The Best Episode So Far? - Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode 5 Review

On every Tuesday night for the past five weeks, I have waited excitedly for the new episode of Disney's latest TV show adaption, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Long-time fans of the hit book series by Rick Riordan showed enthusiastic support for the first episodes of the series, praising the book-accurate depiction of events and the young actor's portrayals of their beloved characters. 

However, as excited as I have been for the series, and as much as I have enjoyed it thus far, I have to admit I was a bit put off by the first few episodes. To me, much of the dialogue felt extremely stiff and purely expositional, and the pacing especially left too much time for dull moments and not enough for dramatic and emotional beats. Simply put, I could not feel the peril of Percy Jackson's situation. 

However, this week's episode, "A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers," has proved to me that the series will only improve from its rocky first episodes. Not only did this week's episode make me laugh more than any other, much thanks to the portrayal of Ares by professional AEW wrestler Adam Copeland, but it also made me feel the danger and emotion of Percy Jackson's quest. The episode wasted no time establishing heartfelt connections between the main trio of Grover, Annabeth, and Percy, and the separation of the latter two characters made for delightful interactions between the two that the show has felt lacking of thus far. In addition, this episode didn't suffer the same pacing problems as the first episodes. The dialogue and story beats were quick when they needed to be and slowed for dramatic effect.

Overall, between this week's and last week's episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, my hopes and expectations for the series have risen for the iconic Lotus Casino arc to be portrayed in next week's episode. The chemistry between the main trio continues to improve each week, and the world continues to be delightfully fantastic and perilous. I also hope Lin Manuel Miranda's portrayal of Hermes lives up to Adam Copeland's stunning job as Ares in this week's installment. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Offensive or Amazing? - Hazbin Hotel Review

 Amazon Prime has just released a new original series in collaboration with A24 called Hazbin Hotel . The series has garnered some serious criticism from some amazon prime subscribers, who have claimed that it promotes demonic worship and misinterprets the Christian religion. However, others have given the show rave reviews. So what is this show really about? Personally, I have been a fan of Hazbin Hotel  for more than just the month it’s been on streaming. In high school, I followed the creator of the show, Vivienne Medrano, on all her social media, and followed Hazbin Hotel from when it was just a loose storyline surrounding her original character designs. I have seen the show go from comic, to storyboard, to pilot, and now finally to a fully fledged animated series. Watching the new series on amazon, I was thrilled to get to see the continuation of these characters’ arcs and their journeys together. So why all the controversy? Much of it stems from the setting of Hazbin Hot...
Read more

Hamilton as Hermes? - Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode 7 Review

 With the scene in the original film being something of an early 2000s icon, viewers of the new Percy Jackson series on Disney plus anticipated this weeks episode, taking place in the Lotus Casino, very highly. Being a tween around the time the first movie came out, I remember the Lotus Casino scene vividly. The characters eating delicious looking flower cookies while letting loose in a Vegas Casino, meanwhile Lady Gaga’s hit song “Poker Face” played in the background. While it seemed like the height of cool back then, the scene seems hilariously outdated now, so I was as excited as everyone else to see what the modern interpretation of the Casino would look like. And more importantly, would they still include Poker Face? With the airing of episode 7, I was surprised by how different the interpretation was, not just from the first movie, but from the books too. While the rest of the show has stayed pretty consistent to the books, this episode strayed the furthest of any episode so ...
Read more

Watching Legend of Korra - Season 2 First Half Review

 In continuation with my series, this week I watched season 2 of the Avatar sequel series “The Legend of Korra” Seeing as how Korra has mastered all the elements, including the Avatar state, by the end of season 1, it’s difficult to predict what more Korra will learn in season 2. However, it is quickly established in this season that there is an imbalance in both Korra and the world when it comes to spirits. Indeed, the second season is titled and centered around “Spirits” The season starts out with a very strong first 8 episodes. Korra revisits her home at the South Pole only to discover that spirits have begun to attack its citizens. There is unrest about this matter between Korra’s father, who is chief of the South Pole, and her uncle, who is chief of the North Pole. In this initial storyline, Korra tried to help her uncle reconnect the South to the spirit world, only to discover that her uncles intentions were never spiritual, but political. A civil war dawns in the South Pole ...
Read more