'Percy Jackson and The Olympians' Season 1 Recap: Things To Know Before Season 2

Rick Riordan’s unsatisfactorily watered-down fantasy novel version of Greek mythology, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, had finally found its way to our screens in a long format back in 2023, when Disney+ came up with an 8-part series by the same name. The show followed the adventures of demigod Percy Jackson, who was given the very important task of finding and retrieving Zeus’ Master Bolt, which had been stolen. With the 2nd season right around the corner, here is our recap of everything that happened in the 1st season.

Spoiler Alert

How does Percy learn about his real identity?

Percy Jackson and the Olympians began with the specific troubles that the young protagonist, Percy Jackson, started facing from quite an early age, which made him have to change schools a number of times. Convinced that he saw and heard certain magical creatures and objects around him, which were completely invisible to others, Percy often got into dangerous situations in his pursuit of these creatures, like when he climbed up to the roof of his school building on one occasion, while trying to follow a magical Pegasus on a nearby building. Because of the reaction of his mother, who kept changing his school to accommodate his apparent developmental disorders, Percy also started to believe that he had certain issues to deal with, because of which he was often witness to completely imaginary and impossible objects and scenes.

But it all took a very quick turn when Percy visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as part of a school trip, and was subject to the usual acts of bullying. Although his kind Latin teacher, Mr. Brunner, stood up for the boy and gave him inspiration to not be deterred by the harsh words, another teacher, Mrs. Dodds, seemingly took pleasure in the matter. Some time later, as Percy sat with his best friend, Grover, the girl who had bullied him earlier, Nancy, came back to tease him once more, and this time he was ready to retaliate. Using what seemed to be telekinetic powers, Percy pushed Nancy into a nearby fountain without even laying his hands on her, and this was when things took a turn for the worse. Mrs. Dodds suddenly turned into a winged and scaly monster, who pounced on the boy, called him a ‘half-blood,’ and asked him for the location of something specific. Had it not been for a pen that Mr. Brunner had earlier given him, which now conveniently turned into a sword, Percy would have surely been killed by the monster.

When Percy was dragged to the principal’s office and confronted about his angry outburst, his only hope of getting out of trouble was his best friend supporting his account of what had happened. Therefore, when Grover ratted him out, and everyone at the office claimed that there was no teacher at the school named Mrs. Dodds, Percy was expelled from school and had to face his mother back home. What unfolded over the next few hours was absolutely unbelievable, as the boy’s supportive mother, Sally, revealed that there was more to Percy than he knew about. In reality, Percy’s biological father was a god and not a mere mortal, meaning that he is a demigod and so is being hunted by the gods who want to wipe clean their mistakes. Percy had to be taken to Camp Half-Blood, a safe space for young demigods to learn more about themselves and about how to protect themselves from the wrath of the gods. Although Percy made it safely to camp, his mother unfortunately had to stay back and was seemingly crushed to death by a vicious minotaur.

Who had stolen Zeus’ master bolt?

At Camp Half-Blood, Percy has a hard time fitting in initially, as he is an unclaimed demigod, meaning that the identity of his father is unknown. He is once again bullied by a girl, this time Clarisse, a daughter of the Greek god of war, Ares. Once he has settled in, Percy is informed by the camp superiors about an urgent situation in the divine world—the sacred thunderbolt weapon of Zeus, known as the Master Bolt, has been stolen, and the god of thunder has accused him of being the thief. Thus, Percy must set out on an epic adventure to Mount Olympus, which is actually situated at the top of the Empire State Building in New York City, and return the Master Bolt to Zeus before the Summer Solstice, failing which a treacherous war will break out between the gods. Although Percy is definitely not the one to have stolen the weapon, he still has to venture out and convince Zeus of his innocence, failing which he will bring about total chaos in the entire world.

Percy is also told that the Bolt has most likely been taken by the god of the dead, Hades, who has hidden it in the Underworld, and so he must begin his search there. Conveniently for the American hero (and also the writer), the Underworld is located underneath the city of Los Angeles, meaning that Percy has to travel from the east to the west coast, together with his two buddies, Grover and Annabeth. Along with his own identity, he had also learned that Grover was actually a satyr who had been entrusted with his protection, and he had intentionally gotten Percy expelled from school since the place was no longer safe. Many perils later, when Percy and his friends get close to the Underworld, they are met by Ares, who promises to help them if they retrieve his shield from Hephaestus. The kids successfully do so and are finally able to reach the Underworld, only to learn that Hades had not stolen the Bolt, after all.

The prophecy made by the Oracle of Delphi had stated that the weapon had been stolen by a god who had turned against his kind, and while everyone had assumed the betrayer to be Hades, the reality was far from it. Percy later realizes that the whole matter had been cooked up by Kronos, the father of Zeus, who wants to escape from Tartarus and rule over the world once again. But since Kronos was in captivity, he had turned to Ares, who had agreed to be a part of the operation to gain power over the other gods, and so he had actively tried to mislead the children on their path to the Underworld. Along with the Master Bolt, Ares had also stolen Hades’ Helm of Darkness, which has left the god of death completely helpless right before the tumultuous war that is going to take place very soon.

