Season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” was released beginning in December, and the characters are faced with another quest to save their friend Grover and stop the demigod summer camp from being destroyed.
The second season is based on the second book of the series, “The Sea of Monsters.” This is my favorite book of the entire series so while watching the show, I had high expectations. This book introduces new characters such as Tyson and Thalia, as well as developing the pre-established characters in a highly realistic way. All of the characters grow and learn lessons from the quests they go on while not straying far from their true personalities. Before watching, I hoped that the show would do the books justice just as season one did.
It is important to note that the show did a MUCH better job than the Percy Jackson movies that were made in the 2010s, but I still think they got a lot of the characterization wrong from the books. Percy’s character lost a lot of his witty humor from the books which is disappointing because that is one of my favorite elements of his character. Also, in the show many of the characters just develop random knowledge and talents without it being explained. The show was obviously still cohesive and well-put together, but it missed the mark on developing the scenarios they were put in. The casting of the characters are not entirely accurate but the actors did a really good job bringing the characters to life despite their physical differences. Some fans were mad that the characters did not look entirely book accurate, but unlike in the movie, I thought the actors provided a much higher quality performance which definitely made up for it. In the new show, the actors are much more age accurate and they really get into their characters personality wise unlike the movies.
The cinematography in this show is very beautiful. The way each shot captures the mood and narratives is very well done. The special effects are really realistic and I can tell it is a high-quality show. Every aspect about the visuals throughout the season immersed me into the show and made me feel like I was a part of the story. In the books, I had to use my imagination to bring the visuals to life and I was worried that the scenes couldn’t be captured the same as in the books, especially after seeing the Sea of Monsters movie.
In season two, the cyclops Tyson is introduced, who is by far my favorite character in book two. He is the most heartwarming character and I would personally go down to the studio and force the show directors to rewrite his character until they got it right if they did him dirty in the show. Thankfully, I think the show portrayed him extremely well and it brought me so much joy that he was well represented as the soft yet protective big brother. The relationship between Percy and Tyson was scripted very accurately to the book; I really watched my favorite characters jump off the page and start fighting monsters side by side.
One thing that was not very good about the show is their portrayal of the gods. While reading the books I imagined the gods to be heavenly and divine, but they look just like regular people. For a show with such a high production quality I expected a better representation for the most powerful figures in the whole world. It was underwhelming after the characters hyped up how elite the Gods were.
However, an impressive detail about the show is the pacing. Often when a book gets a movie or show adaptation, many scenes have to be cut or are rewritten to the point that the plot is unrecognizable. Many fans thought it was unsatisfactory, but I thought it was one of the most accurate book-to-show adaptations I have seen in a while. The pacing in season two was significantly better than in season one, which had lots of washed over plot points. I thought it was very true to the books and people’s expectations are just too high. I think you can never have a perfect adaptation but one as good as this is really impressive. Having the author work as executive director ensured the story-line still stayed the same and made the show actually cohesive with the books.
The balance between suspense, tension and action is really good. I felt the suspense in my bones during the fight scenes, and despite already knowing the ending from the books, I still found myself sitting on the edge of my seat.
I have read every single book in the Percy Jackson universe and have reread the original six books three times each. I think no book-to-show adaptation can be entirely book accurate, but as someone who had high expectations I was really happy with how season one and two came out.
