We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium

Medusa as a victim rather than monster is genuinely interesting and has been done well several times before in other shows. This though was basic and bland, remove half you wouldn't notice. If the idea was a China vase the show was paper mache and the ending was paper mache hit by a spade. None of the characters learned anything either. Percy went from willing to listen to ditching her something i dislike and think out of character, annabeth started arrogant ended arrogant and Grover was just pathetic any sudden growth was unrelated to her. Just imagine what we could have got, annabeth questions the role of the hero after thalia died for nothing and she finds camp taught her to hate all monsters when some aren't so bad, how solitude can build resentment but she stayed true to herself, percy really showing his kind heart not only listening but finding a way to help her out of solitude, medusa only acts nice to teach kids people lie, or annabeth believing her a monster pushes her to snap as reminded of athena to teach kids you can turn good people bad. Any of this would have been better than saying how good she is that she doesn't blame them for their parents only to turn for no reason.

The acting is mostly bad. Walker is the exception. Grover is annoyingly awkward most of the flat jokes coming from him don't help, he doesn't feel like a best friend to percy or a guy annabeth has known for years who helped save her. Hasn't quite got the subtlety to pull off without seeming pathetic. Annabeth has no range, the condescending and deadpan looks actually annoy me now, she lacks any real body language and can't show hints of vulnerability or caring when required. Unfortunately she's a main character its not something i can just ignore, titans curse will surely be my favourite part of her work. Medusa delivered a solid show but hardly the masterpiece some suggest, go watch black sails if you want to see her really shine.

So far this episode and the show in general feels empty. While happy people enjoy it I don't think the show deserve half the applause it gets, can only assume since the movies didn't do well they have blinkers on bending over backwards ignoring the many faults to feel hey we got a good adaptation. Even if written for kids the fans of the books have grown up a bit and it lacks depth and appeal to general audiences to make it a lasting success like Harry Potter.

Also book accurate doesn't equal great. While it ticks boxes of plot beats it misses the atmosphere entirely. Take last of us ep3 it far from game version but was one of the best.

I did like considering luke for the quest and idea of nice medusa even if it played out poorly. Walker again the only beacon of hope this show has.

Lots of smaller issues I took. Annabeth learned nothing, got picked for quest her dream gave no appreciation, smartest girl around see Grover look at stone satyr ask what up. Percy picked Grover because he would never betray him but already did in the first ep, was near when Grover spoke to horses but didn't hear anything. Grover ignored a gods direct order his punishment scoop some poop. The fury is supposed to be hades lieutenant while I like it wary of medusa they killed it three times now and it can't push past a group of people in bus come on. I get inclusive and as long as just around camp don't really mind it but a girl in wheelchair popped up again how does that work in the demigod world with monsters. The whole head in box in book was badass here didn't hit. Finally spent a minute watching hermes walk and elevator just awful use the time to show the gods reaction or scrap it and give me anything else.

I really loved the first 2 episodes but this one blows the first 2 out of the water.

The pacing is much much better here. We actually get to spend some time with the trio and see them interact more which strengthens their bond.

We also see Medusa which is much more interesting than she was in the books with a more nuanced interpretation that's a really nice change.

The chemistry between the actors is so so good and their characters are just perfectly written. I can't wait to see more of them.

I can only see this show getting better and better as the episodes air and I hope we get renewed until they finish the books.

How do you make a heroic quest super boring? Have 3 preteens chat in monotones for half an hour and occasionally flee from a stupid looking fury. The show didn't start off on the best foot (I feel like many of the character portrayals were botched, missing the essence of the characters from the books. The fun and goofy adventurous tone of the books have also been replaced with an awkward seriousness for some reason I cannot explain), but I've been hoping the series would get better. This episode didn't improve things. The encounter with Medussa should have been the highlight of the episode but turned out very bland, and her takedown was lame. Overall, the series has been disappointing, and this episode was awkward, lame, and boring. Triple threat.

A few issues out of the way first: pacing is still a bit rushed, especially the introduction of Medusa, depiction of the gods' apathetic and sometimes immoral nature could be made subtler. Other than that, I loved this episode! Full of all sorts of fun easter eggs that die-hard fans can salivate over while also just being a well-written piece of media. Aryan as Grover got a lot better for me, mainly because he got more screentime centering on his character. They definitely highlighted Annabeth's fatal flaw of hubris more while also still making her a character we can attach too. Walker was obviously great as Percy and definitely sold the character for anyone who still has doubts about his ability to portray Seaweed Brain (though at this point, that's way less than 1% of the PJO fanbase). I'll leave it at that to not spoil the episode itself, but even a non-fan is probably going to get a blast out of it.

Jessica Parker Kennedy's talent is so good it seems unreal. Aryan, Leah, and Walker are so good that's it's obvious and I don't think I even need to mention their awesome talent, because if you've watched two seconds of the show you'd know.

There was a big twist (multiple) that I'm not going to get into because you should just see for yourself.

I loved how they mixed Sally's advice to young Percy in episode 1 with the exciting trial of Medusa that the book had.

This is certainly the best episode so far! I'm not going to lie, I'm probably going to rewatch this episode as soon as possible.

Thank you for reading my review.