The second season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” exceeded my expectations to say the least. I didn’t think that was even possible with how the first one went.
Season one came out in my first year of college, I’m now in my third and final year and my love for the series clearly hasn’t changed.
It’s the same love I had as a kid with the books and movies.
Yes, we all know the movies weren’t the best adaptations. But, sue me, I still loved them just the same. No matter how good the show is, it will never have the lotus flower scene that I think of every time I enter the casino or hear “Poker Face,” by Lady Gaga.
Luckily, they’ve already filmed the third season, and said it would be released this year. There’s an obvious gap between the two seasons out now, mostly due to reasons like the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.
The jump between the first and second seasons is clear. Walker Scobell, who stars as Percy Jackson, was 13 years old when the first season was filmed, and 16 when the second one was filmed.
A lot changes physically for a teenage boy between those ages. So, when Percy appears to be more like an adult, it’s a little hard to imagine the character as the 13-year-old he’s supposed to be.
It’s obviously not Scobell’s fault. He’s doing an amazing job and I can’t imagine Percy has anyone else anymore (sorry, Logan Lerman. No hard feelings. I’d still be your controversially younger girlfriend if you asked). It’s just hard for the audience to understand the fact that a 13-year-old child is going through all of this.
It makes it that much more devastating. He’s constantly fighting for his life while also growing up. Plus, and maybe this is just because I’m a momma’s girl, but it makes me really sad thinking about the fact that he’s been separated from his mom, the only person who’s ever raised him and been there for him through everything, at such a young and vulnerable age for even a regular human kid.
I’m glad we actually got to see a bit of Percy’s anxiety about losing his mom again in the last episode. He has to talk his mom, Sally (Virginia Kull), out of going with him and the others to camp, right before the battle with Luke (Charlie Bushnell). He reminds her that that’s where he watched a minotaur nearly kill her. Little moments like this remind us that these demigods are also children of humans, not just the children of gods.
I do wish Percy was a little bit sassier than he was this season, like how he was in season one. With that being said, I go back and forth with this, because I think it’s a good representation of how this life has taken a toll on him, but I also miss the sass.
We see it in bits and pieces, like when he rips the cloak off of Kronos (Nick Boraine), and being a little instigator to Luke. Honestly, no wonder Luke dropped his sword and beat the hell out of Percy.
Percy’s personality is most likely only going to get darker. If you’re just a show watcher, I’d stop reading from here because I’m about to potentially spoil season three for you.
Season three is going to be an adaptation of the third book, “The Titan’s Curse.”
Despite it being a slow burn, we saw that Percy is not messing around when it comes to Annabeth (Leah Jeffries) this season. If the scene where she’s hurt by the cyclops is any foreshadowing of how we’re going to see Percy when she’s kidnapped, everyone better duck and cover.
I know people weren’t happy with how the writers portrayed “Percebeth” this season, but they can all shut up, respectfully. I loved every minute of it. No, we didn’t get the hydrokinesis scene, but I don’t care. They made up for literally any miss from the book with the “I’d burn it all down” scene.
This season was everything I pictured and more. I’ll be sitting here rereading the books, rewatching movies and the show while waiting for season three. I have zero doubts that it’s going to be just as good, if not better, than the first two.
