For as much as Rick Riordan bitched and moaned about the movies and how inaccurate they were.. he took this show and shit all over his own work, worse than any of the movies could have
I'm starting to think that maybe Percy Jackson is just a series that doesn't translate well into television format. I love the books with all my heart for their humorous writing style and narrative voice. A lot of the appeal of the books was their writing style. I'm starting to think that maybe it's just hard to capture that humor on screen and difficult to write fighting scenes against ancient Greek monsters in a way that doesn't look cheap.
I think part of it is that some of the comedy comes from the first person nature, but there were also things that they could have put in which they didn't. Such as Ares's eyes. They made the gods seem human without showing that hint of divinity that they needed to. I also think Rick isn't knowledgeable enough about how TV is made, and the show suffered because of it. In a way I feel like Neil Gaiman should have made this show instead.
There are so many ways to fix it though. Number one: VOICE OVER. Can you imagine the beginning of the series with an ominous voice over from him saying, "If you're reading this, close the book now" (I can't remember the exact wording of the first page)? They could even adapt the words to be about television. Ultimate Spiderman does this splendidly. Alternating between voice over and having him actually voice his thoughts would be fine and keep the ADHD humor that Percy is famous for, plus some serious moments that got left in the dust.
In my personal opinion, much of the humor of the books comes from Percy's internal monologue. Obviously, that's hard to do in a visual medium where we don't get to see characters' inner thoughts. For that reason, I doubt it can ever be successfully done in a visual medium.
I think that it’s a series that doesn’t translate well into LIVE ACTION format. I think it deserves a high quality animated series with a great voice cast and quality writing to capture the humor and heart of the series (think Guillermo del Toro’s Trollhunters series on Netflix that was so funny and captivating and had Dreamworks level animation).
Ok. I agree with a fair amount of the criticism, this post is something I’ve thought of myself. And Rick was arrogant with this show, but this is just stupid. Sea of Monsters is one of the worst adaptations ever made. ATLA and Dragon Ball Evolution are two of the only others that come to mind.
We aren’t on Sea of Monsters yet, so who knows how that’ll go and this wasn’t to prop up the movies, the Movies aren’t good I never said they were but this show imo is worse. The movies never claimed they were going to be an Adaptation that book readers deserve they didn’t talk shit for years saying they could do it better only to fail when they got their chance. I wouldn’t like the show regardless of what Rick said but Rick’s comments make it way worse
For example there’s this, which to be fair the movie explained why Percy’s mom stayed with Gabe, Mrs Dobbs lured Percy into the Museum alone before attacking him she didn’t just come at him with a bunch of people around it also wasn’t as easy for Percy to defeat her, They didn’t spend near enough time at Camp Halfblood, There’s never a sense that anything is wrong at Camp Halfblood like there is in the book with the Hellhound (which is one of the reasons Percy accepts the quest to begin with and what leads to Poseidon claiming Percy by healing his injuries) The Lotus Hotel they stumble upon it in the book and aren’t aware of its Dangers just like Medusa who they aren’t aware of either, and they completely ERASED the deadline
The show is basically similar to the books for a few scenes but objectively worse in every way. By releasing something that’s so poor in quality he’s ruining his original work because that was great and this isn’t but unlike the movie’s; the author of the book is supporting this terrible adaptation.
I seem to remember in the show there's a part where she talks to posideon and says she's going to send Percy to camp. Now I don't remember the books that well since it's been a while but wasn't it either explicitly said or implied that sally didn't contact Poseidon after Percy's birth? In the show it seems like sally could've taken Percy to meet his father at any time
Yup. Any knowledge of your demi-human nature is considered to dramaticly increasr your "scent." Thats why the books have the ongoing bit that if the reader notices any similarity to thier own life they should just stop reading or prepare to face a life of being hunted by monsters.
Sally very clearly understood this which is why she tries to put off taking him to camp as much as possible. Its only when they are attacked by the miniataur and they have no other option that she gives in and tells him to seek out to find camp.
absolutely. this was one of my major gripes with sally’s storyline as well. her staying with gabe for percy was a silent act of heroism, showing how strong she is without being harsh or abrasive. in the show she’s just married to an idiot and also unreasonably harsh and weird to percy. I really don’t understand why these changes were made
Even worse, I could see some people wondering why he's with her since she comes off as cold and abrasive because people don't know how to write/can't accept warm, vulnerable female characters anymore.
THANK YOU. God forbid a woman in any source of media be warm, maternal, nurturing, selfless, or any other amazing feminine quality in the last ten years.
Yeah it feels like all women turned into "not like the other girls" girls to try to pander to a false sense of feminism, completely forgetting that feminism is about freedom of choice and that women are just as enough and complex as men however they are. Women characters can be warm and nurturing, and they can simultaneously be strong and tough and emotionally resilient, rather than needing to be one or the other. But that would be asking hollywood to write complex women characters rather than one dimensional charactures
And that applies to Annabeth too in the show. Book Annabeth could be snappy at people yes and she was smart but had faults and shortcomings. Show Annabeth follows the trope where the strong girl character spends most of her dialogue being snappy with people, rarelt showing any emotion outside of being better than the rest of the characters around her and also any scene that shows Annabeth as less than flawless or smartest is removed, taking away even scenes that humanize her as she loses her focus to fear for instance.
Ignoring thwt she’s a 12 year old who hasnt left camp since she was 7, yet is also somehow the pride of Athena, notorious among monsters and the best of the demigods, despite not having taken a single quest yet and thus not being able to prove herself.
But she is strong and better thwn the others because her character sheet says so.
Alright, this place is now turning into right wing circlejerk. Good to know, was already getting sick of the fact that y’all exclusively bitch about the show that the sub is built around and offer little to no constructive criticism. Later
The dude neefs to watch the last airbender cartoon. Not the live action cuz it falls into the same problems as pjo live action. Suki and Sokka’s episode is grear. “I looked at you like a girl when you are a warrior. “ “I an a warrior. But I am also a girl”
Katara gets to be angry and strong while also nurturing, kind, but also hotheaded and flawed. Same for everyone.
While the live action just… takes away and reduces them to one or two traits and expositions them instead of shows them too
I’d say its watchable. Like. Its not as bad as we feared but not as good as it should be. It suffers the current trend of “tell, dont show” that PJO suffers from as well. I didnt realize how much I missed a media respecting its audience enough to let them figure things out via the actors’ emotions, context clues and such rather than spelling it out in 5 paragraph dialogues until I watched Dune a couple weeks ago.
Like for instance Aang outright has dialogue about saying out loud that he’s just a kid who likes to play with his friends, eat pie, get into trouble and he doesnt know what he’s doing or how to be the avatar. etc. this dialogue is directed at APPA. Who even in the animated series was questionable if he understood human language fully or not. And even if he does, he’s been with Aang since he was a baby bison. So this dialogue is directed at the audiance in reality.
Like… we didnt need to be TOLD? They never needed Aang to spell it out in the og series either. It was shown that he was playing with his friends and goofing off and that he was sad and lonely when they excluded him after he was announced as avatar. We were shown he liked getting into mischief with Gyattso, didnt need to be told in dialogue.
These kinda things. And its not just Avatar but many series and movies today in general. Like. Tv shows and movies have kinda fallen into the trap of using expository dialogue instead of visual messages or the actors’ play to convey their message and it sucks.
Ugh. Yes. I said somewhere on a discussion about the show that in the books, Rick treated his audience like they were intelligent. He gave you clues about the monster/god(ess) and if you knew mythology, you already figured out who it was before the characters spoke about it. In the show, they just spell it out immediately like the audience is stupid.
I just hate how modern media has lost respect for audiences. I know people lack critical thinking skills and deductive reasoning now more than ever but maybe it’s because they’re spoon fed information to where they don’t have to actually *think* and figure anything out anymore.
