mickc-rants

[mickc-rants]

Look who's being cheap and watch BOZ despite claiming to never watch it

Spoiler Alert!!!

I'm only two episodes in and still dreading to see how the show ruin Demeter and Ares for me. But that will be future me's problem.

Right now I'm getting the hots for Hestia, crying for Melinoe and Zagreus, and cheering Seraphim for calling out the judgement kings of the Underworld (that's some balls of steel :O)

Gotta give the show props for including some of the iconic punishments in Tartarus! Though I wonder why Seraphim has to suffer a punishment similar to Loki....? (in Norse myth, Loki was chained and had a serpent dripping venom on him for the crime of aiding the murder of the god Baldr)

And when the judgement kings said "pride is the worst thing of all" (can't remember exactly but it's something like that), I'd prefer them use the word "hubris". When they used "pride" I just think of those Christianity preaches. But that's just me :/

Also Hades saying "I'm not like the other gods" reeks of the "I'm not like the other girls" vibe. I'm dying on the hill that Hades and Persephone's myth isn't a romance and can't really stand any of their lovey dovey moments. But I guess loving his family and don't want it to fall apart is an understandable motive for Hades.

"When two souls are meant for each other, nothing can keep them apart" - as a Hyapollo slut, this also applies to them not just Persades. I'm still expecting Hyapollo content in the upcoming episodes even just the crumbs

I know saying this will get me put on a stake but SERAPHIM SHOULDN'T HAVE A LOVER. IN SEASON 1, HE WAS NEVER HINTED TO HAVE ROMANCE WITH ANYONE. WHERE IS THIS GIRL COMING FROM??? FAN SERVICE?????

If they want Seraphim to have a "good moment" in his life, what about this time with his adoptive mother??? His motivation for hunting down and murdering his uncle can be consider an act of righteous revenge turned into a dark path! I do not understand that part...

Whatever, I'll just watch the rest of the show for the eye candies.

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Blood of Zeus S2 should have been better if they didn't portray Demeter as an overbearing abusive mother to Persephone for the sake of getting in a way of the relationship of Hades and Persephone. Like, there's a lot of retellings of the myth like Lore Olympus who didn't give the myth justice because of how they make Demeter an overbearing mom. Even Punderworld isn't safe from this criticism from earlier episodes of the comics, but I won't be surprised if they give Demeter a redemption arc of becoming a good mom to Persephone.

Well at the least there's Blood of Zeus that actually is made by Greeks and has a better plot of Hera trying to overthrow Zeus because they were inspired by THE ACTUAL MYTHS.

(Yep. BoZ is literally the only adaptation so far that actually was made with the kind of integrity that you would expect from a cultural perspective. The fact that it was made by actual Greek people and actively puts certain forms of criticism into light give it nuance.)

(Although it isn't 100% unfilteredly accurate, it still does a better job than many adaptations. The only other one is Hades from Supergiant.)

(My only criticism?)

(Ares and Demeter had been done...so bad)

(like....my bro Ares would never treat another goddess like that...like...if I remember correctly, one of the myths he DOES court Persephone but she rejects him and it's considered another part of his list of 'failures'.)

(Demeter in BoZ went full blown Nurgle with their cordyceps fungi like WHY. It's so uncharacteristically brutal. She withdrew her harvests and plants not straight up killed people like that)

(either way, the show also calls back to classic Universal Studios/Hollywood themes with their soundtrack. That's a MASSIVE bonus for me)

[mickc-rants]

Welcome, My name is Janeursular from Gaza, It is with great sadness that I am reaching out to you today to help get my family members out of Gaza to Egypt. I will talk briefly about my family: During the war, my family was evacuated from Khan Yunis to Rafah. They became homeless and were evacuated more than five times. They are now living on the streets, and have nowhere to live. We have lost everything. Our home, our dream and our future have been destroyed and now I am trying to get my family out of Gaza, but unfortunately we do not have the financial capacity left to pay the costs of leaving Gaza. Each person needs between 5,000 and 7,000 US dollars to leave Gaza.

This is what prompted me to resort to fundraising. My family's situation is getting worse day by day. My mother has an injured foot and needs care and treatment. She has severe pain in her foot, but there is no treatment or care available, and my nieces need milk and food.

They are young, Zahyam is two years old, and Mahmood is one year old. And the situation is getting worse. day after day . In order to facilitate the evacuation of my family from Gaza to Egypt, I am setting up a campaign to raise $40,000, and here is the breakdown of the funds: •

A total amount of US$35,000 has been allocated to cover expenses associated with obtaining permits to leave Gaza, as well as transit fees at Rafah, on the Egypt-Gaza border.

