the one with the Minotaur since it’s set in the daytime and you can see enough to admire the special effects used.
Percy choosing to sacrifice himself by pushing Grover and Annabeth out of the way is also a nice touch of character development as Percy is becoming more and more the hero that everyone expects him to be.
This episode will leave you with mixed feelings about the gods and how they treat their demigod children.
On the one hand, you have Athena forsaking Annabeth and allowing the Chimera into the Gateway Arch for embarrassing her by sending the head of Medusa to Olympus. It turns out she was right and the gods found it to be impertinent and insulting.
Offering up your daughter to monsters just because she embarrassed you seems a little harsh. Between this and Medusa, Athena is starting to have a bad record of treating women poorly for the mistakes of men.
On the other hand, you have Poseidon actually helping Percy and saving him when he jumps out of the arch. Percy discovers he has the power to breathe underwater and a Nereid sends him a message from Poseidon that he does care about his son.
So, Percy gets to do the bare minimum and is rescued and Annabeth is held to a high standard and punished, and it’s frustrating.
Overall Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode 4 it’s a solid installment in their quest, but it comes off as a little too “monster of the week,” compared to the earlier episodes. While I wouldn’t usually complain about that type of format, with only eight episodes in the season, there isn’t a lot of time to spare.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians streams Tuesdays at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT on Disney+.