We Take A Zebra To Vegas

Percy Jackson & The Olympians begins its climax with the sixth episode, “We Take A Zebra To Vegas.” Will our heroes convince Hermes to take them into the Underworld? What awaits them in the Lotus Casino? Who really stole the master bolt? And will they be able to figure it out in time to stop the war between Zeus and Poseidon?

All of these questions and more are about to be answered. Please bear in mind that there will be full spoilers for “We Take A Zebra To Vegas,” so tread lightly if you haven’t seen it yet. Without further ado, let’s begin.

Also Read: Percy Jackson & The Olympians Episode 5 SPOILER Recap/Review: A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers

Percy Jackson Episode 6 Plot

Percy has a nightmare where he is confronted by the mysterious true thief and the even more mysterious conspirator behind it all before he and Annabeth call Luke with the help of Iris, goddess of the rainbow. Luke informs them that the camp is preparing for war between Zeus and Poseidon while they tell Luke of their new theory. Clarisse is the true lightning thief.

After freeing the animals inside their truck from their trafficking captors, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth arrive at the Lotus Casino and quickly realize this is an Odyssey scenario. If they get sucked into the temptations of the casino and eat any lotus flowers, they’ll forget who they are and everything important to them. The trio splits up to try and find Hermes, with Percy and Annabeth finding him at a craps table.

Hermes is reluctant to help, but starts to change his mind when Annabeth tells him they’re friends of Luke. See, Luke’s mother was a seer, a human who can see through The Mist, and saw something that drove her mad and eventually ended her life. Luke blames Hermes for her death and Annabeth thinks that Hermes will help them if it means getting Luke to talk to him again.

However, Hermes still refuses to help, echoing Luke’s own sentiments against the god of travelers and insisting his help will only make things worse. But Annabeth manages to steal Hermes’ car keys and once they find the car, they will instantly be transported to wherever they want to go. Unfortunately, they have two new problems.

First, they can’t find Grover. This is solved relatively quickly, but the Lotus flowers being pumped into the air means that, despite not eating anything, Grover has already forgotten both himself and his friends. The second problem is much worse. Due to the Lotus Casino’s time dilation, they thought they had only been inside for twenty minutes. But they had actually been there for three days, meaning that time is running out.

They find Hermes’ car and, after Percy haphazardly drives it out of the garage, they arrive in Santa Monica to meet Poseidon. But once Percy goes underwater to meet his father, the mermaid from Episode 4 instead greets him with bad news. The deadline has already passed and both Zeus and Poseidon are preparing for war.

The mermaid releases Percy from his quest, but he refuses to give up. Inspired by his bravery, the mermaid gifts Percy with magic pearls that will allow him and his friends to escape the underworld once they retrieve the bolt. However, there are four pearls instead of the expected three; as the mermaid tells Percy to “save the world, then save your mom.”

Percy Jackson Episode 6 Critique

“We Take A Zebra To Vegas” is a very solid episode, but it does feel like a slight step down from the previous two. Mainly because too much of it feels like set-up: both for the finale and for future seasons. All the talk about “something bigger, something worse” coming besides the war, the nightmare with the mysterious villain that the story wants you to think is Hades but is almost certainly The Main Bad Guy From The Books Who I Won’t Name Here Just In Case, it feels a little too pre-occupied with what’s to come.

This could also be said for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s appearance as Hermes, a character who doesn’t have anything to do with the Lotus Casino in the books and doesn’t even show up until the second installment. I don’t really get why’s he here beyond setting up future stuff with Luke for later seasons; but this weirdness is made up for by Miranda’s excellent performance in both comedic and dramatic scenes.

As for what I did like here, I actually really appreciate that, unlike the book, the trio is aware of what the Lotus Casino does from the very beginning. They’re smart kids so it makes sense that they would know that and try to be prepared for it and it helps to differentiate this Lotus Casino from the movie version. For as bad as the movie is, they got the Lotus Casino right; so I get why they would want to do something different here and it really works for me.

This episode also has a lot of great comedic moments. The animals roaming the highway, Grover’s amnesia, Percy’s terrible driving, it’s all great stuff. And the final scene where Percy refuses to give up on the quest is really powerful. “We Take A Zebra To Vegas” is a great episode that has nearly everything that makes this show great; but its pre-occupation with set-up just barely keeps it from being one of the show’s best.

9/10

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