This amount is divided into US$5,000 - US$7,000 per person, including my mother, my brother, his wife, and his daughters, Mahmood and Zahyam. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a huge difference in the safety of my family. The funds raised will be used transparently and efficiently to ensure every dollar is spent on ensuring their safety. My family and I are so grateful for your support, and I am so grateful for any help you may be able to provide during this difficult time.

Please share this campaign with your friends, family and colleagues so that we can reach our goal and provide safety for my family Please accept my sincere thanks for your kindness and support, as well as your willingness to stand with us in solidarity, as together we can make a difference and help my family find safety and security.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart🙏

[mickc-rants]

watching blood of zeus season two and they’re doing the whole “demeter as an overbearing mother who persephone wants to escape so she can be with hades” schtick i sighed and audibly rolled my eyes

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I’m blown away how blood of zeus managed to incorporate and know rarer details such as animal association and also butcher most of the characterization

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Honestly blood of Zeus season 2 almost be pulling a Lore Olympus with Hades and Persephone being a scheming couple who feel thwarted by the gods (and possibly demeter we'll see) and they just want to be together but fate won't let them. Also Zagreus is there! So we're just getting all the Greek myth stuff this month huh with LO ending, Hades ii, and blood of Zeus.

so I literally JUST heard about this from my husband, funnily enough, and uh... yeah, I'm pretty bummed to hear they went the "Demeter was a terrible mom" route. Like at this point it's not even original or refreshing, it would ironically be MORE refreshing to see them just stick with the original material's messaging because so few people seem to want to do it these days 😭😔 That said, I do still wanna give the show a full watch, I don't have a Netflix subscription anymore but we do have it at work so I'll prolly pop it on next time I get a turn on the tube LOL I've heard great things about it, it's just become such an automatic pet peeve of mine now whenever I see H x P retellings IMMEDIATELY go for the "Demeter was a terrible mom!" thing with like, zero nuance LOL (but idk, that's just what I've heard, I haven't watched the show yet so maybe my opinion will change when I do, we'll see :'0)

[mickc-rants]

Look... I fully respect the Bridgerton costume designers' decision to just abandon historical accuracy and do their own thing.

But I will never, EVER forgive them for not using period accurate British court fashion in the one setting ridiculous enough that they might have actually pulled it off.

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Imagine ignoring and villianising the original feminist hero in favour of a straight love story 💀

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excuse me for ranting period is coming up and i'm (ir)rationally upset about everything but blood of zeus writers i hope you EXPLODE for what you did to ares and demeter this season i hate you i hate you i hate you i hate you (picture the wolf growling gif)

how do u turn the ONE god that isn't a rapist into that thing. and the complete personality switch-up from s1?? yeah, make him a predator and a misogynist who seemingly forgot that the amazons are his descendants. sure. whatever. nothing matters anymore. my expectations for you were low but holy shit !!! "waaahh hades is misunderstood so we didn't wanna make him a villain :(( anyway, here's ares, portrayed as The Worse Person Ever for the 294840th time. this is New And Exciting" MAN!!!! NONE OF U UNDERSTAND HIM. except for the hades writers. if nobody got me supergiant games got me <33

AND DEMETER??? every time a retelling turns demeter into an overbearing cunt that doesn't care about what persephone wants over the mother frantically and desperately trying to protect her daughter from the men in their family an angel loses its wings. tragically and painfully, btw. they're torn out forcefully. god. and she gets WORSE? Unbelievable. get your fucking paws off my beloved wife. the lore olympusification of modern greek myth stories.

parlapanides brothers when i fucking catch you two ooooh when i catch you

[mickc-rants]

So, now that Blood of Zeus has also been given its chance to tell the Demeter/Persephone story (and also, similarly, fundamentally misunderstood the themes of the Hymn to Demeter) can we finally, finally talk about Mother Love?

Because I can scream until I'm blue in the face about how modern, popular interpretations of the myth have become so focused on being 'empowering' to women by fixating on giving power to Persephone in her marriage with Hades and, in turn, disparaging Demeter, another woman, - the mother who grieves her lost daughter - that they've some how spun all the way around and gotten back to being misogynistic and reductive, but I feel like talking nebulously about the fact that it's Demeter and Persephone's story and not Hades and Persephone's story never gets the point across hard enough. So:

Anyone who was upset about Demeter's demonisation in Blood of Zeus S2? Read Mother Love. Anyone who is ever upset that retellings of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter constantly demonise, belittle, accuse and insult Demeter and her grief while making excuses to redeem and forgive her daughter's captor? Read Mother Love. Anyone who likes Hades and Persephone as a romantic tale but yearn for complexity outside of arbitrary romantic antagonists impeding the happiness of the couple? Read Mother Love!! Everyone who has even a passing interest in this tale whether it is for the romance, the mother-daughter connections, the themes of grief and loss and eventual comfort and compromise, the wrath of the mother transgressed, the justice that is served due to a mother's insistence in an unjust society, READ MOTHER LOVE!!!

