'Percy Jackson' Episode 4: I Plunge to My Death

0:00 Hey, I'm Derek. And I'm Noah, and you're listening to A Bite of. Where we take our current favorite pop culture obsession and enjoy it 1 Nibble at a time. One nibble, 4 nibbles of Percy Jackson. Halfway through the pie of Percy Jackson. Oh my God. Halfway through, we still have four more. Right. Yeah, we still have four more. That's insane. Well, I hope you've been enjoying this as much as we have. I feel like our last couple months have just been Percy Jackson because we did a bunch of, like all that press and we've seen it before everybody else. So it's just like nothing but Percy Jackson. And you know what? I think it's a fantastic world to live in.

0:43 It's heroes you can believe in, gods that you question, and villains that are just delightfully evil. That's the real world, pretty much. Most of our villains aren't delightfully. That's very true. I mean, talk about current favorite obsession. Like, I feel like I'm just obsessed with it. Well. Yeah, you've really gone into the deep end. Yeah, I'm just like, I couldn't stop rereading the books. He's rereading all of the books. Now, so OK, I just want to put this out there because I know, especially people on YouTube, because we do put these up on YouTube so you can watch our faces talk and listen at the same time. We both have beards, yeah. Surprise. But so a lot of people are like, I can't wait until your next thoughts in the next book. So what we're I'm going to do is when when the next season is announced and it comes out before that we'll do the book. So sorry to make you wait, but I couldn't wait to reread them. So I'm like almost done or?

1:36 You know who should apologize? Who is Disney Plus for making everyone wait? Yeah, I mean, they still haven't announced this season 2 I'm sure we're going to get. It that's cuckoo crazy bananas, Yeah. Speaking of more Percy Jackson stuff, so on Patreon, we recently released a kind of like hang out, just like a hang out with us. But we do the cabin quiz that Disney put out and I really am OK. I'm I'm starting to like, be fine with my cabin. I think you should be. You have no choice. Yeah. Myself, on the other hand, I still feel like my results are inconclusive. Yeah, I mean to find out what they are just, you know, join Patreon, support the show and you can find out what our cabins were in the journey for us to get them.

2:19 What our quest will be still is remaining. But make sure you are subscribed and following the podcast because after this week, so we're recording this before this episode drops because we are able to see it early. This is the last time we get to see it early. So to get alerts when we actually have to watch it, when it comes out and release the episodes, just make sure it's subscribed and then also just do a little rating. We're still on our way to 200 reviews, so that'd be great if 2024 we could finally reach that goal. We always forget to ask. I feel like we've been doing good and asking and it's been working, so you know. I almost feel like if we ever talk to anybody about our podcast, we always should say, by the way, we're looking to get 200. No, just steal their phone and just do it. That's actually easier.

3:04 Let me do it for you and just. Can I see your phone for a second? Hang out. All right, so getting into the episode, spoilers ahead. Anything from the last couple episodes in the Percy Jackson book itself? It could be spoiled so tread lately. Yes, so let us officially take a bite of Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 4I plunge to my death. In this episode, directed by Anders Angstrom and written by Jonathan East Steinberg and Joe Trax, the trio travels by train and tells tales of their family's pasts. Danger in the dining car has Percy, Annabeth and Grover escaping to a sanctuary where Percy has no other choice but to go skydiving.

3:46 You know, kid of a water God in the sky, what could go wrong? Quite dangerous and in a very precarious, you know, tall structure. Yeah, it's not even just like a regular building. And one that doesn't seem like it should work. But Annabeth tells us it works. So this episode is the first time where I was watching it and I was like a little longer, like 1015 minutes longer. Because it it did feel like it just abruptly ended and the whole Saint Louis stuff just happened so quickly. I was like just just a tiny bit longer, right? Am I the only one feeling that? Here, and I think in this episode in particular, there was a lot of learning about our three characters, and so we were listening very intently and the action didn't come until the very end, but it almost felt like maybe that action could have been a little longer.

