Written by Olivia Aiere
The second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is already better than the first. The first two episodes premiered Wednesday December 10 on Disney+, bringing us back to Camp Half-Blood with our favorite son of the sea.
The first two episodes follow the main opening beats of the second book, The Sea of Monsters, with some deviations that allow for perfect pacing to keep the audience engaged without being over expository. Unlike the book, Percy (Walker Scobell, The Adam Project) does not fight lava-throwing giants in his school gymnasium, but is instead whisked off to camp when Annabeth (Leah Sava Jefferies, Empire) shows up with a premonition of danger. Percy himself had just had a dream about Grover (Aryan Simhadri, Freakier Friday), their satyr friend, and is worried for his safety.
The first episode introduces both Tyson (Daniel Diemer, Supercell), Percy’s cyclops friend whom Sally (Virginia Kull, Presumed Innocent) took in during the school year, and Tantalus (Timothy Simmons, Veep), the new temporary camp director. Tyson is less overwhelming than his book counterpart, making room for Percy and Annabeth’s tension to take center stage. Simmons’ portrayal of Tantalus is perfectly infuriating, as his cartoonish villainy proves a great challenge for Percy’s hopes for the camp. Jason Mantzoukas’ nonchalant attitude as Dionysus nails the comedic timing and creates a fun contrast with Tantalus’ power hungry–and food hungry–demeanor.
Scobell and Jefferies do a great job of picking up where they left off with Percy and Annabeth. Their slight disconnect from spending the summer apart is heightened by their friendship that developed in Season 1. Dior Goodjohn will have some time to shine as Clarisse this season, and has already shown her ability to balance Clarisse’s strategic and impulsive sides within the first two episodes. Charlie Bushnell made a brief appearance as Luke, and is sure to give a great performance akin to last season as the antagonist throughout Percy’s odyssey.
The end of the first season saw some pacing issues with its deviations from the source material, feeling rushed due to condensing certain sequences. The opening of Percy Jackson and The Olympians Season 2, however, tightens the events from the opening of the novel to throw us into the action sooner. While still following the same story beats, the Season 2 premiere trims down the first chapters of The Sea of Monsters to become more suitable for the medium. If this momentum keeps up, the rest of this season will be quite the adventure regardless of its differences from the novel.
