A TALE OF TWO LOTUS CASINOS

Analyzing Two Very Different Percy Jacksons and the State of the Modern Adaptations

by Rachel Loring

Percy Jackson was my entire life in the third to fourth grade. I read and reread the books constantly (even one time aloud to my dog), wrote Greek phrases and words in my notebooks, had Percy Jackson posters, and yes, I did create all the characters on The Sims…multiple times.

The biggest heartbreak I had as a young child was walking out of the original Percy Jackson film (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, 2010) and reckoning with the fact that the movie was NOTHING like the books. For most of my life, the only thing the film had going for it was the fact that Logan Lerman was in it.

So imagine my shock, my fury, my confusion, my complete and utter surprise when the 2023 new Percy Jackson Disney Plus series managed to make an even poorer written, less fun, altogether snoozefest of an adaptation.

When the new Percy Jackson series was announced, I was more excited than the actual children it was aimed towards. Age-accurate casting, involvement from author Rick Riordan, and a Disney budget. The stars felt like they were aligning. FINALLY, the adaptation to end all adaptations was here.

But…that was not what happened.

There’s so many ways I could analyze what I think is the complete failure of the series to be good as both an adaptation and a show in general, but I think comparing one particular scene from the Disney Plus series to the 2010 movie illustrates these failures, as well as the problems of modern adaptations, the best. And that scene is the Lotus Casino scene.

Cue Poker Face.

Now, were there problems with the scene in the 2010 movie? Of course. Was it book accurate? HELL NO! Was it a little too horny? Sure (looking at you 2010 Grover). Was the scene indicative of many of Rick’s main issues with the film (mainly the aging up of characters, cussing, etc etc)? Yes! But it succeeds as a scene in its own right when it comes to pacing, tension, character work, action, visuals, and maybe the most vital when it comes to the Percy Jackson series: fun.

Let’s break it down.

In the 2010 movie when the gang shows up to the Lotus Casino they have a clear and direct goal: get one of the McGuffin pearls they need to get to the underworld. Boom. Easy. They walk in knowing NOTHING, eat the most delicious-looking flower cookies you’ve even seen (admit it, you wanted to eat one), and immediately start tripping balls. We can see and feel an ominous energy from the casino: the staff keeps popping up out of nowhere, offering more and more flowers, sharing secretive looks with each other, and becoming increasingly pushy. This is brilliantly contrasted with brightly colored, fun scenes of the gang dancing, playing craps, going to the spa, and walking around with a gaggle of …prostitutes? on their arms (horny Grover strikes again). All the contrast, all the dramatic tension adds up to a claustrophobic scene as we, the audience, know something is wrong but our characters don’t.

The series, on the other hand, has a really weird habit of deciding that it actually doesn’t want any tensions or stakes at all even a little bit. Characters know everything, and not only that, they monologue everything they know directly to the viewer. And I do mean everything. So Instead of building dramatic tension and having the viewer discover the truth alongside the characters, they decide to literally suck every last drop of tension out of the scene by just information dumping on us as soon as the casino scene starts. It goes like this: the gang walks in and immediately Grover (nonhorny) halts all the action by telling us the entire myth of the lotus eaters/ Odysseus and explicitly telling Percy and Annabeth not to eat anything. Cool. Wow. I am so engaged as an audience member knowing that there’s literally nothing to build tension. My characters are now in…zero danger. And what’s even better? Once inside there is nothing interesting happening at all, both visually and plot-wise.

While the casino scene in the movie is wildly inaccurate, it certainly isn’t boring. It’s colored beautifully with bright, moody, neon Vegas Lights and the camera work and editing is fun, using visual effects like distorted, colored lighting and montages to show off the influence of the Lotus flowers without stopping to spell it out. The set itself is fun and lively: the casino is packed with people and there’s a giant indoor roller coaster, aesthetic Lotus cookies on gold trays, a Chekhov’s luxury car for a chase at the end, and multiple different locations we cut to, making the casino feel real and exciting. The series’ version of the casino scene has the double jeopardy sin of being both inaccurate and BORING. The kids arrive to the casino IN THE DAYTIME. This means we get a gray-toned, green-screened Vegas that is just dull to look at (Disney must have used the same CG artists as the Lion King-that’s how harsh and lifeless the lighting is). The casino feels like a work conference that got booked at the wrong hotel. There’s nothing really fun happening in the background or the foreground, just rows and rows of quiet gambling tables. And unlike the movie, where the scene is packed with action and accelerates to a climax with a chase scene, in the series the scene goes nowhere. The trio walks in, info dumps, decides to split up (stupid decision since in this version they KNOW what they’re walking into), then Grover goes off on a useless non-horny side quest and Percy and Annabeth (our A plot) walk and talk, then sit and talk, then walk and talk some more. That’s it. I’m not kidding. They might as well be in a cardboard box for all the interaction they do in the world. The characters have NOTHING to work with, they put Lin Manuel Miranda as Hermes in a GRAY HOODIE. You’re an immortal Greek god in an evil Vegas casino where people have been trapped for decades and you’re wearing a GRAY HOODIE?? Someone get this man a classic white Elvis costume. PLEASE give me something to look at.

