It seems like a rite of passage for most people in our generation to have read Percy Jackson as kids. The stories unite a generation and have inspired a whole new generation of Classics students (myself included). For something so formative to us, it makes sense that we are so protective of these words and stories. It is no surprise that fans of the books immediately rejected the movies which, while somewhat enjoyable occasionally, created an entirely new plot and destroyed the novel’s character. Fans were overjoyed when a show was announced, with author Rick Riordan at the helm. The show wrapped up this past week, and while we get over the final episode, here is a brief review of the eight-episode first season.
In terms of the casting, no other people could have played the roles of Percy, Annabeth, and Grover as well as Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri. Each actor completely fell into their roles and exuded the energy of their characters both on and off-screen. Their banter and chemistry as a trio were arguably the greatest part of the show and what made it so compelling. Each of them poured themselves into their roles and displayed immense talent for their young ages. The supporting cast all enhanced the leading trio, with Virginia Kull (Sally Jackson), Charlie Bushnell (Luke Castellan), and Dior Goodjohn (Clarisse LaRue) particularly standing out. The cast made you feel immersed in this world and is what made the show so endearing.
The writing was where some of the weak points of the show started to show. Due to the limited time of episodes, it felt like some of the plots had to be rushed. The trio seemed to figure out the way out of their conflicts with relative ease, and dramatic fight scenes from the novel seemed to last seconds in the show. It would have been nice to possibly change some of the more exposition-dump moments to add in more character work. The books were notorious for being kid’s books that didn’t talk down to people, but the show seemed to do exactly that at times. Despite this, it was nice to see every major moment of the books shown on screen and each scene was extremely well done. Each episode felt fast-paced, and it was almost as if episodes ended in minutes and viewers were left craving the next one each week. Despite some writing flaws, the episodes were well made overall, although occasionally underwhelming.
Overall, this show was just such a wonderful moment of nostalgia. In a time where the older Gen-Z is facing the struggles of adulthood, this show brought back this wonderment we felt as kids. There was something wholesome about sitting with the same people you read Percy Jackson (or wrote poor fanfiction about the novels in notebooks) with and going through that journey again. It was absolutely the highlight of early 2024, and we can’t wait for the second season, which was just renewed on Disney+!
Final Rating: 8.5/10