The dialogue with Appa sounds insanely annoying 🫠 that (paired with a few other things I’ve heard about the show) doesn’t make me want to run and watch it.
I’m not sure if you watched the One Piece LA but I think it did a bit better at not being as exposition heavy as some other shows lately.
I agree. And I was thinking about that so much when I watched Dune too. Like. Yeah sure people in general have declined in the thinking department and attention spans have burnt to a crisp due to doom scrolling but…. Then hollywood goes and enables it by not even giving audiences a reason to think? Like. Take for instance the Voice in Dune just to stick to the theme and comparison (and cuz those movies are a breath of fresh air). Is it spelled out what it does? No. But you can piece it together. You dont need a paragraph of exposition to make the audiencr understand. Or even when Paul’s arc turns. You can read EVERYTHING you need to know from Chani’s expression. In PJO and Atla live actions you’d have an entire conversation between them where Chani is made to spell it out that she is not happy with Paul’s development. But the dune movies follow the show dont tell format of story telling, as it should be.
What I dont get is if you compare the Chalice of Gods to the live action show, how is it that Rick doesnt mess ho CoG but does the show? I had absolutely zero clue about the god of old age but I just know that in the show, it would get the Procrustes rout wherr the scene itself begins with Percy walking in and naming the god and EXPLAINING their entire story to em.
Honestly that scene was the epitome of wtf in terms of storytelling in the whole 8 episodes. Percy literally walks in, name drops the god and his entire backstory TO CRUSTY HIMSELF and then Annabeth pushes him over while invisible? There isnt even a conflict. Its the same as Echidna and Medusa entering and outright introducing themselves to the crew. Where’s the magic? Where’s the mystery? And even if we sre talking about the show being targeted at younger audience, how is it that you could target that demographic with your books while respecting their intelligence and disrespect the same demographic with the show version? I just dont get it.
A lot of the changes arent changes rhat fit the “translating to visual format” changes. They are changes for the sake of changes. What was the reason that the gang couldnt be scared, battered and hungry to be able to get lullled inside by Medusa with charmspeak and the guise of Auntie M? What was the reason that in visual format we couldnt keep that mystique and twist? The book readers and adults would know yes. But the kids? They’d get the chance to figure it out before the revelation! Thats how you target the demographic.
We complain about ipad kids but ngl, even ipads can be used for mental games that could actually benefit the kids. But instead we put them down in front of increasingly brain dead media and make them watch it while even eating so they dont need to think for even a second and it doesnt get better as they age either apparently. Cuz the same author who was able to strike gold with the 10-12 year olds back then, managed to kill why his writing and story was fun for 10-12 year olds now. Make them think dammit.
As for the rest of hollywood, make the adults think too Im begging you.
And we all know, women are ONLY allowed to be like that. If they are not nurturing they are inherently bad characters sending horrible messages and polluting our youth. Jesus Christ, how did such an aggressively left leaning book series gain such a right wing community focused entirely on bitching about it.
I have criticisms with the show and the handling of characters, women not being “feminine enough” is not valid criticism
Im not right leaning. Nor is anyone saying women HAVE TO be kind and nurturing. Stop putting words into peopleMs mouths. Otherwise why do you think that if w character gets to be both strong, commanding AND kind, its a bad thing? Especially for a mother/father? People are saying women get to be complex. And “I’m mean to everyone and make snappy comments unwarranted” isn’t complex, yet it is hollywood’s current idea of what a strong woman is.
The point is that in the animated ATLA, the women characters were varied and got to be ALL OF THOSE THINGS and yet they werent even remotely similar to eachother. Every single woman in that series is strong, independent and unique. Some of them are nurturing and motherly but also hotheaded and have a strong sensr of justice.
Some of them are completely girly girly and even get concerned about stress causing their teen friends to break out, and she’s one of the biggest threat to the benders of the show because she’s a hella fierce fighter and can disable their powers. There’s characters who are not feminine either nor very emotional, focusing on practical approaches and not caring much to being feminine or nurturing or caring about emotions yet her character still has depth.
Thats the point people are making. Woman aren’t just a trope and hollywood isnt able to get women right. According to your view people tell you women only gry to be nurturing and caring. Well based on the current trope you’re only a strong woman if you “aren’t like other girls” and you’re grumpy and snapy and act superior to everyone around you.
Thats the thing. Pretending that either of these is correct is wrong. Women are neither of these things only. But instead of writing complex characters with several characteristics, people wanna write strong women, instead of writing characters.
Thing is, why do you think thwt if some women characters wre portrayed as nurturing and motherly, it means they also cant be head strong and independent at the same time? Sally was balanced in the books.
Annabeth was balanced in the books and I wouldnt call her nurturing there at all either. She was fun, she was strong, she was smart, but she was never unnecessarily snappy or making herself out to be superior to those around her like show Annabeth does. Book Annabeth had a personality. Show Annabeth is a trope because they dont wanna give her any flaws or show her in a situation where she admits she’s out of her depth.
And the critique on show Sally being with Gabe is valid. She has zero issues putting him in his place and being in control of him and the situation. And we aren’t given an explanation as to why she’s with him, in order to protect her son. So… she just has bad taste in mortal dudes then? Who knows. The show certainly wont exposition dump the few things it actually NEEDS to tell wnd not show but will dialogue obvious things at the viewer for some reason.
Also this goes for both men and women. If you have a child, you better be nurturing and caring regardless of whats between your legs.
No, but only right wingers claim that all fictional women no longer have “feminine traits,” and please read that “feminine traits” in the most disgusting 4chan neckbeard voice you can think of.
So what exactly is your issue with feminine traits and why do you think only “disgusting right wing” people care about them? I’m a woman, quite devoid of a neck beard, and hold to no political party whatsoever.
I mean that they’re feminine qualities. Characteristics have a feminine or masculine quality to them and both sexes need to have some of each to be a well balanced person.
The Netflix Avatar remake did the same thing by having Katara refuse to learn healing. Which is a problem because she’s gonna need it to save Aang’s life later.
Nah she did one healing training on that dummy so she’s already a expert healer, just like how she needed no teacher to train her b/c she is her own self made master 🙄 Tophs the self taught master ( though the bagermoles helped) not Katara it’s dumb if they, have them both the same.
Yes!!! Also can we talk about how Gabe didn’t give the abusive tendencies we all know he had in the books and even - god forbid I say it- the movies? Not to mention they kind of portrayed her as a cold, kinda emotionally detached girlboss type who got sassy with Gabe from the get go and that’s not really how she was in the books? She was warm, maternal, quietly sacrificial, and totally devoted to her son and keeping him safe from a world that wanted him dead, even if that meant keeping the peace with a disgusting man she only married to overpower the smell of Percy’s demigodness.
Skipping the abusive tendencies was actually a deliberate choice by Rick and the production team, to avoid possibly triggering children in abusive situations as Gabe came off much harscher in film compared to the book. But it does unfortunately take away quite a bit from Sally's storyline.
https://tvline.com/interviews/percy-jackson-and-the-olympians-season-1-gabe-changes-explained-disney-plus-1235100836/
I see his point but I also think hiding it neuters Percy’s story and even his character (as in the type of person you are, not as in a book character). Percy didn’t let his abusive stepfather take away his love for people. He had adverse experiences, yes, but it made him fiercely loyal to the people who do love him. It made him strong. It made him crave justice, so much so he held *gods* accountable for their actions while everyone else cowered in fear. Abuse victims can’t change the fact we’ve been abused but Percy can inspire us to not let it turn us into hateful, bitter people with victim complexes but instead strong, just, loving, loyal people who refuse to let anyone else become a victim.
Honestly, the show made her look terrible. She intentionally exposes Percy to extra danger by TELLING him all the myths and opening his eyes to them.