4:42 Well, and I also really liked the action. And I really liked Echidna and her son. And it's like I wanted more of it. And I'm curious if in this season we'll get more. I mean, I know Echidna, you know, Percy Jacks and the Monsters don't really actually die. It could be a month, a week, years until they come back. But like, I want it a little bit more. But that's like my only grievance so far. This was the first episode where I was like, that was quick. It was really quick little snippet. Much like our friend Dionysus, we always want more, more wine. We can't have it though, more partying. So the opening of this episode, I loved it. I love these little flashbacks because we don't get this in the books and having these moments where one getting to see Virginia play Sally more fantastic.

5:35 But I really liked it because it showed a little bit of Sally's struggle with her kid. Because her kid, Percy doesn't really seem like he he's very strong willed, right? He's impertinent and she's trying to teach him how to swim, which should come naturally. And she knows it does. But like, he's very defiant of it. And there's a a part where she looks at the other parents and the parent is kind of 1, giving him a side eye, which, come on, they're all kids. But I felt bad for her because she's kind of like, I just want like this normal thing. And it's also very important for you to know. Right. You know, and I think that's part of Sally's whole journey in raising Percy is that it'll never be normal, you know? And so she always needs to be looking out for him and thinking about how she can prepare him for the future and the things that might come into his life that could be dangerous. Now, I do think it's interesting that Percy does have this aversion to water in this scene, and I and I was just trying to think of why I.

6:35 I couldn't tell if it was to the water or to, I don't know, fully trusting it. You know what I mean? Like they did seem a little odd that like he didn't want to do it, but I mean, did he really have powers back then? Like, was he Would he have been saved? Right? I mean, I guess in my mind at the child of Poseidon would walk on water always and just be surrounded by a bubble and have, you know, powers. But you know, maybe for a kid, water is just scary, you know? And just because, I mean, when he's that young, the only thing that really happens for him in regards to him being a demigod is that he sees things that aren't there.

7:16 So that's not like he always had an affinity for water control. It's like not part of the package deal. No, not yet. I love what his mother tell, or actually what he tells his mother reminds his mother is to just breathe, which as soon as I heard that, I was like, OK, it's going to come in later. Like just breathe underwater, Percy. But like it was very sweet. I I'm loving these like, very uplifting things that Sally keeps telling him. Like, you know, brave brace, brace yourself, Brave the storm. And now like, just breathe. It's like she's very motivational. Yeah. And I think that that, again, is her just planting these little seeds of like, things are going to get hotter than this child. Well, she tells him outright, Like this is important for you to know how to do this.

8:02 Really. You will die? Yeah. What I was going to say, really what this scene is showing us is how to be a very patient parent rather than just lifting him up and throwing him in the water. That's how I learned my grandfather literally just like, threw me into the pool and. I I I'm here so And you can swim. It works, We think. Sure I can swim. Were you not on the swimming team? I feel like you did everything in high school. No, I did not join the swimming team. I refused. I was like, no, not for me, not for you, No. I I I can't breathe underwater like I don't want to do. That much like Percy's fears, it seems. I did, however, have the early 2000s Michelle Branch hit in my head. Breathe.

8:47 I won't sing it because you're rolling your eyes and obviously you don't want to hear it. I'm not rolling my eyes in that you were going to sing. I'm rolling my eyes that it took like less than 10 minutes for. Well, I let the conversation flow a little bit, but I had to bring it up because I love Michelle Branch. But I won't sing it because I cannot hit those notes because it is out of my range. No. Your strengths. Those notes are not one. Before we leave this flashback slash, I guess, dream sequence with Percy, we get Kronos again saying she is coming, which we know later on is, I'm assuming talking about echidna, but why is he warning her? Or is it more of just like playing with his food, You know, it's like she's coming. Yeah, and so the The Furies are from Hades, yeah. Is a kidnap not.

