‘Percy Jackson’ Plays the Best Game of Capture the Flag Ever

As he’s waking up after his big Minotaur fight from Episode 1, Percy (Walker Scobell) hears a young girl’s voice telling him he drools a lot while he sleeps. Demigods—they’re just like us.

We still don’t know if that was Mr. Brunner (Glynn Turman) at the end of last episode, but we’re about to get some answers in Episode 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. When Percy finally wakes up, he finds himself confronted by Grover (Aryan Simhadri). Grover takes the blame for everything. He’ll never keep a lie from Percy ever again. Sure, Grover was meant to be his protector, but he also really enjoys their friendship. But Percy doesn’t forgive Grover—after all he’s done for you, Percy, lighten up! Instead, Percy has his newly established dad issues on his mind, so he sets forth into Camp Half-Blood to find some answers.

The first person Percy meets is Mr. D (Jason Mantzoukas), a sassy camp director who immediately tells Percy that he’s his son. D is willing to spend the day bonding with Percy if the kid can complete one task, first: Would Percy please fetch some alcohol from a neighboring storage unit? Mr. Brunner appears to tell Percy that, no, this is not his dad; this is another god, Dionysus. Dionysus wants to drink because Zeus has banned alcohol, but demigods can still have the devil’s juice. Percy’s going to need a stellar fake ID, then.

Brunner reveals himself to be Chiron, a powerful centaur who has been disguising himself as Percy’s Latin teacher this entire time. The wheelchair he’s been using has hidden his legs for years. Brunner gives him the low-down on Camp Half-Blood. There are 12 cabins for the 12 Olympian gods, each one home to the children that the respective god has claimed. Because Percy’s father has yet to claim him—jerk!—Percy will reside with Hermes (we haven’t seen this god yet, but worth noting he’ll be played by Lin-Manuel Miranda). His cabin is where all of the orphans live alongside Hermes’ own children.

The kids in Hermes’ cabin are fascinated by Percy. They all stare at him. Percy, used to being bullied, immediately jumps to the defense—but no, these demigods actually want to befriend him. Finally! Luke (Charlie Bushnell), the camp counselor for Hermes’ cabin, introduces himself and tours Percy around camp. The two are fast friends. It’s nice to see people being…well, nice to Percy. The poor kid has been through the wringer!

Meanwhile, the OG bestie Grover confronts Dionysus and Chiron about Percy’s mom. Usually, when humans die, they go limp. But Sally evaporated. Grover hypothesizes that Hades actually reached out to steal her away from the mortal world seconds before she actually died, and they should now save her from the underworld. But Chiron and Dionysus don’t want Grover saying anything about this to Percy, as he’s been through enough—still, look where lying got Grover in the first place. He owes Percy some truths.

Percy still hears voices inside his head, so he asks Luke how to cope with his inability to focus, as well as the fact that he’s stressed about finding his dad. Luke says to worry less. The gods make wild decisions. Let them have their fun, and find out later. Plus, Percy has more to worry about at camp, anyways—some folks from Ares’ cabin are trying to fight him. Clarisse (Dior Goodjohn) leads the pack picking on Percy. After those kids let Percy and Luke go, Luke tells his new bunkmate that they’re not picking on Percy, specifically—Ares’ kids just love to tussle.

If Percy wants to find his dad, Luke explains, he’s going to need to figure out what he’s good at around camp. He’s no good at archery, nor can he weld a sword, and after a day’s worth of trying to find himself, Percy settles on this title: “a Greek god of disappointment.” Is anyone else fighting the urge to hug this sweet 12-year-old demigod? I feel so bad for him.

To make matters worse, the Ares-cabin bullies confront Percy in the bathroom—right after he’s done giving a long monologue to himself about how much he misses his mom. Clarisse and her posse try to push Percy’s head into the toilet. They can’t. The water disappears, and seconds later, it comes flying out, shooting a waterfall of toilet water into the bullies’ faces. First, Percy pushed that girl into the fountain. Then, Sally sat outside in the rain. Now, he’s manipulating toilet water. Are we sensing an aquatic theme? Is there some sort of god that controls water? Something to think about!

After the bullies flee the scene, Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries) pokes her head out of the shadows. She’s the girl who told Percy he drooled a lot. She’s been watching Percy, and she wants to use him to help her win capture the flag tomorrow. Back to Luke, who explains Annabeth’s intrigue to Percy: The daughter of Athena, Annabeth has won three straight games of capture the flag, and she’s not backing down.

Annabeth also happens to be Luke’s little sister, but not by blood. She, Luke, and another girl, Thalia, were runaways together. But Thalia happened to be a forbidden daughter of Zeus—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades all have a pact to not have kids, so any kids they do have are called “forbiddens”—and while Annabeth and Luke were able to make it out alive and head to Camp Half-Blood, Thalia didn’t survive. Monsters sent by Hades, Luke explains, are chasing after the forbidden children.

So after all that mess with Thalia and Hades’ monsters, Annabeth is left trying to prove herself to Athena at Camp Half-Blood. She’s always wanted to go on a quest, and Chiron, ironically, has been teasing an unavoidable quest he sees in the near future. Could that be…a quest with Percy?

Time to capture the flag. The rules are simple: no killing, no maiming, and magical items are allowed. Annabeth is just stalking Percy at this point, using him as a pawn in her little game. She’s got some strategy she hasn’t revealed to Percy, but the idea becomes clear when the Ares crew on the red team (Percy, Annabeth, and Luke are on the blue team) comes to hunt Percy down. Percy has spent his day “flossing” (a popular Gen Z dance move), peeing in the forest, and playing with toads—so seeing Clarisse charging toward him shocks him.

But while the red team is busy with Percy, a sneaky Annabeth is able to steal their flag. Huzzah! Percy is left with an array of battle wounds, and instead of congratulating him or seaking aid, Annabeth pushes her new pal into the water. It’s abrupt and rude, but Percy’s wounds heal immediately. Then, a trident appears. “Your dad’s calling,” Annabeth explains. His dad…Poseidon!

Percy has finally been claimed, which means he can now bunk in Poseidon’s cabin, which is empty because of that pesky “forbidden child” pact. Percy is called into Dionysus’ office, where D and Chiron explain that a quest lies ahead of the new demigod. Zeus’ lightning bolt has been stolen. Poseidon is currently the one accused of theft, and if the bolt isn’t returned by the summer solstice, there will be war. Something about the accusations toward Poseidon seem fishy, though—shouldn’t Hades, the menacing god who hates his brothers, be a suspect, too?

Percy refuses to go on the quest and vindicate his father, because this whole god life is just stressing him out. But then, Grover appears, finally ready to be fully transparent with Percy. His mom is probably in the underworld, and they can save her if he takes responsibility and goes on the quest. Okay, fine. The “no” becomes a “yes.” But he won’t be going alone. Every quest needs three demigods—Grover and Percy look at each other. They seem to have made amends. Who, then, will be the third? There’s no way it’ll be the girl who’s been pestering Percy all along to go on a quest in an attempt to win her mother’s love. There’s just no way.