History Recap / PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians2023S1E7

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first time we see Hades, he cordially greets Percy and Grover when they enter his imposing black throne room, establishing him as both [[DarkIsNotEvil far less malevolent than his reputation might suggest]] ''and'' [[AdaptationalNiceGuy much nicer than his grim, brooding literary counterpart.]]
His ensuing conversation with the boys, meanwhile, cements him as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure while simultaneously making it clear that he's lost absolutely none of Book!Hades' cleverness.

Our main heroes journey across the Underworld and bargain for their safety with Hades, the god of the dead.

* OutOfFocus: Downplayed with Annabeth. After spending two episodes bonding with Percy, she ends up escaping the Underworld much earlier to save herself from a {{Transflormation}} in the Asphodel fields, essentially taking herself out of the episode's plot altogether and not appearing until the end. This allows Grover, who's spent most of the time sidelined, to venture with Percy to confront Hades, as well as discovering the truth about Kronos' return and Ares conspiring with him.

* OutOfFocus: Downplayed with Annabeth. After spending two episodes bonding with Percy, she ends up escaping the Underworld much earlier to save herself from a {{Transflormation}} in the Asphodel fields, essentially taking herself out of the episode's plot altogether and appearing at the end. This allows Grover, who's spent most of the time sidelined, to venture with Percy to confront Hades, as well as discovering the truth about Kronos' return and Ares conspiring with him.

* {{Transflormation}}: In the books, the souls in Asphodel wander around aimlessly, half-remembering their lives on earth. Here, they are physically bound in place by their regrets. Memories of what they did or failed to do in life manifest as roots and tendrils that gradually turn them into barren trees. The magic even works on a living person, Annabeth, when her own regrets about leaving her family resurface, forcing her to leave the quest early before she's trapped forever.

* OutOfFocus: Downplayed with Annabeth. After having two episodes focused on her and Percy bonding, she ends up escaping the Underworld much earlier to save herself from a {{Transflormation}} in the Asphodel fields, essentially taking herself out of the episode's plot altogether. This allows Grover, who's spent most of the time sidelined, to venture with Percy to confront Hades, as well as discovering the truth about Kronos' return and Ares conspiring with him.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Hades is a lot more affable here than he is in the novel. His characterization, in fact, seems far closer to how he is in The Last Olympian and the Heroes of Olympus books. (Of course, he ''does'' try [[BewareTheNiceOnes to take the master bolt]] for protection from Kronos...)

* GreaterScopeVillain: Kronus is revealed as such, having manipulated everything, including his grandson Ares and great grandson Percy, to start a war against the Olympians and retake his throne.

* {{Transformation}}: In the books, the souls in Asphodel wander around aimlessly, half-remembering their lives on earth. Here, they are physically bound in place by their regrets. Memories of what they did or failed to do in life manifest as roots and tendrils that gradually turn them into barren trees. The magic even works on a living person, Annabeth, when her own regrets about leaving her family resurface, forcing her to leave the quest early before she's trapped forever.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: Kronus, grandfather of Ares and great grandfather of Percy, plots a war against the rest of his family, in order to retake the throne from his son, Zeus. Even Hades seems terrified of dear old Dad, trying to obtain the Master Bolt when he previously had no interest in it, in order to protect himself.

* ToHellAndBack: As in the novel. The trio find the entrance to the Underworld in the back of a sketchy mattress store in L.A., encounter Cerberus, Charon, and the shades in Asphodel, narrowly avoid being dragged into Tartarus, and finally confront Hades himself before using the magic pearls to return to the land of the living.

* GoFetch: Percy manages to distract Cerberus by tossing the red rubber ball from Procrustes's office down the river.

* OhCrap: Both Percy ''and'' Hades have one when they realize that Kronos, the ''true'' BigBad, is rising and plotting his revenge.

* AdaptationDeviation: In the book, Annabeth sticks with the boys all the way to Hades's palace and back. Here, she gets trapped in Asphodel and is forced to use her pearl to return to the living world ahead of Percy and Grover. She reunites with them on the beach when they activate their pearls.

-->'''Corresponding Chapters:'''

* SparedByTheAdaptation: The heroes simply leave Procrustes trapped in one of his rigged beds, rather than decapitating him like in the books.

!!"We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of" includes examples of: