TL;DR – We get a slightly updated look at a tragic story.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Review –

Well, we have been running through this story at a decent clip. I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher was all about introducing us to this world, and I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom set up Camp Half-Blood. But episode three is here, and it is time to go on a quest, I sure hope nothing untoward happens.

So to set the scene, after declaring that there is a quest, Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell) is sent to visit The Oracle (Jennifer Shirley), who reveals what is coming but also that a friend will betray him. Well, all Percy needs to do is pick the two people who will come with him on the quest and without thinking, he chooses Annabeth (Leah Jeffries) and Grover (Aryan Simhadri). Okay, a quest is starting, and they need to get to Los Angeles, but wait, why are they taking the bus and not a plane? We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

What I liked about this episode is that our three core heroes are not instantly working as a well-oiled team. They barely know each other, and it shows. This feels more natural and also sets a plausible groundwork for the monsters to start pulling them apart. However, it is not so much that it is just constant bickering leading to your main cast being unlikable. Getting that balance right must have taken a lot of work in the scripting stage, and I think it is helped immensely by the casting of our leads, which so far looks to be pitch-perfect.

This week is when we start to get into the weeds of how the show will be exploring their version of Greek Mythology and how that reconciles with their Magical Reality adjacent to the modern world. We get a good understanding of how the gods interact with the mortal plane or don’t interact as it might be. Zues will turn Theia into a tree to save her life, but he won’t smote the monsters that were attacking her. Poseidon will claim Percy as his own son, but won’t stop Zues from shooting him out of the sky if he took a plane. Annabeth worships Athena and treasures the one relic she has of her, but Athena is also cold and distant.    

All of this leads us to the big bad of the week, Medusa (Jessica Parker Kennedy), a monster that can turn you stone by just looking at you. Interestingly, this is the first bit of the story where we have seen a slight reworking of the narrative because, this time, they know just whose lair they are walking into from the start. This allows us time to get to know Medusa and her story, casting her in a much more tragic way. Jessica does a fantastic job, given most of her performance is hidden behind a veil. They have done an excellent job creating more rounded characters, when it could have been easier just to cast them as monsters and move on.

In the end, do we recommend Percy Jackson and the Olympians: We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium? Yes, we do. So far, I have loved everything they have done with the series. They are nailing the adaptation, keeping what worked from the original, and tweaking things when you need to.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Percy Jackson and the Olympians yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Directed by – Anders Engström
Written by – Jonathan E. Steinberg & Monica Owusu-Breen
Created by – Rick Riordan & Jonathan E. Steinberg
Based On – Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Production/Distribution Companies – 20^th Television, Co-Lab 21, The Gotham Group, Mythomagic, Quaker Moving Pictures & Disney+ 
Starring – Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries & Aryan Simhadri with  Megan Mullally, Jason Mantzoukas, Timm Sharp, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Charlie Bushnell, Dior Goodjohn, Glynn Turman & Lin-Manuel Miranda and Andrew Alvarez, Threnody Tsai, Sara J. Southey, Jennifer Shirley & Brooklyn Scotland