On December 10, 2025, one of the most-awaited shows of last year dropped its first and second episodes. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (PJO) started strongly with “I Play Dodgeball With Cannibals,” its title cleverly matching the first chapter in the second book, The Sea of Monsters.
This marked the beginning of a cozy winter for many, eagerly awaiting the consecutive Wednesdays that would continue PJO’s interesting story. Thousands around the world, including me, have been diligently binging this season, which features many of the highly anticipated “Percabeth” scenes.
“Percabeth” refers to the fandom couple name of Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell) and Annabeth Chase (Leah Jeffries), and as a PJO fanatic who’s read all the books, it takes the spot as one of my all-time favorite fictional couples.
Recently, Disney released Season 2, Episode 8, “The Fleece Works Its Magic Too Well” on January 21, 2026. This season’s finale concludes the TV saga of Rick Riordan’s hit book, with both positives and shortcomings.
It starts with a flashback of Thalia (Tamara Smart), Zeus’s daughter, and her final battle at the border of Camp Half-Blood, before Zeus transforms her into a magical tree. After Thalia leaves to fight, the memory abruptly ends, changing to Annabeth, Percy, Tyson (Daniel Diemer), and Sally (Virginia Kull) in a car driving to the camp.
On their way, the gang secretly finds Luke (Charlie Bushnell) and his god-hating monster army at camp, ferociously making a plan to fight the demigods and cut down Thalia’s tree. In a shocking turn of events, Luke reveals to his army his actual plan to use the fleece to free Thalia from the tree, who could help his and Kronos’ plan to destroy Olympus.
Meanwhile, Annabeth accurately predicts and tells Percy that Luke wants to free Thalia because she states, “Thalia is the only thing Luke cares about more than Kronos,” because of the trio’s (Luke, Annabeth, Thalia) history.
During the battle, Percy dramatically hands over the fleece to Clarisse (Dior Goodjohn), telling her to “finish the quest.” Clarisse throws the fleece at Thalia’s tree before Luke’s army can cut it down. The fleece revives the tree, and as soon as Thalia slowly emerges, a lightning bolt appears and renders both Percy and Thalia unconscious.
Percy sees the god of the sea, Poseidon (Toby Stephens), in his dream, but Tyson shows up as well. This marks a first for Tyson, as Poseidon hasn’t ever acknowledged him before, turning Percy’s dream into an emotional and familial one. However, I noticed that Tyson’s appearance in Percy’s dream was not fully explained. It did not make sense to viewers, because at the same time, Tyson was just in the battle fighting against Luke.
Finally, when Thalia and Percy wake up, it’s revealed that Zeus turned Thalia into a tree simply because of what she rebelliously told him all those years ago, “I will never be your daughter, [and] I will not be your weapon”. Even while shocked by this revelation, the season concludes with Annabeth, Percy, and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) becoming downhearted when Thalia ominously asks for Luke, wondering where her dear friend went.
To be straightforward, I thought this episode fell short of expectations overall, although the fact that I’ve read the books might be to blame. For example, in The Sea of Monsters, Riordan described Thalia’s growth in a way that truly resonated with me. Even if it had been impossible to show in forty minutes, I do believe that her character came off as a bit shallow.
Her only peak point in this episode was rejecting her status as just Zeus’s daughter, showcasing her hatred towards him and his treatment of his children. The emotional impact just wasn’t there, and Thalia wasn’t even shown as utterly powerful as she should have been. Even though she was said to be the strongest demigod in the world, there was barely any emphasis on her power.
Furthermore, the final battle seemed rushed, as if the direction was focused more on world-building for the next season than anything else. Luke, who was supposed to be the main villain, had very little screen-time in this episode, even though Percy’s main battle with him was meant to be the most dramatic. Viewers couldn’t process what was happening in the moment before new characters and scenes appeared.
In the book, the ending fight was also heavily described as extremely high-stakes. However, I thought the predictability of it reduced the excitement for viewers. It didn’t seem like an event that determined PJO’s entire future.
Personally, I was confused with these parts of the episode, and it is where I must say I loved season one of PJO much better. It was easier to comprehend and the details were executed amazingly, which was probably why PJO season one initially topped various charts during its release.
Official reviewers praised this season even if it seemed emotionally light, and I see where they’re coming from. For people watching this less seriously than I did, it was a light yet interesting show that served as an escape for many.
One amazing thing about this finale is that it didn’t fail to create anticipation for season three, going after the book The Titan’s Curse. In the entire series, The Titan’s Curse is my absolute favorite, with countless small, yet impactful details seamlessly woven in by Rick Riordan. I am truly hoping that it will exceed the episodes in this season and appeal to book fanatics, like me, as well. Because even though this finale fell a bit short of my high expectations, Percy Jackson & The Olympians will remain one of my favorite shows so far in 2026, and I don’t see many surpassing it in my mind.
