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Hero of the Episode: Sally
Riordan Readalong: The Lightning Thief, Chapters 1 to 4
Oh my gods, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians show is finally here! As a Percy Jackson stan, my thoughts on the 2010 film adaptation have been… well documented. But the Disney+ series is off to a much better start so far. Let’s dive in!
Demigod Diaries
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell) has always had trouble at school — both academically and socially. But now things are also getting weird, like seeing flying horses and monster teachers weird. After an altercation with a bully during a field trip — he swears he didn’t push her, but how did she end up in a water fountain? — Percy gets expelled from Yancy Academy, thanks to his supposed best friend, Grover Underwood (Aryan Simhadri).
Percy’s mom, Sally (Virginia Kull), takes him on a post-expulsion Montauk getaway to tell him the truth: the stories and myths that she’s been telling him are real. Also: Percy’s father is a god, which makes Percy a demigod — and a target for all those not-so-imaginary monsters, like the Minotaur who’s hot on their heels. Grover arrives with more truthbombs: he got Percy expelled to protect him, and oh yeah Grover’s a satyr.
Percy, Grover, and Sally make it to the edge of a sanctuary for demigods, but so does the Minotaur. Sally valiantly fights the Minotaur so that Percy and Grover can get to safety, but she gets turned to dust. Percy discovers the pen is mightier than the sword — especially when the pen is a sword, like the one given to him by his former teacher Mr. Brunner (Glynn Turman) — as he vanquishes the Minotaur. When Percy groggily wakes up, he hears a familiar voice welcoming him to Camp Half-Blood.
Hero of the Episode
Sally Mothercussin’ Jackson! She had some solid parenting moments and great lines, and she went out like a badass against the freaking Minotaur!
Overheard Olympians
Sally: “Not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero, and not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster.”
Sally’s got BARS.
Gabe: “You know I hate watching the Knicks alone!”
The line deliveries are what really sells this.
Sally: “So do I!”
Sally: “Do you know why we come to this cabin every year?”
Way to undercut a moment, Perse!
Percy: “Because it’s near the septic tank so it’s cheap.”
Percy: “You fell in love with God? Like — like Jesus?”
Percy Jackson, god of comedy.
Percy: “Grover, why is there half a goat in your pants?!”
Asking all the important questions!
Grover: “[The Minotaur] is brutal. He is relentless.”
This is a Disney+ show after all, Percy.
Percy: “He is still wearing underpants.”
Sally: “Boys.”
He’s 28 in the book! (This was not knowledge I just had lol it was on a page that I randomly opened to.)
Grover: “I’m actually 24.”
Riordan Readalong
Even before I started watching, I was already charmed by the show due to the episodes being named after book chapters! It’s also very handy in pinpointing what’s being adapted — in this case, The Lightning Thief, Chapters 1 to 4.
I don’t usually reread the source material before watching an adaptation, but I might do so after each episode, or at least skim to remind myself of any differences between the two. (Plus, rereading might motivate me to finally catch up on my Riordan reviews lolcry.)
- I don’t remember the Mrs. Dodds confrontation being so brief. But now I think the movie might have Mandela Effected my recollection of the book, because the show is much more accurate than the movie. (Understandably so, with Rick Riordan himself being one of the show’s writers.)
- I also didn’t remember Sally giving the “YER A
WIZARDDEMIGOD” speech, but my memory was correct in that regard. A nice change to give Sally more to do!
- Another Sally improvement: removing the term of endearment “dear” from her vocabulary. (Seriously, how many mothers of tweens in the 21st century use the word “dear” that much?!)
- One last Sally shout-out: blue food!
- OK, I lied: the Knicks sandwich scene actually made me understand Sally and Gabe as a couple. Granted, the books are from Percy’s perspective, so it just seemed like Sally was with this grotesque man for no reason (or only one reason).
- The Mist! I don’t remember if that even got mentioned in the movie, and I’m certainly not rewatching that to fact check.
- Another thing that I don’t think the movie mentioned but is the literal reason that the books were written: seeing Percy’s dyslexia! (The exclamation point is for the depiction and not “Yay, dyslexia!”)
- THALIA’S TREE!!!!!!!!
Greek Chorus
- I totally forgot that Megan Mullally was playing Alecto/Mrs. Dodds and only recognized her by voice. While her monster-fication looked super cool, that’s all we get of Megan Mullally?!?!?
- Some of the other special effects felt cheesier, like they were from a Disney show. Even though this is a Disney show lol but I mean in the old low-budge Disney Channel way, and not what it currently means to be a Disney show.
- ANNABETH AWAITS! (Unless you watched the next episode already but I haven’t yet, for recapping purposes.) Smart of Disney+ to release the first two episodes together so that we don’t have to wait an extra week to see Annabeth and Camp Half-Blood!
- THE END CREDITS ILLUSTRATIONS. I immediately thought of the spine illustrations from the 2014 paperback rerelease, and I hope that John Rocco was involved. (I haven’t been able to find info, but I also haven’t looked very hard. Such is recapping on the fly!)
Percy Poll
What are your first impressions of the show?
- Yay! (92%)
- Nay! (8%)
- Undecided (0%)
Loading ...What did y’all think of this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments!
