Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Episode 3 Review: “We Board a Cruise Ship of Drama (and Secrets)”
- The Real Perspectives
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Reel Perspectives
December 19, 2025
As Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson board the Princess Andromeda, secrets fracture friendships, Luke’s war with Olympus sharpens, and the Great Prophecy finally comes to light.
Concerned Camp Counselor Morgan here, reporting on three missing campers, a grim prophecy reveal, and the return of everyone’s favorite frenemy, Luke Castellan. But first, we open with the daughter of Ares.
Clarisse La Rue (Dior Goodjohn, continuing to be perfectly cast) receives her own ominous prophecy courtesy of the oracle who appears to be doing a budget-level Exorcist impression with truly unforgivable breath:
“You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone, You shall find what you seek and make it your own, But despair for your life entombed within stone, And fail without friends, to fly home alone!”
In short, Clarisse is going to need allies. Instead, she gets her father.
Ares (WWE legend Adam Copeland, having an absolute blast) gifts Clarisse an army of undead warriors—fallen soldiers pulled from French, British, Trojan, pirate battles, and yes, at least one former Blockbuster employee. Less “honored heroes,” more “historical losers Ares collected like Pokémon cards.” The army immediately undercuts Clarisse’s authority, mocking her and questioning her leadership, setting up a familiar but effective theme: power without respect is useless.
Meanwhile, Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell), Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries), and Tyson (Daniel Diemer) board the Princess Andromeda, a cursed cruise ship that looks like a Disney Cruise Line promo if you squint hard enough and ignore the monsters. In Riordan lore, Andromeda is both a mythological princess rescued by Perseus and a constellation. Here, she’s also Kronos’ floating base of operations—a monster-filled incubator meant to revive the Titan lord from Tartarus.
After a quick wardrobe change and Percy casually showing off his Poseidon-blessed ability to dry himself instantly, Percy tells Annabeth he’s totally fine not knowing the prophecy Chiron warned her to keep secret. His solution is a code word she can use whenever he gets too close to the truth.
The word? “Boon.” Officially, my favorite SAT vocab of the season.
And Percy is confident this will work. But Annabeth is… not.
“I hate that I can’t tell you,” she admits. “And pretty soon, you’re gonna hate it too.”
For Annabeth, keeping the prophecy secret isn’t strategy—it’s betrayal. And Annabeth Chase doesn’t betray her friends.
As the trio explores the mist-covered ship, they encounter cannibalistic monsters, oblivious humans, and estranged demigods, including Allison Simms (Beatrice Kitsos), a daughter of Apollo who knows Annabeth from Camp Half-Blood. Unfortunately for Simms, Percy clocks her deception from his Grover dream connection almost immediately. What follows is a sharp, well-choreographed sword fight between three teenagers with zero adult supervision, ending with Simms literally getting flipped overboard, looking like she’s Rose on the sinking end of the Titanic.
After the fight, Percy admits he’s ready to end Luke once and for all. Annabeth pushes back, insisting capture is the better move. Fate, naturally, has other plans. Luke (Charlie Bushnell) reappears—along with a soaking-wet Simms—and the trio is taken below deck, separated from a terrified Tyson.
Luke reveals Kronos’ mummified sarcophagus, confirming that the Titan whose whispers have been haunting Percy’s dreams is closer to resurrection now more than ever. His plan? To use the Golden Fleece to restore Kronos and overthrow Olympus.
Make Olympus Great Again? Yeah. It hits a little close to home.
Annabeth pleads with Luke to stop, invoking Thalia—only for Luke to suggest Annabeth may not have known her as well as she believed. It’s a brutal emotional blow that reinforces just how fractured her once-found family has become.
Before Luke can reveal more about the Great Prophecy, Tyson arrives—with the unknowing help from the cannibalistic Laestrygonians—and executes a chaotic, fiery escape that proves once again that he belongs on this quest. Powered by Hermes’ bottle of winds, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson escape the Kronos-infested ship.
That one has to sting, Luke. Your own dad helping your ops disappear? Tragic.
Overwhelmed by guilt, Annabeth finally tells Percy the truth about the Great Prophecy. For non-book readers, it fully reads:
“A half-blood of the eldest gods shall reach sixteen against all odds and see the world in endless sleep. The hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap, a single choice shall end his days: Olympus to preserve or raze.”
In short, the fate of Olympus rests on Percy Jackson.
