"We Take a Zebra to Vegas" is the sixth episode of the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It was released on January 16, 2024.
Synopsis[]
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover must resist the alluring draw of a casino that feels outside of time.
Plot[]
Percy has another dream about a mysterious person, taking on the form of the Yancy Academy Headmaster, speaking to the person who stole the Master Bolt, before he is jolted awake. Still on the truck bound for Las Vegas, Percy and Annabeth use the Iris messaging to contact Chiron back at Camp Half-Blood. Instead, they get Luke who tells them that the summer solstice is coming up and that the kids from different cabins are taking sides. They reveal their belief that Clarisse is the one who stole the bolt, which Luke seems to agree with. Percy attempts to explain that they are going to see his father Hermes, but Annabeth cuts off the message, explaining that Luke's relationship with his father is not great and that he would just try to talk them out of it.
Grover reveals that the animals they are traveling with are planning to escape and that they just needed people with thumbs to help. They manage to get out at Las Vegas and locate the Lotus Casino where Hermes is supposed to be. Upon entering, the trio realize that casino is based on the lotus flowers from The Odyssey and avoid trying to eat anything. Percy and Annabeth split off while Grover ventures on his own. He encounters another satyr he recognizes named Augustus who has already fallen victim to the casino, but claims that he has found Pan. When Grover follows him though, he slowly begins to forget what his goal was.
Percy explains to Annabeth that he has been having dreams about someone speaking to the Lightning Thief and assumes that Hades is truly the one behind it all, which Annabeth concurs with. They finally find Hermes and try to convince him to help them by mentioning that they are friends with his son Luke. Hermes explains that while he loves his son, his mortal mother May suffered a vision that scarred her terribly and since then, Poseidon has warned him against helping his family. He refuses as he also cannot guarantee safe passage to the Underworld.
At that moment, Percy and Annabeth realize that while they were in the casino for about 20 minutes, they have actually been in there for days. Annabeth then reveals that she stole Hermes' car keys and that they need to get Grover, whom they nearly forgot as the lotus flowers are also pumped into the air. They locate Augustus and get him to take them to Grover who is playing in a VR game. They free him and find that Hermes' car is a taxi. Having apparently anticipated their trick, he leaves a letter and map to the Underworld for them. The three, recklessly, drive the taxi out of the garage and teleport to Santa Monica.
The trio, Grover in particular, regain their full memories and exit the taxi onto the beach. Percy explains that he needs to go and see his father. He enters the ocean and encounters the Nereid who reveals that he is too late and that Poseidon has gone to war to face Zeus already. She tells him that he is released from his quest, but Percy refuses as he wants the war to end reunite with his mother. Knowing that that would be his response, the Nereid gives Percy four pearls to use when he gets to the Underworld to save his mother.
Cast[]
- Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson
- Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth Chase
- Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood
Guest-starring[]
- Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hermes
- Charlie Bushnell as Luke Castellan
- Ted Dykstra as Augustus
Co-starring[]
- Hiro Kanagawa as Headmaster
- Jelena Milinkovic as Nereid
- Azriel Dalman as Young Percy (uncredited)
Trivia[]
- The title comes from the sixteenth chapter of the The Lightning Thief, while the episode adapts that chapter, a small part from chapter fifteen and the first half of chapter seventeen.
- This episode introduces Augustus the satyr, who was invented specifically for the series and did not originate from the books.
- When Augustus "takes" Grover to see Pan, the faint sound of a child calling "Bianca!" can be heard. The person is Nico di Angelo, calling for his sister Bianca, and both will later make their appearance in The Titan's Curse.
Book comparisons[]
- The trio contacting Camp Half-Blood is moved to after their meeting with Ares. Because of this, they do not use a fountain for the Iris Message, but instead have a small piece of glass to make it.
- Percy's dream does not feature Thalia like in the book.
- The trio leave the truck with the help of the animals out onto the streets of Las Vegas. In the book, the truck drivers, Eddie and Maurice, were going to check on them when the trio use the animals, specifically a zebra to help them escape. Because of this, Percy's ability to understand horses, such as zebras, is nixed.
- The trio were trying to get to Santa Monica and simply made a stopover in Las Vegas by accident. In the series, they intentionally stop at Las Vegas so that they can get to Santa Monica quicker with Hermes' help.
- The entire Lotus Casino sequence is radically altered, though the basic gist of it is the same. The series adds Hermes, who doesn't appear until the second book Sea of Monsters, and Augustus, who was invented for the series. The trio are also well aware of the casino's effects as soon as they enter. In the book, the entire sequence is treated like a side adventure, with the trio apparently oblivious to the casino's effects until Percy encounters someone there who is out of time.
- The trio do not get infinity gold cards like in the book.
- In the book, when they leave the casino, they hail a cab and use the gold cards to drive all the way to Santa Monica. The series changes it so that the cab belongs to Hermes which immediately teleports them to Santa Monica.
- Poseidon and Zeus do not go to war yet when Percy meets the Nereid.
- The Nereid gives Percy four pearls. In the book, she only gave him three.
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
Screenshots[]
.png "Percy Jackson and the Olympians - 1x05 - We Take a Zebra to Vegas (1).png (2.07 MB)")
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.png "Percy Jackson and the Olympians - 1x05 - We Take a Zebra to Vegas (4).png (975 KB)")
.png "Percy Jackson and the Olympians - 1x05 - We Take a Zebra to Vegas (5).png (1.06 MB)")
.png "Percy Jackson and the Olympians - 1x05 - We Take a Zebra to Vegas (6).png (471 KB)")
External links[]
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