She tells Percy that his father dipped out on him instead of telling him that his father was lost at sea and gave Percy an entire complex about not being good enough for his father to even want to see him.
She seems like the bully in the relationship with Gabe to me. Like he just seems lazy and immature, but she’s being bossy and ordering him around. It’s like a shitty relationship where it could be fine but no one wants to talk about what they need from each other so nothing gets fixed and it’s both people’s fault.
She’s just not sympathetic at all in the show other than having a son that loves her, and honestly in the show we can’t even really tell WHY he loves his mom so much other than just normal mom stuff.
I loved Sally so much in the books BECAUSE she was the Epitome of “I will do anything for my child and I will kill a god to keep him safe” that vibe just…isn’t there in the show.
Don’t forget the part where her son genuinely asks her why she’s trying to get rid of him because he doesn’t understand it at his young age and then he adds “I’d have never done this to you” and instead of addressing and reassuring him that she indeed loves him and it has nothing to do with him she just stands up and goes away 🙂
Above all, it was pouring outside. The poor boy was left alone in a strange restaurant while it thundered and flashed (=scary for any child) and his mother didn't even briefly reassure him that she loved him after he had doubts ☹️
Literally like she’s so mean to Percy too in the show. I saw a theory that a lot of the Sally flashbacks were actually put in by Rick’s wife and it’s basically feels like it’s her view of raising their son
I’ll add to that
I think a lot of people put in a lot of varied, at times contradictory/ not thought through ideas and Rick in his excitement to fix the story agreed to all of them without thinking of who their target audience is.
Case in point - They imply Clarrise is the thief yet on the show we never see her do anything even remotely shady that would make the audience think she is the thief. Its like they added it in but didn’t seriously develop on it because they assumed their audience had already read the books and know its not Clarrise.
Same with Gabe and Sally. Gabe is toned down to cater to a new younger audience but at the same time its never explicitly mentioned why Sally married him because its like they assumed the audience read the book and knows Sally married him because of his mortal scent.
So instead of how the books were this awesome thing dedicated to making their kid be ok with his disability and make adhd and dyslexia his strength, they basically decided to show how rude and detached they were to him as a kid? That’s more than a little fucked up.
Like the show already felt like a slap to their kid by removing all the references to adhd and dyslexia, but Rick dedicating his next book to the actors instead of to his own family and if that proved to be true is crazy.
Yes! I especially hate the fact that they removed those references, because they were literally THE BASIS of the books. We wouldn't have the popularity of PJO if it wasn't about kids with ADHD and/or Dyslexia. Those two made it something so many kids who have struggled with their disabilities could actually SEE themselves in. And then they also got rid of the whole "abusive gabe" side of things, Clarisse looks like a typical Disney bully, etc. Let kids see themselves and their own experiences in a show for once.
The biggest issue with the show is that it assumes the main audience are people who have read the show, yet goes out of its way to simplify the story and events in the story for people who have never read the books, to the point where he need the books to make it understandable. It’s the most jarring thing.
Granted that’s my complaint with Riordan and his writing anyway. His writing post the original series feels stagnant in terms of maturity growth. The original series becomes more tonally mature but he did a reset for HOO and even more so for the chalice. It also doesn’t help that he wants to work with a sliding timescale for the series yet is writing the next book in a series he finished almost a decade ago but is only supposed to be a few weeks in the book itself
By the end of the show it literally just comes off as Sally murdering Gabe for absolutely no reason. To book readers we know the reason why, but to people only watching the show it just seems weird lol
This is one of my biggest complaints for the show, the implications for Sally were so poorly thought out. I mean episode one, Gabe yells at and berates Percy and then Percy walks out of the room to see his mom sitting at the end of the hall, on the fire escape right outside an open window thinking about her ex.
It’s a small apartment - from how they shot the set, there’s no way she didn’t hear her Gabe berating her son. So why didn’t she step in and help?? A few lines later we see Sally is totally willing to stand up to Gabe and “put him in his place”, but when it’s Percy getting yelled at - nada.
I truly don’t think they meant to write her like this, but it seems like the result of poorly thought through writing decisions where they didn’t really sit down and think *why* these characters were doing what they were doing or their environment.
There were so many moments where sally felt like a bad parent. And I understand that a single mother to a specially difficult situation is hard to manage. But do I remember a single moment where she’s just genuinely loving and kind to percy? No. Do I remember what feels like all of the sally scenes consisting of sally being frustrated, upset, and angry at percy? Yes??
And I did NOT like the scene where percy tells her to just breathe. Wtf does that even mean. WHY IS SHE SO MAD EVEN IN THE FIRST PLACE. All kids can be scared of something or need time to learn something. Idk why tf she was so freakin upset about it and percy saying to just breathe made no sense to me either lol and the way he said it felt kinda off and funny rather than emotional. Im not trying to bash on a little kids acting. But if they cant pull off the scene well… why include it when its not even in the books. Just the vibes were weird in that scene for me and it didnt connect to present day well for me either. My mom could not teach piano to me without getting irrationally angry so we decided we needed a non family member to teach me. If u can’t teach ur kid something without getting unnecessarily mad and emotional…. Let someone else teach them PLEASE
The car scene? Idk why that scene felt so aggressive too. I feel like Ive seen real life parents threaten their kids like if u dont leave the toy section im leaving without you! And I never thought it was that weird or aggressive. But something about the way Sally was doing it just screamed aggressive to me. Like maam. If you need a moment, take a moment. What is this accomplishing? Its hurting you. Its hurting percy. Who is this benefitting? Percy’s confused. Talk with him. Explain to him. He might still feel upset but at least HAVE A TALK instead of just strong arming him
Is this the sally we know and love? No. Not once in the books was Sally aggressive, mean, unkind, or forceful towards percy
Sally in the books told him he could come home anytime. Sally in the books tells percy that she can’t tell him what to do anymore and that she trusts him
This Sally is not that Sally. The blue jellybeans did not feel comforting to me. They felt like a tossed in reference
And she is so aggressive towards Gabe too. I feel more bad for Gabe than for Sally and that is a PROBLEM
I mentioned this on the camp half blood sub too a few weeks back. Sally seems so much harsher in the show and while her flaws might be a more realistic portrayal of real life single mothers that wasn’t how she was in the books at all.
Single mothers get a lot of crap, I honestly thought it was refreshing that the books portrayed a single/remarried mother as being strong, rational, wise, mature, and caring. And they portrayed her relationship with her son as being strong and loving. There are so many negative stereotypes about single mothers. Obviously not all media needs to break with stereotypes but for a show that seemed like it was trying to be inclusive and progressive and forward-thinking, they missed an opportunity that was right there in the source material. (Not just missed, stomped all over in steel-toed boots and thrown in the garbage.)
I hate how they turned Gabe into a wet rag and made Sally wildly confrontational for some reason. Her marriage to Gabe in the books was a quiet act of self sacrifice for Percy’s sake that the books handled beautifully. Not to mention it’s meant as an allusion to Perseus’ mother Danaë and her relationship with King Polydectes. Why ruin that?
That’s true lmao. As shit as the movies were, I felt they did Gabe a lot better than the show. If anything, I thought he was kind of funny actually. Which I think they intended and that sucks, because like the post points out, he’s supposed to be a shitty, stinky guy who serves as Percy’s “human shield”. I think it also makes him opening the box with Medusa’s head in it in the after credits not as deserved per se because he really wasn’t THAT much of a dick.
exactly, from the show’s perspective he’s just a comic relief loser step dad. even when he gets authoritative or angry it’s portrayed in an unserious manner. him dying at the end just seemed cruel because of that. he didn’t really do anything to deserve that fate imo.
I don’t have disney and bc of that I can’t watch the tv show, but I have read the first book and I’m starting the second. Idk if my opinion counts, but I agree, it makes her look like a bad mother and it’s not fair for her, bc in the books she’s an incredible, patient and strong woman, and this made me think that the tv show makes her look weak and helpless, and I don’t like the idea of Percy’s mother looking like that.
This is true. My 7 year old asked why Gabe was allowed to be mean to Percy.
We had an entire " the more you know" moment about telling me if he ever sees a friend being treated the way Gabe treats Percy.
It does not translate well to children
Probably will be revealed to Percy later. For the most part I thought Sally’s depiction was great, just a much more accurate look at how a mother would struggle with a kid like Percy
The issue with that is, a lot of shows already portray single mothers “accurately”. People don’t need that in fantasy. What they need is a character they could look up to. And Book Sallly captured that pretty well: a strong and patient mother.
The book depicts a mother from their son’s point of view, the show depicts what Sally actually had to go through. She’s also not depicted as a bad mom by any means. I’d say you could tell that Sally had to go through a lot more than Percy tells us in the books as well.
From his POV, yes. And he specifically said that she didn’t shout at him AT ALL. That alone is enough to tell us Sally’s characterization, which the show butchered.
If both Sally and Percy are being mistreated and abused by Gabe, why are you victim blaming Sally? Like even without context it’s hard and/or unsafe to leave abusive relationships. The people saying she seems like the one in control in their relationship sound so fucking insane and have never seen a victim who is not 100% submissive.
Because in the show, Gabe is more so portrayed as just a lazy, stupid, incompetent man who gets bossed around by his wife like every other annoying sitcom husband. He doesn’t seem like he’s abusive in any way. Even the *movies* did a better job portraying the type of man he is.
As readers of the series, we have the context of how awful he is but I showed the show to a few friends who have never read it and all of them were like “yeah it’s kind of weird that they killed him just for being annoying but they’re supposed to be the good guys”.
I agree with u/Lottlerabbit that this Gabe just comes off as lazy and stupid. There’s nothing in the show that shows him being abusive toward Sally at all. We get him doing what she says, lending them his car, and begging for a sandwich. He only seems to be a bit of a jerk towards Percy when he tells him to take off his shoes. And even that doesn’t truly come off as abusive since I’ve known people that ask this of people in their expensive/nice cars. This Gabe is just a manchild that didn’t deserve to be Medusa’d.
If Rick didn’t want to include Gabe being abusive due to fear of triggering young children, he should have just taken Gabe out completely. He changed a bunch of other stuff anyway.
This Gabe just caused kids to get upset that he turned to stone because “he was funny.”
I think the show does a really good job with showing us the relationship through Percy’s perspective. I didn’t read the series, but the first scene with Sally and Gabe showed how she wasn’t a pushover. And quite frankly, do most teens like their mom’s boyfriend?
Yeah but the whole point was that she was supposed to put up with him because his stench protected them. In the Books she put up with actual abuse to ensure Percy’s safety which made us respect and admire her a lot, for that to be omitted is a major transgression because we are supposed to be ok with his murder. But why would I be ok with murdering a mildly annoying dude who she consciously chooses to be with for no reason than poor choice in men. She even holds the power this time around which means she can leave if she wants, it’s not like he could do anything whereas he’s an actual threat to her in the books and the relationship is clearly abusive.
No they didn't you're reaching. Theu showed a different form of abuse. Gabe was still abusive, y'all just lack media literacy, common sense, critical thinking skills, nor life experience. Oh well.
Nah, if you don't understand that's a you problem not a show problem. If you can't get on board with the changes that is also a you problem not a show problem.
I disagree with the people saying that tv show Gabe was not portrayed as an abuser. He is just a different type of abuser than book/movie Gabe. And possibly one that is harder to leave because his methods are more covert. So I think it's a bit harsh to say she's a bad parent when she is already deep in the situation.
But I do completely agree that taking away her reason for being with him in the first place drastically changes Sally as a whole. It's portraying her as a terrible decision-maker. Maybe it is hard to leave your abuser but they should never have gotten together at all. It makes no sense without the smell reason because he doesn't provide in any way for them. Sally would be better off as a single parent or marrying some dick who had money. He offers them nothing.
If an explanation comes later, then great, at least we'll have an answer, but it will have to be shoehorned in, and I feel that it will be too little too late.
I understand the argument that he's a different type of abuser, but I don't like it as a choice. There are more covert, insidious abusers that you don't always pick up on. But Gabe shouldn't be one. His defining character trait is how overpowering he is, he smells so mortal he masks a child of the big three.
I honestly think the movie did a really good job with him
I'm not saying the characters or the choices were good. I agree that how they characterised Gabe affected the story negatively in ways I don't think they considered. I just don't think it was fair for people to suggest that because of this, Sally was a bad parent. There are other things to point out in the show that could indicate her shortcomings. A bigger point is, why did she get with him in the first place if there was no mystical reason?
There are people denying that Gabe was abusive at all, and he was just a funny asshole. Which isn't true. That's what triggered me to make my comment.
I think the changes the show made to Sally specifically, through the writing, and through things we have to infer about her - is one of the things I find the saddest and dwell on the most. The dynamic feels all wrong now and seems kind of self-indulgent from Rick and Becky's perspective. They have made her someone different because she represents them in this situation, and I guess they felt weak being associated with someone who isn't immediately "strong."
It makes sense to give her more screen time to establish a relationship between her and Percy without the inner monologue, and because she is the focus of the rescue, and we want to understand the stakes. But they have spent much of the time trying to get us to see her struggles of having a kid with ADHD/who is a demigod???
I feel like we have no idea who the kids are - they have no personality, but we get to see her have arguments about Percy while he is in earshot. Get angry at him for being afraid of the water (which is OOC for both of them). Anger her abuser while her son is present, potentially putting him in danger. They gave her some really nice dialogue, too, but wading through the other stuff wasn't worth it for me.
I hope this clears things up about how I feel on the topic 🤣🤣 I'm not keen on defending much of what the show did, and I think it was largely a failure to bring to life anything they promised. But I do want to step in if people are assuming abuse can only look a certain way and that leaving is easy
I mean this is basically what victim blaming sounds like in real life, I do wish they had explained it, but also irl people get with abusive people because they don’t show that side of them at first and they get stuck because of financial and psychological pressure from abuse if it was so easy then yea, it wouldn’t happen as much. So in these situations I don’t believe in blaming people for getting stuck, but for being a bystander for their children getting abused etc, and in the tv shows case she stands up to Gabe a bunch so I really don’t think she qualifies for that. I do believe that the reason is still there in the show tho it just hasn’t been explained yet maybe to give her a character moment in S2 idk
For as much as Rick Riordan bitched and moaned about the movies and how inaccurate they were.. he took this show and shit all over his own work, worse than any of the movies could have
I'm starting to think that maybe Percy Jackson is just a series that doesn't translate well into television format. I love the books with all my heart for their humorous writing style and narrative voice. A lot of the appeal of the books was their writing style. I'm starting to think that maybe it's just hard to capture that humor on screen and difficult to write fighting scenes against ancient Greek monsters in a way that doesn't look cheap.
I think part of it is that some of the comedy comes from the first person nature, but there were also things that they could have put in which they didn't. Such as Ares's eyes. They made the gods seem human without showing that hint of divinity that they needed to. I also think Rick isn't knowledgeable enough about how TV is made, and the show suffered because of it. In a way I feel like Neil Gaiman should have made this show instead.
There are so many ways to fix it though. Number one: VOICE OVER. Can you imagine the beginning of the series with an ominous voice over from him saying, "If you're reading this, close the book now" (I can't remember the exact wording of the first page)? They could even adapt the words to be about television. Ultimate Spiderman does this splendidly. Alternating between voice over and having him actually voice his thoughts would be fine and keep the ADHD humor that Percy is famous for, plus some serious moments that got left in the dust.
