Let's Finish EPIC: The Musical (Part 2)
Wrapping up one of my favorite musicals ever!
Hello, friends, and welcome back to my two-part, two-week series about EPIC: The Musical! This is all about the latter half of EPIC, Act 2, so if you haven’t read my post about Act 1, then you might want to read that first!
Before we get started, however, here’s a quick disclaimer:
⚠️ This musical has lots of PG-13 content, including blood, gore, death, some swear words, a few creepy people, and mature connotations. I do not endorse any of this content, but I will say that it does make the moral of the musical stronger. Nevertheless, if this makes you uncomfortable, I recommend not listening to it. ⚠️
Alright, that being said…let’s dive in! I’ve divided the sagas up into individual songs for optimal listening (with commentary and an animated drawing of the song called an animatic) but if you prefer listening to the whole playlist, I’ve linked the entire second act at the bottom of the post!
Quick Summary:
When we left off, Odysseus was on his way back home to Ithaca. After making a few bad decisions, he ended up in the Underworld, where he just embraced ruthlessness to combat all of the monsters he’s been facing.
EPIC: The Thunder Saga
Suffering: Away from the Underworld and back on the seas, on his boat, Odysseus encounters Penelope, his wife, who begs him to jump in the water so they can be together with their daughter. Odysseus asks Penelope how to get past Poseidon, and she tells him the only way forward is through the lair of Scylla, a sea monster who was cursed by Circe. She begs him again to jump in the water, and Odysseus says that he would do anything for her…
audio:
animatic:
Different Beast: Odysseus shoots Penelope with a bow and arrow, telling her that she is NOT his wife because he doesn’t have a daughter. Fake-Penelope reveals that she is a siren, who lures men from their ships and drowns them. Odysseus says that he and his crew stuffed their ears with beeswax and read the siren’s lips to know how to avoid Poseidon. He reveals the rest of the sirens trapped in a net and uses his ruthlessness, telling his crew to throw them back in the water without their tails.
audio:
animatic:
Scylla: Odysseus and his crew enter Scylla’s lair, where Eurylochus (Odysseus’s second-in- command) cracks and reveals that he opened the wind bag when Odysseus was asleep. Odysseus, hurt, tells Eurylochus to light six torches, and as soon as he does that, the sea monster known as Scylla appears. She wraps around the boat and takes the six men holding the torches, then tells Odysseus that they are the same.
audio:
animatic:
Mutiny: As soon as they leave Scylla’s lair, Eurylochus confronts Odysseus, blaming him for the death of the six crew members. His crew mutinies, tying Odysseus up and knocking him out. When Odysseus wakes up, they’ve crashed on an island with a ton of cows. Odysseus tries to reason with Eurylochus and the crew to not kill one of the cows because they’re probably immortal, but Eurylochus doesn’t listen. Odysseus figures out how to untie himself and commands his crew to row away from the island, but before they get very far, Zeus appears in the sky.
audio:
animatic:
Thunder Bringer: Zeus is infuriated with Odysseus and asks him to choose between the crew and himself, because one of them has to die. Odysseus sees a vision of Penelope in the sky and chooses himself. As Eurylochus and the rest of the crew rush at Odysseus, ready to attack, Zeus strikes lightning down at the boat, saving Odysseus and leaving the rest to a watery fate.
audio:
animatic:
EPIC: The Wisdom Saga
Legendary: In Ithaca, we meet Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, who longs to know what happened to his father and wants to fight monsters and be brave like his father was. He explains that it’s been 20 years since his father left and there’s been a king, and that his house is full of suitors who want to desperately marry Penelope. One of them, Antinous, is tired of waiting, and says some very rude things to Telemachus, who decides to fight Antinous.
audio:
animatic:
Little Wolf: Antinous and Telemachus face off, and Antinous beats the snot out of Telemachus. Telemachus tries desperately to fight back, to no avail. Suddenly Athena steps in, invisible to Antinous and the suitors, and helps Telemachus fight back. Telemachus loses, but not by much. Antinous, disgusted, tells Telemachus that his mother needs to pick a new husband or bad things will happen to her.
Audio:
animatic:
We’ll Be Fine: Telemachus asks Athena why she helped him, and Athena tells Telemachus about her friendship with Odysseus and how she couldn’t keep ignoring people who were in need, like Telemachus. Telemachus encourages her to find out what happened to Odysseus, without knowing she is talking about his father.
Audio:
Animatic:
Love In Paradise: Athena decides to find out what happened to Odysseus and dives through his memories: Aeolus giving him the wind bag, Poseidon destroying the fleet, Circe fighting him, Tiresias in the Underworld, the sirens, Scylla, and his crew being destroyed. She wonders where he went before we are plunged back into Odysseus’ memories once again.
Odysseus washes up on a shore and meets the goddess Calypso, who immediately falls in love with him and tells him he can never leave. Odysseus is trapped there for seven years, trying to find a way out. He contemplates everyone he’s lost one rainy day, standing at the edge of a cliff, falling into despair. He cries out for Athena, who realizes she needs to help him.
Audio:
Animatic:
God Games: Athena appears before Zeus in Mount Olympus and asks for permission to free Odysseus. Zeus says she can only obtain permission by winning arguments by some of the other gods: Apollo, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Ares, and Hera. Athena goes from god to goddess, changing their minds. When she gets back to Zeus, he declines, becoming all-powerful and angrily striking her down. Athena begs Zeus to let Odysseus go before everything goes black.
Audio:
Animatic:
EPIC: The Vengeance Saga
Not Sorry For Loving You: On Calypso’s island, Odysseus is shocked when Calypso tells him that he is going to leave. She apologizes for how she’s acted the last seven years, but breaks down, telling him that she still loves him very deeply and she wishes he could love her back. Odysseus tells her that he DOES love her, just not in the way she wants. Calypso laments at why she fell in love with him as Odysseus sails away.