Thus, Percy has to fight off Hades, and with the help of the godly powers at his beck and call because of his identity as the son of the god of the seas, Poseidon, he is ultimately able to do so. He recovers the Helm of Darkness and returns it to Hades, while he had already realized some time ago that the Master Bolt had been sneaked into his backpack by the perpetrator. Although Percy believes that Ares had done this deed himself, the real truth is revealed later on. Since the Summer Solstice has already passed, and the Gods are about to wage war against each other, Percy quickly travels to Mount Olympus to have an honest conversation with Zeus. The boy returns the Master Bolt, explaining how it was Kronos who had tried to get hold of it, and requests Zeus to stop the war from taking place. But the king of the gods has no interest in granting his request, and he egoistically claims that he will continue to wage the celestial war. 

Does Percy get to meet his real father?

Ever since learning that his father is the Greek god of the seas, Poseidon, Percy wants to meet him and be accepted by him, although he is not very hopeful of such a fate, since he is an unclaimed demigod and Poseidon has never reached out to him. But as we are taken to the past through flashbacks, we learn that Poseidon had made a promise to Sally, telling her that he would surely appear to his son in the future someday, when Percy would know his real identity and would also be in an extremely dangerous situation that would require the intervention of the god. Now, when Percy rather arrogantly argues with Zeus atop Mount Olympus, the latter is extremely angered and makes to attack the young boy with the very Master Bolt that had just been returned to him.

This is finally when Poseidon appears and intervenes to save his son from a horrible fate. In order to stop Zeus from attacking the protagonist, Poseidon actually surrenders himself to Zeus, his brother, as he too is now convinced that war among the gods will only create more chaos and destruction. Zeus, who had taken a vow to attack his brothers and defeat them in the war for having stolen his weapon and creating all the chaos, is convinced that such a deadly war will only make things easier for Kronos to escape his captivity and return to take control over the world. Making use of this opportunity to speak to his father, as Zeus leaves them alone, Percy asks Poseidon just a single question—if he ever dreams of Sally. 

Percy obviously wants to know if his father actually ever loved his mother, or if he is just a mistake, as the gods believe him and all other demigods to be. But Poseidon does not answer this question, instead sending his son back to earth, which suggests that there will be more to his love story with Sally, which will be revealed in Season 2. Based on the flashbacks, it is evident that Poseidon and Sally have always been close, and it is most likely that the couple had separated only to ensure Percy’s safety, since the gods would have started tracking the demigod right after he was born. Poseidon will obviously continue playing an important role in his son’s life, as seen in the trailer for the next season, and Percy will finally get to spend some more time with his father, perhaps getting to ask a few more questions that he must have in mind.

Who is the friend to ultimately betray Percy?

In the prophecy made by the Oracle of Delphi, Percy had been told that he will ultimately be betrayed by someone who calls him a friend. While he had believed that this betrayal would come from Annabeth or Grover, who had accompanied him on the mission, it is actually his close friend at Camp Half-Blood, Luke, who turns out to be an antagonist. Unlike Percy, who had been patiently waiting around for his father to reach out to him and accept him some day, Luke had grown angry and resentful against his father, Hades, because of the fact that he had never been acknowledged by the god of death. Thus, when Ares had been looking for someone at the camp to help him with his plan, Luke had come out as the best candidate. Luke had easily agreed to help Ares, and in turn, Kronos, steal the Master Bolt, since only the demigods, and never the gods, could commit crimes. As per the plan, Luke had then slid the Master Bolt into Percy’s backpack, making it seem like he was the one to have stolen it.

Now, when Percy returns to camp after his heroic act of stopping the war between the gods, he is approached by Luke, who wants him to join him on the dark side. Essentially, Luke wants Percy to help execute Kronos’ plan to return to the world, but the protagonist is obviously too good to step into any such provocations. He is also ultimately helped by Annabeth, who comes to his rescue, while Luke manages to escape through a portal. As is clear from the trailer of Season 2, Luke will play a major role in the horrific attack on Camp Half-Blood, and it seems like he is about to be the main antagonist of the show in the returning season. 

Can Percy bring his mother back to life in the end?

A major reason for Percy agreeing to travel to the Underworld for his mission was so that he could bring his mother back to life, for he had been told how Sally had not been killed by the Minotaur, but had been snapped out of reality just in time by Hades. Therefore, Percy goes to the Underworld and asks Hades to free Sally from the place so that he can take her back to earth. In fact, this is a crucial part of the deal that he makes with Hades, promising to bring his Helm of Darkness and take his mother back with him in exchange. Although Percy does not get to rescue his mother from the Underworld in the strictest sense, he does manage to revive her through the deal with Hades, who keeps his word. Thus, as the Helm of Darkness is returned to Hades, Sally also comes back to life. 

But Percy also has one more nightmare featuring Kronos, who is technically his grandfather, as he has been getting throughout the 1st season of the series. In this nightmare, Kronos admits that he is actually satisfied with all that has happened in recent times. Although it had seemed for this long that Kronos wanted Percy to be dead, he now admits through this nightmare that the protagonist’s survival is what he has been rooting for, as that would be beneficial for him. As per the book series from which the show has been adapted, this is because Percy actually holds the ability to destroy Olympus, which aligns with Kronos’ plan. Therefore, Kronos will surely continue to try and get Percy Jackson onto his side when the young demigod’s saga continues in the next season.

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