Recap / Hercules The Animated Series S 1 E 6 Hercules And The River Styx

Hades hatches a new plot to seize power, smooth-talking Poseidon into moving the river Styx so that Greece falls within his domain. Can Hercules' least favorite period, shop class, help him destroy the sinister scheme?

This episode includes examples of the following tropes:

• Alliterative List: When Hades takes over Prometheus Academy, he institutes his own take on the three R's: revenge, requital and retribution.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment:
  • Daedalus when teaching Hercules about the lever.
    Daedalus: As my friend Archimedes once said, "Give me a lever long enough, a fulcrum high enough, a place to stand, and I'll kiss you on the nose." He was a strange man.
  • When Hades introduces himself as the new principal of Prometheus Academy.
    Hades: And get this: there is no homework!
    [Students cheer]
    Hades: …because you don't get to go home.
• Chekhov's Gun: Daedalus lectures to Hercules about levers and their usages early on. The principles come in handy when Hercules has to move a humongous stone to reroute the Styx.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Hades appears legitimately disturbed when Icarus readily tears into a dummy modeled after Hercules.
• Exact Words: Hades tells the students of Prometheus Academy that they won't have any homework. Because they won't ever be allowed to go home.
• Faux Action Girl: As usual, Athena is useless at protecting her city, having been chained up by Hades offscreen, so Hercules has to handle things without her.
• Faux Horrific: Helen's torment consists of being force fed junk food so that her face will break out in acne.
  Hades: Helen, the face that launched a thousand zits.
• Feud Episode: Hercules and Icarus spend part of the episode fighting because Hercules called Daedalus' class useless.
• Poke the Poodle: After remodeling Athens, Hades proceeds to set tortures for Hercules and his classmates for all eternity. This would be horrifying if the tortures weren't so silly. Helen is force fed junk food. Cassandra is put through training to be a house wife. Adonis is forced to become the servant to his servant while his servant is now the master (and nothing bad appears to happen to the servant). Hercules is forced to take shop class, and Daedalus has to teach the class with Hercules forever. Icarus is forced into an eternity of gym class where he has to attack dummies of his best friends, which backfires when he rips into one made of Hercules.
• Shout-Out: When taking Poseidon's trident, Hades quotes the slogan for Trident gum.
  Hades: Who wants trident? I do, I do!
• Swapped Roles: Hades torments Adonis by forcing him to become the servant while his servant becomes the master.
• Unishment: Hades' first attempt to torture Icarus falls flat because of circumstances. He intends to make him beat up a dummy of his best friend Hercules. However, he picks a rare moment that Icarus and Herc are having an argument.

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