This review of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series premiere contains spoilers.
There’s so much to like in the first two episodes of Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians — namely, that it follows the book pretty closely. This shouldn’t be that big of a bar to clear. But back in 2010, the first attempt at a Percy Jackson film adaptation, The Lightning Thief, decided to wing it by seemingly throwing the source material out the window. However, just because the Disney+ show is sticking to Rick Riordan’s book doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Issues of exposition and pacing are apparent, but by and large, it’s a solid start.
Classic coming-of-age set up
Percy Jackson and the Olympians follows 12-year-old Percy (Walker Skobell) who goes to a private school in New York and only has one friend, Grover (Aryan Simhadri). On a field trip to the museum, Percy is attacked by his math teacher who turns out to be one of the furies — a large, winged-bat creature that works for Hades, god of the Underworld. But no one sees it happen, and in the aftermath, Percy’s fellow classmates don’t recall having a math teacher.
This mystery sets Percy on a path to discovering his true identity as a demigod, a child of one of the Greek gods and goddesses. In modern day, the Greek gods and goddesses have relocated to America. Along with the other creatures of Greek mythology — like the furies — the mist shields them from discovery from the rest of the world. Unless you’re a demigod, the Greek legends pass you by unnoticed. Like Percy, demigods exhibit traits of dyslexia and ADHD in the real world, but through the mist, these qualities make them demigods.
Enter the (demi)gods
The first two episodes, “I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algerbra Teacher” and “I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom,” were written by creators Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg and directed by James Bobin. Because different creatures are after him, the safest place for Percy to be is Camp Half-Blood, where the other demigods stay under the supervision of the Greek god Dionysus (a fantastically casted Jason Mantzoukas), the god of grape-harvest, wine, orchards, fertility, madness, religious ecstasy, and theater, and Chiron (Glynn Turman), the centaur born to Kronos and who also trained other Greek heroes like Hercules, Jason, and Achilles. Camp Half-Blood has many protective barriers, leaving the demigods safe to train and pay respects to the gods and goddesses.
Camp Half-Blood is like a summer camp, complete with cabins, archery, and games of capture the flag. The demigods stay in one of the twelve cabins, with each cabin corresponding to a different god or goddess. The sons and daughters stay in their respective parents’ cabin, with the exception of the Hermes (the messenger god) cabin, who takes in unclaimed demigods, like Percy.
While the episodes follow the book closely, once Percy arrives at Camp Half-Blood, there’s little time to get acquainted with the camp and other demigods before the episode gets bogged down by plot exposition. Annabeth (Leah Jeffries) takes awhile to properly appear in the second episode after her initial introduction at the top of the episode, though when she does, she’s an immediate powerhouse played wonderfully by Jeffries. The introduction of the cabins would have been a great time to explain all of the gods and goddesses and what traits their children exhibit. However, we’re only introduced to Luke (Charlie Bushnell), son of Hermes, and Clarisse (Dior Goodjohn), daughter of Ares (god of War).
A quest and a prophecy, quickly explained
Just as we’re settling into Camp Half-Blood with Percy, a quest comes calling. Percy also gets claimed by Poseiden, the god of the sea. Evidence of his father was present throughout the episodes; under moments of duress, Percy could manipulate water, though it was always unintentional. The quest involves recovering Zeus’s stolen lightning bolt. All evidence points to Percy. Or, really, Zeus just doesn’t like his brother Poseiden or the fact that Percy exists, so the blame falls to him.
As the son of Poseidon, Percy is considered to be a forbidden child, meaning that the big three gods — Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades — once made a pact to not father anymore children. Percy was born after that pact was made. Zeus believes that Percy stole the bolt for Poseidon as gods cannot steal other gods symbols of power directly.
As the catalyst for the season-long plot, the lightning bolt theft is explained in a rush, as is the prophecy that Annabeth has been waiting for; if you’re not familiar with the books, it’s a messy explanation that’s easy to miss. Plus, Grover throws in another motivation for Percy to join the quest: his mother, who was taken by the minotaur in the first episode, and sent to the Underworld. This kills two birds with one stone — Dionysus (also referred to as Mr. D.) and Chiron believe Hades took the bolt, which means Percy has to go to the Underworld to retrieve it.
A perfect cast
Annabeth is the daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, while Grover is a satyr. Skobell, Simhadri, and Jeffries are already fantastic. The age appropriate casting works so much better with Percy Jackson’s coming-of-age narrative than the film’s aged-up casting.
Simhadri brings boyish charm to Grover; he’s endearing and funny, and handles the heavy amount of exposition dialogue flawlessly. Jeffries embodies Annabeth to a tee; though she has less screen time than Skobell and Simhadri she’s able to confidently bring Annabeth to life in just a few short scenes. And Skobell’s love for the source material is clear at every moment. Grover and Annabeth haven’t shared scenes together yet, but this casting couldn’t be any more perfect.
While the VFX isn’t quite up to par with other shows, the creatures are fully imagined. As Percy, Grover, and Annabeth race across the country, more will follow. Luckily, there are no pearls in sight on this quest. The episode titles get their name from the chapter titles in the book, meaning we’re in for all of the iconic scenes from this first book to come to life on screen. It’s already off to a good start. Now that we’re past a lot of the clumsy exposition moments, hopefully Percy Jackson and the Olympians can settle into itself more smoothly in the coming episodes.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians releases new episodes every Tuesday on Disney+.
Images courtesy of Disney/David Bukach
REVIEW RATING
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'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' series premiere - 7/10
7/10
Katey is co-founder and tv editor for InBetweenDrafts. She hosts the “House of the Dragon After Show” and “Between TV” podcasts and can be read in various other places like Inverse and Screen Speck. She wishes desperately the binge model of tv watching would die, but still gets mad when she runs out of episodes of tv to watch.
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