Good morning! Please brace yourselves for a chaotic read.
I literally just finished the season finale of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.1 This show was so good, holy shit. It was insane. First TV show in a while that’s made me want to cancel all my plans in order to binge it from start to finish. I don’t think I’m the only one who felt that way.
Anyway, Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023) was adapted from the book series of the same name by Rick Riordan. If you were not a fan of these books growing up (aka not a loser), the series follows the life of Percy Jackson (played by Walker Scobell) as he discovers his true identity as a Demi-God. Son of Poseidon. Twelve-year-old Aquaman.
The stakes are a little bit high because the Big Boy Gods - Poseidon, Zeus and Hades - aren’t actually ‘allowed’ to have children with mortals. But you know, YOLO.2
Percy, the “forbidden child”, is sent on a quest with his two pals, Annabeth Chase and Grover the Satyr, to retrieve Zeus’ missing lightning bolt before the Summer Solstice ends. The legal guardians of these children (Chiron The Horse and The Wine God) suspect that Hades has stolen it. They inform Percy that his quest will lead him to the underworld.
But, mystery looms as Percy is having strange dreams featuring the voice of a monster (or perhaps, evil Titan) he does not recognise. And he hasn’t actually met his Dad yet. Oh, and his Mom is chilling with Hades in the underworld after she almost got murdered by a giant magical bull, which is the only reason Percy accepts the quest in the first place. Someone please give this boy his mother back.
He may or may not also have a crush on Annabeth, child of Goddess Athena.
First of all, the kids are so cute. I hope Hollywood and fame don’t destroy their souls. I love that they’re all actually the age they’re meant to be in the books. I can tell through the screen that they’re not just having a great time, but they’re all actually friends in real life.
Second of all, Annabeth is played by a Black actress (Leah Sava Jeffries) even though her character was White in the books.3 TV-Annabeth is even cooler and more well-rounded than Book-Annabeth. This interview where she tells the press that Rick Riordan (who is also Executive Producer) comforted her anxieties by saying, “no matter what anyone says, remember that I picked you” makes me want to weep.
Grover is played by Aryan Simhadri, who is of Indian heritage. Was anyone else aware that fictional kids of all races and ethnicities could hang out and save the world together?
I’m not sure how they did it, but Camp-Half Blood (the safe haven for Demi-gods) looks exactly how I imagined it to be when I was a kid. Key dialogue was pulled straight out of the books. The kids act their butts off. In some scenes they appear even more talented compared to the more seasoned, adult actors.
The romance between Percy and Annabeth is incredibly realistic and sweet. Which makes sense, you know, storytelling-wise, because they’re twelve.
Significantly, the show adds deeper psychological explorations of what it’s like being abandoned by a parent. In episode four, Percy and Annabeth struggle to fall asleep. The two discuss the tragic fate of Zeus’ forbidden child Thalia, who died several years earlier at the border of Camp Half-Blood. Annabeth tells Percy that Thalia was headstrong and made her “earn” their friendship.
“That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, the way you guys all talk. The way the Gods want us to think,” Percy responds after a moment of reflection. “Got to burn an offering just to get a parent’s attention. Got to beat up Clarisse just to get my father to admit he’s my father. It isn’t supposed to work that way. People who are close to you aren’t supposed to treat you that way.”
Annabeth then reveals she left her mortal family once her father remarried and had other children. "I was a problem, so I left. I was seven.”
“It isn’t the Gods who think that way, it’s everybody.”
For the Demi-Gods, constantly having to behave in a way that earns love from their parents is exhausting and confusing, but it’s a dynamic they replicate, perhaps unknowingly, towards their friendships as well.
Percy - introspective, empathetic and with first-hand experience of unconditional love from his mother - is largely portrayed as being the one who can, and wants, to break inter-generational cycles of abuse.
Overall, this adaptation slaps. I am now waiting impatiently for Season 2.
There are other ways to watch this show besides Disney+. It needs to be said that I do not have a Disney+ subscription due to the company’s financial backing to Israel, enabling them to continue their ongoing genocide of Palestinians. By ‘financial backing’ I mean like, millions of American dollars. Anyone that isn’t pro-Palestine is a demon.
I guess they’re immortal Gods, so, ‘You Only Live Forever’? YOLF.
Fuck you, J. K. Rowling. I wish you nothing but suffering.