The first season of the highly anticipated TV series adaptation of the Rick Riordan book series has left old time fans with mixed reviews. Being compared to the movies that left fans disappointed a decade ago, I can’t say that the show is much better.

While watching the show, I tried to think about it from the point of view as someone who hasn’t read the books, and if I didn’t have the pre knowledge from the books, I can’t imagine being able to understand much of what’s going on. The slow pacing in the first couple of episodes made the end of the show feel rushed, leaving no time for important scenes such as the Lotus Casino Scene and the Ares fight.

The show also had the tendency to everything in words as if they are literally reading from the books. The lack of suspense made it hard to continue to be interested in the plot. Our protagonists would see through enemies traps and plans almost instantly, avoiding entire scenes that left readers on the edge of their seats in the books.

One thing the show did better than the movies was the casting, unlike the movies, the show used age accurate characters. However, the improved cast doesn’t mean much when the show lacked character depth. All three of our main characters didn’t reflect the uniqueness they held in the show. Percy lacked the sass and ferociousness that made him stand out from other main characters. In the show it’s hard to even tell Grover and Percy are supposed to be best friends when the writers are forcing Percy and Annabeth’s relationship to happen faster than the books, leaving Grover feeling like the doomed third wheel.

The special effects in the show didn’t leave me impressed either. Comparing it to the movies, it felt almost fan made. I would cut them slack because shows do have less of a budget than movies, but the movies were from a decade ago. Maybe if they didn’t put all the budget into Grovers CGI legs they could have put a little more effort into the magical aspect of the show. Grover wore pants in the books so this could have just been avoided completely.

Despite how this show feels like a cash grab on Disney’s end, I hope Riordan’s involvement on the project will push the show back into the right direction for future seasons.