I Think The Dead Mother / Reluctant Father Figure Trope Is Way Too Oversaturated When It Comes To Coming-of-age

Sally fucking Jackson😭🤌🏻

this post goes out to sally fucking jackson

the woman who stayed in an abusive relationship for years to keep her son safe.

the woman who survived a minotaur attack and the underworld.

the woman who ate a primarily blue diet out of pure spite.

the woman who turned her abusive husband into a statue and sold him for a fortune.

the woman who was offered, by poseidon, a palace under the sea if she wished.

the woman who picked up a shotgun from a police car, used it against a laistrygonian giant, and when asked when she learned how to use it, responded “just now”.

a woman who, without notice, was met by a newly-human god and his twelve year old master and, without batting an eye, offered them food and clothing.

a woman who is a mother above all mothers.

i love sally jackson.

So, I just saw episode 4 of the Percy Jackson show, and my initial thoughts are:

Suzanne Cryer absolutely stole the show as Echidna, her performance was believable and genuinely frightening, and it absolutely made the episode.

On that note, I really like the continuation of the trend from the previous episode of the monster being kind of right but then taking it in the wrong direction. All of the themes of the gods being not good guys but just slightly less bad guys are there in the books, but I like that they are making an effort to flesh that out earlier and fold it into Percy's character

When Annabeth was explaining that her mother had taken away her sanctuary as punishment for embarrassment, you could feel Percy's anger at the concept (or maybe I was projecting). Anyway, this was both great acting and great thematic layering. You can see Percy's dislike of the gods crystalizing, and alongside the way he refuses to expect anything of Poseidon I'm really looking forward to seeing how they lean into the themes of accountability moving forward. It's part of what makes the series so great and I'm glad that they are pushing towards it and not away from it.

Moving back a bit, I really liked that it was clear that Percy was the only one who didn't know how to talk to a cop, because it fits with their characters on multiple levels. In addition to the fact that Percy is the only one of the three who is a white boy, he is also the only one who hadn't spent any time as a homeless kid. The way that they each respond also characterizes them well. Percy immediately starts getting sarcastic and defensive, and might end up accidentally saying something incriminating-sounding, so Grover, the peacekeeper, cuts him off to defuse the situation, telling the officer that they weren't there and nothing else. When the officer keeps pushing, Annabeth, who, like Percy, is somewhat defensive but also knows not to talk to a strange adult, ESPECIALLY a cop, when something supernatural and/or legally incriminating just happened, immediately clarifies that they are not under arrest and are not obligated to answer these questions.

Sally Jackson

Chimera was genuinely very cute, which was nice

KMDMCJJDD. WHY HADN'T I THOUGHT OF HOW WALKER IS PRACTICALLY A PERCABETH LOVE CHILD?!?!?!?! THE SMALL CHANGES TO THE STORY MAKES HIM JUST A TEENSY BIT MORE LIKE BOOK ANNABETH TOO, OMFGS

I don't mind that Walker Scobell doesn't look like book!Percy because 1) he's absolutely got the spirit. Walker basically is Percy, you can see and feel that in every one of his scenes, and

2) If book!Percabeth had a baby, he would look exactly like Walker Scobell, and I think that's hilariously perfect

I've been mad since 2022 for him being dead beat and the moment he showed up from the random burnt ice cream, I knew I was a goner

I SPENT EIGHT EPISODES SHITTING ON DEAD-BEAT DAD POSEIDON ONLY FOR RICK RIORDAN TO MAKE ME REGRET MY WORDS IN THE LAST TWO. HONESTLY. I AM SO MAD IT IS NOT EVEN FUNNY. FUCK HIM.

AND FUCK TOBY STEPHENS AS WELL LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE SECOND HE WAS ON SCREEN I DID NOT HAVE A COHERENT THOUGHT RUNNING THROUGH MY BRAIN. THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT TOBY.

Wdym USUALLY??

each one of the seven secretly thinks "i'm the most useless person on this ship. everyone is doing smth cool fighting stuff and all and i'm just here. like an idiot"

exept for annabeth

she always thinks she's the most competent person in the room and it's usually true

I just saw a reel that says "so Jude just played Kiss, Marry Kill with Cardan's friend group".

You know who else she played that game with? Cardan.

She kissed him, married him and then eventually, kinda kinda, killed him.

So my point here is, Jude is our queen and no body touches her without having to plow us weeds out 1st

Grover manipulating ares in that therapy session by pretending to hate kids and rolling his eyes as if he isn't just a single mom working tirelessly to stop his kids from murdering people on accident.

Just everyone thinking he's so peaceful and sweet and it takes 0.00001 seconds to commit psychological warfare with the GOD OF WAR HIMSELF.

Nope. Pretty sure if Percy hadn't mentioned Hermes, Luke would have and then Percy would have. Wait, would he though? Would Percy defend Hermes? Honestly, I just think he'd be like "Yeah they're jerks but not all of them and they're keeping us "protected"

SPOILERS FOR THE LAST PJO EPISODE !

So I just saw the last episode of the Percy Jackson serie, and at first I was kind of surprised because they didn't put the scorpio (?) poisoning Percy, but I think it was for the better.

Their duel feels more meaningful, more important. Because the thing is, not only does Luke understand how Percy feel about the gods, but they're also very similar. Although on different sides, they have very similar views.

The explanation is not just Luke trying to recruit Percy, it's also him making understand how they both see the flaws of the gods, and how it needs to change (though he wants this change to happen thanks to Kronos, whereas Percy believes that the gods are trying and can do better).

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but it felt more meaningful and like it was adding a deeper layer to Percy and Luke's story

😭🤌🏻

Rereading parts of Queen of Nothing and when Cardan confesses his love and said "you probably guessed that already" really makes me want to read Cardans perspective even more.

Because the more you reread the more you see how much he clearly loves her and started taking his guards down around her.

Like when she came to him when she was released from the Undersea and he just pulled her to bed and held her.

The literal budding and blooming flowers when he said his vows and she said hers.

Fighting tooth and nail when Madoc came for her. Coming to get her and making her promise to be safe when he came for her at the war camp.

Like I could go on. And the entire time Jude was thinking what? He hates her and he is thinking he's wearing his heart on his sleeve and letting his feelings known