Percy Jackson episode 8 review

The final episode of ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ sees Percy face off against his cousin
Ares so he can get both Zeus’s lightning bolt and Hades’s helm and return them to their
respective owners, preventing a catastrophic war among the gods that would have laid waste to
the world.

For anyone familiar with the books, this episode wouldn’t have thrown many surprises your way.
It’s a faithful end to what’s been an overall faithful adaptation, delivering all the moments that
fans of Rick Riordan’s stories have been waiting for years to see brought to life on the screen.

It’s also one of the best episodes in the series, delivering a good balance between action and
character. The fight between Percy and Ares is one of the best in the series, and it’s interesting
to see a kid going up against a professional wrestler. This makes it all the more impressive that
the scene went down so well, without feeling choreographed.

The scene on Olympus allows for some worthwhile moments between Percy and his father
Posiedon. The series has worked to make Posiedon appear as a more sympathetic character,
rather than a selfless immortal who uses people then discards them. The fact he surrenders to
Zeus to save his son illustrates this perfectly, and offers a more realistic perspective on the price
of being a literal god, with the power to command the seas, but who’s powerless to help bring
up his son.

Overall, it’s been a fun, enjoyable series that captures the sense of humor from the books, and
does a good job of bringing the Ancient Greek myths into the present day. There have been
some problems with pacing, and I feel it could have been told better if it was only six episodes
long, cutting out some of the filler that appears around the middle of the series.

Highlights include the performances from the main trio of Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries,
and Aryan Simhadri. Casting young actors can be a tricky business, but all three fit their roles
perfectly, and it will be interesting to see how they progress in future seasons of the show.
Another standout is Adam Copeland as Ares. His background as a wrestler gives him the kind
of arrogant, antagonistic personality that’s a perfect fit for the god of war.

While this has been a very close adaptation of the first book, ‘The Lightning Thief’, there have
been some changes which make me wonder whether they were made intentionally to correct
things Rick Riordan wasn’t happy with, like Gabe Ugliano being accidentally turned to stone
when Medusa’s head is mailed back to Percy, rather than Sally Jackson intentionally doing it to
get away from him.

Hopefully we’ll get to see more of this world in the future. There’s been no official confirmation of
a second season yet, but with the warm reception this one had, there’s a good chance Disney
will adapt the rest of the Percy Jackson books, and bring more iconic scenes to life on screen.