‘Percy Jackson And The Olympians’ Episodes 1 And 2 Spoiler Free Review
Image Source: IGN
December 19th gave Percy Jackson fans the surprise they wanted: the drop of the first two episodes of the series on Disney+ which was supposed to premiere at midnight PST on December 20th. Strong hints from Rick Riordan and the actors themselves had fans eagerly watching for the early drop, which was the best holiday present for fans who have waited a long time for a faithful adaptation of their favorite book.
The series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been highly anticipated since author Rick Riordan announced he was directly involved in this adaptation as producer and helping with the writing. There are five planned seasons with each season covering the entirety of one of the books. This gave fans hope that each season would be a more faithful adaptation. While the movies, featuring Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, had some good parts, overall they were huge disappointments for fans of the books, and many lost hope that they would ever see a faithful adaptation. Rick Riordan has been keeping fans updated on the production process throughout, eagerly explaining what he could of his involvement and how excited he was for the series. Since Riordan was directly involved, he was able to reassure fans that any changes to the story were made with his knowledge and approval, and overall, the changes did make sense for a visual medium and helped to enhance the story.
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One of the best features of this show so far is the acting. While many people were upset because Walter Scobell as Percy didn’t have the dark hair and green eyes described in the book, and Leah Jeffries didn’t look anything like Annabeth’s book description, they are the perfect actors for the roles. One of the things that Riordan said around the time casting was starting to be announced was that he wished he had made the books more diverse in the beginning. He was excited he was able to show that more in the series, casting not by what the characters were described to be but by how well each one of them captured their characters and portrayed them the way they were written. Even with the first two episodes, we see that the casting of the main three, Walter as Percy, Leah as Annabeth, and Aryan Simhadri as Grover, was perfect.
They, and all the supporting characters, especially Charlie Bushnell as Luke, Glynn Turman as Chiron, and Jason Mantzoukas as Dionysius, who we are all introduced to at the beginning of the story, perfectly bring their characters to the screen to further immerse the viewer into the world of Greek Gods, Goddesses, and Demigods. One of the things that is hard for adaptations to do is bring the characters to life. Usually, casting is okay, but isn’t always perfect, however, so far, each actor has been able to bring their characters to life straight from page to screen in a way that helps make this adaptation even better.
Image Source: IGN
The production design of the show further brought fans into the story. Camp Half Blood was built and filmed mostly in Vancouver and British Columbia, Canada instead of being filmed in front of a green screen in a studio, which further added to the production value and the feeling of coming home to a familiar and real place for many of the audience. Although, thankfully, the monsters we are already introduced to aren’t real even though the costumes and make-up and CGI are stellar…or are they? The music for the show, done by Bear McCreary and Sparks Shadows is great and adds to the overall feel of immersion into this world.
Fans are already seeing Easter Eggs sprinkled throughout, hinting at future plot devices and storylines. Even in the first episode, you might see a cameo by Rick Riordan himself and the introduction of several names, places, objects, and even offhand phrases or comments said by a character will have fans speculating what it all means together for the larger story. It will be interesting to see what else is hinted at throughout this season. One of the neat things about going back and revisiting a story as an author is the ability to add in Easter Eggs and hints of things to come to strengthen the story and excite fans and Riordan has said he has loved that part of the process.
Image Source: Disney+
While there are some changes to the actual storyline, which will definitely have fans comparing and contrasting the book vs. the series, overall, the changes help to enhance the story and not detract from it. Some of the changes make more sense in the storytelling, while there are a few that at the current moment, are interesting choices and may come into light later on in the series as to why that change was made. It is one of the most faithful adaptations to the story and still captures the heart of the book that so many people love. We still get the same story beats, we still get the same introductions and plot developments we need to move the story forward, and we already are seeing hints of things to come.
As with every adaptation to the screen, the focus is more on the bigger story beats vs. the smaller ones, which is what makes an adaptation different from a book. Still, in this case, they get the right story beats and it’s in the right order vs. jumping around or missing something important. Overall, it’s a very faithful adaptation and it will be exciting to see where it goes from here. Just from the hints we get at the end of each episode after the credits, it looks like it’s going to keep giving fans the story they always wanted on screen.
Releasing the first two episodes at the same time was also a good idea given that we set up the premise and have the call to action which creates even more hype and excitement for future episodes. Fans are eagerly awaiting what is to come and if the first two episodes are any indication, we are in for an epic story.
Rating: 9/10 (combined for both episodes)
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