Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2, titled “I Play Dodgeball with Cannibals” and “Demon Pigeons Attack,” are a very good return to this world and these characters. And from just the first few minutes, it’s clear things are not the same. Percy is older—and like the perfect teenage boy, Walker Scobell has grown enough that the change feels physical, not just emotional. But everything he and his friends are dealing with is also a little bit more mature, just the way the books are.
Most series like Percy Jackson are supposed to go like this—you grow with the books, and in this case, the series. And though these characters might look so much older, they’re still so young. They’re kids. And they’re taking on incredibly difficult quests and doing the best they can under sometimes very difficult circumstances.
That means they’ll make the wrong choices and sometimes make the kind of mistakes we will want to yell at the screen about. Sometimes they’ll keep secrets. Other times, they’ll hurt each other, without meaning to. But that’s part of the journey. They don’t have it all figured out. And considering what they’re about to face, it’s going to get so much worse before it gets better.
THE DEFINITION OF A SLOW BURN
The first two episodes of Percy Jackson Season 2 make it very clear that the dynamic between Percy and Annabeth is leaning romantic. And yet, that doesn’t mean this isn’t a slow burn. In fact, what we have right here is a textbook setup for a slow burn. What that means is that the relationship develops gradually over time, with the emotional connection and chemistry between the two growing.
If that’s not what Percy and Annabeth are giving us, then I don’t know what is. This isn’t and has never been an instant attraction kinda ship. Instead, these two became friends first, and then became one of the most important people in each other’s lives, and now… there’s a hint of something else. It’s there, it’s undefined. And it will continue to be undefined for a while.
For different reasons. Percy is…well, he’s a little bit clueless about his own feelings. He understands the importance Annabeth holds in his life, but he’s not yet able to articulate what that means. Annabeth, on the other hand, is more emotionally mature. But admitting that what she feels for Percy is more than friendship is still a step she can’t take. Because that would mean risk. And the one thing she won’t do, can’t do right now, is lose Percy.
That means both of them are stuck in a status quo where little by little, the things they feel for each other, what they’d be willing to do or sacrifice for the other, are growing. The strength of their feelings is growing. They’re just not saying them out loud, or doing anything about them. And that… well, that’s a slow burn. And a good one.
OTHER CHARACTERS TAKE CENTER STAGE
The first two episodes of Percy Jackson Season 2 allow two very different and yet important characters to take center stage. First, there’s Tyson, who is just everything that’s good in the world put into a human being. He’s kind, he genuinely wants to help, and he cares about Percy long before he finds out that he should care about Percy because they’re brothers.
And then there’s Clarisse, who in just two episodes manages to become a much deeper character. Sure, there’s still a lot of the Clarisse who was just a bully in Season 1 present. But there’s another side of her, the one that’s chosen for a quest and wants to succeed. The one who takes pride in protecting the camp, in being a good warrior.
It cannot be underscored how important it is for the future of Percy Jackson that these two characters are as engaging as they are in Season 2. It’s hard to sustain a franchise on the backs of one, two, or even three good characters—no matter how good the dynamics between them might be. Especially if they’re not all together at the same time! What you need for your show to succeed long-term is to make sure that characters who were good in the books, but that perhaps didn’t get as much development as they could have, get a chance to shine here as the show gives them more time.
That’s not deviating from the book; it’s just deepening our understanding in a way a story told from Percy’s POV never could. That’s the thing good adaptations do so well, and Percy Jackson Season 2 absolutely nails it. And it’s why the show starts even stronger than Season 1 ended, as high as the bar was.
THE CENTER MUST HOLD
Grover might not be physically present, but the relationship between Percy, Annabeth, and Grover is still at the center of what Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 is doing. It won’t always be, at least physically. The idea of the trio is a little more flexible in Percy Jackson than it is in other YA franchises, and that’s important to understand. Because it doesn’t make them less important to each other, it just means everyone gets their own specific journey. And sometimes, that journey might take them away from each other.
In Season 2, they might be apart, but Percy is communicating with Grover through their telepathic link, and Annabeth is fighting to make sure they save Grover—and Thalia. Because that’s the thing, adding Tyson to the mix, doing this quest to help save Thalia (and camp), this is how the show starts to expand beyond what Season 1 established.
The best part of the first two episodes of Season 2 is, perhaps, how seamless that expansion feels. Tyson fits, not just with Percy, but with the storyline this show is telling in Season 2. Thalia fits, not just with Annabeth’s backstory, but with what this new unlikely trio must do to save camp. And even Luke, off doing what he feels is right, fits. It’s all connected, and it really does feel like a big dysfunctional family.
Percy and Annabeth don’t always see eye to eye in the first two episodes, but those moments of the two standing together—fighting against whatever might come their way as a unit—are important. There might be other people fighting by their side. They might be going on a different quest, one with different stakes. But the two are the center. And for this show, this story, to work, the center must hold.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2, Episode 1 & 2? Share with us in the comments below!
The first two episodes of Percy Jackson Season 2 are now available to stream on Disney+.