9:39 All monsters are kind of from the underworld. Like that's where they go and then reform and then like come back. I just know. I don't know. But like, I just am assuming that Hades does have dominion over all of that, but I don't think he's necessarily in control of every single. He's not like the ruler. Right. Exactly. But he can. I don't know. He can send them. I don't know. I have no idea. If you know let me know. Maybe he could just call up whoever he wants. So this a big chunk of this episode takes place in the train, which I really liked because I know from what I remember in the book, the train did not take long. It was more of like they got on the train, they're off nothing. Happens, they go sightseeing. Right. And I actually really liked how they structured this episode because when we were rereading it in our episode, we were like, why did they go to the arch?

10:29 Like, OK, yes, Annabeth loves architecture and she wants to go see it. But like you have, you have a timeline, a deadline, and also you're just on a layover, you can't do that. So I liked in this before we get to the thing, it made sense, like everything starts on the train. What the show is doing is it's giving more of a driving force behind the decisions that they make and the actions that they take. Also, for adults to be like that doesn't make any sense. Right, right. Because it would be kind of, especially with Lea Savage, Jeffrey's depiction of Annabeth, for her to kind of just be carefree being like, hey guys, let's just go to the yard because it's fun.

11:14 Yeah, you know, I mean, they could have had an excuse because in this they talk about how the arch is Athena's temple. So it could have made sense for her to be like, yeah, let's, let's go ask my mom for help. So they could have done that, but I liked the extra step of like they had to get off the train because they're like, wanted. Yeah, and maybe cross country trains going from New Jersey to LA don't actually stop in Saint. Louis, I also would not want to do that. Just saying no way. So the one of the first things that we get from our trio in the car, which I loved, how they were kind of just set up like a sleepover, like Grover's Up top and a Best This way and Percy's this way. But Percy asks about Thalia.

11:59 It's actually really hard for me to, like, remember how to say her name Thalia like that, because I always thought it was just Thalia. I don't know. Whatever. It's that TH. Yeah. We got to stick to it. So there's a there's a conversation, right? So there's the three, the big three, Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon. And they were forbidden to have kids, and he asks about her because she was the forbidden kid before him and she just didn't care. So it's kind of like a jab that Annabeth is like kind of not. I would OK, I shouldn't say jab, but more of like trying to tell him like she didn't care that she was like a big three kid or a forbidden kid. She was just who she was and she was good at what she did. Percy doesn't really understand that yet, and I feel like she Annabeth is still making him work to let her in. And she does say that she like, clearly she's he's like, is that what you're doing to me?

12:55 And she's like, yeah, maybe. And you know, it's for for Percy. He's just learned all of this stuff about himself and and he's right away been told, well, actually you're a forbidden kid and it's really bad. So that's really how he's seeing everything of I'm not supposed to be here. Everyone's mad at me. And then when he hears about Thalia, who just was a bad ass, you know, and didn't let those things hold her back, and so he's been told this whole time that you should not exist. And also that, like Annabeth holds her up here and it's like, OK, so if I am like her, why am I not up here with her with how you feel? And you know, I I am in Team Annabeth here, where it's like you, like you said, you don't know anything yet. You don't understand like your role in this, and you should, but you should be more willing to like, understand. It feels like she wants him to earn his stripes, which are unfair.

14:00 You know, prove yourself to me because literally you're just some kid I met about a week ago and now I'm supposed to be taking care of you on this quest? Granted, it's a prophecy which she truly believes in, but she still doesn't know him. Well, and I think this is where, like there's a a side where Annabeth is correct and there's a side where Percy is correct. Because in the same conversation he talks about, like, how the gods talk to them. And he talks. He he says, you know people that you care about. You don't talk to people that way. You don't treat them this way. He's right. But also he doesn't understand that culture. And I there's a a shot with it shows Annabeth's face. And she kind of is like, I mean, yeah, but like, what are you going to do?

