After its release on December 20, 2023, the first season of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV show garnered attention from fans of the book series worldwide, surpassing over twenty million viewers almost instantly. Much of this anticipation was from fans of Rick Riordan’s book series, who were hoping for a redemption after the notoriously mediocre movies released in 2010 and 2013. This was primarily because Riordan stated that he would be very involved in its production. Each episode of the series was released weekly on Disney+, where fans eagerly waited to see if the production level, including special effects, matched its funding at around $12-15 million per episode.
The first season, consisting of 8, roughly 30 minute episodes, covers the plot of the first book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series: The Lightning Thief. The main character, Percy Jackson, has just discovered his demigod identity and has to go on a quest to save his mother from the ruthless, mythical monsters he once believed to be fiction– oh, and save the world from his Titan grandfather in the process. Although Riordan attempted to stay mostly true to the novels, there were large plot holes in the movie that did not satisfy viewers.
As for my opinion, I would summarize it as mixed. One positive aspect of the show is that Riordan stayed true to age when casting the trio (Annabeth, Percy, and Grover), providing a more innocent, inexperienced air to the script that an older cast would not have been able to recreate. This may seem negative at first, but considering how young the main trio was supposed to be in the books, the show did an excellent job of capturing their hesitation and confusion. Additionally, Jeffries, Scobell, and Simhadri, who acted as each member of the trio respectively, delivered their lines with passion and emotion, considerably adding dimension to the somewhat unenthusiastic script. Fans of the books took to social media to agree with this theory, and thousands of edits took to TikTok and Instagram only within a few minutes of the show’s release– mostly highlighting the actors and their dynamics rather than some of the more dramatic scenes that readers once loved but believed that the show failed to capture.
For instance, one particular scene that readers and movie-watchers adamantly held onto was the “Lotus Casino Scene,” where Annabeth, Percy, and Grover fall into a trance at a Las Vegas Casino and lose track of time– distracting them from their main quest. The montage of this scene is meant to be filled with excitement, intrigue, and tension, which is one of the only things that the movie accurately portrays. On the other hand, the show focuses on this scene for less than a few minutes, playing a low-energy song in the background, and the main trio figures out that they are under the influence of the casino in less than no time. Unfortunately, this is not the only scene that the show simply skipped over. As a whole, the show lacked a lot of the anticipation and suspense that the books effectively conveyed, especially considering how the main characters would figure out solutions to their problems extremely fast– eliminating a lot of the excitement that came with their thinking process. This is also partially due to the poor special effects scattered throughout the show, which caused other fans to express their curiosity about where much of the $15 budget went if not into flair. In Percy’s first “grand” fight with an Olympian, he is able to defeat the larger deity in less than a few minutes, and the special effects did not accurately portray the intensity of the original fight. Percy was supposed to be filled with fear, and his actions were meant to corroborate that; Scobell stayed cool and calm in his acting, instilling viewers with a sense of confidence rather than anxiety about his survival.
As a whole, the show featured both positive aspects of the book, as well as major plot holes. If the plot was not as rushed, I would say that it would have been much more effective in conveying some of the tension the show lacked, and correspondingly its appeal. As an avid fan of the books, I was disappointed with the show’s production and was really looking forward to an improved, realistic portrayal of the movies. On the other hand, if you have no such qualms about accuracy and intensity, I would definitely recommend the show as an introduction to the Greek mythology universe.