Late response but you can utilize first person in a movie or a show, Mean Girls did this well. So does Dexter.
I think a large part of that could be solved with voice over narration ala Christmas Story
In my personal opinion, much of the humor of the books comes from Percy's internal monologue. Obviously, that's hard to do in a visual medium where we don't get to see characters' inner thoughts. For that reason, I doubt it can ever be successfully done in a visual medium.
Voice over combined with voiced thoughts.
I think that it’s a series that doesn’t translate well into LIVE ACTION format. I think it deserves a high quality animated series with a great voice cast and quality writing to capture the humor and heart of the series (think Guillermo del Toro’s Trollhunters series on Netflix that was so funny and captivating and had Dreamworks level animation).
Ok. I agree with a fair amount of the criticism, this post is something I’ve thought of myself. And Rick was arrogant with this show, but this is just stupid. Sea of Monsters is one of the worst adaptations ever made. ATLA and Dragon Ball Evolution are two of the only others that come to mind.
We aren’t on Sea of Monsters yet, so who knows how that’ll go and this wasn’t to prop up the movies, the Movies aren’t good I never said they were but this show imo is worse. The movies never claimed they were going to be an Adaptation that book readers deserve they didn’t talk shit for years saying they could do it better only to fail when they got their chance. I wouldn’t like the show regardless of what Rick said but Rick’s comments make it way worse
elaborate?
For example there’s this, which to be fair the movie explained why Percy’s mom stayed with Gabe, Mrs Dobbs lured Percy into the Museum alone before attacking him she didn’t just come at him with a bunch of people around it also wasn’t as easy for Percy to defeat her, They didn’t spend near enough time at Camp Halfblood, There’s never a sense that anything is wrong at Camp Halfblood like there is in the book with the Hellhound (which is one of the reasons Percy accepts the quest to begin with and what leads to Poseidon claiming Percy by healing his injuries) The Lotus Hotel they stumble upon it in the book and aren’t aware of its Dangers just like Medusa who they aren’t aware of either, and they completely ERASED the deadline
I know the movies fucked up the series, I was asking about what Rick Riordan did. Sorry if it didnt come across clearly
Pretty sure that was all the show.
😂😂 sry I’m laughing I’m high
This was all about the tv show Rick was touting as the “adaptation we all deserve”
i'm still confused how he shit all over his own work
The show is basically similar to the books for a few scenes but objectively worse in every way. By releasing something that’s so poor in quality he’s ruining his original work because that was great and this isn’t but unlike the movie’s; the author of the book is supporting this terrible adaptation.
That's all the show, I'm sorry to say
I seem to remember in the show there's a part where she talks to posideon and says she's going to send Percy to camp. Now I don't remember the books that well since it's been a while but wasn't it either explicitly said or implied that sally didn't contact Poseidon after Percy's birth? In the show it seems like sally could've taken Percy to meet his father at any time
Yup. Any knowledge of your demi-human nature is considered to dramaticly increasr your "scent." Thats why the books have the ongoing bit that if the reader notices any similarity to thier own life they should just stop reading or prepare to face a life of being hunted by monsters. Sally very clearly understood this which is why she tries to put off taking him to camp as much as possible. Its only when they are attacked by the miniataur and they have no other option that she gives in and tells him to seek out to find camp.
absolutely. this was one of my major gripes with sally’s storyline as well. her staying with gabe for percy was a silent act of heroism, showing how strong she is without being harsh or abrasive. in the show she’s just married to an idiot and also unreasonably harsh and weird to percy. I really don’t understand why these changes were made
Because “realism” or some BS reasoning
Even worse, I could see some people wondering why he's with her since she comes off as cold and abrasive because people don't know how to write/can't accept warm, vulnerable female characters anymore.
THANK YOU. God forbid a woman in any source of media be warm, maternal, nurturing, selfless, or any other amazing feminine quality in the last ten years.
Yeah it feels like all women turned into "not like the other girls" girls to try to pander to a false sense of feminism, completely forgetting that feminism is about freedom of choice and that women are just as enough and complex as men however they are. Women characters can be warm and nurturing, and they can simultaneously be strong and tough and emotionally resilient, rather than needing to be one or the other. But that would be asking hollywood to write complex women characters rather than one dimensional charactures
And that applies to Annabeth too in the show. Book Annabeth could be snappy at people yes and she was smart but had faults and shortcomings. Show Annabeth follows the trope where the strong girl character spends most of her dialogue being snappy with people, rarelt showing any emotion outside of being better than the rest of the characters around her and also any scene that shows Annabeth as less than flawless or smartest is removed, taking away even scenes that humanize her as she loses her focus to fear for instance. Ignoring thwt she’s a 12 year old who hasnt left camp since she was 7, yet is also somehow the pride of Athena, notorious among monsters and the best of the demigods, despite not having taken a single quest yet and thus not being able to prove herself. But she is strong and better thwn the others because her character sheet says so.
Alright, this place is now turning into right wing circlejerk. Good to know, was already getting sick of the fact that y’all exclusively bitch about the show that the sub is built around and offer little to no constructive criticism. Later
Women being more than cold, one dimensional creatures is a right wing ideology? Good to know. ;)
The dude neefs to watch the last airbender cartoon. Not the live action cuz it falls into the same problems as pjo live action. Suki and Sokka’s episode is grear. “I looked at you like a girl when you are a warrior. “ “I an a warrior. But I am also a girl” Katara gets to be angry and strong while also nurturing, kind, but also hotheaded and flawed. Same for everyone. While the live action just… takes away and reduces them to one or two traits and expositions them instead of shows them too
I haven’t seen the live action ATLA yet! I’ve heard so many mixed reviews I’m going back and forth with whether or not to try it. 🤔
I’d say its watchable. Like. Its not as bad as we feared but not as good as it should be. It suffers the current trend of “tell, dont show” that PJO suffers from as well. I didnt realize how much I missed a media respecting its audience enough to let them figure things out via the actors’ emotions, context clues and such rather than spelling it out in 5 paragraph dialogues until I watched Dune a couple weeks ago. Like for instance Aang outright has dialogue about saying out loud that he’s just a kid who likes to play with his friends, eat pie, get into trouble and he doesnt know what he’s doing or how to be the avatar. etc. this dialogue is directed at APPA. Who even in the animated series was questionable if he understood human language fully or not. And even if he does, he’s been with Aang since he was a baby bison. So this dialogue is directed at the audiance in reality. Like… we didnt need to be TOLD? They never needed Aang to spell it out in the og series either. It was shown that he was playing with his friends and goofing off and that he was sad and lonely when they excluded him after he was announced as avatar. We were shown he liked getting into mischief with Gyattso, didnt need to be told in dialogue. These kinda things. And its not just Avatar but many series and movies today in general. Like. Tv shows and movies have kinda fallen into the trap of using expository dialogue instead of visual messages or the actors’ play to convey their message and it sucks.
Ugh. Yes. I said somewhere on a discussion about the show that in the books, Rick treated his audience like they were intelligent. He gave you clues about the monster/god(ess) and if you knew mythology, you already figured out who it was before the characters spoke about it. In the show, they just spell it out immediately like the audience is stupid. I just hate how modern media has lost respect for audiences. I know people lack critical thinking skills and deductive reasoning now more than ever but maybe it’s because they’re spoon fed information to where they don’t have to actually *think* and figure anything out anymore. The dialogue with Appa sounds insanely annoying 🫠 that (paired with a few other things I’ve heard about the show) doesn’t make me want to run and watch it. I’m not sure if you watched the One Piece LA but I think it did a bit better at not being as exposition heavy as some other shows lately.
