HELLOOOO and welcome BACK to my rant, this time about PJO szn2
no this is not six months late, what are you talking about?
First and foremost, I'd like to say that season 2 was INFINITELY better than season one. like, it's insane how much better. if anyone cares abt my season 1 thoughts, they're laid out here:
Season 1 Rant
I don't have much to add in terms of specific things i liked slash didn't like, so i'll keep it simple. thoughts:
Thank you to whoever hired new writers.
the writing was the biggest, most obvious problem with season one. like genuinely that was bad. and i didn't notice it in the same way with season two, it was much more natural and honest to the books.
2. fucking LIVING. for the little easter eggs
shoutout sally driving pauls car. shoutout party ponies. SHOUTOUT HYLLA. easter eggs are just generally fun but they also remind me that the writers have actually read and care about the source material. more easter eggs pls.
3. acting ate.
i don't feel like i need to expand on this one. they killed it. all of them. everyone seemed so much more comfortable in the rolls compared to season 1, and it paid off.
IN ADDITION-- i feel like characterization was much better this season. percy was more percy and annabeth was more annabeth and grover had an actual personality. everyone just felt more like real kids being stupid while the weight of the world is on their shoulders. clarrisse was great too, esp with this being HER season. i approve. except--
4. Percabeth is moving a liiiiiitle fast
i just got a lot of whiplash by them. at this point in the books, annabeth has a crush on him but is struggling with trust and identity without luke and also just general teenage girl isms, and percy cares about annabeth but can't really identify why, because he's an idiot 13 year old boy who is in no way emotionally intelligent. if you're trying to depict that, you make them have awkward conversations, or stupid arguments, because again, they're kids full of hormones who don't know how to communicate. and i saw that occasionally-- i really liked the "it only took me two days to see how special you are." i think that was super in character and just honest enough to be adorable and teenagerish while still being serious and full of intent. especially if they were super awkward about it afterward. i DIDN'T like "i'd burn it all down." that's like, a thought that book five percy would have, and not say OUT LOUD until mark of athena. he's not there yet. kinda just seemed like fan service where they lost sight of the character.
that being said, i did really love the siren scene. which leads me to my next point.
5. the plot/content changes actually made sense this season
i mean the biggest and most noticeable plot change was the CCs plus siren combo. at first it just felt like they were running out of time in the season, but i think they managed to compress it in a way that made sense. i also think they were trying to pull a SeasonOneMedusaTypeChange for Circe, which like, okay, but i wasn't astonished by it. i did NOT like that annabeth didn't choose to hear the sirens on purpose. in the book, that's a big characterization moment for her, and i think they sacrificed that for the sake of raising stakes, and it didn't land in the same way. the scene became more about percy's feelings for her and annabeth's mommy issues than about her motivation and need for knowledge. again, didn't hate it, just not what i think was needed there. similarly--
6. the tree change.
i don't hate it. it's definitely a major divergence, especially considering that in the books zeus is a dick but has sort of a soft side for thalia, but i don't think it's out of character. I'm excited to see where it goes and ESPECIALLY how it affects thalia's perceptions with the gods and her subsequent interactions with luke. season three MUST FOLLOW THRU WITH THAT. IT'S A MAJOR CHARACTERIZATION AND INTENT CHANGE. oh, also--
7. Thalia's British?
i mean. okay.
i don't really care. i think it's kinda odd, but who am i to judge (shush). we also just havent seen a lot of thalia yet, so im looking forward to next season for that. but i LOVED the flashbacks.
similar thought-- it is CAST-ELL-EN, not CASTEL-LON
and finally, 8. EFFECTS.
shoutout to the effects department man. the boat scene, holy shit. and the chariot race. and the design of the sirens. and everything about polyphemus' island. it all felt like it feel out of a greek epic, which is exactly what this book is supposed to be (book 1 is a hero's journey, book two is a grecian epic, book 3 is a rogue mission, etc). ALSO, shoutout to the cast for advocating for their character designs. I know Walker was the one who asked for percy to have blood on his face in the final battle, rather than just some cuts and bruises makeup. it made everything so much more intense, and it's like we're seeing the transition into older, more serious percy through that. all in all, the effects were the hero of this season.
anywho, that's all. the whole season was like an 8.7 out of 10 for me, with the episodes being generally pretty uniform in personal rating (another difference from season 1, where my ratings were all over the place). i'm really looking forward to season 3 (WHICH IS MY FAVORITE BOOK OF THE FIRST SERIES SO WHEN I SAY "LOOKING FORWARD" I MEAN FUCKING SCARED) so i'm sure i'll have another one of these to post in a few months.
if u made it this far, tysm for reading!