Because it pains me that such a perfect retelling of Demeter and Persephone's story exists, that it focuses on the mother-daughter relationship by comparing it with the poet's own relationship with her mother and it is nearly obscure in the greek mythology community.

[mickc-rants]

Thoughts on Blood Of Zeus Season 2: AKA, wow /neg.

Long Post Ahead. Seriously, it will be long.

I literally binged the entirety of Blood of Zeus Season 2 in one day, and I'm going to be honest, I was massively disappointed. While there are parts that I enjoyed in it, Season 1 was much better for me because of the potential it had for its characters, especially Heron. Season 2 left a pretty bad taste in my mouth for a lot of its characters though, as well as the conclusion as it felt rushed like Season 1. So let's start with the goods.

The Goods

It's expected, but the best part of this season was the Hades plot line. He's a great adversary for this season, with a believable and understandable reason to why he's doing everything that he's doing. He got screwed over by his family, and I know Poseidon's betrayal hurts him the most; they spent their childhood together in Kronos' stomach, I don't doubt that they were closer to each other than with Zeus, so when Poseidon knew that Hera and Zeus screwed his brother over and said nothing, letting Hades suffer the poison of living in the Underworld without the ability to leave it for long for centuries, I know it shattered their bond greatly.

We see that bitterness in Hades in his sequence with Seraphim, and personally, I think it's nice that he wanted to sink himself into a body of water when he was on the surface as well as him flying between sky and sea. Maybe in a way, he wanted to connect with his brothers again, and it does play into the themes of power ruining the good things in one's life that all gods suffers from. It's a good sequence, and Hades is a great character. His consistency is seen throughout the season, and it shines best when he's with his family.

I also like that he doesn't really know how to approach Seraphim initially, which makes sense. He's all business, and Seraphim is business, so there's that initial wall between them that's still there because of their dynamic as god and mortal, I like that. Seraphim isn't wrong for feeling the way he does, and it has to be a gap that the two must bridged, which they did! Hades took Persephone's advice to be a father to Seraphim, and while he's still rough around the edges due to their inherent dynamic, he still lets Seraphim do what he wants as long as they get to where they need to within the time limit. Yes, there is the whole "holding your lover's fate over your head" thing that he has over Seraphim, but arguably, Hades treated him the best out of all the gods that screwed with his life. It's about deals and fairness in the Underworld, so it makes sense why Hades wanted Seraphim to work for his deal. Again, they understand each other, and I did like their dynamic a lot.

Moving onto Seraphim, who continues to be the best character in the series. Like Hades, his reasons are understandable, especially now with more context to his rage and how it affected him. It sets him on this journey of self-reflection, and I did like that in the end, he still admits to Heron that he's the villain and will suffer the consequences, as long as someone he cares about finds peace. That's great grey morality right there, and it contrast him with Heron's journey very well.

For Heron, I was more conflicted with his story. I liked that he began to play into his justified anger at his divine family; he didn't asked to be born, yet his birth was the catalyst for the world almost ending and his father dead (not like Zeus is any better) when all he wanted to do was provide for his mother despite being outcast. And he barely had time to bond with his siblings before the war started, so I was excited to see the trailer opening with him conflicted with his current situation. And it somewhat delivered?

Him trying to leave was good, him not liking Hera's presence at the Funeral Games was good, him not taking Ares' shit was good, and him still doing good things for the people in his old poli yet not forgiving them for what they did to him was great. Heron is clearly still trying to process his parents' deaths and now his was coming, he's trying so hard to prevent his demise and finding some good in the situation and that's admirable to me, especially when he confessed to Elektra's grave that he can't forgive Seraphim (another great scene portraying the turbulent relationship between brothers, which reflects Hades' inability to forgive Zeus and Poseidon with Heron's active efforts to forgive Seraphim). I'm gonna fight on this hill, but Heron was actually good in the series; he's kind but not perfect, and he's trying his best to do the right thing even when the world scorn his existence, they just needed more time to let him work through his problems that they couldn't, because war.

