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ofswordsandpens · 21 hours

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The Olympus scene does not work in the show.

Neither as an adaptation of the book nor as an exploration of the theme they seem so deadset on hammering in early. It fails and falls flat on so many aspects and here is why:

The deadline not actually being a DEADline, the supposedly terrible incoming war that is constantly being alluded to in dialogue but never supported by anything actually shown on screen, Zeus in his tiny human form twiddling his thumbs alone in the throne room waiting for Percy to hand in his overdue science-homework, while the war is supposedly already going on, completely sucks out any tension this last climactic confrontation is supposed to have (nothing against the actor btw I think he gets the vibe across pretty well, but the presentation and dialogue of the scene does him a complete disservice). To me it goes wildly against Zeus' character and his prideful nature to just take this transgression lying down, when in the book he already deems himself oh so merciful for not punishing Percy just for existing. The gods don't care about dragging mortals into their petty conflicts! The world should have already been blown to ashes and smithereens at this point!!

Man do I hate to constantly have to be that bitch, but in the book Percy is a small ant confronting two giant immortal beings, two forces of nature that have been a looming, threatening force in the background for the entire plot so far, who could snap him out of existence for the smallest misstep (and remember this point because it's going to come up again later lol). The immense power imbalance between them and the fact that Percy has to choose every single one of his next words carefully, is made immediately evident.

Yes, Percy is "insolent" and has a rebellious streak, but the book uses this moment as an opportunity for him to show his diplomatic skills. In his first ever face-to-face encounter with them Percy doesn't just get to brazenly adress the gods like they are his equals (Zeus already throws a hissy fit for the mere fact that he chooses to kneel before Poseidon first before adressing him). He doesn't just get to leisurely waltz up to Zeus and berate him and he certainly doesn't just get to question the ruling methods of the KING GOD right to his face without being wiped off the face of the earth immediately!! Percy just standing there and casually going off at Zeus completely takes away any of his intimidation factor. No, just no. If this was supposed to be an attempt to humanize him a bit, this was the ABSOLUTE LEAST appropriate time they could have chosen to try.

Ok, so it fails at being an accurate portayal of the book, but I think we have long established that that isn't what they want anyway, so it doesn't matter as much. So then... do they at least succeed in achieving the point that they are trying to make with these changes? Spoiler alert: The answer is also, NO.

For the record, I hate the decision they made to focus on the whole "the gods are kind of terrible, they should take more responsibility for the lives of their children and they only use the demigods to do their own dirty work"-subplot this much, this early, because it blows their load way too soon and ruins what was supposed to be a slowly budding, but ever-present realization that Percy comes to with all the experiences he accumulates throughout the series.

All the constant melodramatic "Olympians do this blabla, but Percy is different, he is better than that blablabla" rings hollow because the show barely spends any time on even suggesting otherwise. Sally ranting to Poseidon about how she "wants Percy to know who he is before [Poseidon's family] tries to tell him who they want him to be" could have been a powerful moment. But it does not work, when Percy has been introduced to this world a week ago, has barely interacted with any of the Olympians and we never even get a chance to see "what they [supposedly] want him to be" before he appearently already rises above those expectations. In the show Percy is "different" because well... they said so! And his girlboss-mom (who appearantly taught him ancient Greek???) gifted him a flawless moral compass and perfect family values from a young age. It's a pay-off, with no build-up.

What makes Percy special in the books and what makes him a good foil to both Luke and Annabeth isn't necessarily his defiance or his good nature, it's his neutrality. He isn't like Annabeth, who has been thrust into a warrior's life since she was 7, who had bad experiences with her mortal parent and can be blinded by the love and appreciation she feels towards Athena. And he isn't like Luke who spent his life as a bitter "washed-up demigod" even longer, who can't look past the resentment he has for his father and loses the bigger picture in his self-righteous anger. Percy bridges the gap between both of those extremes.

It is such an important part of the first book that Poseidon and Percy don't quite know what to make of each other! Their dynamic is complicated, but it's neither hostile nor exactly glowingly positive. The first time Percy actually gets to meet him in person in the book, he remarks that he is relieved Poseidon seems so distant. And that it would be weird and off-putting if he started to make lame human excuses for his absence, basically as if he, A LITERAL GODLY BEING, had anything to justify to his "lowly mortal" son.

To portray Poseidon as this super loving parent in the show, who cares about his special little boy so much uwu and who lets go of his pride for the sake of his son glaringly misses the mark. It is a big point in the book that Percy is not important enough for him to call off the war. One of the literally BIGGEST REASONS why the ENTIRE CONFLICT of the WHOLE GODDAMN book is even happening in the first place is because Poseidon is too prideful to prove his own innocence to Zeus and he does use Percy to clean up his own messes in true Olympian-fashion!!!