14:45 Yeah, I think there's nothing you can do. This is just how it is. Yeah, these are the two sides of the coin that I think that we saw in the last episode where Medusa is saying to her, no, but you don't understand this is what really happened and Percy is is sees that perspective as well. Whereas again, Annabeth is very, very loyal to her mother and very loyal to the gods. And so it's interesting because they are the same coin. It's just seeing it in a different perspective, you know? And basically for Percy, he's like, well, the example I've had of a parent. Is abandonment. No. Well meaning is. Sally oh is amazing. Is amazing.

15:25 Exactly Who is always been there for me? Who is taking care of me? Who has done whatever she can as a single parent to make sure I'm OK? And then you're telling me that I'm supposed to worship the person that has literally done nothing for me, right? And so he's seen that other side where Annabeth hasn't had that other perspective. Well, she kind of has, though only in her story, in that in the abandonment part, because. Oh, I I meant of the good human parent. Oh, to compare to. So all she knows is well up. My good parent is the parent that I make offerings to. That's the one that's saying care of me because my human parent left me. And that abandons her, Yeah, in like 10 minutes. What a guy.

16:07 No, her mother. Oh, oh, oh. That's true. Athena But Speaking of her back story, we do learn a little bit and she she kind of talks how like she was the thought from the head and the blah blah and was given to the dad and like it was too much for them. Dad met the stepmom. They have kids. It's too much. Why would you want somebody that has monsters attracted to them? And so she left. And I thought the way they delivered this, you know, her delivery's great. I did think it was quick, right? Because this is a big thing for Annabeth 1 to talk about her, her back story. And also it's kind of one of the more tragic ones, at least initially, that it's like, sure, mother can't do anything right. She's not even part of the big three, right? So it's like her mother could be more involved, but she's a God and her dad just didn't really fight for her. So she had to fight her way to somebody or something, camp half blood that would accept her.

17:10 And it's. I don't know, it's just really heartbreaking because she was 7 and she did that, I mean. And they say that Luke and Thalia found her. So it wasn't even like they came to pick her up. It was like she was trying to find a place and they got her. And so this little 7 year old was trying to figure out and at 7 years old to to realize that you've been abandoned and you've someone else has been chosen over you. I mean and that's something that's interesting is that I think a lot. I I say a lot. Oh well, they're only 12 years old. And it's like, yes, for the situations that they're in, they're only 12 years old. But in a theory that I have is because they are demigods, they see things a little differently, right. They might be actually a little more mature than the other kids around them because they're half God. Or at least taking a few more seconds to like look at something or like understand something, yeah. It's like what?

18:05 7 year old, yeah, what? 7 year old would do that, you know. Peace by Dad. And actually leave, not just get down the driveway. Exactly not hide in the basement. One of my favorite moments of this episode is when they talk about Grover being Frufy. I love it. Sleepy baby Grover. He's like, I'm not frufy, you're frufy. He's a little. Frufy and it's moments like that though, because it's like we have these conversations that they're having about gods and letting people in and blah blah blah. But they they can still talk like that to each other. And I just love how Grover's just like sleeping up there. He's thinking or whatever. The one of the more important things that we do find out is, you know, his Uncle Ferdinand was a searcher, was a seeker looking for pan, and that's kind of what Grover wants to do. But he hasn't been able to do that. And you know it it really kind of begs the question of all of these satyrs who have gone out to look for Pan, who haven't returned it.

19:04 I always sort of thought like, what happened, right? They oh, they failed. But in reality, is Pan really out there and these monsters are just stopping them? Yeah, I mean it. It's it's a this Grover becoming somebody that searches for Pan is like his series purpose. Once we get past this, if you read the books, you'll know that, like, it goes beyond that. So it takes a little bit for us to really get anything with that. But I do think it's interesting, right? It's like these satyrs work for this thing to hopefully find a thing that they said was dead, but like they know isn't dead but they have no idea where it is.

19:45 But they just know that humans are destroying the Earth. Like once Pan disappeared. Humans are like, I'm going to kill the Earth now. Well, there was nothing to protect it, right? There was no barrier between humanity and the natural world. And you really get to see that in this episode with Grover. How the way humans have treated the world is very upsetting to him and to Seders alike. It is no, absolutely. And and I really agree with it, even you know the way that we. They are seeing these centaurs running freely and how they used to be everywhere because of humans. They aren't anymore. And there's only three. Yeah. And so I was like wondering like, what do maybe those are Buffalo that humans see horses or horses and they kill them and you know, it's pretty horrific. Oh.