The TV show is really the epitome of passive, especially when it comes to the actual actions of the characters. Characters reveal themselves through action. In my college fiction classes, a professor of mine liked to use the example of a haircut. Imagine a couple fighting while one is giving the other a haircut. Does it say something different if the man is cutting the woman’s hair? Does one have a shaky hand, alluding to a substance problem that isn’t being explicitly talked about, adding subtext to the words being said? Does the man cut an extra inch because he’s mad and spiteful? Does the woman contemplate slitting his throat? Action reveals, action is needed, ESPECIALLY in a visual medium. The series needs action IV dripped into its veins.

What if Annabeth and Percy have to play Hermes in craps in order to get his help? You’re in a casino with a trickster god for god’s (gods’?) sake USE IT! What if Hermes challenges Percy to poker but since Percy’s legit twelve years old he suggests Dance Dance Revolution instead? What if they rap battle or sing a super awkward duet, I mean you got Lin, milk it! The actor who plays Percy is genuinely funny and talented, let him shine! Instead, the show decides the best way to do this scene is have the three characters sit directly across from each other and talk about…parenting. That’s it. If you’re gonna change the source material at least make it SOMETHING.

Since there’s no action, by default it makes the characters flat. In the movie the gang only snaps out of it once PERCY HIMSELF (with a little help from Daddy Poseidon) realizes the flowers numb the senses and trap the casino guests. This isn’t TOLD to us, we instead watch Percy figure it out. Only AFTER a hectic and fun casino chase scene does Annabeth reveal to us the myth of the Lotus-eaters and its connection to the Odyssey. See? If you gotta info dump do it in the falling action. In the series there’s nothing for Percy to do or figure out. He doesn’t talk to an anachronistic hippie playing pinball, instead Lin tells him OFF SCREEN that time moves differently in the casino. Big whoop. Boring reveal. Bring back the pinwheel hippie!!! Even when the TV writers try to add stakes (Percy and Co. realize the Lotus amnesia magic is pumped through the air--something Percy discovers off-screen and info dumps at us later) it still feels pointless because there’s no real urgency to escape. The movie added a hostile staff and car chase. The series has a terribly overwrought scene of Percy trying to “this isn’t you” Grover out of his trance. And even then there’s no danger, just drag Grover out he’s not even that opposed to leaving. This pales in comparison Logan Lerman desperately and honestly sassily (classic Percy) trying to convince his friends to snap out of it while he’s being chased by casino staff.

But Rachel, you beg, what’s the point? I’d argue that media, especially the media that’s funded by giant corporations like Disney, sets the tone and says something about our culture. If you know me, the words remake, reboot, and adaptation are extremely triggering (don’t get me started on Disney live-action remakes). But the problem isn’t necessarily adaptation itself. There are lots of adaptations (even by Disney) that I love. Adaptations can be sick as hell (I’ll save my case for a Percy Jackson animated adaptation for another day).

I recently rewatched Pirates of the Caribbean, and while I don’t think it’s necessarily a great film, I found myself YEARNING for a time when adaptations weren’t just plopping actors on a green screen and having them walk and talk. There were set pieces, saturation, action, visual gags, real choreography, showing not telling. Where is that in this series? I worry in general about the diminishing value of our media. Is this the future? Where audiences can’t be trusted to put anything together so instead we have to listen to twelve-year-olds info dump at us? Have we truly lost the art of good adaptation? Or at least fun adaptation?

But I do have hope for the next season. Will I be watching it? Probably not. But I believe in giving shows a chance to find their footing and identity.

...But I will never forgive the series for not using Poker Face during the Lotus Casino scene. That’s just hateful.