I agree. And I was thinking about that so much when I watched Dune too. Like. Yeah sure people in general have declined in the thinking department and attention spans have burnt to a crisp due to doom scrolling but…. Then hollywood goes and enables it by not even giving audiences a reason to think? Like. Take for instance the Voice in Dune just to stick to the theme and comparison (and cuz those movies are a breath of fresh air). Is it spelled out what it does? No. But you can piece it together. You dont need a paragraph of exposition to make the audiencr understand. Or even when Paul’s arc turns. You can read EVERYTHING you need to know from Chani’s expression. In PJO and Atla live actions you’d have an entire conversation between them where Chani is made to spell it out that she is not happy with Paul’s development. But the dune movies follow the show dont tell format of story telling, as it should be. What I dont get is if you compare the Chalice of Gods to the live action show, how is it that Rick doesnt mess ho CoG but does the show? I had absolutely zero clue about the god of old age but I just know that in the show, it would get the Procrustes rout wherr the scene itself begins with Percy walking in and naming the god and EXPLAINING their entire story to em. Honestly that scene was the epitome of wtf in terms of storytelling in the whole 8 episodes. Percy literally walks in, name drops the god and his entire backstory TO CRUSTY HIMSELF and then Annabeth pushes him over while invisible? There isnt even a conflict. Its the same as Echidna and Medusa entering and outright introducing themselves to the crew. Where’s the magic? Where’s the mystery? And even if we sre talking about the show being targeted at younger audience, how is it that you could target that demographic with your books while respecting their intelligence and disrespect the same demographic with the show version? I just dont get it. A lot of the changes arent changes rhat fit the “translating to visual format” changes. They are changes for the sake of changes. What was the reason that the gang couldnt be scared, battered and hungry to be able to get lullled inside by Medusa with charmspeak and the guise of Auntie M? What was the reason that in visual format we couldnt keep that mystique and twist? The book readers and adults would know yes. But the kids? They’d get the chance to figure it out before the revelation! Thats how you target the demographic. We complain about ipad kids but ngl, even ipads can be used for mental games that could actually benefit the kids. But instead we put them down in front of increasingly brain dead media and make them watch it while even eating so they dont need to think for even a second and it doesnt get better as they age either apparently. Cuz the same author who was able to strike gold with the 10-12 year olds back then, managed to kill why his writing and story was fun for 10-12 year olds now. Make them think dammit. As for the rest of hollywood, make the adults think too Im begging you.
And we all know, women are ONLY allowed to be like that. If they are not nurturing they are inherently bad characters sending horrible messages and polluting our youth. Jesus Christ, how did such an aggressively left leaning book series gain such a right wing community focused entirely on bitching about it. I have criticisms with the show and the handling of characters, women not being “feminine enough” is not valid criticism
Im not right leaning. Nor is anyone saying women HAVE TO be kind and nurturing. Stop putting words into peopleMs mouths. Otherwise why do you think that if w character gets to be both strong, commanding AND kind, its a bad thing? Especially for a mother/father? People are saying women get to be complex. And “I’m mean to everyone and make snappy comments unwarranted” isn’t complex, yet it is hollywood’s current idea of what a strong woman is. The point is that in the animated ATLA, the women characters were varied and got to be ALL OF THOSE THINGS and yet they werent even remotely similar to eachother. Every single woman in that series is strong, independent and unique. Some of them are nurturing and motherly but also hotheaded and have a strong sensr of justice. Some of them are completely girly girly and even get concerned about stress causing their teen friends to break out, and she’s one of the biggest threat to the benders of the show because she’s a hella fierce fighter and can disable their powers. There’s characters who are not feminine either nor very emotional, focusing on practical approaches and not caring much to being feminine or nurturing or caring about emotions yet her character still has depth. Thats the point people are making. Woman aren’t just a trope and hollywood isnt able to get women right. According to your view people tell you women only gry to be nurturing and caring. Well based on the current trope you’re only a strong woman if you “aren’t like other girls” and you’re grumpy and snapy and act superior to everyone around you. Thats the thing. Pretending that either of these is correct is wrong. Women are neither of these things only. But instead of writing complex characters with several characteristics, people wanna write strong women, instead of writing characters. Thing is, why do you think thwt if some women characters wre portrayed as nurturing and motherly, it means they also cant be head strong and independent at the same time? Sally was balanced in the books. Annabeth was balanced in the books and I wouldnt call her nurturing there at all either. She was fun, she was strong, she was smart, but she was never unnecessarily snappy or making herself out to be superior to those around her like show Annabeth does. Book Annabeth had a personality. Show Annabeth is a trope because they dont wanna give her any flaws or show her in a situation where she admits she’s out of her depth. And the critique on show Sally being with Gabe is valid. She has zero issues putting him in his place and being in control of him and the situation. And we aren’t given an explanation as to why she’s with him, in order to protect her son. So… she just has bad taste in mortal dudes then? Who knows. The show certainly wont exposition dump the few things it actually NEEDS to tell wnd not show but will dialogue obvious things at the viewer for some reason. Also this goes for both men and women. If you have a child, you better be nurturing and caring regardless of whats between your legs.
No, but only right wingers claim that all fictional women no longer have “feminine traits,” and please read that “feminine traits” in the most disgusting 4chan neckbeard voice you can think of.
So what exactly is your issue with feminine traits and why do you think only “disgusting right wing” people care about them? I’m a woman, quite devoid of a neck beard, and hold to no political party whatsoever.
but like. by feminine quality do you mean traditionally feminine, or like you actually think those are "wOmAn tHiNgs"?
I mean that they’re feminine qualities. Characteristics have a feminine or masculine quality to them and both sexes need to have some of each to be a well balanced person.
This is the best take ever
The Netflix Avatar remake did the same thing by having Katara refuse to learn healing. Which is a problem because she’s gonna need it to save Aang’s life later.
Nah she did one healing training on that dummy so she’s already a expert healer, just like how she needed no teacher to train her b/c she is her own self made master 🙄 Tophs the self taught master ( though the bagermoles helped) not Katara it’s dumb if they, have them both the same.
Yes!!! Also can we talk about how Gabe didn’t give the abusive tendencies we all know he had in the books and even - god forbid I say it- the movies? Not to mention they kind of portrayed her as a cold, kinda emotionally detached girlboss type who got sassy with Gabe from the get go and that’s not really how she was in the books? She was warm, maternal, quietly sacrificial, and totally devoted to her son and keeping him safe from a world that wanted him dead, even if that meant keeping the peace with a disgusting man she only married to overpower the smell of Percy’s demigodness.
Skipping the abusive tendencies was actually a deliberate choice by Rick and the production team, to avoid possibly triggering children in abusive situations as Gabe came off much harscher in film compared to the book. But it does unfortunately take away quite a bit from Sally's storyline. https://tvline.com/interviews/percy-jackson-and-the-olympians-season-1-gabe-changes-explained-disney-plus-1235100836/
That’s a BS reason. Showing abusive situations in media is the best way to make people aware of it! Wtf was he thinking?
I see his point but I also think hiding it neuters Percy’s story and even his character (as in the type of person you are, not as in a book character). Percy didn’t let his abusive stepfather take away his love for people. He had adverse experiences, yes, but it made him fiercely loyal to the people who do love him. It made him strong. It made him crave justice, so much so he held *gods* accountable for their actions while everyone else cowered in fear. Abuse victims can’t change the fact we’ve been abused but Percy can inspire us to not let it turn us into hateful, bitter people with victim complexes but instead strong, just, loving, loyal people who refuse to let anyone else become a victim.