20:32 My God. All right, Well, on a less sad note, a kidna. Yeah, things get real cheery after this. I love it so far. Whenever they like, show a monster coming into the scene. So with the Minotaur and now Echidna, it's like it showed outside the train and then just like flying and then going straight into the train. That was pretty baller. So Cool wrecked their cabin, though. She did that on purpose. Well, she did, and she blames it on them. So I was really wondering like, OK, a big or like a subplot actually throughout some of the books is like Percy trying to evade the law because he blows stuff up and things happen and like mortals don't see what he's saying. They just see like a kid with a a bat and like making things blow up.

21:17 And so I was wondering, are they going to like have the authorities after him? Because it's like it is a fun thing, right. And that's why they also have to stay more in hiding. Yes. Now we know. So the cop comes to them and he's like, you know, let me see your tickets or whatever. And it's like, is this your cabin? And it's completely destroyed. And they're like, did you do this? And he's like, how? Yeah, how would I have blown a hole through the train? 12 year old do. You see us? Do you think we have explosives on us? What is happening, Sir? But let me tell you, when a very intense white lady in a tweed jacket tells the Authority something, apparently they listen.

22:03 She is so menacing. I literally. OK, let me see if I have it in my notes. So Susan Crier, who plays Echidna, the mother of monsters, love this character in Greek mythology and love her in this book or in the series. But I took. But she's terrifying, sickly, sweet because she's like, just so like, you can't tell at first. Like, are you helping me? Like, why do you want to talk to me? And she's just. Everything she's saying is just with like kind eyes but not quite a smile. It's so menacing. It's and and Suzanne Crier does this so well where she just like you are expecting her to be kind and helpful, but she's so venomous in everything that she's saying and she's getting such joy out of, like, putting them in this situation.

22:53 And she's like, oh, these poor little babies don't. Worry. But then she blames it on them. And it's like, OK, like you're you're crazy and terrifying, but I really like you. I I like your look and I like the way you're you're delivering these lines. And also the way she was talking to her Chimera in the the dog carrier. I just that's exactly what you kind of want from this character, right? And it's like they're talking to her and she like kind of ignores them to like tend to her child. It's just so good. I like that she the Chimera. She's training the Chimera with what she thinks is going to be like an easy kill of three child demigods. She's like, don't worry baby, it's it'll be easy, They'll you'll track them.

23:42 It'll be fine. They're like, see, this is prey. Yeah. Are you hungry? It's so good. I really like the scene of, like, them trying to get away from them, right? And they're going between cars. And also the police are after them. But the first scene that we get with the Chimera, I guess, Stinger coming out and hitting Percy immediately, and then you hear Echidna be like you. You went a little too fast there. You you got ahead of yourself now, like you're killing him. Yeah, when that happened, I I I audibly was like, whoa, I was not expecting that at. All good. And I love that we get these little shots of what mortals see, of what's happening. So like they're on one side of the door. Cops are in another and something's coming down the thing and you see this family look out their car door, which, by the way, where are all these trains that have that where they're like private rooms with it's like the Harry Potter. Tricks and The dining car had like a full wall and ceiling of windows.

24:48 Where is it Georgina? But so, like, they just see a little Chihuahua. Yeah, it's like a little Chihuahua. And it's like, OK, so they're just this, this Chihuahua and everything else around it is breaking. It's just hilarious. I love it. I love, like, seeing what the mortals actually see. But this brings us to Saint Louis, right? And so Percy is now poisoned, which it gets progressively worse through this episode. And Annabeth comes up with the idea of, OK, well, we have Echidna chasing us with her Chimera. We're in Saint Louis. We'll go to my mother's temple, which is Saint Louis Arch. Yeah, I love. A feat of architecture. Yeah, and I love her just geeking out about the architecture.

