After two years of waiting, Percy Jackson Season 2 has finally fully arrived. Season 2 followed the story of Rick Riordan’s second installment of his original book series: Sea of Monsters, though the show took many creative liberties creating a different experience for even hardcore fans of the Riordan-verse. These deviations from the book canon have led to a spectrum of different reactions, from some praising the changes to others conveying doubt of the necessity of changing the original narrative. An important fact is that Rick and Becky Riordan both serve as executive producers and writers of the TV Show, meaning that any changes have been green lit by Rick and Becky.
New Additions
There were many new additions to the show, some are minimal while others change key aspects of the series. The Sea of Monsters is widely agreed to be one of the weakest books in the Riordan-verse, leading fans to hope the changes would be for the better. These changes have been interesting with even cast members talking about the difficulty with changing the storyline. In an interview with Backstage, Walker Scobell stated “It’s hard for me to let it go, because it’s been engraved in my head since I read it in third grade… I know that some things have to be cut; things change, and I think there’s not a lot I can do as an actor… I kind of just fully embrace whatever they’ve changed”. Here are some of the changes*:
Percy learning about the Great Prophecy – Though, in the book, Percy does not hear the entire prophecy until Last Olympian, in the TV show, Percy learns about the entire prophecy in Episode 3 of Season 2. This has caused some to question the creative decision as many have stated that the prophecy being mysterious throughout the book served as a great source of suspense for fans. The revelation of the prophecy definitely served as a great plot point of thought for Percy to ponder on during the entire season.
More Exposition for Side Characters’ Journey – Throughout the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, the readers travel through the adventures in the perspective of Percy (specifically as Percy is recounting events that already happened). In the TV show, the character, first-person narration is expanded with the audience seeing events from the point of view of a multitude of different characters, such as Annabeth and Clarisse.
Change in Character Introductions – Throughout the 8 episode run, many new characters were introduced. These introductions spanned from demigods, like Chris Rodriguez and Hylla Ramírez Arellano, to mythological beings, like Circe, Blackjack, Rainbow the Hippocampus. Certain characters like Chris and Circe were introduced almost exactly as in the book, while characters like Rainbow and Blackjack weren’t. Rainbow, in the novel, was originally introduced in the beginning, as a mode of transportation for the quest, while in the show, they are only seen briefly at the end of episode 6. Blackjack, like in the book, is rescued from Luke’s ship, the Princess Andromeda, by Percy. Interestingly, in the book and TV show, Percy and Blackjack can communicate, but in the show, the audience cannot hear the dialogue between characters. Chris Rodriguez, one of the rogue demigods that joined Luke, had a completely different arc in the TV Show. In the book, Chris has already joined Kronos’s force by the beginning of the Sea of Monsters while in the series, Chris’s betrayal is a major plot twist in the final episode, with Clarisse originally thinking that he is there to help her. He instead slashes her leg, trying to grab the Fleece. This is a major betrayal for Clarisse, as eagle eyed book readers know that Clarisse and Chris actually date later in the book series. In the book, Chris indirectly betrays Clarisse, joining Kronos’s forces right away, while in the TV Show, he directly attempts to kill Clarisse. This has caused fans to wonder if Chrisse (Chris+Clarisse) will actually happen in the show’s universe.
*Note that the biggest change to the book canon is not mentioned in this article.
Final Review
I honestly enjoyed the season and am excited for Seasons 3 and 4 which have already been greenlit. The majority of the changes were for the better and am excited to see how each of the changes will affect the greater story. The only omissions I am sad to see are that Annabeth never calls Percy “Seaweed Brain” and the audience cannot hear Blackjack and Percy’s conversations. I want to hear Blackjack call Percy “boss”.