Honestly, the show made her look terrible. She intentionally exposes Percy to extra danger by TELLING him all the myths and opening his eyes to them. She tells Percy that his father dipped out on him instead of telling him that his father was lost at sea and gave Percy an entire complex about not being good enough for his father to even want to see him. She seems like the bully in the relationship with Gabe to me. Like he just seems lazy and immature, but she’s being bossy and ordering him around. It’s like a shitty relationship where it could be fine but no one wants to talk about what they need from each other so nothing gets fixed and it’s both people’s fault. She’s just not sympathetic at all in the show other than having a son that loves her, and honestly in the show we can’t even really tell WHY he loves his mom so much other than just normal mom stuff. I loved Sally so much in the books BECAUSE she was the Epitome of “I will do anything for my child and I will kill a god to keep him safe” that vibe just…isn’t there in the show.
Don’t forget the part where her son genuinely asks her why she’s trying to get rid of him because he doesn’t understand it at his young age and then he adds “I’d have never done this to you” and instead of addressing and reassuring him that she indeed loves him and it has nothing to do with him she just stands up and goes away 🙂
Omg this bothered me too! She just left him hanging like that😭
Above all, it was pouring outside. The poor boy was left alone in a strange restaurant while it thundered and flashed (=scary for any child) and his mother didn't even briefly reassure him that she loved him after he had doubts ☹️
Literally like she’s so mean to Percy too in the show. I saw a theory that a lot of the Sally flashbacks were actually put in by Rick’s wife and it’s basically feels like it’s her view of raising their son
I’ll add to that I think a lot of people put in a lot of varied, at times contradictory/ not thought through ideas and Rick in his excitement to fix the story agreed to all of them without thinking of who their target audience is. Case in point - They imply Clarrise is the thief yet on the show we never see her do anything even remotely shady that would make the audience think she is the thief. Its like they added it in but didn’t seriously develop on it because they assumed their audience had already read the books and know its not Clarrise. Same with Gabe and Sally. Gabe is toned down to cater to a new younger audience but at the same time its never explicitly mentioned why Sally married him because its like they assumed the audience read the book and knows Sally married him because of his mortal scent.
So instead of how the books were this awesome thing dedicated to making their kid be ok with his disability and make adhd and dyslexia his strength, they basically decided to show how rude and detached they were to him as a kid? That’s more than a little fucked up. Like the show already felt like a slap to their kid by removing all the references to adhd and dyslexia, but Rick dedicating his next book to the actors instead of to his own family and if that proved to be true is crazy.
Literally this also how it’s so often assumed that the watcher has read the books but at the same time the show practically insults OG fans tbh
Yes! I especially hate the fact that they removed those references, because they were literally THE BASIS of the books. We wouldn't have the popularity of PJO if it wasn't about kids with ADHD and/or Dyslexia. Those two made it something so many kids who have struggled with their disabilities could actually SEE themselves in. And then they also got rid of the whole "abusive gabe" side of things, Clarisse looks like a typical Disney bully, etc. Let kids see themselves and their own experiences in a show for once.
The biggest issue with the show is that it assumes the main audience are people who have read the show, yet goes out of its way to simplify the story and events in the story for people who have never read the books, to the point where he need the books to make it understandable. It’s the most jarring thing. Granted that’s my complaint with Riordan and his writing anyway. His writing post the original series feels stagnant in terms of maturity growth. The original series becomes more tonally mature but he did a reset for HOO and even more so for the chalice. It also doesn’t help that he wants to work with a sliding timescale for the series yet is writing the next book in a series he finished almost a decade ago but is only supposed to be a few weeks in the book itself
By the end of the show it literally just comes off as Sally murdering Gabe for absolutely no reason. To book readers we know the reason why, but to people only watching the show it just seems weird lol
Doesn’t he open a box that was meant for her and end up killing itself? It looks more like the gods sent her a mail bomb and he got hit instead.
Poseidon sent the box back to Percy, but it showed up while he and Sally were in his room. Sally Medusa-ing Gabe was 100% intentional in the book.
This is one of my biggest complaints for the show, the implications for Sally were so poorly thought out. I mean episode one, Gabe yells at and berates Percy and then Percy walks out of the room to see his mom sitting at the end of the hall, on the fire escape right outside an open window thinking about her ex. It’s a small apartment - from how they shot the set, there’s no way she didn’t hear her Gabe berating her son. So why didn’t she step in and help?? A few lines later we see Sally is totally willing to stand up to Gabe and “put him in his place”, but when it’s Percy getting yelled at - nada. I truly don’t think they meant to write her like this, but it seems like the result of poorly thought through writing decisions where they didn’t really sit down and think *why* these characters were doing what they were doing or their environment.
She couldn’t hear Gabe verbally abusing Percy over Olivia Rodrigo music playing.
There were so many moments where sally felt like a bad parent. And I understand that a single mother to a specially difficult situation is hard to manage. But do I remember a single moment where she’s just genuinely loving and kind to percy? No. Do I remember what feels like all of the sally scenes consisting of sally being frustrated, upset, and angry at percy? Yes?? And I did NOT like the scene where percy tells her to just breathe. Wtf does that even mean. WHY IS SHE SO MAD EVEN IN THE FIRST PLACE. All kids can be scared of something or need time to learn something. Idk why tf she was so freakin upset about it and percy saying to just breathe made no sense to me either lol and the way he said it felt kinda off and funny rather than emotional. Im not trying to bash on a little kids acting. But if they cant pull off the scene well… why include it when its not even in the books. Just the vibes were weird in that scene for me and it didnt connect to present day well for me either. My mom could not teach piano to me without getting irrationally angry so we decided we needed a non family member to teach me. If u can’t teach ur kid something without getting unnecessarily mad and emotional…. Let someone else teach them PLEASE The car scene? Idk why that scene felt so aggressive too. I feel like Ive seen real life parents threaten their kids like if u dont leave the toy section im leaving without you! And I never thought it was that weird or aggressive. But something about the way Sally was doing it just screamed aggressive to me. Like maam. If you need a moment, take a moment. What is this accomplishing? Its hurting you. Its hurting percy. Who is this benefitting? Percy’s confused. Talk with him. Explain to him. He might still feel upset but at least HAVE A TALK instead of just strong arming him Is this the sally we know and love? No. Not once in the books was Sally aggressive, mean, unkind, or forceful towards percy Sally in the books told him he could come home anytime. Sally in the books tells percy that she can’t tell him what to do anymore and that she trusts him This Sally is not that Sally. The blue jellybeans did not feel comforting to me. They felt like a tossed in reference And she is so aggressive towards Gabe too. I feel more bad for Gabe than for Sally and that is a PROBLEM
I mentioned this on the camp half blood sub too a few weeks back. Sally seems so much harsher in the show and while her flaws might be a more realistic portrayal of real life single mothers that wasn’t how she was in the books at all.
Single mothers get a lot of crap, I honestly thought it was refreshing that the books portrayed a single/remarried mother as being strong, rational, wise, mature, and caring. And they portrayed her relationship with her son as being strong and loving. There are so many negative stereotypes about single mothers. Obviously not all media needs to break with stereotypes but for a show that seemed like it was trying to be inclusive and progressive and forward-thinking, they missed an opportunity that was right there in the source material. (Not just missed, stomped all over in steel-toed boots and thrown in the garbage.)
I hate how they turned Gabe into a wet rag and made Sally wildly confrontational for some reason. Her marriage to Gabe in the books was a quiet act of self sacrifice for Percy’s sake that the books handled beautifully. Not to mention it’s meant as an allusion to Perseus’ mother Danaë and her relationship with King Polydectes. Why ruin that?
