#oa rants

[overanalyzer]

Unpopular opinion, the issue with Piper is not that she was forced into a relationship with a boy, it is that she was obsessed with romance. She put it above or equal to everything else until House of Hades. She prioritized it over everything and waved aside Jason and Reyna's friendship on the basis that they never dated. Her whole arc was about the magical properties of romance and love. She lost herself because she put too much of her personality into the fact that she was in a relationship.

The thing about ToA is that she doesn't grow past it. She dismisses her relationship with Jason as having been pushed on her by the gods bc she fell out of love. She lets everyone around her blame Jason for the breakup bc that's better than admitting that she actually did the breaking up (this is not confirmed canonically this is just how it read to me). And as for her ending, as much as I like Piper being confirmed sapphic, the whole lack of a set up and the fact it reads so much like a rebound really feels like Piper resorted yet again to romance instead of dealing with her issues.

For all that I complain, I did love Piper. But her internalized amatonormativity drives me crazy. And no, being the daughter of the goddess of love does not excuse it.

[overanalyzer]

The thing about Jason's death is its dual dichotomy of being incredibly necessary and absolutely disrespectful to the character at the same time.

Jason's death single handedly carries the entire stakes of the entire series on its back. It affects everyone and we see them struggle with it. His death is the cataclysm that makes Apollo’s development stick. The series still feels important and like things can go wrong, even with Riordan doing his slow backside into 'what are stakes' (Frank not dying and attacking Nero being equated with a fun lighthearted field trip did something to me. Yes, it’s called being mildly salty).

However, in a larger Jason based sense, its still extremely unfair. Jason is killed off as a guest star in a series not his own, in a story not his own, all for the sake of another character’s development. Jason pointedly does not have any growth or even hints of a character arc and all his characterization is shrunk into good Roman Hero. For all intents and purposes, take out HoO and Jason’s role is the Burning Maze is a tertiary (maybe barely secondary) character who shows up just to be depressed and die.

I go back and forth between the two because I do care enough for Apollo to understand the why a character had to die for him to change. I just also cared deeply for Jason Grace, and it hurts to see the character I cared so much for just give up and die over a mistake he did not make for the sake of everyone else but him.

[overanalyzer]

Hot take: I actually liked Khrysaor beating Percy. It was refreshing to see him totally out of his plane which was supposed to happen in like the ancient lands. Also, it makes sense. Sure Percy is a son of Poseidon but so is Khrysaor. The only difference is that Khrysaor has got a few thousand years more of experience (and a friendly dolphin army).

Would it have been nice to see an extended battle? yeah. But does that mean the writing was bad? No.

[overanalyzer]

I don't know if I haven't made this clear but Jason Grace is my child. I am a big fan of his. He is wonderful. He did nothing wrong in his life. He weathered everyone else's problems until it literally ran him through.

Jason just wanted to be a kid. But no one ever let him be a child. Even when he died he was remembered as the hero he was raised as and not the child he longed to be.