The Millennials had Harry Potter; now, Gen Z has Percy Jackson. “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”, the TV series recently released on Disney Plus, is becoming a Gen Z classic. Based on the popular book series of the same name by author Rick Riordan, the show centers around the 12-year-old Percy Jackson, who discovers he is not a regular human being but a demigod: half-mortal and half-god. Viewers follow Percy as he adventures on a mighty quest to retrieve the thunderbolt of the Greek god Zeus, amidst a dangerous new world of power-hungry gods and vicious monsters hidden within ours.
Following a controversial movie adaptation of the books in 2010, Percy Jackson readers have been eagerly waiting for a series that fulfills their desire to see their favorite demigods on the silver screen. The series, announced in 2021, seemed to be a second chance for Hollywood to create the perfect Percy Jackson adaptation. But, is this long-awaited show the one we’ve been hoping for?
As an avid fan of the books, this show was both delighting and disappointing. Primarily, seeing my favorite characters brought to life by some amazing actors was so much fun. The visual effects for the episodes were seamless, and the music was evocative. However, the show suffered from an abundance of exposition, rushed pacing and poor lighting that took away from the feelings of suspense, thrill and adventure that made the books so special.
To be more specific, the casting and acting for this show is absolutely brilliant. Leah Sava Jeffries, who plays the smart and witty Annabeth Chase, depicts the progression of her character exceedingly well and has been nominated for a NAACP Image Award for her role. Aryan Simhadri, a musical theater prodigy, is uniquely wholesome and funny as Grover Underwood. Moreover, all the gods absolutely delivered with their performances. They were simultaneously terrifying, yet majestic and awe-inspiring (except for Hermes and Hades).
However, the star of the show, when it comes to acting, is definitely none other than Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson. Although Walker is no novice at acting — he starred alongside Ryan Reynolds in “The Adam Project’’ prior to the show — his performance was surprisingly poignant and nuanced. Walker’s Percy is fiercely loyal, selfless and, of course, sassy; it’s no surprise that fans fondly refer to Percy as ‘Persassy’.
I did have an issue concerning the acting, but it has nothing to do with the actors, but rather the material the actors had to work with. I’m talking about the writing. At times, when characters are speaking, the dialogue sounds like they are quite literally reading straight out of a book. It’s clunky, unnatural and, more often than not, boring.
This pattern of awkward dialogue is at its worst when characters recite exposition for minutes on end. This is a common trend with most live action adaptations; it’s as if the writers and directors of this show blatantly ignored the age-old principle that all good storytellers follow: Show, don’t tell. The show’s tendency to tell information, rather than show, hurts the overall feel of the series, because it reduces the emotions, suspense and thrill of the action in the episodes.
Another obstacle to viewing the action sequences was the horrendous lighting. I had to turn up the brightness of my TV and switch it to “vivid” mode to even understand what was going on in certain scenes. Beyond that, I also disliked the clumsy editing, occasionally random camera angles and unnecessary cut-to-blacks, that were all too common in the show.
However, aside from the poor editing and exposition dumps, what drew me back to the show, every Tuesday night, was the emotional core of the series. Each episode does a really great job of developing Percy as a character and letting viewers understand who he is. Yes, Percy can be impertinent, hot-tempered and even reckless. Yet, given a chance, he would do anything, even sacrifice his life, for his friends. In the face of danger, even when Percy himself is afraid, he always chooses to be brave for others.
Percy’s selflessness and courage is, in part, due to the influence of his mother, Sally Jackson, played by Virginia Kull. Their relationship is the heart of the series. From a young age, Sally teaches Percy what it means to be a hero. She teaches him to be inquisitive, curious, and have courage in himself. This plays a huge part later in the series, especially in the finale, as we can see that Percy is never afraid to question the inequalities and absurdities of the cruel society he’s been thrown into. The values he imbibed from his mother are exactly what makes him stand out in this dark mythological world of violence and corruption.
Overall, while I do take issue with the show’s method of storytelling, I enjoyed the essence of the story itself. I would give it six and a half stars out of ten.
It’s not to say that the show is downright bad. It definitely has potential. There are some excellent, albeit few, scenes in the show that do have amazing cinematography and really hit you in the feels. I hope that, in the future, directors, writers and producers can take a look at what they did right with the first season of this show and take constructive criticism from the viewers to understand what they could improve on. Now that the series has been renewed for a second season, I have high (but not too high) hopes that the second season will be even better than the first. I will definitely be tuning in to see the episodes whenever it comes out!
