We’re back with the water motifs on Percy Jackson and the Last Olympians. In a flashback, young Percy (Azriel Dalman) is in the pool with his mom (Virginia Kull), who is doing everything she can to teach her son to swim. He’s going to need it later in life, Sally says, exasperated. She won’t always be there to help Percy hold his breath and kick his legs. Something tells me this swimming practice is going to come in handy when Percy is forced to encounter his sea god father Poseidon. Maybe one of these days we’ll get to meet him!
Today is not that day, though, because the kids—present day Percy (Walker Scobell), Annabeth (Leah Jeffries), and Grover (Aryan Simhadri)—are still trekking through the cornfields of the Midwest. No large bodies of water to see here, folks! After the mess with Alecto (Megan Mullally) on the bus, the trio has swapped to an Amtrak, where they try to catch some shut-eye as they zoom through Chicago on the way to Los Angeles, home of the Underworld.
Unfortunately, Percy is one of those “stay up all night talking during a sleepover” kids, and can’t stop pestering Annabeth about Thalia, the forbidden demigod child who came before him. Annabeth loved Thalia, who was like a sister to her. In fact, Annabeth admits, she finds herself caring about Percy in a similar manner, which is why she goes so hard on him. He’s tough like Thalia, Annabeth can tell, but he’s going to need to step it up if he wants to prove himself to Poseidon. Percy hates that. His dad should love him no matter what—Percy shouldn’t have to prove himself just to get a little fatherly love.