Content warning: This article contains mentions of violence.
There are a few things I want to get out of the way before I begin this article:Â
- For those who are unaware, the female lead of Percy Jackson and The Olympians, Annabeth Chase, is played by Leah Sava Jeffries. Leah was only 12 at the time of filming and received an egregious amount of hate online because she, a Black girl, was cast as a character who had been described as white in the books. I want to make it clear that my gripe with the show has nothing to do with Leah’s casting. She is Annabeth Chase. If you watch any interview with her, it’s as if the character has stepped right off the page. If you are looking for me to tear her apart for “inaccurate” casting, then this article is not for you.
- Within this article, PJO will refer to the book series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, not the Disney+ show.
- The purpose of this article is not to say that you can’t like this show, or to attack fans of the show. If you enjoy it, I’m happy for you!
I wish I could say the same.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Percy Jackson. When I tell you I am a die-hard fan, I mean it with the deepest sincerity. Like many others, my journey with the franchise began in middle school. While I was too deep into my Harry Potter obsession to truly appreciate PJO at the time, I was still hurt by the film adaptation’s butchery of the source material (sorry to hit a sore spot, book fans). I read through the first series, then swiftly moved on to my Twilight phase.
Fast forward to recent years. The Disney+ adaptation of PJO was announced in 2020. At first, I was passively interested and decided to reread the first book before the show came out. I didn’t get around to doing so until 2022, but rereading Percy Jackson and the Olympians when I did allowed me to truly fall in love with it.Â
At the same time as I was rediscovering these books, I was diagnosed with Functional Movement Disorder, a neurological condition that causes me to have tics (involuntary movements). I have had a very difficult time coming to terms with this. I wanted to hide it, to ignore it, to stifle it until it went away. Trying to suppress tics often makes them worse, so you can imagine how well that went. I was terrified of people seeing me as weird or different if I accepted that this was actually happening to me.Â
But then I decided to revisit PJO for the first time in five years. Suddenly there were all these characters I loved: Percy, Silena, Clarisse, and Beckondorf, all bad*ss monster fighters with wit, charm, and courage, and all of whom were neurodivergent. Suddenly, I wasn’t alone. Here were all of these awesome kids whose brains happened to work differently than everyone else’s, just like mine. I may not have dyslexia or ADHD, but Rick Riordan’s portrayal of these traits allowed me to accept my own neurodivergence. Because of this, PJO and its characters hold a very special place in my heart.
So, you can imagine how excited I was for the book series I adore to finally be done justice on screen, as promised by Rick Riordan (the author) himself.
You can also imagine how absolutely heartbroken I was when the show, once again, failed the source material.
Why The Show Failed
1. The Loss of Persassy Jackson
If you are a fan of the books, chances are you’re familiar with this nickname and understand how fitting it is. Percy Jackson is “a troubled kid,” a demigod, somewhat of a delinquent, and, above all else, a comedian. He is undeniably hilarious and unrelentingly snarky in the way only a middle schooler with a sh*tty life can be. One of the best parts of the series is getting to read all of his brutal remarks in his internal monologues. A favorite example of mine is:
Another character: “Do you have anything to declare?”
Percy: “Yes, I declare this is stupid.” (“The Son of Neptune”, Heroes of Olympus #2)
Percy’s sense of humor sets him apart from other boring protagonists who deliver their stories monotonically. It allows us to relate to him and understand him better as a character. The jokes not only make the books more enjoyable to read, but they also help lift the tone from the heavy subject matter: a child constantly fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the face of parental neglect and loss of innocence. Percy needs his humor. Without it, he goes from a beloved comedian to a whiny, annoying main character, and the story is dragged down with him.
2. Percy the Know-It-All
In “The Lightning Thief”, the only knowledge Percy has of Greek mythology is from his Latin class. Much like in Harry Potter, we get to explore the world of Greek gods and myths alongside him. Percy is just as clueless as us, which allows him to explore, make mistakes, and of course, tell jokes. He learns about the world he is randomly thrown into through trial and error and through Annabeth, who keeps us entertained by constantly getting annoyed at Percy’s naivety. However, in the show, Percy’s mother Sally has told him all about Greek mythology (despite her wanting to keep him in the “normal” world with her for as long as possible). Does this make sense? No. But, I digress.
