Honestly, I am enjoying this show immensely so far. The actors are going for broke, the style looks fantastic (finding out the production designer, Dan Hennah, was the same one who worked on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy made me understand why I like the visual style so much), and I'm really liking the way the main character dynamics are shaping up. However, I do have one major gripe; non of the gods we've met so far feel dangerous.
The gods in the book are, well, immortal, super powerful beings that can vaporize you with a look if you cross them. They are to be feared, and if you don't fear them, you'd better be willing to face their wrath. So far in this series, we have gotten no glimpses of the power the Olympians posses, only threats and frowns. They don't give off the literal vibes they gave off in the books, and have yet to display anything supernatural about them at all. The characters don't show nearly enough fear towards them, and I don't blame them, they aren't scary.
While that definitely deflates the episode a bit, especially in the climax, the main focus is on continuing to develop Percy and Annabeth's relationship, and on this front I feel they hit it out of the park. The length is also an improvement from the last installment, but it was still too short for my liking. Could absolutely have used an extra five minutes to make the retrieval mission a little more interesting. As for the story change made to this chapter from the book, I don't necessarily dislike it, since it is meant to facilitate Annabeth's character arc just as the last episode was meant to jumpstart Percy's, though I do think the show could stand to embrace the silly antics and ridiculousness of the original a bit more. One mustn't lose sight of the fun while telling a serious story.
Still, a good episode. I'm hopeful the next one will be longer, and bring back a little of that crazy fun the books did so well.
The gods in the book are, well, immortal, super powerful beings that can vaporize you with a look if you cross them. They are to be feared, and if you don't fear them, you'd better be willing to face their wrath. So far in this series, we have gotten no glimpses of the power the Olympians posses, only threats and frowns. They don't give off the literal vibes they gave off in the books, and have yet to display anything supernatural about them at all. The characters don't show nearly enough fear towards them, and I don't blame them, they aren't scary.
While that definitely deflates the episode a bit, especially in the climax, the main focus is on continuing to develop Percy and Annabeth's relationship, and on this front I feel they hit it out of the park. The length is also an improvement from the last installment, but it was still too short for my liking. Could absolutely have used an extra five minutes to make the retrieval mission a little more interesting. As for the story change made to this chapter from the book, I don't necessarily dislike it, since it is meant to facilitate Annabeth's character arc just as the last episode was meant to jumpstart Percy's, though I do think the show could stand to embrace the silly antics and ridiculousness of the original a bit more. One mustn't lose sight of the fun while telling a serious story.
Still, a good episode. I'm hopeful the next one will be longer, and bring back a little of that crazy fun the books did so well.