Olympus Episode 1.02 Daedalus

As Daedalus sails, weeping, through the air in his glider -- outfitted with modern pottery -- Hero is forced to interpret his own blood-letting for the priest. Hero and Oracle are tied up as Hero gasps out something about a snake and a maiden, all of which the patterns of his blood seem to bear out. The priest believes Hero's talking about the Ring of the Magi, though Hero claims not to see a ring, and as the priest harangues Hero, Hero is transported into the night sky and confronted with a roaring creature. "A beast!" he wails, but can't identify it. The priest is about to insert another blood-letting pipette when Oracle suggests another, less-possibly-fatal plan: that she "take his seed." With…her mouth. Send the kiddies out of the room, folks!

Except instead, Oracle's using her hair clasp to cut Hero's bonds while pretending to canoodle with him. He doesn't think he has the strength to fight, but when Hero's blood forms a skull shape in the bowl and the priest smells a rat, it's on. Oracle stabs the priest with the clasp, and a melee ensues. Hero finally pulls it together to help Oracle. The priest flees; his henchman has his throat slashed by Oracle to avenge her brother.

Lykos is being fitted with leather armor when Medea comes in and snarks at him to quit playacting: "I didn't put you in charge so you could lead." Lykos protests that he has lots of ideas -- hee; have you met your mom, Lykos? -- and is told he's only going to the meetings to eavesdrop and report back. She reminds him they're a team, and kisses him inappropriately on the lips. The generals argue about which wall to reinforce; Lykos listens. Pallas isn't happy that Proteus is dissing Aegeus's strategies, but Proteus grumps that his men are dying. Pallas asks Lykos's opinion, and gets a deer-in-the-headlights look in return...at first. Soon Lykos overrules Proteus's plan with a bait-and-switch plan of his own. Xerxes is impressed with the "subterfuge," but warns it will offend Apollo. But it will impress Ares, Lykos snots, and while Proteus dismisses the idea as "theater," Pallas backs Lykos's play.

As Hero and Oracle flee through the woods once again, Aegeus is kicking his attendants out of the room. Medea gives him a verbal tongue-bath about his impressive strength and recovery from his wound, but Aegeus is obviously still feverish, and when he tells her to convene his generals to hear his "bold counterattack," she's underwhelmed by the suicidal Pickett's-charge-type rush on the Minoans Aegeus proposes. She tries to knock him out with some "tonic" again but he brushes it off, so she pointedly tightens his armor. Aegeus bellows in pain, then accepts the tonic after all; hallucinates an army of satyrs; and flops back onto the bed. Medea-ssion accomplished.Hero's going home, not to Athens. Oracle's like, hello: your father's the king? The Lexicon? Hero doesn't care. Oracle reminds him that the Lexicon can open the doors of Olympus, he has the power to turn mortal men into gods, etc. Hero still doesn't care. Oracle points out that he can't just go back to his simple life: now that his identity and destiny are known to the priests of Gaia, they -- or someone else -- will hunt him down. Accused of wanting to use his powers for herself, Oracle protests that she only wants to stop the war and save Athens; Hero's never heard of the war, or King Minos, and isn't exactly psyched to head towards the fighting. Their argument's interrupted by the fleeting sight of Daedalus flying overhead...and the clanking sound of Daedalus crashing.

The priest of Gaia is reporting to Medea about Hero. She's peeved the priest let him escape. Medea chops off a hank of his braided hair as a warning and dispatches him in pursuit of Hero. Later, Aegeus bolts upright, burning with thirst, but Medea holds the water out of his reach, then throws it in his face and slaps him to the ground, furious he didn't tell her about Hero. He says the Lexicon is a dangerous curse, so he planted it out of harm's way, but if he'd known Medea back then, e'd have trusted her to guide him. Medea calls him a coward and liar, though she'd probably be more forgiving if Aegeus could remember his liaison's name -- but he can't. Nor has he put together that Medea's basically roofie-ing him with the tonic, and he's soon knocked out again.