Annabeth “Wise Girl” Chase is a daughter of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. Unlike Percy and most other characters, she does not have supernatural powers beyond the ones all demigods have (an innate ability to read Ancient Greek, battle reflexes, and the ability to see magical mythological happenings). Annabeth’s expertise is her superpower. By taking this away, Annabeth’s only purpose in the story is as Percy’s love interest. This is a shame, because I always found it refreshing how Annabeth was a vital and interesting character in the books outside of her relationship to Percy. Also, a common indicator that things are really bad is when Annabeth doesn’t know something. That’s basically a cue that the characters are screwed. Since everyone knows everything in the show, this phenomenon no longer exists.
The show kills the fun of figuring out how the mythological world works along with Percy. Instead, the audience is simply told things. Over. And over. And over.Â
3. Tell & Tell
Yes, the target audience for PJO is middle school-aged children. No, that doesn’t mean you have to spoon-feed them every bit of information. A recurring aspect of the show is “exposition dumps”, or long stretches of dialogue in which characters drop lore for the show or universe they are in. While vital and digestible when used sparingly, exposition dumps become fatiguing quickly. Imagine how boring it would be to watch a show where exposition dumps happen at least once in almost every single scene and last several minutes. Oh wait, you don’t have to imagine! You can just watch the Percy Jackson and The Olympians show.
Of course, this could have been remedied by including just as many well-choreographed action sequences (which PJO has no lack of).
The Percy Jackson and the Olympians show doesn’t follow that advice; instead, we get even more exposition dumps. We also get cut-to-blacks with implied action happening off screen, and even characters performing long, unnecessary monologues. This is exactly what fans of the action-fueled books meant to hold the attention of children with ADHD want!
A perfect example of the show telling instead of showing happens at the beginning of episode 7, “We Find Out the Truth”.
In the show, Percy, Annabeth, and their third companion Grover, enter a waterbed store meant to hold the entrance to the Underworld. Percy walks into the shop and talks to — sorry, I meant at — the owner, Crusty. He tells him how he knows who he is in mythology, how he tricks people into laying on cursed beds to kill them, blah, blah, blah. Crusty tries to talk Percy into trying a waterbed before Annabeth pushes him onto one and Crusty becomes trapped in a cocooned blanket. Then, the group enters the Underworld.
In the book, they enter the shop seeking shelter after being attacked by a gang of random kids. The trio has no idea who Crusty is or what his intentions are. He pretends to sell them waterbeds, using this to trick Annabeth and Grover into lying on the beds. Ropes spring out of the mattresses, trying to stretch the 12-year-olds out to fit the 6-foot-long beds. After Crusty reveals his true name to be Procrustes, Percy recalls the story from Latin class in one short yet effective sentence. He then pretends to be interested in the beds, providing hilarious dialogue, and asks Crusty to lie down and show Percy the quality of his product. Percy activates the ropes on Crusty’s bed, holding him in place as he begs for his life, and eventually beheads him. After freeing Annabeth and Grover, he makes a remark about how they look taller.
This scene is important, as it shows Percy’s dark side that will be further developed later on. The show dumbs it down, removes the action, and just makes it boring to witness.Â
Why I Have Hope For Season 2
The cast is amazing.
I cannot sing the praises of this cast enough. They single-handedly made this show bearable for me to watch.Â
Walker Scobell absolutely kills it as Percy. A perfect example of this is the scene in episode 1 in which Percy discovers that his father is a Greek god. Walker perfectly delivers comedic lines like, “You fell in love with God? Like… Jesus?” as well as emotional ones such as, “There’s something wrong with my brain.” Both he and scene partner Virginia Kull perfectly embody their characters in this scene. Their passionate delivery had me engrossed in the scene (and sobbing by the end of it).
As stated before, Leah is Annabeth. She kills it.
Aryan Simhadri as Grover is, in my opinion, an improvement from the books. Don’t get me wrong, I love book Grover. But Aryan’s performance gives the comedic relief, doormat-esque character a backbone and a cleverness that makes him more interesting. Of course, Aryan is also fantastic at being comedic relief.
Dior Goodjohn somehow made me love Clarisse more. I didn’t think that was possible. She perfectly captured the character’s ferocity while adding her own charisma, and made me feel genuinely scared of her. No notes, she killed it.
Charlie Bushnell made me understand the appeal of Luke. I never liked the character, nor understood how easily he could manipulate those around him. Charlie enforces the character with so much charisma I almost forgot how much I hate him.
The show displays hints of promise, with the few jokes it does include being very funny, the few action sequences well-choreographed, and as I said before, a stellar cast.
As a fan who loves this franchise and wants it to be done right, I truly hope that season 2 builds on its merits and revises its wrongdoings.
P.S.- If you are craving a good PJO adaptation, I highly recommend the musical!