Aidonian's blog

for those who haven’t seen it yet, beware of spoilers below.

In two days I watched all 8 episodes of the new Blood of Zeus series season 2.

It builds upon the first season and add new layers to it. I must admit the long wait was well worth it. The story was well written. The dialogue was ok. The stakes this time are different. It doesn’t focus as much on the human world, but more on what is happening on Olympos and the ramfications of Zeus dying and the vaccum of power that his death has created.

In the first season we learn that the Giants were born when the blood of the last Titan came into contact with the sea and from the sea rose the Giants. During the secnd season we learn that there was another creature that came after the Olympians after the Gigantomachia, and that was Typhon.

The Eleusinian stone (weird name but ok) was appaerantly key to putting Typhon down and having him stay down. Gaia ordained that when the name Typhon was spoken, he would awaken again and wreak havoc on the world.

While the Gods are figuring out what to do with the death of their King, they are conspiring to get a new king onto the throne. Poor Heron is caught in the middle of it all. More disturbing was when the Moirai let him know that his thread was cut by someone but they don’t know who. He seems to have inherited the powers of Zeus but can not control them, yet.

Seraphim still has a part to play. Hades wants to recruit him so that through him he can become the new King of Olympos. I do like the character arc of Hades. They switched it up with the myth of abduction of Persephone by Hades by letting them fall in love with eachother like a kind of forbidden love. He desires the throne so he can escape the Underworld. For him and the children, its tortue every six months to be seperated from Persephone so he backstabs and schemes to do what he needs to do to get ahead. Athena gets wind of it as does Demeter but Demeter decides to join him as to rule as a triumvirate. Inspired by the Last of Us, Demeter unleashes a cloud of spores that humans into vessels and weaken Gods who were not born as Gods. The Gods who were born as bastard children by Zeus, figure it out who it is and what she is doing. Gaia announces at the funeral that whoever gets the Eleusinian stone, will become the new king. Hades sents Seraphim as he was able to convince him to join him. We find out more about the tragic life of Seraphim. Before he became a monster, he was in love and the woman begged him to not chase the man who killed the woman who raised him. When he did, she was strucken by grief and an encounter with the Tree-bender went fatal and he killed her. Seraphim was able to kill the Tree-Bender. There are so many themes here at play. Revenge, destiny, reconciliations, forgiveness. The biggest test for both Seraphim and Heron is to be able to let go of the past, forgive their father and Zeus for what happenedn reconcile with eachother and forgive their past.

When Zeus died, he came before the judges and was judged. Where Seraphim first chose penalty in Tartaros, Zeus choses forgiveness and wants to make amends for his past. The succesion of Zeus’ throne unleashes a new war of the Gods. Hera makes it clear that she will go into voluntarily exile for her actions that lead to the death of Zeus. She is still angry at Zeus for his infidelities.

The end of the season clearly sets up a third season where Gaia furious at what took place, says the name Typhon and the monster awakens again.

In relation to Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Gods could be wounded, but i don’t recall any of them dying. The Titans were banished to Tartaros. The Giants were slain but like with Typhon, they were sent by Gaia as a means to reclaim the throne from the Olympians. First she sent Typhon and after a long fight with Zeus, he was defeated and than Gaia sent the Giants to Olympos which started the Gigantomachia.

So Seraphim eating the flesh of a dead Giant was added. One notable character seems to be missing is Herakles. So either He wasn’t born yet – and never will be since Zeus is dead- or the creators decided to not put him into it.

The modern twist of the abduction of Persephone by Hades is a nice touch. While the myths do state that Hades & Persephone did have children, they differ on how many. The Erinyes are listed as children of Hades and Persephone while they are older then them, but also Zagreos, Makaria and Melinoe. The Kouretes who raised an protected Zeus are shown here and the story of Kronos devouring his children is also shown here as well. The Omphalos stone which was put in the place of baby Zeus was also shown. While they do take creative liberties with the myths, they do stay true. At one time in a flashback with Typhon, they mention a witch goddess from the east. This could be a reference to Kybele but it isn’t clear.Personally it would have made more sense to call the stone Omphalos stone instead of Eleusinian Stone, which name is a referral to the holy place Eleusis where Hades abducted Persephone and centr to the cult of the Eleusinian mysteries were held.

Conclusion

Season 2 seems to improve on the first season and delivers more tension, epic fights, and suspense as well as character driven storyarcs that allows the characters to be more than one dimensional figures. If you are into Greek mythology, this show might be for you. Its 30 minutes runtime of each episode makes it easy to binge the entire season.