Recently released on Disney+, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” invites viewers to relive the nostalgia of binge-reading the series in elementary school. The pilot season covers the first book, “The Lighting Thief,” with Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson, Leah Jeffries as Annabeth Chase, and Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood.
The series starts in Manhattan, New York, where Percy is introduced into Camp Half Blood. From camp he embarks on a quest with his best friend Grover and his soon-to-be friend Annabeth, as they travel across the United States in order to retrieve a stolen thunderbolt owned by Zeus. Throughout the series Percy’s character develops from knowing nothing of this new world to adjusting to his environment and thriving as he adventures across America with his friends. On his journey filled with twists and turns, he learns bravery, obtains new friends and learns the value of friendship.
The pacing of the series was slightly different from the book, but since I have read the series, I understood what was going on in the characters’ heads, along with how the characters converse. As for someone who has not read or heard of this series, it may be confusing to follow along with the plotline. One part in particular that was confusing, and sadly not as highlighted I would hope, was Thalia, an older sister figure to Annabeth and the only reason she was able to make it to Camp Half-Blood.
As for the relationship between the characters and the singular character development, I feel the series did very well in growing the characters together and progressing them in their own ways. This especially goes from the start of their quest; from when they go through many challenges and battles to the end, you see them subtly get closer as well as confiding with each other.
Grover remains stable throughout the story as the mediator between Percy and Annabeth and sadly does not get to the part of the series where we see the rest of his story unfold. Though Annabeth was depicted in the book as having blonde hair and stormy gray eyes, actress Leah Jeffries forced me to adapt the mental image I had of her. As for her character, Annabeth was very well developed as she warms up to Percy and starts to open up to her new friends.
One of my favorite scenes during the series is when they encounter Medusa. The whole scene was very nostalgic and accurate to the book. From the monster chasing them towards Medusa, all the way to when they shipped her head to Mount Olympus, the series made it very enjoyable and entertaining.
Overall, the series surpassed my expectations and was very enjoyable. It gave me the nostalgia that I longed for, the characters that I love and the accuracy I liked to see. Although there were some mistakes in how they paced the series, I would still recommend this series to anyone who liked reading the “Percy Jackson” books.
