Apart from the fact that that episode was just so fucking amazing on every goddamn level I am just so freaking happy about Shirley. Like every single thing. She was a a wheelchair user and she stood up. I literally cannot think of any representation of ambulatory wheelchair users and as an ambulatory wheelchair user it is so amazing to see. Because people spend so much time staring when I stand up or just move my legs and it's because they never see it. To have that on Saturday night tv on BBC One is so powerful. So thank you Ruth Madeley and Russel T Davies. Thank you so much. Also Ncuti Gatwa is so fucking cool. And I cannot wait for Christmas.
The Ares/Waterland section of the book has been my favourite part for a long time. Not only did this episode do justice to it as an adaptation, it improved upon it in SO many ways.
Ares becoming likeable (which is SCARY) and being the one to set Percy against Gabe, Hephaestus and Annabeth's connection, the visuals of the Love Ride, Grover's plan (whatever the hell THAT is, I am INVESTED), the use of "What is Love?" (second best use of it since Black Panther), the theme of family and found family seriously being delved into...
I love how Percy and Annabeth being in the tunnel actually gained real romantic will-they-won't-they tension due to the hug, which Percy says could be platonic but those who haven't read the books won't know for sure! Plus, it's not just an "ew boy and girl on love trip ew" joke which was always so lame to me in that book.
And again, Show!Ares being likeable and funny is SO much more engaging than his book counterpart (who, imo, is just kind of a War from Good Omens clone). Because I got so sucked into that performance and his dialogue that I forgot who he was and then he got SUPER scary REALLY fast. That's really really good acting and writing.
Maybe it's just because I'm a huge Psych fan and seeing Timothy Omundson alone got me but truly, I almost cried a little?!? This episode was major improvement from the book and I cannot wait for more.
growing up reading Percy Jackson and liking it for years to now finally being able to see the characters develop and the story be told on screen right before my eyes is something so special to me and is something i’ll probably cherish for the rest of my life