Heading in episode six of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, I had read that the anticipation was high among book readers for the trip to the lotus Casino. Based on what I saw in this episode, my assumption is that they are going to be disappointed with the final product.

Episode 6 picks up right where we left off with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover on their way to the Lotus Casino to try to find Hermes to help them get to Los Angeles faster. You’ll remember, they’re trying to get to the Underworld, and the opening is of course in Los Angeles.

There is a good amount in this episode that I did like, but I think it might be my least favorite of the series so far overall.

One thing that I really liked, was the interaction between Grover and Augustus. I thought for a minute that Grover was really going to help Augustus find Pan in the casino, but that wasn’t to be. I don’t know why I thought this, but at one point I thought we were actually going to lose Grover here because he was going to forget everything. That sounds silly, but for a little bit I was genuinely concerned.

I think the reason this episode doesn’t work for me is because the Lotus Casino just did not feel like a casino. In fact, for the majority of the episode I just assumed they were in the lobby of a hotel. I think they missed the mark here.

I did really like Annabeth’s line when our trio met back up about why Grover was more susceptible to the memory loss than Percy and Annabeth. “It’s easy to forget what’s important when you’re alone.” That’s just a fantastic line.

And, let’s not forget the two most important things here! Our trio is convinced that camp bully Clarisse stole Zeus’s lightning bolt, and time has run out on their mission. War!