We can finally speak this out loud. Percy Jackson show was not bad because of the casting, it was bad because the script and characterization were very badly handled and misogynist.
The main woman character of the books is stripped of all her interesting character traits and personality, her imperfections and flaws and turned into a one dimensional character where she is completely written off as 'see, here is a powerful girl character!!'. I sometimes forget that a man is writing this show and his maximum thought capacity while writing a powerful female character is to turn her full, emotionless and 'perfect'.
Annabeth was powerful because of her imperfections. She was flawed, she was ambitious , quite impulsive and she usually got ruled by her emotions, she had a child side inside her. She didn't know everything, she made mistakes. This did not take from her character, it added to it. It made her strong. A perfect character is not powerful or girlbosss, she is just flattened and a robot. Her character was destroyed by the script.
Turning Gabe into a a lot less abusive, more likeable and sympathetic version in the show does not only completely crush the full impact of Percy's backstory, it also takes away from Sally's character completely. But they decided to show Athena a much worse parent than she was in the books? Book Athena would never let Annabeth die because she disappointed her. Poseidon however was the best dad ever! While book Poseidon even though he loved Percy, even though he was better than most of the Olympians as a parent, he was a still shit father. He was NOT a good father.
This is very misogynist to me but you are not ready to have this conversation because you refuse to see any real criticism for the show.
By the math and logistics of time and also my guesswork, Percy and Annabeth’s time in Tartarus was in around July. Later, in the first book of Trials of Apollo, the Hidden Oracle, it’s around January 13th, because Percy said Annabeth had gone to Boston for family matters, namely Magnus. Then, his mother Sally is seven months pregnant.
If I did my backwards counting correctly, Sally would’ve gotten pregnant at around June/July. Which is roughly the same time as Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus.
the seven, Reyna, Nico, Thalia, grover, and Will are all at Percy’s house.. and IN SPANISH !!! sally says “time fore dinner” and Percy and Leo just stand up and run, scared something happened, everyone else runs after them, only to find Percy and Leo stuffing their faces...
and that kids, is how everyone found out, Percy is in fact, Latino
AN: Just a oneshot proving my point that little Estelle is the fiber of everyone’s being; I don’t want to hear it and I refuse to believe that the entire Jackson/ Blofis family can refuse Estelle ANYTHING.
Sometimes little siblings can be a bit of a... well- a major pain. But honestly, who wouldn’t be an absolute sucker for tooth gaps and pretty blue eyes? Certainly not Percy ;)
~~
“Captain Crunch.”
“Cookie. Crisp.”
Percy threw his hands into the air in exasperation and fixed the small girl in front of him with a glare strong enough to knock down a building. But the young girl’s gaze held his and her blue eyes were unrelenting as she leaned forward in her chair, placing her chin on her small hands.
We can do this all day, her posture said.
“Come on, Ellie!” he whined, officially losing whatever sort of momentum he had before. “It’s-” he broke off to check his watch, squinting a bit as the numbers seemed to move and deform. “Eight fifteen in the morning. I am not leaving this house at such an ungodly hour on a Saturday to get you a mediocre cereal!”
But Estelle simply stared back at her big brother-her pretty blue eyes looking so much like her mothers at that point- and blinked, sighing.
And that was how fifteen minutes later, Percy found himself stumbling back into the kitchen with an unopened box of Cookie Crisp and a receipt that indeed read 8:22 AM. Fixing the twelve-year-old with a lethal glare he placed the cardboard on the table in front of her with a thump and handed her a bowl.
“Your meal, Highness.”
But Estelle was already grinning, showing off the two massive gaps she had where her front teeth should have been but had just recently fallen out. It had been days since she had given Percy a full smile, out of embarrassment, and seeing the empty spaces may have been just enough for Percy’s minor annoyance to slip away, quickly replaced with a warm feeling in the middle of his chest.
“Thanks, Perce!”
Percy barely had enough time to prepare himself as her small arms circled around his neck and she leaped at him in a hug. He let out a wince as the sudden momentum of her body against his drove him back into the counter, but the giggle she let out afterward- well, Percy could admit that it kind of made up for it.
“Alright you little squid,” Percy laughed, peeling her arms from around his neck and ruffling her dark brown hair when she made a face at the nickname. But he couldn’t help it- ever since his mother had married Paul Blofis, the blowfish and sea creature jokes hadn’t stopped; Percy just hoped he would never run out of nicknames.
“Yeah whatever Seaweed Head,” she grumbled and took her seat, the silence of the early morning kitchen quickly replaced by the clinking of Estelle’s cereal into her bowl, and the Jackson boy and the Blofis girl ate their cookie flavored cereal in comfortable silence before a sleep deprived Sally Blofis shuffled into the kitchen sporting a fuzzy robe with ducklings on it.
She yawned into a smile.
“Ah! There are my two favorite children!” She walked over to the table and kissed the tops of their heads before finding her way over to the empty coffee pot.
Estelle giggled and the sound was like music.
“We’re your only children Mommy!”
“Well that doesn’t mean you can’t be my favorite, now does it?” she replied, rubbing her cheek affectionately against the top of Estelle’s head and Percy hid his grin in a mouthful of cereal.
“Where’s-”
“Don’t talk to me,” came a monotone voice from the back of the kitchen and Estelle’s sea blue eyes seemed to shine even brighter as her father walked into the kitchen with deep purple bags under his eyes and a frown as deep as what a hole to hell would be. Paul must’ve been working late again, Percy figured, as he watched the tall man stalk across the kitchen like a Power Ranger.
That was- until Sally Blofis turned around, her smile already bright due to the fresh coffee in her system. And Percy watched as one of the most intimidating history teachers he had ever met- well, he watched him melt.
Not that Percy could blame him. His mother’s smile was like coming home from a trip to another country; like hot chocolate on a frosty air type of day.
So he couldn’t exactly blame Paul as his lips curved into a smile and he wrapped a long arm around his wife’s waist, kissing her cheek and whispering a, “Good Morning, love,” in the softest voice Percy had ever heard him use.
And with as much as Percy did enjoy his weekends with his father, it did his heart good to see his mother finally happy again, and the smile she returned to Paul was as sweet as honey.
“What’s up with you?” Paul asked, nudging Percy’s shoulder with his own as he came to stand beside him.
“Your daughter is a manipulative little witch,” Percy muttered, squinting at Estelle who- to her credit, pretended she didn’t see it.
Paul shrugged.
“Well, this is what you signed up for. What did she-” he broke off as he leaned over Percy’s shoulder to observe the cereal he was moving around with his spoon, a look of sympathy crossing his features. “Lucky Charms?”
“Cookie Crisps,” Percy confirmed. Paul almost seemed to wince as he nodded and Percy knew it wasn’t the first time the adorable brunette had used her charm to get her way in the family.
And Percy also knew he would let her keep doing it because- well, have you seen that kid’s dimples?
~~~~~~~
that’s it :)
i hope you guys liked it and if you have any oneshot requests don’t be shy !!
(but seriously captain crunch is 10000000 x better than cookie crisp right? let’s start a debate i’m ready)
