While the 2010 film based on Rick Riordan’s “The Lightning Thief” could at best be described as a cinematic catastrophe, fans can be assured that the 2023-2024 tv show “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” Season 1 is a masterpiece.
The series almost perfectly recreates the original novel, from the age appropriate actors to the bright colors and bustling atmosphere of Camp Half Blood, fans new and old will feel completely immersed in Percy’s world. The casting for the show was fantastic. Walker Scobell (Percy), Leah Jeffries (Annabeth), and Aryan Simhadri (Grover) were perfect choices for the main trio and work together incredibly well on screen. Scobell’s facial expressions throughout the show are especially priceless and very true to character. The series also does a very good job of establishing the world of Percy Jackson for newcomers, while still building tension even for those who’ve reread the books ten times. This is especially true for Percy’s resentment towards his dad and his loss of his mom, even for viewers who know how both arcs get resolved.
Overall, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” Season 1 stays very true to the original novel. Both the general plot and character motivations stay the same. I was especially happy to see Annabeth was just as badass in the show as she is in the books after the atrocities done to her character in the film versions.
That said, there were quite a few changes from the novel to the series, however all only served to improve the story, not take away from it. The series asks a question not present in the original novel: who are the real monsters? One of the first times this appears is in the Medusa encounter. In the original novel, Medusa is portrayed as just another monster in Percy’s way that needs to be defeated. This completely ignores Medusa’s origin story, where she is a priestess of Athena who is raped by Poseidon. Athena blames Medusa for defiling her temple, even though Medusa had no control over the situation, and curses her to have snake hair and turn people into stone with her gaze. In the series, the horrors Medusa endured are acknowledged. Medusa is given a chance to tell her own story, reminding the audience that monsters are not one dimensional, and might not be monsters at all. Percy is sympathetic to Medusa, and while he ultimately disagrees with her plan, he understands where she is coming from. This is a huge improvement from the original novel, making the story much more sensitive and thoughtful. This idea, that monsters shouldn’t be taken at face value, appears again and again throughout the series, notably in the Echidna and Medusa encounters as well as Sally’s motivations for waiting to send Percy to Camp. It adds a whole new layer of meaning to Percy Jackson and draws attention to how cruel, and often monstrous, the gods were in the original myths Percy Jackson is based on.
There are also a few more minor changes that added humor to the series. During the capture the flag scene, while Percy is waiting for something to happen, we get a lovely montage of sleeping, peeing, finding a lizard, and altogether being a twelve year old boy. Another scene was added, after the Lotus Casino encounter, where Percy tries and essentially fails to drive a car out of a parking garage. Both of these scenes were absolutely hilarious and added a touch of light heartedness.
After watching all eight episodes of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” Season 1, I only had two complaints. First, while I appreciated the end credits scene where Gabe gets turned into stone by Medusa’s head, I was a little disappointed that Sally wasn’t the one to wield the head, like in the original novel. Instead it was just sitting in a box, which was much more anticlimactic and much less epic. I was also disappointed that in the scene where Percy figures out that Luke betrayed him, they just have a swordfight instead of Luke siccing a scorpion on Percy, which would have been much more fun and exciting for viewers.
All in all, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” Season 1 was a spectacular watch full of humor, nostalgia, and magic, 4.9 out of 5 stars. Now all that’s left to do is wait for Season 2!
