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Book-to-screen adaptations are rarely done right, spare a few exceptions like “The Hunger Games” franchise. Knowing this, fans were anxious while they waited for the new “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” show, especially considering the previous, highly disappointing movie adaptation of the book series.

The show follows the first novel of the series, “The Lightning Thief.” But unlike the movie, author Rick Riordan worked closely on the production process to ensure a proper adaptation, having his actors promote the show as being as accurate as possible to the books.

Unfortunately, being a Percy Jackson fan since the first grade who so badly wanted this show to succeed, the show fell short of the mark. Even with Riordan, the series nearly surpasses the mistakes of the franchise’s 2010 movie adaptations.

Despite that, I found myself slowly growing excited as they announced the cast. My favorite casting was Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth Chase, who exhibited a clear understanding of Chase’s strength.

Jeffries was not the only remarkable actor in the series. The show’s Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood, played by Walker Scobell and Aryan Simhadri, respectively, display chemistry in their character dynamics that could’ve made a remarkable adaptation. However, their solid performances are hampered by the show’s poor writing.

My first major problem with the show was the portrayal of a few characters, mostly Percy’s mom, Sally Jackson. Much of the original book rides on the love between Percy and his mom. However, the show dilutes its effect, as Percy’s mom is seen just lecturing her son and Grover in her short screen time.

Within this familial dynamic is a larger problem. One key aspect of Percy and Sally’s relationship in the book is their shared experience with abuser Gabe Ugliano, or “Smelly Gabe.”

In his first minute of screen time, he is told off by Sally and reduced to an idiot instead of a bigot. Instead of realistically portraying the impact of his abuse on Sally and Percy, the show plays Gabe off as a joke, something to laugh about, instead of as an abuser.

One of my favorite parts of the book is Percy and Annabeth’s relationship. However, there’s far more early tension between the two, even causing Grover to yell at them, something that never even happened in the books. The new framing of their relationship rips apart the trio’s iconic friendship, an aspect of the show its producers heavily advertised.

Annabeth’s story is also reframed in the show, causing plot lines that are meant to be introduced later to be revealed at the beginning of this potential series. Other characters give voice to Annabeth’s story when, in reality, she is meant to tell pieces of it to Percy herself throughout the series. The show displays them going from being at each other’s throats to flirting immediately, ignoring the five-book slow burn that fans love.

One of my greatest grievances with the show is how the plot disregards the small details from the book that make the story great, only hitting main plot points while ignoring what leads up to them. Many people argue that these changes are “needed.” However, I disagree. Why is it necessary to change a story loved by so many generations? It is simply mind-boggling to see an easily transferable story misinterpreted twice, even with Riordan’s input.

Although the casting choices were wonderful, the writing of the show rendered it into something entirely inaccurate to the book. Despite all of my criticisms, I hope that in future seasons the writers of the show adhere more to the plot of the novel, rather than to their own ideas.

Published on February 5, 2024 at 9:44 pm