"I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher" is the premiere episode of the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It was released on December 19, 2023 alongside "I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom".
Synopsis[]
Expelled from School, Percy Jackson unravels who he is, confronting a world of gods and monsters.
Plot[]
Percy Jackson, a 12-year-old boy, grew up with the habit of seeing strange things throughout his childhood, such as a flying Pegasus and mechanical monsters. Because of this, he was always ostracized his classmates and would switch to different schools almost every year. He eventually ended up at Yancy Academy where he met and befriended Grover Underwood, who had a habit of teaching Percy about Greek mythology, and made enemies with a nasty girl named Nancy Bobofit.
One day, the school took a field trip to the museum where the class was tasked with studying Greek mythology. After an interaction with Nancy, Mr. Brunner, the one leading the class, takes Percy aside and encourages him to continue his studies, giving him a simple looking pen as a gift. While outside having lunch, Nancy tosses her sandwich at Percy and Grover. Percy, having had enough of Nancy, gets up and, with very little force, somehow launches her into the fountain. At that moment, Mrs. Dodds suddenly begins to approach Percy, calls him a "half-blood", and transforms into a fury with no one apparently noticing. As Dodds attacks Percy, his pen becomes a sword and he apparently disintegrates her. When Percy comes to, no one acknowledged the moment or recall who Dodds is.
Back at Yancy Academy, Percy is called into the Headmaster's office to explain the incident between himself and Nancy. While Percy maintains that he did not touch her, Grover explains that Percy did threaten to get back at her, upsetting Percy who is then expelled. As Percy leaves, Mr. Brunner tells him that he is destined for greatness.
Percy returns home to his apartment where he has a run in with his step-father Gabe Ugliano who does nothing, but sit around betting on horses. After Gabe blows off Percy's concerns, Percy finds his mother Sally sitting outside in the rain and tells her that something weird has been happening at school. This apparently convinces her to take Percy away for the weekend to Montauk, much to Gabe's chagrin. They drive to a cabin on the beach where Sally sits Percy down and tells him that he is, in fact, the son of a god. Percy is incredulous to this news as he never knew his father.
Grover suddenly appears to warn Sally that they need to get Percy away, but Percy is distracted by the fact that he has goat legs (Sally explains that he came early). The three drive away with Grover explaining to Percy that he is his guardian and that due to the events of the museum, various Greek mythological creatures are after him now. The reason why no one could see Mrs. Dodds as a fury was because of The Mist, a veil that prevents the human world from seeing the magic world. The reason Grover could not see her was because the magic in their world is in flux.
While driving, the group is suddenly attacked by a minotaur who tries to run them off the road. After crashing, they spot a tree in the distance which Grover claims is their destination. Sally tells Percy to be brave and uses his coat to ward off the minotaur while Percy and Grover flee, but during the commotion, the minotaur grabs Sally and she suddenly disintegrates. Enraged, Percy takes his pen out, turns it into a sword and attacks the minotaur. He ultimately manages defeats it with its own horn.
Percy passes out, but awakens to the sound of other children wondering if Percy is okay. He looks in the distance and hears Mr. Brunner talking, but sees what looks like a centaur.
Cast[]
- Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson
- Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth Chase (credits only)
- Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood
Guest-starring[]
- Megan Mullally as Mrs. Dodds/Alecto
- Virginia Kull as Sally Jackson
- Timm Sharp as Gabe Ugliano
- Glynn Turman as Mr. Brunner/Chiron
Co-starring[]
- Hiro Kanagawa as Headmaster
- Azriel Dalman as Young Percy
- Olivea Morton as Nancy Bobofit
- Nick Boraine as Voice in Dream
- Simon Chin as Super (Eddie)
- Manooj Sood as Principal
- David Beairsto as Social Services Counselor
- Athan Irinakis as Martin
- Billy Christos Jr. as Snickering Kid #1
- Malcolm Clarke as Snickering Kid #2
- Drako Cheng as Bubble Gum Kid
- Adam John Patrick Gillese as Kid #2
- Mateo Deuma as Kid #3
- Peyton Feltham as Nancy's Friend #1
- Valencia Budijanto as Nancy's Friend #2
- Rick Riordan as Yancy Academy Staff Member (uncredited)
Book comparisons[]
- The book opens in the middle of Percy and Grover at the museum for their field trip. The series goes into greater detail by showcasing more of his childhood, his school life, as well as Grover testing Percy's Greek knowledge via trading cards.
- Mr. Brunner gives Percy the pen-sword Riptide while encouraging him not to let students like Nancy put him down. In the book, he gives him the sword while he is battling Mrs. Dodds.
- Mrs. Dodds confronts Percy out in public with no one noticing due to The Mist. Percy then stabs her, somewhat accidentally, and he passes out. In the book, Mrs. Dodds leads Percy away from everyone by taking him to an isolated area of the museum and Percy instinctually slashes at her ending the threat.
- Percy gives the pen back to Mr. Brunner after the museum incident, but in the series, Percy hangs onto the pen and uses it while battling the minotaur.
- In the book, Percy is not immediately expelled after the museum incident. He continues going to Yancy and is expelled for poor grades and talking back in class. He overhears Mr. Brunner and Grover talking about him and later coerces the latter into telling him more. While traveling back home, their bus is pulled over and Percy witnesses the Three Fates who knit long socks, perturbing him. The Three Fates appear later in the series.
- The relationship Percy and Sally have with Gabe is slightly different. While Gabe is still a crude and loathsome character, the Jacksons are more than capable of talking back to him and acknowledging his shortcomings.
- Instead of Gabe playing poker with his buddies, he bets on horse races through the internet. Because of this, Eddie the superintendent of the building is more vocal about Gabe's ignorance and supportive of Percy, as it was only implied in the book.
- When Sally takes Percy to Montauk, she tries to tell him that he is a demigod. In the book, she is not that open and simply tells him that he is being sent to a summer camp.
- Grover shows up at the cabin shortly after Percy and Sally talk. In the book, he showed up while they were still asleep.
Trivia[]
- The title comes from the first chapter of the The Lightning Thief, while the episode adapts that chapter, as well as the third and fourth chapters with elements of the second chapter included.
- When young Percy Jackson is standing on the roof, he sees a black Pegasus. This is most likely Blackjack, whom Percy would later rescue in the second book The Sea of Monsters.
- Rick Riordan, the author of the Percy Jackson books, has a cameo appearance as a Yancy Academy staff member. He is sitting to the left of the Headmaster and Mr. Brunner when Percy and Grover are being questioned about the museum incident.
- In that same scene, Percy and Grover are seated in front of a large painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware. This a nod to the books where Washington was said to be a demigod as well, the son of Athena.
- Grover teaches Percy about Greek mythology through Mythomagic cards. Mythomagic was introduced in the third book, The Titan's Curse, as the favorite game of Nico Di Angelo.
- This is, so far, the only episode in which Annabeth Chase does not appear, although Leah Sava Jeffries is credited.
Gallery[]