Hero and Oracle spot Daedalus, dragging a torn wing behind him and babbling arithmetic. He's not feeling chatty, and calls Oracle a harpy, then hands her a feather he's clutching so he can pray to Apollo. Stroking the feather gives Oracle a glimpse of Icarus and the Minotaur. Daedalus begs Apollo to take him, and tries to pitch himself off a cliff, but Hero and Oracle stop him as Oracle explains Daedalus is a "genius" inventor. Hero spots a metal glint in the hills and they hurry for cover.

Lykos lies, badly, that there's nothing Medea needs to know from the generals' meeting. He thinks it's odd that they missed their Lexicon "session." Medea absently says to go to sleep while, on the city walls, the Minoans climb over to attack and are met by an unexpected hail of arrows. Lykos' plan worked, as Pallas reports.

Hero, Oracle, and Daedalus rush into the interior of the woods until Daedalus falls to the ground sobbing. Oracle calls a rest stop, and uses it to pray to Gaia for guidance. She gets a vision: her own mission is to kill Aegeus if Hero fails to. Daedalus is suffering through a flashback of Icarus' wings getting melted by the sun. Oracle suggests paying tribute to the gods to ease his pain, but Daedalus weeps that the gods don't care. Hero draws the same symbol in the sand that the priest, Cyrus, saw in the blood: the Ring of the Magi. Oracle recognizes it, but Hero doesn't, which Oracle doesn't believe, and neither ds Daedalus. It belongs to King Aegeus, and it's very powerful, though nobody can say exactly what it does; Hero doesn't see the point in finding it, then, but he's seen the symbol before, so he's going to look for the Ring in the forest where he grew up. Oracle thinks Hero's planned it this way -- find the Ring, bring it to his father, ascend to the blah blah -- and Daedalus is shocked to hear Hero's Aegeus' son, and that Oracle is an oracle. Oracle insists they have to stay together, the way the gods have put them, and off they go, Hero rolling his eyes.

Over Cyrus' protests, the tracker releases the black dove telling Medea they've lost Hero & Co. Medea tosses together a bunch of blood and shells and potpourri on an altar and summons a half-naked nymph. Meanwhile, Lykos gets an awesome new sword from Pallas, and Pallas is peer-pressuring him into trying out sitting on the throne when the generals come in with a human sacrifice. Lykos can't go through with stabbing the guy, and runs away. The generals are like, what's with him, and Pallas implies that Lykos wanted to "hold" the guy, not kill him. Pallas rolls with it, bringing Lykos a "scribe" (read: boytoy) named Kimon to serve (and service) him. Pallas strongly implies before leaving them alone to "work on" some "battle plans."

Daedalus bores Hero and Oracle with the legend of his threading a conch shell using an ant. Hero avails himself of the lull and sneaks away, then spots the blue nymph Medea summoned (and is manipulating) amidst the trees. Hero approaches the nymph and is promptly ensorcelled. Medea pulls the nymph away. Hero gives chase. Fortunately, Daedalus tackles him, Oracle punches him out, and the nymph vanishes. Medea rages…then asks Pallas for a special detail to hunt for Hero. He's like, you'll have to clear it with Lykos. Medea's all, as if, and tries to interrupt Lykos' strategy sesh with the generals, but he dismisses her condescendingly, which is hilarious but will totally get him killed.

Hero, Oracle, and Daedalus reach a dangerous crossing, and Hero wants to go on alone. Oracle reminds him she's saved his life twice; Daedalus doubts he can find the Ring on his own. They all start across, Hero almost wiping out on the third jump, and as he clambers up, everything freezes: a nearby bee, Oracle, Daedalus, everything. He's again transported into the stars, and the creature he saw before -- the Minotaur? It has horns and is angry, is all we know -- warns him off while throttling him. With Cyrus and the trackers drawing closer, everything unfreezes, and Hero grumbles that the gods don't want him to find the Ring.

Medea tends to Aegeus. A white dove lands on the windowsill. Medea goes to confront Lykos about talking in the meeting and to guilt-trip him about undermining Aegeus. He might beat Minos a few times, but the royal court is a snake pit he can't handle. She leaves, and Lykos marvels to Kimon that he finally has her respect.

And Hero, Oracle, and Daedalus contemplate a dangerous climb down a cliff that's actually a hand carved from the rock.