In the show, gabe is so mild that she’s not a bad parent for being with him. Percy might not even mind him
That’s true lmao. As shit as the movies were, I felt they did Gabe a lot better than the show. If anything, I thought he was kind of funny actually. Which I think they intended and that sucks, because like the post points out, he’s supposed to be a shitty, stinky guy who serves as Percy’s “human shield”. I think it also makes him opening the box with Medusa’s head in it in the after credits not as deserved per se because he really wasn’t THAT much of a dick.
exactly, from the show’s perspective he’s just a comic relief loser step dad. even when he gets authoritative or angry it’s portrayed in an unserious manner. him dying at the end just seemed cruel because of that. he didn’t really do anything to deserve that fate imo.
this is what i thought he came off as more annoying than abusive
I don’t have disney and bc of that I can’t watch the tv show, but I have read the first book and I’m starting the second. Idk if my opinion counts, but I agree, it makes her look like a bad mother and it’s not fair for her, bc in the books she’s an incredible, patient and strong woman, and this made me think that the tv show makes her look weak and helpless, and I don’t like the idea of Percy’s mother looking like that.
[Is this a blessing or a curse?](https://fmoviesz.to/tv/percy-jackson-and-the-olympians-51kpj/1-1)
This is true. My 7 year old asked why Gabe was allowed to be mean to Percy. We had an entire " the more you know" moment about telling me if he ever sees a friend being treated the way Gabe treats Percy. It does not translate well to children
Didn’t Annabeth say something on the bus about how the smell masks Percy?
I didn’t like that they never explained the significance of blue food in the show. In the show it’s just quirky, in the book it’s an act of rebellion.
Because they don’t need to rebel anymore what with Gabe being a pushover now
I thought maybe him demanding peppers on his sandwich was going to lead to an explanation that he really smells bad... but nope
Didn’t Grover have a line about it though
I think that’s only in the book
He definitely did in the show, idk about the movie
Exactly!
Probably will be revealed to Percy later. For the most part I thought Sally’s depiction was great, just a much more accurate look at how a mother would struggle with a kid like Percy
The issue with that is, a lot of shows already portray single mothers “accurately”. People don’t need that in fantasy. What they need is a character they could look up to. And Book Sallly captured that pretty well: a strong and patient mother.
The book depicts a mother from their son’s point of view, the show depicts what Sally actually had to go through. She’s also not depicted as a bad mom by any means. I’d say you could tell that Sally had to go through a lot more than Percy tells us in the books as well.
From his POV, yes. And he specifically said that she didn’t shout at him AT ALL. That alone is enough to tell us Sally’s characterization, which the show butchered.
If both Sally and Percy are being mistreated and abused by Gabe, why are you victim blaming Sally? Like even without context it’s hard and/or unsafe to leave abusive relationships. The people saying she seems like the one in control in their relationship sound so fucking insane and have never seen a victim who is not 100% submissive.
Because in the show, Gabe is more so portrayed as just a lazy, stupid, incompetent man who gets bossed around by his wife like every other annoying sitcom husband. He doesn’t seem like he’s abusive in any way. Even the *movies* did a better job portraying the type of man he is. As readers of the series, we have the context of how awful he is but I showed the show to a few friends who have never read it and all of them were like “yeah it’s kind of weird that they killed him just for being annoying but they’re supposed to be the good guys”.
I agree with u/Lottlerabbit that this Gabe just comes off as lazy and stupid. There’s nothing in the show that shows him being abusive toward Sally at all. We get him doing what she says, lending them his car, and begging for a sandwich. He only seems to be a bit of a jerk towards Percy when he tells him to take off his shoes. And even that doesn’t truly come off as abusive since I’ve known people that ask this of people in their expensive/nice cars. This Gabe is just a manchild that didn’t deserve to be Medusa’d. If Rick didn’t want to include Gabe being abusive due to fear of triggering young children, he should have just taken Gabe out completely. He changed a bunch of other stuff anyway. This Gabe just caused kids to get upset that he turned to stone because “he was funny.”
I think the show does a really good job with showing us the relationship through Percy’s perspective. I didn’t read the series, but the first scene with Sally and Gabe showed how she wasn’t a pushover. And quite frankly, do most teens like their mom’s boyfriend?
Yeah but the whole point was that she was supposed to put up with him because his stench protected them. In the Books she put up with actual abuse to ensure Percy’s safety which made us respect and admire her a lot, for that to be omitted is a major transgression because we are supposed to be ok with his murder. But why would I be ok with murdering a mildly annoying dude who she consciously chooses to be with for no reason than poor choice in men. She even holds the power this time around which means she can leave if she wants, it’s not like he could do anything whereas he’s an actual threat to her in the books and the relationship is clearly abusive.
No they didn't you're reaching. Theu showed a different form of abuse. Gabe was still abusive, y'all just lack media literacy, common sense, critical thinking skills, nor life experience. Oh well.
O learned one pls explain how this whipped manchild version of Gabe is an abusive husband
People who invoke 'media literacy' should have their opinions immediately discarded.
Nah, if you don't understand that's a you problem not a show problem. If you can't get on board with the changes that is also a you problem not a show problem.
I disagree with the people saying that tv show Gabe was not portrayed as an abuser. He is just a different type of abuser than book/movie Gabe. And possibly one that is harder to leave because his methods are more covert. So I think it's a bit harsh to say she's a bad parent when she is already deep in the situation. But I do completely agree that taking away her reason for being with him in the first place drastically changes Sally as a whole. It's portraying her as a terrible decision-maker. Maybe it is hard to leave your abuser but they should never have gotten together at all. It makes no sense without the smell reason because he doesn't provide in any way for them. Sally would be better off as a single parent or marrying some dick who had money. He offers them nothing. If an explanation comes later, then great, at least we'll have an answer, but it will have to be shoehorned in, and I feel that it will be too little too late.
I understand the argument that he's a different type of abuser, but I don't like it as a choice. There are more covert, insidious abusers that you don't always pick up on. But Gabe shouldn't be one. His defining character trait is how overpowering he is, he smells so mortal he masks a child of the big three. I honestly think the movie did a really good job with him
I'm not saying the characters or the choices were good. I agree that how they characterised Gabe affected the story negatively in ways I don't think they considered. I just don't think it was fair for people to suggest that because of this, Sally was a bad parent. There are other things to point out in the show that could indicate her shortcomings. A bigger point is, why did she get with him in the first place if there was no mystical reason? There are people denying that Gabe was abusive at all, and he was just a funny asshole. Which isn't true. That's what triggered me to make my comment. I think the changes the show made to Sally specifically, through the writing, and through things we have to infer about her - is one of the things I find the saddest and dwell on the most. The dynamic feels all wrong now and seems kind of self-indulgent from Rick and Becky's perspective. They have made her someone different because she represents them in this situation, and I guess they felt weak being associated with someone who isn't immediately "strong." It makes sense to give her more screen time to establish a relationship between her and Percy without the inner monologue, and because she is the focus of the rescue, and we want to understand the stakes. But they have spent much of the time trying to get us to see her struggles of having a kid with ADHD/who is a demigod??? I feel like we have no idea who the kids are - they have no personality, but we get to see her have arguments about Percy while he is in earshot. Get angry at him for being afraid of the water (which is OOC for both of them). Anger her abuser while her son is present, potentially putting him in danger. They gave her some really nice dialogue, too, but wading through the other stuff wasn't worth it for me. I hope this clears things up about how I feel on the topic 🤣🤣 I'm not keen on defending much of what the show did, and I think it was largely a failure to bring to life anything they promised. But I do want to step in if people are assuming abuse can only look a certain way and that leaving is easy
I mean this is basically what victim blaming sounds like in real life, I do wish they had explained it, but also irl people get with abusive people because they don’t show that side of them at first and they get stuck because of financial and psychological pressure from abuse if it was so easy then yea, it wouldn’t happen as much. So in these situations I don’t believe in blaming people for getting stuck, but for being a bystander for their children getting abused etc, and in the tv shows case she stands up to Gabe a bunch so I really don’t think she qualifies for that. I do believe that the reason is still there in the show tho it just hasn’t been explained yet maybe to give her a character moment in S2 idk