‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ Episode 7 Recap & Review: Master Bolting to the Underworld

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode 7.

In its penultimate episode, Percy Jackson and the Olympians pulls out all the stops. The thrilling, engaging, and emotional tale continues to humanize the gods of Olympus, once seen as impervious, but now shown to be as tragic and complex as any mortal. In the previous episode, Percy (Walker Scobell) and Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries) met Hermes (Lin-Manuel Miranda). They learned that the powerful god of travelers has a fraught relationship with his son, Luke (Charlie Bushnell).

After stealing Hermes’ magical car, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) teleport to Los Angeles, where the entrance to the underworld lies. We pick up the trio’s epic quest in its seventh chapter, “We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of,” as they meet a peculiar character in a water bed store.

The Trio Reach Their Quest’s Destination in ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’

Percy’s quest to retrieve Zeus’ (Lance Reddick) stolen Master Bolt from the Underworld takes him to a shop called Crusty’s Water Bed Palace. The seedy shop is run by an evil son of Poseidon’s named Procrustes (Julian Richings, who also appeared as Charon in The Lightning Thief movie). Procrustes, who prefers the nickname “Crusty,” has a penchant for murdering travelers by trapping his guests in his beds.

Percy and an invisible Annabeth outsmart Procrustes, trapping him in one of his own beds. Grover meets up with them and from there, they venture through a back door and down to the Underworld. Unlike the fiery and hellish interpretations of underworlds that dominate popular media, Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ underworld is a gloomy, shadowy landscape that’s devoid of color. The trio push their way through a line of newly dead people waiting for the Underworld’s infamous ferryman, Charon (Travis Woloshyn), to escort them across the River Styx.

Charon realizes the trio aren’t dead and sics the monstrous three-headed dog Cerberus on them. Annabeth calms the creature, but Grover loses the pearl he needs to return from the Underworld in the process. They continue toward Hades’ palace, an inverted series of spires hanging from the Underworld’s ceiling.

Percy & Grover Barely Escape Death — But With the Master Bolt

Percy Jackson and the Olympians continues as the trio pass through the Fields of Asphodel. Filled with terrifying souls rooted to the ground like pale, grotesque trees, the Fields are home to those who died with regrets regarding choices they made in life. Cerberus chases them further into the fields, and Annabeth soon finds herself rooted to the ground, similar to the souls surrounding them.

Annabeth keeps the quest in perspective and tells Percy and Grover to go on without her. She distracts Cerberus for as long as she can and then uses her pearl to escape the Underworld. As Percy and Grover enter a desert-like landscape, the winged shoes attempt to pull Grover into a deep pit. He narrowly escapes as the shoes fly off his hooves and into the pit.

Percy feels a heavy, metallic object appear in his backpack and pulls it out, revealing the Master Bolt. Perplexed as to how it wound up in his possession, Percy remembers that Ares (Adam Copeland) gave him the bag. They deduce that Ares has been working with Hades to cause war among the Olympians.

Sally Jackson Asks Poseidon For Help

Interspersed throughout the episode are brand-new flashback scenes not present in the books. They focus on Sally Jackson (Virginia Kull) and her struggles to find safe places for young Percy (Azriel Dalman) to stay. She’s desperate to find help, as it’s become apparent to her that he’s beginning to attract magical beings’ attention.

A frustrated Sally yells at a defiant Percy, who locks himself inside the car when she attempts to drop him off at a new school. Once inside the school, Sally demands that the school allow Percy to enroll despite his disciplinary (and perceived) psychological issues.

In another scene, Sally asks Percy to give his new school a chance over ice cream at a restaurant. Percy wonders why Sally is trying to get rid of him. Sally then gets up and heads to the counter, silently sobbing.

At the bar, a desperate Sally calls Poseidon (Toby Stephens), and the god enters the restaurant and sits beside her. In arguably the series’ most powerful and well-acted scene yet, the duo never look at one another, yet the chemistry and unsaid feelings between them are palpable.

Sally says she’s failing as a mom; she feels she must send Percy to camp so he’ll be safe although she doesn’t want to. She wants Percy to know himself before Poseidon’s family tries to mold him into what they think he should be. Considering her feelings, Poseidon says Percy should go to school, and that he’d be better off for it. But when Sally asks if he’d like to meet Percy, a distant thunderclap — definitely a warning from Zeus — deters him for the time being.

Percy Confronts Hades in ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ Episode 7

Percy and Grover reach the palace and finally meet Hades (Jay Duplass). There, Percy demands to see his mother. Hades takes them to a comfortable seating area where a golden statue of Sally Jackson stands. He reveals he saved Sally just as the Minotaur was about to kill her.

When Percy confronts Hades, the god reveals he never worked with Ares, nor does he want the Master Bolt. He’s after his Helm of Darkness, which someone stole when they also swiped the Master Bolt. Percy realizes the voice he’s been hearing in his dreams throughout Percy Jackson and the Olympians is Kronos, who resides in a million pieces in Tartarus, the pit he and Grover barely escaped.

Hades offers Percy sanctuary, as Percy isn’t safe if Kronos is coming after him. He asks for the bolt in return, because he now needs it if Kronos is trying to return. Instead, Percy declares his intention to locate and retrieve Hades’ Helm of Darkness in exchange for the safe return of his mother. Following this, he and Grover use their pearls to return to the land of the living, where Ares awaits them.

‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ Episode 7 Sets the Stage for a Riveting Finale

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been solid thus far. It’s suffered from pacing issues due to its relatively short episodes, and its sixth episode — the highly anticipated Lotus Casino adventure — fell a bit flat despite a strong performance from guest star Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The show rebounds in its seventh outing as it reminds audiences of the personal stakes for Percy, plants seeds for the future involving Annabeth, and ties everything together with a heartbreaking Sally Jackson story. All the while, it delivers plenty of thrills, kid-friendly scares, and some of the series’ best humor while moving the plot forward, setting the puzzle pieces in place for more reveals in the season finale.

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