Elsewhere, Clarisse struggles to command her undead army, finally earning their loyalty—only to realize she’s been following the wrong coordinates toward nowhere, New Jersey, which somehow feels worse.
Percy: 1. Clarisse: desperately needs Greek God Waze and a hug.
Top 3 Percabeth Squee Moments 🔱🧡🦉
1. “But mostly, I trust you.”
Yes, it’s laying it on a little thick—but the Percabeth ship is officially sailing smoother than the Princess Andromeda. The show smartly raises the emotional stakes by positioning Annabeth as Percy’s quiet protector, trying to shield him from a fate he isn’t ready to face. Percy, in turn, instinctively trusts that she has a reason for keeping the Great Prophecy from him. Asking Annabeth to rein him in with a code word whenever he’s heading somewhere dangerous (or something reckless) isn’t just cute—it’s growth. Their friendship continues to deepen with every episode, built on trust rather than certainty.
2. The “Boon” angst of it all
Percy and Annabeth are fundamentally split on how to handle Luke. Percy believes Luke is beyond saving and needs to be stopped before Kronos rises. Annabeth, ever loyal, still believes there’s a version of Luke worth fighting for. And yet, in Episode 3, Percy folds almost immediately when Annabeth insists on capturing Luke instead of killing him. It’s a small moment, but a telling one: Percy may be ready to make hard choices, but not at the expense of Annabeth’s faith.
3. “I actually don’t wanna know...”
Percy tries—earnestly, almost desperately—to prove to both Luke and Annabeth that he truly doesn’t care about the prophecy. More ready for anything and everything, Percy knows who he is, who his friends are, and trusts them. That confidence allows him to sail off on a dangerous quest, bring Tyson along without hesitation, and stand in front of Annabeth to say, plainly, that he trusts her with a secret that could change his life.
Bonus Squee: Dat Prophecy Reveal
Compared to the book, Annabeth tells Percy about the Great Prophecy much sooner—and it works. Their confrontation with Luke accelerates the reveal, but Annabeth’s emotional unraveling has been building since Episode 1 of this season. The girl has been carrying the weight of a Tatarus boulder up a hill, knowing that a child of the Big Three is destined to save or destroy Olympus, and the burden finally breaks her. And once that truth is out, the air clears between her and Percy—even if Percy wishes, almost immediately, that it hadn’t. Well, buckle up, you curly-haired Buttercup. His sweet sixteen is about to get real.
💗 Shipping Verdict: Percabeth is officially in their “trust hurts more than truth” era—and it’s devastating in the best way.
🏛️ Olympian-Level Quotes
📺 “Oh, uh, streaming wars. Yeah, got, uh, really ugly at the end there.”
— Blockbuster soldier Mitch’s explanation for his death, which feels less like exposition and more like the writers quietly side-eyeing the state of Disney+
⚔️ “You’d think I’d get the winners but nooo...”
— Ares, bitterly explaining how he somehow only ends up with zombified losers of war because even gods have workplace complaints
👁️“The great awakening has already begun.”
— Luke, calmly announcing Kronos’ return like it’s an inevitable system update no one asked for
🧠 “You’re not wrong...”
— Percy, once again proving himself to be the most humble, self-aware king Camp Half-Blood has ever produced.
🎥 The Reel Demigods Behind the Camera
Episode 3 was written by Tamara Becher-Wilkinson, Rick Riordan, and Shae Worthy, and directed with confident visual clarity by Jason Ensler, whose work makes the Princess Andromeda feel less like a cruise ship and more like a true Kronos lair at sea—eerily faithful to its depiction in the books. The episode’s cinematography also deserves a nod, using scale, shadow, and movement to make the Andromeda feel expansive and threatening, like a floating extension of Tartarus rather than a confined set.
Da Reel Perspectives’ Grade
🏕️ Camp Half-Blood Rating:
8.9 / 10 Cyclops Getaway Plans That Somehow Work
High-stakes adaptation work, emotionally grounded character beats, and a Princess Andromeda that finally feels worthy of its myth. The pacing occasionally rushes, the lack of Grover is felt, but the Percy–Annabeth trust arc carries the episode home.
🌊 What’s Happening Next Episode 4:
“Clarisse Blows Up Everything (and Probably on Purpose)”
The Sea of Monsters 🌳⚔️💥No one’s getting out dry.
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