25:30 I love that they kept that with the character because she in the book, she wants to be an architect. She has this affinity for it. And she explains that, you know, her God, her parent, isn't just about like strategy and war. It's also about building and rebuilding, so I like that aspect of her. I think in this scene, well, these scenes at the Arch, we we get to see a little more of them develop right where we see Annabeth really kind of looking at this place as representing her mother and how much she does love her and she, you know, really looks up to her. We see Percy silly side a little bit here, and then his heroic side later on. And with Grover again we see that that affinity for the natural world and looking around at all of the stuffed dead taxidermy creatures, how upset he gets. So we're digging a little bit more into who they are and what makes them who they are.

26:24 It's it's a really interesting episode, even though it's so short. We do get those moments right. There's actually some of the conversation before we got here, which I thought was interesting because you brought up the perspective of like what what is Percy's perspective going into this and what is Annabeth's? And I liked what Echidna was doing and when she was talking to them and her Chimera and she was talking, she was pretty much saying like, oh, you think we're the monsters. You don't think you're the monster here. You don't think that you're the burden of your parents? Mistake. Like who's going to be killing who here? First of all, how dare you Well. I just, I I like that thought, even though like, I don't. I think she's wrong.

27:05 Mostly right, but I do think it's interesting because they didn't choose to be demigods. Most of the monsters didn't choose to be monsters. I think it's an interesting thought and I'm curious if it's going to actually be explored later. Well, I think, you know, there's always that thought of when you're looking at it from a particular perspective. They're the main character of their story. They're the one that is doing right. The Echidna story. Exactly. That is the that is the spin off series that we need. I'd read it, but it's a it's a it's a sitcom about a mom who has too many babies. Oh. My God. Go get your little sister Poison Thoughts are running out.

27:48 But. But the then, to your point, we do get to see all three of them kind of play to their strengths or act kind of how they're going to act as a unit, right? It's like Grover is very sensitive to the natural world and end of us trying to think with her head and be smart about it. And Percy is doing impersonations of his of her mother I. Really. Do hope that she's British, because Percy gave her a little British accent and I really love. Her. What did he say? He said something of like, I'll be down in a second. I'm just in the potty. I'm just. In the potty, Yeah, that's exactly what it was. It was like. Stupid. So funny. But I love he. He drops, right? So the poison is finally gone from him System.

28:29 He's dropped. So then what do they do? They drag him outside, They put him in a fountain and they're just like splashing him. Like he's a beach whale is. That like, people are walking by and it's like, oh boy. I It's one of the funniest scenes so far, but I also like Annabeth being Annabeth and she was like it's not working. Does it have to be running water? Like what? Dunk his head, Moss. And I probably right because that fountain water is just recycled so. Like it must be natural. Lake, Sea. The ocean. But I do think it was smart on their part, you know? OK, so now we're getting to again, their godly parents being assholes. Echidna is able to come into the supposed temple of Athena. Why?

29:17 Because Percy, being impertinent, sent Medusa's head to Olympus, and now Athena is embarrassed, just like she made Medusa Medusa because she embarrassed her in her temple. So she's like, I don't care if my daughter dies. I'm embarrassed. I mean like. They need to get over themselves. Yeah, I don't. It's rude, right? It's like, so you're going to let all of them die? Like what do you what is your plan here? Yeah, maybe for Athena, because babies just pop out of her face or whatever. Like it's not that big of a deal. She's like, I can replace her. It doesn't matter. I mean true right?

30:00 It is really messed up though and it like it makes me think like, how so? Like Aries gave Clarice the spear, Annabeth has the invisible cap from her mother. It's like, how did she get that from her mother? Was it like because she got to camp and she approved of her or whatever? And it's like, but now you're just going to, like, cut her off, which is I'm very interested to see, like, how far this is going to go, right? It's like, how much is she not going to be able to rely on her mother? And is she going to have to do something to get back into her good graces? Yeah. I mean, the package didn't say. Best wishes Percy, Annabeth and Grover. They all know they're with them, though.