Hera was also great to be honest. I wish that we have more time to see the disgraced queen of the heavens, because her showing her regrets of starting the second Gigantomachy and the death of Zeus was a great progress for her character. She's not without her pride, shown in Zeus' trial when she defended him and herself, but she is with remorse. It was nice seeing her stepping away from the Olympians' bullshit in the end after failing to convince them to not fight, which I appreciated. Kinda wish we saw her more this season, helping out Heron or at least trying to see past her hatred for him, but she's not the worst offender.

Oh no, I have gripes with several others.

The Bads:

Let's just get it out of the way; that is not fucking Ares bro. I was seething when I saw the writers make Ares, who is the only Olympian who does not fucking sexually assault people, be a creep towards Persephone. Yes, he was one of her suitors, but Ares in most interpretation does not push himself onto women. That's what makes him distinct from his father and brothers, but Season 2 further bastardize him by making him a fucking goober towards Heron instead of making their conflict with each other even have a hint of nuance in it.

In Season 1, Ares was the unstoppable force that Hera needed, and his loyalty to her makes sense. Zeus intimidates him in front of everyone during a competition, his own heir that he has with his wife, and clearly favors Heron over him. Ares has all the rights to forsake his father and the siblings who stood with him, but making him a purely spiteful bully coupled with being a coward is just so fucking lazy when it comes to any iteration of Ares. He's more than just war, he's also a loyal son, a protective father, and a complex character. I would've rather have the season be focus more on how the other heirs of Zeus views each other as both competition and siblings than just another fetch quest plot. I understand that there are time constraints, but the plot needed better planning and execution for the ideas they wanted to have.

What I'm saying is, sibling moments between the heirs of Zeus and how their relationship with him affected them. Make them more complex damn it, because yet again, Athena and Artemis barely have shit, Artemis the worst of the two.

Demeter.

Holy shit, I hated the route they took with her in the second act. I get it, she has beef with Hades. IT'S EXPECTED. But making her NUKE PEOPLE like The Last of Us is not the fucking way to make Hades more sympathetic. I already liked him, you didn't have to make her a complete bitch to accomplish it. How about you go more into her perspective of her daughter's choice, and have Persephone tell her off by reminding Demeter that she didn't even visit her grandchildren at all? How about you see their relationship finally changes with Zeus and Hera gone, instead of bastardizing Demeter and making Persephone a hostage at the end? Disservice to both of them.

My favorite interpretation of Demeter is still from the game Hades; she's capable of being cruel, she's capable of being spiteful, but she does love her daughter and grandchildren and puts in the efforts of seeing Persephone as her own person. She deserves at least that level of respect to her characterization.

Now, we're moving into the territory that I know I will get flamed for. Feel free to disagree, you're entitled to your opinion.

But Gorgo did not need to exist in the narrative.

Seraphim's lover did not need to exist in the narrative for his story to continue or for Hades to relates to him, especially when he already has someone else who can fulfill the purpose he needed for his plot line. His adopted mother.

You know, the woman who rescued him, raised him, protected him and was one of the people who his uncle murdered and sets him off on the journey of vengeance? That woman?

Nope, make another female character who is fridged for Seraphim's sake. For HIS plot. It doesn't matter that we have flashbacks to show the audience how good she was to him, she was fucking disrespected as hell because HER EXISTENCE IN THE SHOW WAS JUST TO MOTIVATE THE MAN IN HER LIFE. You can literally replaced her with the woman who raised Seraphim (who died in the forest. I doubt they gave her a proper burial.) and the story would still worked. I just feel bad for Gorgo.

Speaking of her death and fate, I might be missing some details. But if her fellow priestesses gathered up her remains to give her a pretty swanky grave site, why didn't they fucking pay the obols for Gorgo to pass? Because she didn't have a skull to put money on? That's wack! Put some fucking money in that poor girl's grave, what kind of bullshit is this? Literally her purpose was to serve Seraphim's character, making her the 3rd woman to do so after both of his mothers.

RIP Gorgo, you were a victim of writer's misogyny. I will pray for you. This past couple of years has been hell on me because of the amount of female characters I see with potential gets FUCKED over by their respective writers made me lose sleep. I barely got over Jill Warrick from FFVI and Yoshizawa from Persona 5 Royal, Gorgo was the third bullet to my brain.

And of course, Alexia and Kofi got shafted. Avios did the right thing and noped out before his ass got screwed over too. I wanted these four to have a FFXV style road trip goddamnit, why do ya'll do this.

