“Percy Jackson” Makes a Splash

Have you ever wondered what the Ancient Greek gods would do if they were real? For 12-year-old Percy Jackson, they live in New York City on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building, and one of them just so happens to be his father. 

Season one of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” based on Rick Riordan’s award-winning book series of the same title, depicts the events occurring in book one, “The Lightning Thief.” After two terribly adapted yet somewhat loveable movie adaptations in 2010 and 2013, this TV show finally brings us a more accurate book-to-screen adaptation of the widely cherished book series. 

When a class field trip to the Met goes wrong, the troubled Percy Jackson finds himself expelled from yet another school. Percy’s mother, Sally, reveals to him on a weekend trip that the Greek gods are real—and one of them is father. A knock on the door reveals Percy’s best friend Grover Underwood, except something is off: Grover is in his true satyr form, complete with a pair of furry goat legs and horns. Percy ends up at Camp Half-Blood, a sanctuary for fellow demigod children, and learns that his father is Poseidon, god of the sea. Unfortunately, trouble is stirring in the godly world: someone has stolen Zeus’s master bolt, and Zeus is furious. In order to avert war, Percy, with the help of Grover and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, embarks on a challenging quest to the Underworld to find and return the bolt to Zeus before the summer solstice.

While the show had several changes, it still retained most of the overall plot and spirit of the original book. The biggest contributor to this was the casting of the show. Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson) perfectly captured the goofy, loveable personality of Percy as he was written in the books. Additionally, Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood) and Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) excellently depicted the nature of their respective characters, and their characters’ relationships to Percy. Despite an incredible onslaught of backlash against Jeffries being casted, with many people objecting to a Black actress playing Annabeth, Jeffries’ portrayal flawlessly conveyed her stubborn, determined nature. 

One of the few downfalls of the show was that it was slightly censored. This may have been partially due to the show being aired by Disney+, which has to maintain a certain level of appropriateness. For example, the books described Percy’s stepfather Gabe as being literally abusive, while the show just made him seem annoying. There were also certain fight sequences which I found slightly underwhelming.  Additionally, some episodes seemed to be very short with some being only around 30 minutes, which was disappointing because it made them feel rushed. 

Despite a few tweaks, the show as a whole was incredibly well done. As a longtime fan of the book series, I was extremely pleased with how the show came together. Even for those who have not read the books, it is definitely worth watching. All eight episodes are now available to stream on Disney+, and the show has just been renewed for a second season depicting the events of the second book, the “Sea of Monsters.”