30:42 I you know what though, these they're so sensitive. It's the best wishes. Percy Jackson. Also, Annabeth is right here. And my two best friends who also made this decision, Annabeth and Grover. So Percy fully poisoned. Percy's very, very poisoned here to get to the top of the arch, which I've been there. I don't remember those elevators. Pods of some sort. Don't remember them at all. Those child size elevators could be there. Don't remember those. I wanted there to be almost a bigger fight. Like I know that like some of the bigger stuff happens later on, but I the chimera.

31:28 The entrance of this chimera is so cool. I love the design of it because you can tell it's just like young but also like ancient at the same time. And I just love like the scales going into the fur and then going into the IT is incredible. So, so cool. I wish there was a little more, right? So it's like he doesn't do much. He kind of gets like one or two slashes in him, I guess. To be fair, he's been at camp for like 2 days. Yeah, it's interesting because the the fantastical part of me is like, this should have been a really fun battle. The, the, the very real part of me is like, well he if if we remember at camp, he sucked so.

32:13 He's good at sword fighting. Yeah, but he wouldn't be good in this situation, especially if he's poisoned as well. It's like, So I guess it makes sense that it just kind of all falls apart, right? But I agree. I wish there was a little more meat to the fight. We also do get to see Percy's like fatal flaw in this scene as well because Annabeth is like being the rational person and saying go get him somewhere to help because my mother can't help. I will try to do this, which she survived when she was seven, got all the way to Camp Half Blood and has been training ever since. I would trust. Her Yeah, she's fantastic with the dagger and she has her invisibility hat. Yeah, she has better chances than poison, Percy.

32:55 And Percy doing the smoothest transition from being helpless to like. Oh, here, take my sword. Whoop switches, puts his two friends out there, and that's his fatal flaw, is just being so loyal and doing anything, especially for these two. I thought it was real smooth and I was like, that's Percy. That is Percy. You shouldn't have done it, but that's Percy, right? Definitely. And you know, it really was a slick moment. And he knows that this is his quest and he doesn't want anyone else to take the fall during it other than himself. A different a difference here from the book is I felt like in the book, once there is that gash in the arch. The hole.

33:40 The hole, yeah, he in the book deliberately jumps out as a way of escape. But here again, that very sort of real depiction of this is a 12 year old kid who has absolutely no training. Yeah, he would get knocked out of it and he would be holding on and then fall like, yeah, yes, that makes absolute sense. I think both of them were fantastic. I I like the one in the book because we get him kind of for the first time reaching out to his father and like praying to him and being like, please like don't make this suck. Like, let me let this help you know, and I also like in the book how it's like they're directly over the water somehow. Yes, that's not how this works.

34:22 Like the arch is not over water. I like how in the show it shows it's nowhere near the water. So when he's hanging on, I was like, wait, like how? How is he going to like, do this? Like, is he going to like I kept flying? Squirrel it. Like, I was like, did he put the Maya shoes on? Like, did that happen? Nope. No, he didn't. No. And just like a thing of water comes and grabs him and puts him. That makes sense. Yep, of course it was that. But the whole scene of him, like falling how it was in like, first person, it looks really intense. I mean, from superhero movies, right? It's like we've seen tons of people fall. And having that point of view, this was really well done. Yeah, Like I I liked the way it felt and looked it. It seemed like they kind of just dropped a GoPro, just like. I think what?

35:10 Also on On Walker's chest and then they. Really did that to him. They really did to him. I think what also added to the intensity of this was the fact that like, we didn't know that the water was going to come and grab him. So there was those few seconds of going, wait a minute, how is Percy going to survive this? How is he going to get out of this? So it really did make it a very like wild scene to watch as a viewer wondering how it was going to end up. He ends up in the water. We knew that. The Dirty water. How? We didn't know, but he got in there. He got in there. And then we get the first look at the water spirit. Couldn't really see her. No, she's in the back. It's murky. Well, it's also disgusting. Yeah, in there.

