The following review contains spoilers for the seventh episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, “We Find Out The Truth, Sort Of”
A cleanly executed and thought-out episode, “We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of” is among the best of Percy Jackson and the Olympians so far. It’s got big realizations, a climactic ending, and some of the heaviest emotional through lines of the series. Things come to a head for Percy, Annabeth, and Grover in “We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of,” and the way it shifts back and forth between the main plot and a thematically relevant flashback – bringing both to a simultaneous culmination – is truly satisfying.
The gang finally arrives in the Underworld, where they think their quest will come to an end (hence the “sort of” in the title). Having spent most of the series in the real world – or at least in realistic environments – the Underworld is the first time Percy Jackson and the Olympians has had to use CGI and The Volume for the majority of an episode (save for the great scene at the beginning with Procrustes and his water bed shop) to convince us that the main trio are somewhere completely outside the natural realm. It’s a big task – one that’s handled very well, all things considered. The Volume has become more easy to spot since its debut in Disney’s The Mandalorian, and has lost a bit of its je ne sais quoi, though “We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of” uses it smartly. (The haunting and bleak realizations of Greek myths represented by Asphodel, Tartarus, and Hades’ castle helps.) Asphodel and the souls trapped there by regret are particularly chilling: as a forest of people bound at the root, unable to speak or move. It’s a harrowing visual that feels akin to the Dementors in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban or the Wheelers in Return to Oz – things that make you look back and say, “This was for kids?”
The gang’s adventure through the Underworld coincides with a series of flashbacks that show us how Percy ended up in the Yancy school system. These sequences take us on a heartbreaking journey from the perspective of Percy’s mom, Sally, as she struggles to get her son into the prestigious school, and to convince him to give the change a shot. Young Percy doesn’t understand why this change is necessary, and provides one of the most devastating lines of the series, wondering why his mom would do this to him when he would never do something like it to her. Virginia Kull is at her best here, making us feel every inch of the agony Sally is going through as she does something she feels she needs to do, but knows her son won’t understand. It’s also Poseidon’s first time on screen in the series, as she calls to him for advice. Toby Stephens’ arrival as the Earthshaker has him fitting right into the fold, living up to Sally’s loving description in episode 1. He’s gentle, wise, and gives Sally just the right amount of direction towards what she already knew was the right thing to do.
For all this episode’s cheerlessness, though, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is still a young-adult show, and the lighter moments are able to shine through. As the kids cut in line hoping to hop aboard Charon’s (Travis Woloshyn) boat across the River Styx, they’re quickly met by Cerberus in a sequence that plays into the “man’s best friend” of it all. Despite his size and occupation, the good boy still likes ear scratches and playing fetch. All the members of Hades Inc. go against expectations, really: Charon is a working man in attitude and voice; even Hades (Jay Duplass) himself seems like a pretty chill dude, despite his all-black wardrobe and spiky eyebrows. It all plays nicely into the preconceptions that Percy, Grover, and Annabeth had had about the god and his realm, and subverts our anticipation of a villainous Hades. Instead, it’s finally revealed that Kronos, the Titan of the Harvest and father to the Olympians, is the one behind the plot to steal the Master Bolt and create a war between Zeus and Poseidon. It all clicks for Percy in a satisfying moment that ties together the dreams he’s been having throughout the season and the inconsistencies in everyone’s stories.
Verdict
Episode 7 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is one of the best of the series so far, bringing Hades to life in haunting fashion, while deepening our connections to Percy and his mother. Full of big reveals, captivating visuals, and some of the best emotional gut punches Percy Jackson and the Olympians has given us, “We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of” sets things up well for a climactic ending next week, while standing on its own just as well.
