The change in Thalia’s backstory is INSANE to me. She doesn’t die because of Zeus’ negligence alone, she is turned into a tree by him. Zeus makes everyone complicit in his lies. He’s the top dog who makes every leader under him part of his scheme. Even Chiron. No wonder Thalia hates Percy, not only has he stolen her people and her life but his dad actually cares. Thalia loses personhood because she refuses to be a weapon but both Percy and Luke risk (or end up) becoming weapons for the other side and are still allowed to exist. Thalia sees almost every other character,even Annabeth (the little girl she protected in hopes of her having a safe future) as being able to access a kind of life and security that will always be denied to her by her father and his callousness. Book spoilers ahead:
I will never get over show!Tyson. Who asks only for a friend, someone to help carry the load, and got a brother instead. One who takes loyalty to the extreme and would love anyone in his family even if he didn’t like them. Tyson got a mother in Sally, getting brought off the streets and into the home of a hero. He then gives everything he has to be a hero, to learn from the first people who cared about him. And because Sally and Percy are the first heroes he meets, Tyson considers the most important aspect of a hero to be helping others, not glory. Then, when Poseidon comes calling, he gives everything he has again! Tyson sees his existence, his happiness, as a debt he has to pay. When the gods gave him Percy (and Sally), he took just that to be a profound kindness. He doesn’t expect anything as his due - he sees himself as someone who could be a hero, not who should be one.
In that way I think he’s way more similar to Annabeth or Clarisse than Percy. Tyson has no mother, no friends, except those which he considers to be a kindness from the gods. He is different than Polyphemus, his brother more than Percy is, because he is not alone. Tyson is Percy if he were born a monster instead of a demigod and I am SO glad the show didn’t waste any part of his character.
Love the Clarisse development we’re getting this season. She can’t flirt. Her daddy issues are apparent. She befriends people by going ‘doesn’t it suck being a LOSER’. She is so sick of Percy Jackson.
Clarisse has gotten even better! Her therapist is a thirteen year old boy. She carries an emotional support sharp stick after losing her spear. She’s a kind but naive leader. Will steal your snacks and treat your armory like a shopping mall. She can defeat four adult demigods in a fight but a child can get the drop on her and yoink the fleece. If you tell Clarisse her father is merciful it will remove all manipulations put on her as she gives you the ultimate side eye. She caught Percy and dropped him immediately. Her hair is perfect and lipliner unsmudged despite going through the Trials. Clarisse La Rue, the woman that you are.
Please PJO TV series, give Annabeth golden strands in her hair after using the fleece.
As much as I make fun of Percy for being down bad from day one what I really love is that he truly thinks this is regular friend behaviour. He’s unleashing his inner wattpad mafia boss for Annabeth, has her picture on his mirror, promises he’d burn down Olympus for her, seems offended there’s ‘another’ boyfriend and thinks it is purely platonic. And the best part is Percy is such a loverboy in all meanings of the world that that genuinely is understandable because he is simultaneously going to the sea of monsters for Grover, having Grover’s picture on his mirror, telling Grover he looks beautiful in a wedding dress, embracing Grover like the husband he presumed missing at sea and being so soulmated to his best friend that they dream together.
I will say the one thing that annoyed me about this episode is them never mentioning that Tyson, Percy and Polyphemus are all sons of Poseidon. I thought they’d do something interesting with that, like Polyphemus recognising Percy’s smell as a brother or him telling Tyson that’s they’re brothers (by blood, not just because they’re both Cyclopes) and Tyson saying that Percy isn’t just his brother by blood but by choice. Or Polyphemus trying to get Poseidon to curse/hurt Percy and Tyson and Percy going haha nice try loser we’re the favourite children here.
Percy’s happy little face when he spots Grover. The massive hugs he gives Tyson and Grover. Sacrificing the quest for his crush. Truly his fatal flaw is just loving his friends. I also love seeing all these really healthy and loving male friendships on screen. Like yes, Grover is Percy’s best friend and he cares for her like he cares for Annabeth - with absolute devotion.
The Percabeth development we’re getting this series is so good, especially last episode and this episode. Obviously Percy’s ‘don’t touch her’ moment which felt very much like the injury in Book 5 (iykyk) but also the way Annabeth bonds Percy and Luke together. Percy begging Luke, who he hates so badly, to help Annabeth because Percy loves more than he hates. Percy loves Annabeth and he trusts Luke to care for her too, that’s why he hands Luke the fleece. Percy’s loyalty to his friends but particularly to Annabeth, will always override everything else. We also get a nice contrast between him and Clarisse, whose loyalty is to her collective (camp, the Ares cabin) before specific people. I watch this show with my mum and she found Percy super annoying these past few episodes because she thinks he’s a bit dumb and always causing problems (a little true) but I think this show does a good job of demonstrating that the framework of success on a quest is very different for Percy than most of the other characters. For heroes like Clarisse, the goal is the completion of the quest/finding what they came for. For Percy, the goal is protecting his people. Any other aspect of the quest is pretty secondary. The show really effectively sets up how easy it would be for Percy to be evil.
Grover trying to reason with Clarisse while Percy just grabs the fleece from her is so in character it’s insane.
on survival
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