Ever since the first hints alluding towards a potential television series were dropped, most Percy Jackson and the Olympians fans waited in hopeful, trepidation.
I say trepidation because of the PJO movies (there were only two, for good reason). As a longtime fan myself, I remember watching the first movie adaptation, and it was… not great. The adaptation completely rushed the plot and character development at best, and completely changed it at worst. It failed to deliver the same wonder and excitement as the book did, not to mention that it was barely accurate to the source material. Too many things were put into the first movie, which then made the plot of the second convoluted and negated the original conflict. Rick Riordan criticized the adaptation, and even Logan Lerman, who starred as Percy Jackson, said on multiple occasions that the books deserved a better adaptation than the one given by the movies, so enough said.
On the bright side, the new PJO TV show, written by Rick Riordan and Jonathan Steinberg was released on December 19, 2023, with new episodes landing on Tuesdays at 9 pm EST. And it looks promising. The actors Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri fit together to make an airtight cast, and have a natural dynamic that is evident on screen.
“I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher” starts off with Percy reading the very first line of the book, and a few more lines from the chapter, word for word. The beginning explores how when he was younger, he would see mythogolical figures from his mother’s stories, which had never been explicitly mentioned within the book.
One of the flashbacks that occur within this episode is younger Percy and his mother, looking up at the statue of Perseus holding Medusa’s head at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Percy asks if he was named after the statue because Perseus was a hero, and that he was a hero because he killed monsters. Notably, Percy’s mother says, “Not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero, and not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster.” This, this is important. We’ll come back to this theme in episode 3.
An interesting change in the TV series is all the flashbacks that are shown, which give more insight into Percy’s past. It allows for more opportunities to explore the dynamic with his mother, and how that has come to affect his actions in the present.
Another notable change occurs when Mrs. Dodds reveals herself in the show, she does so in broad daylight, before leaping to pin down Percy. The camera cuts to her face, and the pen that Mr. Brunner had previously given is buried in her chest, as Riptide. The scene itself doesn’t include too much suspense. However, in the books, Percy faces her alone in the museum, with Mr. Brunner briefly rolling in with a “What, ho!” to throw him the pen before disappearing. Percy dodges Mrs. Dodds’s attack, and actively swings the sword at her when she lunges towards him. The tension and action from the source material felt a bit lacking in comparison, but hold onto this thought as well, we’ll explore this in the later episodes.
In the book, Percy eavesdrops on Grover and Mr. Brunner’s conversation as they discussed Percy’s safety. Missing important context, Percy feels hurt that they think he is a danger. This was most likely replaced by the scene of Grover and Percy in the principal’s office as Grover tells on Percy for “shoving” Nancy Bobofit into the fountain in the TV series to recreate the same hurtful misunderstanding.
I asked Cassandra Glow about her initial impression on the TV series, since she performed in the production of The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical. She said, “I was so excited! I had previously seen some of the actors in other projects, and I was excited to see their portrayals of the characters. I was also excited to hear that Rick Riordan would be involved [with the production of TV show] because I knew he would keep the series true to the original books while expanding on certain plot lines as well.” Cassandra told me that she had loved the saga’s themes of friendship and courage, and the message that any kid can be a hero.
All in all, it’s off to a strong start for the first episode, with a record-breaking premiere in its first six days on Disney+ and Hulu with over 13.3 million views, making it the biggest debut for Disney Branded Television and a top five season premiere of 2023 on both platforms. It brings the world and spirit of Percy Jackson alive, and it’s only the beginning.
