The art of the book-to-screen adaptation is not easy to master. Sometimes, a studio will get lucky and make something at the level of the Hunger Games trilogy, and other times we have to helplessly watch as eight seasons of the most popular show in the world ends in the worst way possible. Any fan of Percy Jackson knows that the movies were bad and the only decent adaptation of the books was the short-lived—and very fun—off-Broadway musical adaptation.
But thankfully, Disney’s foray into the Riordan-verse did not go the way of all of the adaptations we love to hate. Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a recognizable take on the books, which is something the movies will never be able to say. Stars Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri had a great start with the first two episodes of the series, and the remainder of the season made it clear that the three of them are true embodiments of their characters. With that half of the battle won, the multiple—but relatively minor—changes that were made to the story don’t feel like a gut punch, and while there are certainly some flaws that the entire season gets tripped up by, it is safe to say that the finale of Percy Jackson has made a strong case for another round of adventure.
The root of any issue in this show can be traced back to the pacing, something that will not be a shock to anyone who has paid attention to Disney+’s original content. While Marvel is the main franchise that suffers from awkward plotting, Percy Jackson was not truly able to keep things even within the constraints of an eight-episode run. The short episode order (and even shorter episode runtimes) Percy Jackson had to deal with eliminated a lot of the campier elements that are key to the books. To put things simply, being funny is a hard skill to master, and the inconsistent pacing didn’t allow for these characters to settle into the dynamic we know and love. Having good comedic timing and being able to riff off of the people around you is a skill (which the actors behind our beloved trio of heroes have), but at some point, you have to write material for your actors to perform. Conversational humor is one thing, but situational humor is a completely different monster, and it needs to be a priority when Season 2 (hopefully) rolls around to breathe some life into the series.
Another issue is that a lot of the best parts of The Lightning Thief come in the form of Percy’s thoughts and observations that readers digest through his first-person perspective, and trying to recreate that kind of storytelling on screen would be completely illogical. Truthfully, the events of the book do happen at a similar pace to how they do in the show, but being inside Percy’s head the entire time allows for a slower, more digestible unfolding of events. Had the show gotten a 10 or 13-episode order, there would have been a lot more space for the loss of Percy’s inner monologue to be filled with some more layered worldbuilding, sticking around important locations longer, or developing secondary characters more. The Lotus Casino episode is not the atrocity some fans have made it out to be (again, the movie was a million times worse), but it is one of the setpieces in the book where Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are woefully unaware of the danger that they are in, and it doesn’t play as well on screen.
This is not to say that the finale was a complete failure at sticking the landing. Quite the opposite, “The Prophecy Comes True” does just that. Percy’s battle with Ares was executed wonderfully on all fronts, and the late Lance Reddick’s performance as Zeus was incredible, even if it was fleeting. Even though the buildup feels a bit rushed, the character work that all of the actors are doing is so good that the weakness of the pacing is forgivable. We finally get to see Percy protected by his majorly-absent father with the backdrop of the coming Titan War unfolding behind him. In the same vein, the parallels between the opening sequence with Luke and Percy in contrast to their final fight could have been better if they were in separate episodes, but their dynamic still works in spite of the rushed execution. Percy and Luke have always been textbook foils, and Charlie Bushnell gives a great glimpse into the start of Luke Castellan’s downward spiral to come, with his stone-cold demeanor up against Percy’s apologetic empathy. A generous round of applause has to be given to the production crew for making sure that the lighting cues matched perfectly with Percy’s realization that Luke’s betrayal was the final bit of the prophecy sliding into place.
It has always made sense to me to think of the first season of a show as a pilot season. Sure, the first episode is generally the test that a series has to pass to have true life breathed into it, but the first season is the real sandbox where the writers have the chance to create muli-episode storylines and see if they are able to get a coherent story together in the time they have been allotted by whatever studio executive hands down their episode order. Percy Jackson and the Olympians would have done better under more generous circ*mstances—I will die on my soapbox advocating for the return of longer TV seasons—but all things considered, the first season was a success, especially when you look at its ratings. It is a shining example of a good adaptation that walks the pencil-thin line between throwing everything out the window and printing every word from the book on the screen word for word. This series has its own life and voice that it was able to build up by treating the source material like a guidebook instead of a rigid rulebook. We all know that the Percy Jackson team can make good television. The only thing in the way of making it better is the amount of time Disney lets them have in the spotlight.
Kathryn Porter is a freelance writer who will talk endlessly about anything entertainment given the chance. You can find her @kaechops on Twitter.
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