Persephone is a young goddess with a reasonably good life. Her half-sisters Athena and Artemis are her best friends, her parents Demeter and Zeus love her, and she’s a fairly talented artist. And yet, she feels that she doesn’t know who she really is. She worries that she isn’t pretty, and that she has no identity beyond being Demeter’s daughter. But that’s not Persephone’s only problem. She’s been swallowed by a hole in the ground, and now finds herself in the underworld. Apparently, Zeus offered her hand in marriage to Hades. Persephone must journey through the underworld to discover who she really is. Meanwhile, Demeter will search high and low for Persephone. She will do whatever it takes to get her daughter back, no matter the consequences.
I had been hoping that Live From Mount Olympus would be getting a second season. As you might recall, I absolutely adored season one of Live From Mount Olympus. There’s plenty of stories from Greek Mythology that would make for great adaptions. Lo and behold, Live From Mount Olympus put out some bonus mini-episodes, and announced that a seconds season was on the way. The only hint was that it would involve a female character as the protagonist. Who could it be? What myth would be adapted? Psyche and Eros? That one had a happy ending, which is fairly rare for Greek Mythology. Atalanta, perhaps? But the ending of that one is bittersweet at absolute best. Didn’t seem like the sort of thing Live From Mount Olympus would go for.
But what if it wasn’t anything about mortal heroes? What if it involved the gods and goddesses? Sure enough, it turned out to be an adaption the Persephone and Demeter myth. Well, season one turned out pretty great. So, I had full confidence that season two would live up to its predecessor. It would seem that my faith was certainly not misplaced.
As I noted in my review of season one, Live From Mount Olympus is all about filling in the gaps. The original myths don’t offer much in the way of introspection. Characters will do things, but we don’t really get insight into their inner thoughts, and there’s not much in the way of dialogue. Point being, there’s a lot of wiggle room, and room for creativity, when it comes to adapting myths. For example, while the myths never say that Persephone hung out with Athena and Artemis, there’s also no evidence against it. The dialogue is modern, but feels natural, and never comes across as trying too hard to be hip and cool.
Persephone is also more assertive, and isn’t just some damsel in distress like in the original myth. She has adventures exploring the underworld on her own, and this is a big part of her character arc. She gains confidence and learns to embrace her new role as the queen of the underworld. She learns to see her new role as a chance to finally step out from her mother’s shadow. Persephone also makes some changes to the underworld. Prior to her arrival, all shades drink water from the River Lethe. It makes them lose their memories, and Hades believes that this will help them adjust to life in the underworld. However, Persephone convinces Hades that it might be better to let some shades retain their memories of life. Technically, this isn’t really part of the original myth, but it was a nice addition. I’d say there’s enough wiggle room that we can let it slide.
I really liked how Hades was portrayed. It is depressingly common for works that draw upon Greek Mythology to portray Hades as, basically, Ancient Greek Satan. In actual mythology, however, he was stern, but ultimately fair and reasonable. Death comes for us all sooner or later. Also, unlike Zeus and Poseidon, Hades only had a grand total of two affairs. In both cases, his lovers were turned into plants by Persephone. Of course, this is Live From Mount Olympus, so, naturally the writing is going to portray Greek Mythology accurately.
Hades is shown to be a very kind, sensitive, and introspective. He isn’t forceful with Persephone, and allows her take her time getting acclimated to the underworld. He also willingly let’s Persephone return to the land of the living after she learns how bad things have gotten in her absence. Persephone and Hades’ relationship progress realistically. Persephone doesn’t instantly fall for Hades, and still isn’t head-over-heels for Hades by the end of the season. However, she has grown to enjoy spending time with Hades, and is eager to continue to help improve the underworld.
I also enjoy that equal time was devoted to Demeter. This is pretty much the only myth where Demeter played a starring role. Oh, she appeared in other myths, but usually as a supporting character. As such, it was nice to explore Demeter’s time living among the mortals. She teaches humanity how to plant and harvest crops in the last episode of this season. This is in keeping with the myth, but earlier segments of the season seemed to indicate that humanity already knew how to do that. Mortals complained that the ground was barren, and nothing would grow. Did Demeter teach them how to harvest, but not how to plant? The Greek Gods could be jerks at times, but that comes across more as being scatterbrained. Demeter is a bit overprotective of Persephone, but that’s because she’s worried about being a bad mother. Demeter never really had a relationship with her own mother, Rhea, due to being swallowed by her father Kronos as a child. So, Demeter’s kind of figuring out parenting as she goes along. But then, isn’t that true of all parents?
Hermes still acts as narrator, but he’s joined by Hekate this time. That pairing made me think of The Hermes & Hekate Road Show. Such a good show, such a same that it only lasted one season, and is no longer available to listen to. Anyway, getting back on track, Hermes has a more reduced role this time round. He still pops into the story ever now and again, but not to the extent he did in season one. On the flips side, Persephone meets the goddess Styx during her time in the underworld. Styx is the personification of the river of the same name. Many gods and goddesses were personifications of various concepts or geographic features. They usually did have much in the way of personality, so that gives you wiggle room when adapting them. Styx provides words of wisdom to Persephone, and reminds her of the new opportunities she can find in the underworld. And I did love how Cerberus was portrayed as, basically, a big happy, energetic puppy. But, you know, with three heads and all that.
Okay, let’s just get this out the way now. Hades is the brother of Zeus and Demeter, who are Persephone’s parents. So, that means that Persephone’s parents are also her aunt and uncle, she is both their daughter and their niece, and her hand in marriage has been offered to her uncle twice-over. Live From Mount Olympus doesn’t deny any of this, but it also doesn’t go out of its way to emphasis any of it either. Like, there are times Zeus and Hades are mentioned to be brothers, and a couple times that Kronos and Rhea are mentioned as the parents of Zeus and Demeter, but not at the same time. Also, just as a random aside, I did notice that Hera was conspicuously absent from the happenings. Personally, I think this was the best approach to take with such subject matter. Don’t deny it, but also don’t go out of your way to draw attention to it.
I’d like to take a moment to talk about the voice acting. Joanne Hernandez had to walk a very fine line in her portrayal of Persephone. She strikes a good balance between sounding confident, but also showing an insecure side at times. Likewise, Nidra Sous la Terre strikes a good balance of portraying Demeter as overprotective, but also genuinely sympathetic. Andre De Shields is once again wonderful as Hermes. He’s joined by Ching Valdes-Aran as Hekate. We also get a surprise cameo from Anna Kendrick as Eos, goddess of the dawn. In other cameos, Divine Garland briefly appears as both a soul in the underworld, and as a human learning how to plant crops. I don’t think the soul was meant to be Perseus. I’m pretty sure the story of Perseus took place after the story of Persephone and Hades. It was just meant to be a fun little cameo.
Well, there you have it. Season two of Live From Mount Olympus lives up to the standard set by its predecessor. This has opened up many more possibilities for future seasons. There’s still so many myths left to adapt. The possibilities are endless, and I can’t wait to see where this show goes next.
Well, that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment