SPOILERS are ahead for Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode 5, called “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers,” now streaming with a Disney+ subscription and/or Hulu subscription.
We’ve reached the second half of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and wow, was this episode another highlight! Coming off the events of Percy’s fall off the Gateway Arch (which became viral on TikTok), Percy, Grover, and Annabeth are running short on time regarding their quest and are now running away from the law. In the midst of their struggles to get to the Underworld (underneath Los Angeles), they meet the God of War, Ares, who sends them on a side quest in exchange for his help.
As a fan of the source material, The Lightning Thief, I knew what was going to go down in “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers,” especially considering the episode title is the name of one of the chapters of the book. However, the episode surprised me regarding one big change it made to Ares' quest. Let’s talk about the introduction of the God of War, and why I absolutely loved the new direction the episode took.
This Week's Percy Jackson Introduces Ares, And A Key Side Quest
If you’re a fellow reader of the Percy Jackson books, you probably know by now the Disney series isn’t going word-by-word, page-by-page in terms of its adaptation, but in many aspects that’s because it is building upon its narrative in some really clever ways. Considering Rick Riordan is behind co-creating the series itself after authoring the books, I trust that the changes from the original middle-grade novel are productive ones. This happened once again this week when it comes to Ares’ side quest for the demigod trio.
Like the book, the trio end up having lunch in a diner with the God of War, which sees the entry of Adam Copeland into the Percy Jackson cast. Ares asks them to retrieve his shield at a waterpark. While in the book, all three of them set out to the quest, in the series Percy and Annabeth go together whilst Grover tries to extract information from Ares back at the diner. When Percy and Annabeth enter the Tunnel of Love ride to get the shield, the trap set by Hephaestus is changed quite a bit from the original version. Rather than Percy and his friends confronting thousands of metal spiders, Percy and Annabeth face a bigger moral dilemma when they are confronted by Hephaestus’ golden throne.
Episode 5’s New Direction, And Why I Loved It
As the episode explains, Hephaestus’ golden throne is the based on a Greek mythology story in which the god of artisans made the piece of furniture to gain revenge on Hera for rejecting him. As the story goes, once she sits on it, she can no longer stand up again. Percy and Annabeth are faced with someone having to sit on the throne in order to gain access to Ares’ shield. Percy selflessly decides to take on the burden and turns to gold the moment he sits on the chair.
When it occurs, Annabeth becomes desperate to free Percy of Hephaestus’ golden throne, when the god himself appears in front of her. She begs him to let him free because unlike the other demigods and gods she’s come across, she believes Percy to be truly good and not clouded by “power” and “glory.” Hephaestus is swayed by her cries and frees Percy from the throne before telling Annabeth, he’ll put a good word in to her mother, Athena.
It makes sense why the series made the change, as it added a lot more emotional stakes for the episode on its own that was not weighing as much on a single chapter in The Lightning Thief. I really loved how it shows Percy and Annabeth’s heroics and love for each other so early in the series. As they face more battles throughout the season that will only continue to be more dire, this scene adds more heart to two of the show’s core characters. Plus, knowing where these two go later in the series, there’s something impactful about them fighting for each other in the Tunnel of Love. Not to mention, Grover getting a side quest of his own all the while.
Following Episode 5, there's only three more episodes left of Percy Jackson! I'll be back here next week with another breakdown.
