Yikes, fans on the Percy Jackson and the Olympians subreddit hate the latest episode

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is an adaptation of author Rick Riordan's young adult book series about a young man who finds out he's the son of the Greek god Poseidon. Riordan wanted to make the series in part because he's never been satisfied with a pair of Percy Jackson movies that came out in the 2010s; he sees the show as the opportunity to adapt this story "the way we envisioned it."

But now that we're six episodes into the show, the fans on the Percy Jackson and the Olympians subreddit (which has around 20k members) are wondering if the show is really making good on this promise. In particular, many of them have a lot of problems with the newest episode, "We Take a Zebra to Vegas," which involves Percy and his friends meeting the Greek god Hermes (Lin-Manual Miranda) in a casino.

Let's start with the obvious complaint: I was promised a zebra. Where's my Zebra? To quote HailRainMan on Reddit: "The episode is called 'We Take a Zebra to Vegas' but there is not a single frame of a zebra all episode?"

"
This makes absolutely no sense. Would it have killed them to show a zebra for 5 seconds? They have $15 million an episode, they can afford a CGI zebra for 10 seconds. If they absolutely couldn't fit in, they could have just replaced the camel they showed.

This episode's title makes sense to book readers but those new to the property have no idea what it means and seems weirdly named. Isn't the show's goal to attract new viewers unfamiliar with Percy Jackson? Just seems like a lazy oversight."

That seems like a pretty minor complaint, but the fans have more. For instance, a lot of them didn't like that we're told the secret of the casino — that everyone in there forgets what they're supposed to be doing — right at the top of the episode, rather than seeing Percy and company figure it out. As nerdbird77 says, "Ok what?!? They literally gave the Lotus surprise away at the start, YET AGAIN. Can we get one damn surprise?"

"Is anyone else tired of seeing these kids just walking around chatting? And do we really need five minutes spent looking for a car in a garage and then trying to get it out?

It all feels lazy at this point, which is ironic cause if the writers were actually lazy, they would take the dialogue and plot from the books."

Some fans think the movies did more justice to this part of the books than the show did. Hereforchickennugget thinks Rirodan owes the movies an apology. "I feel that he undeservingly talked mad shit about the movie only to under deliver on the tv show," they wrote. "This seems especially wrong when the movie does a lot right that the show is doing wrong. The excitement, pacing, exposition, action was all much better in the movie. Rick is definitely an expert writer, but he’s not an expert producer or screenwriter."

One of Riordan's goals with the new show was to have amore accurate adaptation of the books. But if that's the case, Ancient_Lion3901 asks, "then where is the faithful adaptation?"

"Literally nothing is the same. Genuinely what is the point of having these monsters and situations if they’re going to know everything before they even go in? There is absolutely no tension in ANY scene. There is no suspense. What is the point in watching the rest of the episode if the heroes already know the plot twist before they even walk in?...This series is so fucking disappointing. I really have tried to give it a chance but it’s just such a major let down."

Posts like this get dozens or even hundreds of comments, and I'm only scratching the surface here. They're all over the subreddit. "I am genuinely shocked at the amount of positive reviews this TV show has been getting," writes Original-Activity243. "If I could describe it in one word it would be ‘bland’. We were promised a faithful adaptation that would make the fans happy. Well, I have been a fan of the Percy Jackson books for a long time, and I am anything but happy. While the movies are not very good, they are at least interesting and exciting. The TV show has managed to be worse, much worse, than the movies hated by Rick Riordan."

"There is wayyy too much dialogue, and even what are meant to be action scenes are packed with slow talking. There is never any sense of urgency or excitement...The Greek gods are completely underwhelming and seem like regular deadbeat dads. Aries is not imposing and threatening at all and lacks presence. Hermes has no cheek or charm. The music is mediocre and generic. The acting is terrible, even for kids. Instead of giving us a thought provoking, fun show, they shove positive messages down our throats until we choke. There is no substance or subtlety, and everything is explained like we’re idiots."

Again, there's a LOT more where that came from, but you get the idea. So does this mean the show is doomed? Very much no; the subreddit might just have become a place where people who don't enjoy the show can vent their feelings. It doesn't necessarily reflect the views of the audience as a whole. Plus, the premiere episode has 26 million views and counting. Percy Jackson and the Olympians is far from dead.

But it's interesting that a subreddit specifically dedicated to Percy Jackson and the Olympians seems to have rallied around hating it, at least after this latest episode. New ones drop Tuesday nights on Disney+. There are two episodes left until the end of the first season.

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