One of the FIRST things Poseidon says to Percy's face is that his existance is a mistake!!!!! And it's great because Percy is emotionally intelligent enough that he can somewhat parse out what Poseidon actually means by that (aka a somewhat empathetic aknowledgment that he knows he has likely doomed him to a difficult life) and knows he doesn't really say it with malice, but he is also still a bit bothered by it.

All of this is obviously not the dynamic we get in the show, which would have been fine, if having this super loving and involved version of Poseidon also didn't completely go against the point THEY are trying to drive home in the first place!!!! If the show is suddenly attempting to highlight a nuanced perspective on all sides of the conflict, it only succeeds in coming off as muddled and confused. It seems more as if they are trying to have their cake and eat it too (which is the same issue I had with their take on Medusa btw). So, what is the message now? Olympians bad, but also Poseidon is the exception???

If they had actually kept the Olympus scene and Percy's interactions with Zeus and Poseidon the way they were in the book, it would have worked so much better in tandem with the changes they made to the Luke-betrayal scene in the show!

I actually really liked big chunks of the Luke-scenes in this episode, but squeezing them in at the very end, in the literal episode his true nature is revealed is an absolutely baffling decision. I had actually complained before about the fact that they left out the swordfighting lesson where Luke teaches Percy his disarming move in the book.

Because the easy way Luke congratulated Percy for his victory against him instead of reacting threatened or jealous was a good moment to divert a bit of the suspicion on him. And seeing a similar scene akwardly shoved into episode 8 only confirms why this absolutely should have been an early bonding-moment for them near the start of the show.

Then we have that second exchange between them where you can see Luke starting to develop a sense of kinship with Percy and the whole "two things you never want to be at at the same time, small and scary"-thing which I think was a brilliant addition and really well done.

And now imagine they kept the part where Percy small and alone, confronts two towering giants, who can pulverize him with a single glance. Imagine they left in how Poseidon does in some capacity seem to be proud of Percy, but there is still this lingering doubt that if he didn't need him to achieve his personal goals, if Percy didn't prove his "worth" as a hero first, would Poseidon still have made an effort to acknowledge him? Imagine, they kept how even though he and Percy part on overall amicable terms, Poseidon more or less suggests it would have been better if Percy had never been born.

Would this not have worked infinitely better with the whole "Olympians bad"-angle they are batting so hard for???

Ok, let's just ignore for a moment how they absolutely butchered Annabeth and Luke's dynamic and how Percy yet again exposition-dumps at Luke, because he read the script instead of organically putting the pieces together... but the actual confrontation we got in the show between Luke and Percy could have been so good!! I was a bit lukewarm (lmao pun not intended) on the actor before, but he really does a great job this episode of conveying that in some twisted way Luke did actually come to care about Percy because he thought they were on the same page. You get the feeling that he really does want him to join their side beause he felt a genuine connection with him, not just because he would be a powerful asset. And I liked this take on it a lot more than the way he just starts his grand evil monologue in the book lol. But it just doesn't land the way it could have because of all the baffling decisions they made up until this point.

We could have had Percy having a somewhat more negative encounter with Zeus and Poseidon which leaves him with a bit of mixed opinions. We could have had such a great moment for him to empathize and even somewhat agree with Luke's perspective, but still show that he is level-headed and strong enough to recognize that Luke's actual goal really only boils down to pointless revenge. Instead we get a complete 180 tilt where all it takes is a single positive interaction with his father (and maaybe Hermes and Hephaestos if we want to be extra gracious) for this Percy to suddenly and completely change his mind about the gods and defend them?? What went wrong during production that they thought this was the smarter choice???

YOU LITERALLY HAD THE BALL SET UP RIGHT THERE?? ALL YOU NEEDED TO DO WAS MAKE THE SHOT AND SCORE??? HOW TF DO YOU MESS THAT UP????

#pjo show crit #pjo #percy jackson #/So what is the message now? Olympians bad but also Poseidon is the exception???/#yeah that was a lot of my issue as well #because they REALLY cleaned up Poseidon whereas in the books... he has the exact same tendencies as the rest of the Olympians #and its sorta the point that ALL of the olympians need to do better when it comes to their demigod children #And yes Poseidon in the og series ends up being miles better as parent than the other Olympians #but the dynamic between him and Percy is still complicated #yes Poseidon cares for Percy...#but there is still absolutely that thread of /Your value to me is how you bring glory in my name/ between them ESPECIALLY in the beginning #so to have Percy in the show fail his quest and Poseidon be like /its whatever <3 I yield <3/#.... I dont like what that does with the central conflict #I don't really like how it changes their dynamic #again thats MY OPINION!!#but yeah the convo between Luke and Percy in the show felt like the perfect perfect set up #and then they just disregarded it

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