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My husband, son, and I read the Percy Jackson books together during those long months home at the start of Covid. So we were excited to watch this series together now, which promised to be an improvement over the movies. We came in with open minds but have been disappointed week after week.

I personally don't mind that the actors don't look the way they're described in the books. If they capture the characters' essence/ personality, I'm open to differences in appearance. Unfortunately, I think the child actors were at the mercy of poor screen writing, poor directing, and really strange choices in editing. As others have mentioned, the writing is stilted and the pacing of the show is uneven and choppy. Boring scenes are dragged out for too long, and what could have been interesting scenes are glossed over too superficially.

I also don't know what to make of the choice to cut to a dark screen whenever there's a significant transition. It reminds me of the jarring way TV shows used to cut to commercial breaks in the 80's. It's hard to understand why professionals at Disney couldn't come up with more sophisticated or creative options.

Finally, for a show that's supposedly sticking to the book (with input from the author), there are some very odd scenes that were either not in the book at all or which deviate drastically for no apparent good reason. Again, I am not a purist and am open to being surprised. But those scenes do very little (or nothing) to enhance the story. Watching a twelve year old struggle to drive a taxi while lurching through a parking lot for what felt like twenty minutes made the Fields of Asphodel seem stimulating. And, speaking of the underworld, how is it possible to make Hades less menacing than a cup of weak tea?!

We still really want to like the show, so we'll keep coming back for a few more weeks. But, at this point, we don't expect much. Sadly, the movies are looking better in comparison.

Whew! That's better! This one kills it, and lives up fully to what this series is capable of. It feels more like the first two episodes of the season. It's gritty, moved the story along, surprised me a few times, and even introduced a few new interesting characters. It also provided some development for the main characters, some awesome Grogu moments I didn't see coming, and stirring variations/ orchestrations of the theme music.

I still have no idea what they were thinking with the previous episode. If they had just skipped everything except the last few minutes of that one, all would be right in the galaxy. I'd seriously have more respect for the series if they released fewer episodes, but had them all be this good (as opposed to interspersing the good ones with cheesy filler episodes).

But, there you have it. I suppose balance has been restored to the universe for now...

This is the worst of prequel Star Wars mixed with the embarrassment of Boba Fett, with a bit of high school production quality Wizard of Oz/ Emerald City thrown in for good measure. I just don't get how this was produced by the same artistic and creative team that's put out the better episodes of this show. Or how it got past their own Emerald City gatekeepers (i.e.: the ones who tell the truth about quality in the cutting room).

In addition to everything other reviewers have said, here are a few additional beefs:

1) Since when does Din Jarin riff off Jerry Maguire with a cheesy line like, "You had me at Battle Droids"? Please. (Not to mention the fact that we already watched him spend an entire season overcoming his mistrust for battle droids.)

2) What's up with him causally entrusting Grogu to people he's met ten minutes ago while he runs off to do their silly task? It worked out, but really shouldn't have. He really needs to work on his skills for vetting babysitters.