35:51 It's like gross. But the call back from the beginning of the episode of Just Breathe comes back and he's able to breathe underwater. Yay. But I do like what she says. And again, this is like a theme throughout the series and it's going to be a conflict with Percy and his father of like all of these things saying you should just trust your father, you should just pray to him, you should whatever. And he's like, how can I do that when one my mother's gone and in the underworld and also he's never come to see me. How am I supposed to do this? Right then the spirit tells him, your father is here.

36:31 He's always been here. He's very proud. Trust him. Trust in yourself. It's like, OK, get an affirmation, water spirit. We love that. We all need that in our lives, right? We just need that little water spirit come tell us to believe in ourselves, yeah? I couldn't tell, though. Like, was that Virginia Kroll's voice? Oh, interesting. I want to we have to wait to watch it again. But let me actually, no, you guys let me know. Comment below. Just like, was that Virginia's voice? Because I know in the book it's like he thinks it is his mother, right? And I don't know if that's just him being woozy, but I'm curious if it was her voice to make it seem like it was his mother.

37:14 Comforting. And that's how the episode ends. Yeah, it's it's quick. A lot. It's quick, yeah. And so we have 4 episodes now to get to LA and then back to New York eventually. So there's a lot of literal ground to cover. There's a lot of country to cover. How are they going to get there? I don't know, but in Saint Louis, the next episode is that when we meet Aries. Oh, I would think so, right. Because like, we're still waiting and this is just going off of stuff in the trailer, right? So we're not going to spoil anything. Still waiting to see the Fates. Maurice does show up, so they have to get to a diner at some point. I want to say the next episode is that. I want to say it's Water World's, which is the tunnel of love.

37:57 I agree. Yeah, yeah. So you figure next episode's Colorado, the episode after that is Las Vegas, the episode after that is Los Angeles, and then the last episode is New York. That's a lot. I feel like, oh God man, that's a lot. Because there's like multiple, there's there's like stuff that happens in Santa Monica, multiple things. Yeah. Oh, and then the last episode is him. Well, we won't get whatever, Yeah. I mean you listen, yeah, if you listen to this, I'm very excited. I think the just going forward since we haven't seen anything else, right. So we're just speculating now and we're just like we're we're in it. My thing I'm looking forward to the most is Krusty's waterbed Palace. You will understand what that means when we get to it if you don't know what I'm saying.

38:46 I am very. We have yet to see it even in the movies. That's very true. It would be a it would be a tragedy if it was not included in the series. I think it is. I feel like I saw something, Rick or somebody that worked on the show was like, it's crusty, is there? I'm like, thank God. It's so bizarre. It's so bizarre. I want it. I'm really looking forward to the casino. I'm really looking because I think that that is going to look amazing and I think we're going to spend a little more time there than we do in the books. There is one thing that I'm going to try to keep an ear out and I want you guys to do this too. So if you find it and we don't find it, whatever, in the casino, if they mention two kids with the last name D'Angelo, let me know.

39:30 That's that's the thing I'm most excited for in that casino, right. And also to see like, how they do the games. Yeah. Will Annabeth just be playing The Sims? Basically. Just Sin City. Yes, exactly, Roller Coaster Tycoon. Oh man. All right, well, let us know what you're feeling about the series so far. We're halfway done. We like to do these halfway point check ins, right? It's like, are we enjoying it? Yes. If not, we're still going to cover it. We. Can't turn back now. He can't turn back. OK, until next week. Yeah, see you on the road. Also Happy New Year. Well, yeah. Happy 2024, friends. Wow, here we go again.

40:13 I can always forget about holidays when we do this. I feel like it's an escape from the real world. So I'm like, I don't see anything. Time doesn't matter in here. It just is you know thing like we we've talked about something that isn't really out to the world yet, which is going to be posted, but it's it's. Wild. It's bananas. Yeah. All right. Well, goodbye. Goodbye.