Recap / Percy Jackson And The Olympians 2023 S 1 E 1

Airdate: December 19, 2023

Corresponding Chapters: 1-4

Expelled from school, young Percy Jackson unravels who he is, confronting a world of gods and monsters in the process.

Return to recap page

"I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher" contains examples of:

• Adaptational Context Change: In the books, Percy has a working knowledge of Greek mythology because of the Classics class he takes at school. Here, Sally, knowing her son's status as a demigod, told him Greek myths his entire childhood. There's a quick flashback to her telling seven-year-old Percy about his Ancient Greek namesake, the hero Perseus.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Grover and Percy play with Mythomagic trading cards, which weren't introduced in the books until book three, The Titan's Curse. Grover explains that the game is "training", to teach Percy about gods and monsters before he knows that they actually exist.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Percy's stepfather, "Smelly" Gabe Ugliano, is still a deeply unpleasant person who's needlessly mean to Percy, but he doesn't physically abuse Sally (although emotional abuse is present) and when he tries to order her around the house Cinderella-style, she's able to stand up to him. Sally's book counterpart wouldn't find the courage to do that until the end of the novel.
• Age Lift: Grover looks like a twelve-year-old human (except for the horns and goat legs, of course), but satyrs age at the different rate than humans. In the book, he's chronologically 28 years old. In the show, he's 24.
• Compressed Adaptation: After the fight with Alecto, the episode omits Percy's paranoia, his eavesdropping of Grover and Mr. Brunner, his encounter with the Fates and deliberately leaving Grover to catch a taxi home, replacing all of that with Grover placing Percy as the scapegoat for the fountain incident. This gets him expelled and he goes home by truck instead of a taxi.
• Creator Cameo: Rick Riordan appears as a Yancy Academy staff member who is present at Percy's expulsion.
• Foreshadowing: Note Percy's eyes when he looks up at the statue, ◊ they have taken on a greenish tint. Not only does this serve as a Mythology Gag to Percy's eye color in the books, but also foreshadows his heritage as the son of Poseidon.
• Meaningful Echo: "Hold fast, Perseus. Brave the storm." In the flashback with seven-year-old Percy, Sally quotes Danae's mantra to her baby, also named Perseus. Then in the present, she directs them to her son as she offers comfort before sacrificing herself to get him to camp.
• Ret-Gone: After Percy accidentally vaporizes his pre-algebra teacher, nobody has any memories of "Mrs. Dodds" at the school and everyone thinks he's lost his mind. The episode omits Percy's being gaslighted over the existence of Mrs. Dodds for time and pacing reasons.
• Thin-Skinned Bully: Nancy is plenty happy to torment and bully Percy, but when he finally stands up for himself and shoves her into the fountain, she immediately breaks down whining and acts like she's the victim.
• With Friends Like These...: Who needs Grover? Or at least that's how Percy feels. Instead of further evading Mrs. Dodds' existence, he commits a rather serious Miscarriage of Justice by having Percy be the scapegoat for the fountain incident and getting him expelled.