The Conclusion

I did not like Season 2 at all. Season 1, while rushed, had a lot of potential that could've been explored in Season 2. And when I saw the trailers, I genuinely thought that we could've have a more melodramatic plot following the death of Zeus. The creator's video on the synopsis said that Season 2 was focusing on the relationship between the 3 brothers, but that was a fucking lie because Poseidon was nowhere to be seen after Zeus' trial. We didn't see him trying to keep up the pieces of the family for the sake of his brother's children or see him clash with Hades after that fall out. He just fucked off back into the ocean.

Hestia got one cool thing going on, and I liked seeing her grief after losing her little brother and watching the rest of her family tear each other apart. But like Athena and Artemis, she got shafted because she wasn't evil enough like Demeter. Lame as hell. They introduced Zagreus and Melinoe to make me hopeful, only to fucking Thanos snappeed those kids into oblivion after 5 minutes.

And the ending...

Narratively, it makes sense. And the cliffhanger makes sense. Heron's death happened because Hades cannot move on from his anger and forgive, something that Heron learned with his brother and even vouched for Seraphim, so they are screwed. But the lead up was so disappointing that I'm with Gaia on this. They should all blow up via Typhon.

That's all I can muster up to even word my displeasure towards this season right now. As always, feel free to disagree with me, that's cool. But personally, I'm gonna pretend that Season 2 does not exist.

[mickc-rants]

Not them taking one of my favorite characters and turning him into a Toxic masculine borderline rapist

[mickc-rants]

Welcome back, I feel like reviewing Blood of Zeus, specifically the Hades and Persephone myth that boiled my blood not bc of inaccuracies (especially having a great horned or screech owl despite it sets on Greece) but bc I don't like the dynamic between Persephone and Demeter in there and how Persephone was written.

[mickc-rants]

Moral Orel and Tuca & Birdie didn’t portray victims of SA as sex objects, you weirdo.

You can’t have it both ways, either put in some actual effort into writing serious issues or don’t.

There is no middle ground, you can’t just have blatant fan service in your show and then turn around and say “Oh no guys it’s totally okay, this character has a tragic backstory. They’re not just eye candy!”

If Family Guy or Velma did this shit, you’d all be condemning the writers of those shows, but because it’s Hazbin Hotel, you all have to rush to Viv’s defense because you literally cannot handle any criticism that’s directed at Viv.

This shit is fucking exhausting.

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Witnessing the toxicity of OFMD and Hazbin/Helluva fans on Twitter are no different which is pretty unsurprising (same with Good Omens fans)

[mickc-rants]

So you are aware that a lot of the same criticisms that are frequently leveled at Viv can also be brought against Brandon Rogers right? His videos have bestiality, incest, racist sterotyping, misogyny (find me a single female character he plays that isn't a screaming harpy), and excessive swearing amongst countless other forms of tasteless humor.

And he's also one of the main writers for Helluva Boss who clearly adds a lot of his own humor to the script (the video he did with the Blitzo and Moxxie puppets really highlights this), yet no one ever blames him for how HB is written. It's always Viv that catches the blame, Viv that gets thrown under the bus.

Why is that? Why does she get held to different standards than Brandon Rogers does?

For me personally, I do mention Brandon frequently when I talk about how bad the show is. (And I won’t speak on his personal content cause I have no desire to watch it so don’t take me as a legitimate source if this stuff is true) but I will say the reason why Viv gets blamed the most is….well…she’s the creator, and in charge writing wise. She has the power over everything because it’s her show, so even if she wasn’t the one to write an episode, she’s still the one who decides what to keep in and what to take out cause it’s her story. She’s the one who goes over the scripts and decides “yes, let’s publish it like this”- and she’s the one who makes the decisions.

Not to mention that…let’s be honest, Brandon seems to be REALLY absent in the writing department, especially for season 2. Viv wrote episodes 1, 4, 6 and 7, while Adam Neylan wrote episodes 2, 3, 4, and 5, all of season 2. Throughout this entire season so far, Brandon hasn’t gotten anything but a story credit. He hasn’t written a single episode that was purely him or even collaborated with Vivzie or Adam to. The last time he had a writing part was back in episode 6 of season 1, and so far in season 2, all we’ve been getting from Brandon are mere ideas and concepts, while Viv and Neylan are responsible for the dogshit execution and writing.

Brandon handles the comedy aspect of the show, (or…at least he did in season 1) so don’t get me wrong, whenever I talked about season 1 episodes I always shitted on the humor, cause it’s really bad. Like…REALLY bad. But while Brandon isn’t a perfect writer either, people are pinning the blame on Viv and Adam recently cause they’re the ones writing season 2, not Brandon.

[mickc-rants]

Helluva Boss should stick with posting teaser clips and posters for promoting next episodes instead of posting random GIFs on Twitter