Audio:
Animatic:
Dangerous: Hermes shows up on Odysseus’s boat and tells him that he was the one to talk to Calypso and that this is his last chance to get home. Odysseus resolves to be ruthless and do whatever it takes to get there, and Hermes shows him a new wind bag, telling him to NOT open it, because then he’ll never get home.
Audio:
Animatic:
Charybdis: Odysseus fights the monster Charybdis, who sucks ships up with her whirlpool mouth. Odysseus waits until she loses her breath and heads towards Ithaca. He’s so excited to get there, but before he reaches land, a giant person rises out of the water…
Audio:
Animatic:
Get In The Water: Poseidon appears and tells Odysseus that if he doesn’t get in the water and drown, he will destroy Ithaca, Penelope, and Telemachus. Odysseus tries to reason with him, to no avail. Poseidon uses his godly powers to drown Odysseus, who hears Polites, his mother, and all of his crewmates pulling him down. He’s going to die, so close to home…
Audio:
Animatic:
Six Hundred Strike: Odysseus spies the wind bag through his blurring vision and grabs it, using it as a jetpack. The wind bag propels him to the surface of the water, where he uses it to fight Poseidon. Poseidon remarks that Odysseus will never get home now, because he opened the bag, but Odysseus threatens him with Poseidon’s own trident and makes the sea god call off the storm.
Audio:
*Note: the following animatic gets messy with some graphic images, so the artist put a warning in the video right before the scary part. Proceed with caution.*
Animatic:
EPIC: The Ithaca Saga
The Challenge: We meet Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, who wakes up to yet another day without her husband. She explains that the suitors are pressuring her to pick a new husband, but she’s been rebelling by unravelling the shroud she’s weaving for Odysseus every night. Penelope remarks on the storm she saw the day before and decides it’s time to do her challenge, which says that whoever can string Odysseus’ old bow through twelve axes cleanly will be her new husband. Penelope, however, is still holding out hope for Odysseus, even though her hope is slowly ebbing away.
(Side note: This is one of my favorite songs!)
Audio:
Animatic:
Hold Them Down: The suitors, having tried to string Odysseus’ bow, are all discontent. Antinous decides it’s time to revolt. He explains that first he’s going to get rid of Telemachus, and then do awful things to Penelope without her consent. Before he can enact these plans, however, he is ended by Odysseus, who gets in position to take on the rest of the suitors.
Audio:
Animatic:
Odysseus: Odysseus says that he has had enough of the suitors desecrating his house and starts picking them off, one by one. We move from group to group of suitors, all trying to find a way out and all being ended before they can do so. One such group finds themselves in the unlocked weapons room, where Odysseus has stashed all their weapons so they can’t fight back. Telemachus, who accidentally unlocked it, tries taking them on, but there’s too many of them, and one of them uses Telemachus as bait for Odysseus. But before Telemachus can be killed, Odysseus appears, filled with rage, and gets rid of all the suitors.
*Note: the following animatic gets messy with some graphic images. Proceed with caution.*
Audio:
Animatic:
I Can’t Help But Wonder: Telemachus finds his father and begins to talk to him, explaining that he never thought he would see Odysseus in his life. Odysseus and Telemachus embrace, before Telemachus leaves to find Penelope. Athena shows up and says that maybe Odysseus was right and that empathy is better than ruthlessness. Odysseus disagrees with her, but before she leaves, he says that he hopes she will make that kind of world one day. Telemachus returns and tells Odysseus that Penelope is ready to see him.
Audio:
Animatic:
Would You Fall In Love With Me Again: Odysseus and Penelope finally meet after 20 long years. Penelope’s ecstatic, but Odysseus believes he does not deserve her after his transformation into a monster. As he explains what he’s done to get back home, Penelope tricks him into revealing that their wedding bed is carved into the tree where they first met. She tells him that she will always love him, no matter how different he is or how long it’s been, and they finally have their happy ending.
Audio:
Animatic:
If you don’t want to listen to the audio (or watch the animatics) separately, here’s the entirety of the second act!
– end of act 2 –
Thoughts:
I love Act 2 so much! While some parts of it (like the extreme violence) are not my favorites, I really love that this act captures how Odysseus had to adapt in order to survive. While it’s not an ideal situation, it’s presented so clearly through the musical.
Easter Eggs/Goofs:
The epic choir in No Longer You is chanting “Siren song, Scylla throat, mutiny, lightning bolt, hurt Poseidon, kill all the suitors for love,” referring to Suffering, Scylla, Mutiny, Thunder Bringer, Six Hundred Strike, and Odysseus.
The second chorus of No Longer You refers to events in Act 2: “I see a song of past romance (Suffering), I see the sacrifice of man (Scylla), I see portrayals of betrayal (Mutiny), and a brother’s final stand (Thunder Bringer). I see you on the brink of death (on the cliff in Love In Paradise), I see you draw your final breath (Get In The Water). I see a man who gets to make it home alive, but it’s no longer you. (Odysseus)”
Similar to the Odysseus chant in Odysseus, the epic choir sings “Odysseus” in No Longer You.
The same electric guitar growl can be found in the beginning of Monster and Odysseus.
Thanks for reading these two (very long) posts about EPIC! I’m so glad we got to go on this Odyssey (wink) together! Let me know your favorite songs or parts of either act in the comments below, and have a wonderful day!
*******************************************************************************************
Thank you for reading The Kindness Cafe! Please subscribe to receive new posts and support my journey!
Disclaimer: if you are under the age of 18, please get parental permission before subscribing.