Poseidon was pissed 'his son' got mutilated by a mortal and then the said mortal announced it to the whole world that he did it, also Polyphemus prayed to his father to punish Ody. It's his pride as a God, letting Odysseus walked away without punishment was a big NO. IF Polyphemus was killed, no one would have known for the better and he would just be another monster killed by a hero.

just to clarify, athena while she is mostly known as a goddess of war but also popular known as goddess of WISDOM and STRATEGY. so ofc even if the war is over, doesnt make odysseus any less of a warrior of the mind ( since pretty much he's a cunning and a trickster man that  makes it why athena favours him

Fun Fact 2:  A lot of properties, movies, stories and games tackle the idea of what a person has to do or lose to get home and how it changes them to never be the same again.  however, with the final song of Epic the Musical Jorge wanted to tell a different story, the idea that, it doesn't matter what you do to get home, you can back to how you were, because what was needed to survive in the moment doesn't means it undoes what you were before it all began.

Fun fact, this isn't the only rendition of the Odyssey that is a musical.

While it is not the tale of the Odyssey itself, the movie Oh Brother Where art Thou is a movie where the main character starts being away from wife and home for a decade before going through trials and tribulations and hounded by a constant pursuer that mirror different events, aspects and people from the Odyssey itself.  If you've never seen it I would highly recommend it.

ANOTHER SET OF HANDS HAS TOUCHED THE TORCH! WELCOME IN TO THE FANDOM FELLOW WINIONS!

1:30:10  Hermes' Boots were not in the bag, Odysseus used the bag and unleased the storm to propel him out of the water.  A lot of variation occurs for this animatic because the original one was so goofy back when they showed it off, it basically involved Odyssseus wearing the bag like a backpack and then releasing the story to fly around like he had a jet pack, which made a lot of people hard steer away from that concept whenever they could when doing their own versions.

1:34:10 Fun fact about Odysseus' bow it was actually gifted to him.  it was actually a training bow by Heracles.  There are only two people that can wield it, Herecles himself as he has the strength to string the bow. (It was said the bow had a 600 pound draw weight.)  And Odysseus, who could not string the bow with strength alone but had devised a clever solution that made the effort easier to perform and did not require just strength to do so.

56:50 During the second half of the Prophet after Odysseus demands who the stranger is who approaches his wife, in the quiet chorus int he background you can hear them singing of Future events:  'Siren Song, Scylla Throat, Mutiny, Lightning bolt, Harm Poseidon, Kill all the suitors for love.'  Which means if you have keen ears, you could potentially be spoiled for future events but otherwise creates a fun anticipation for those in know of the musical or the story itself.

Hermes will always be the chillest

1:50:40 It's not just that 10 million people watched a Musical just for the music.  It's that of those 10 million people there are millions of other people who have willingly rewatched the musical several dozens of times to watch other people react to the musical for the first time, and now you have joined that statistic.  I can't speak for others but watching your reaction to Epic marks the 30th video of people reacting to Epic.

Mini Fact:  While not the only reason.  The fact Epic the Musical was finished and known before the Nolan Odyssey movie was released has been a portion of why some people do not like the Nolan film as, while it is an alright retelling of the Odyssey, it isn't on the scope that Epic achieved.

54:00 While not stated within the musical itself it is one of the few implied events from the Odyssey that is assumed people may know but it is eventually revealed significantly later so I will edit this comment with the correct timestamp when i get there.  However, to not leave it mysterious as most people watching this video have watched epic and came here for said reactions, that Storm is the first part of Poseidon's revenge as he conjures the storm to prevent Odysseus from ever making it back to his home island of Ithaca.

53:45  The Ancient Greek definition of hero and heroic is actually slightly different than how we use the word now.  A Greek hero is not just an individual possessed of ability to perform great feats but also possessed of otherworldly arrogance or hubris.  In almost every case of a greek hero, the feats that they accomplish are either the result of them seeking a specific goal, or directly tied to a repercussion for their own decisions and actions.  As great as a king and man as Odysseus was, he was a considerably arrogant man who believed that he could snub even the gods without repercussion because he was strategic and had a sharp wit.

There's actually a greater subtext in the original story that reflects the duality of Polyphemus and the men he terrorized but it isn't connected to Epic the muscial so I will only divulge in the comments if asked.

55:20 Poseidon is the God of the Sea, Earthquakes and Horses.  All of them are interconnected when you think about it but looking at them alone it seems nonsensical.  God of the Sea is the most direct and easy to stand so we will start there.  Following it up with Horses, when you listen to the waves crash against the shore, especially when not directly where the waves break, the distant rumbles sound somewhat similar to the sound of hooves when a horse is in a gallop.  And finally Earthquakes, for whenever the ground quakes, the waves and sea grow violent in the aftermath.  While not a direct thing to happen in Greece but to compare to other events, one of the cause for a tsunami is a tectonic shift which causes displaced water to recede then crash back in a sudden and massive wave.

53:05  Within the mythology and general concepts of ancient greeks it is believed that felling an opponent is a more honorable action than letting him live.  In addition, willingly harming a man to wound and cripple but not kill is seen as you looking down on the foe as unworthy.  'Ruthlessness is Mercy' is to say that killing your foe in the moment is a greater mercy to yourself in the future as a living opponent (especially one that knows your name and kingdom) can find others to seek retribution and your destruction.  

Following a similar vein to this, and just adding it on here, if a body is no burred or given proper rights after death they do not make it to hades and are left to wander the river outside the realm of the dead, often with the only thing on their minds being their final thoughts or words.  This is why Odysseus sees his men when they go to the underworld, and tragically, the only reason he could see his mother.  Edit: 56:25 to summarize how CLOSE Odysseus and his men ad made it to Ithaca before the bag was opened.  The ships were sailing into port and the men could smell the bread baking from the windows of houses as they had almost reached the docks to disembark, upon which the bag was opened and a supernatural storm kicked up and dragged all ships to sea once more.  Odysseus's mother, who was watching from the shores as this happen, having waited to see her son home again, was so convinced the storm had killed her son that she took her life in anguish. (The location and method of how varies in various retellings with some version saying she threw herself from a cliff and others saying she leapt of the docks and drown herself.)

1:19:50  Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Strategy, is the most beloved daughter of Zeus and one he dotes on constantly.  Were this actual mythology there have even bee cases where she defended Zeus of his adultery from Hera, but this doesn't count toward the Epic version of characters but should help give an understanding of how much Athena was favored by him.  To pull from the song itself.  The start of God Games tells Athena she can either go the difficult route and convince 5 other gods to release Odysseus or just confront him directly to do so.  Zeus would have no doubt agreed if Athena asked but also let her challenge others to prove the point.  HOWEVER, the methods used to convince Hera, that Odysseus has never cheated on his wife, flies directly in the face of Zeus and his actions.

His lines about defying him and making him feel shame is because, as overseer to this set of God Games, he saw and heard everything she said.  Openly using his adultery as a demerit for convincing Hera is an act of defiance to the king of the gods.  He's basically throwing a tantrum because Athena aired his dirty, but not so secret, laundry.

Great reaction.  I'm a bit sad it wasn't the full songs but it had all the best beats and your comments the whole way.

My new favorite goobers to react too