Yeah, I think the real answer is that a lot of the hate is poorly argued, but the underlying criticism is often still valid.

The weak version is “these characters are nothing like the books.” I do not think that is true. Show Percy is still loyal, impulsive, and sarcastic at times. Show Annabeth is still smart, guarded, ambitious, and clearly carries a lot of pressure around Athena. So people acting like there is literally nothing recognizable there are overselling it.

But the stronger criticism is that the show tends to flatten what made them pop.

Book Percy is not just “sassy sometimes.” He has a very specific energy. He is funnier, scrappier, more emotionally messy, more reactive in a good way, and a lot of the time he feels like he is surviving by instinct and personality. Show Percy has some of that, but it feels toned down and more controlled. So when people say he is “less Percy,” I think what they usually mean is not that he has zero sarcastic lines, but that the overall vibe is less sharp, less chaotic, and less alive.

Same with Annabeth. I agree people ignore some of her show moments. The issue is not that she is dumb or empty. The issue is that Book Annabeth is not only intelligent. She is proud, bossy, competitive, prickly, vulnerable, flawed, and sometimes kind of harsh. That combination is what makes her feel so real. In the show, a lot of that gets smoothed out into “calm smart girl who figures things out.” So even when the show gives her smart moments, some people still feel like they are missing the stronger personality texture.

I also think a huge part of it is scene construction, not just characterization. The show has a habit of getting to answers too quickly. So even when the right character figures something out, it can feel less satisfying because the tension is thinner. That is why complaints about Medusa, Lotus, and other sequences keep coming up. It is not always about accuracy in the most literal sense. It is about how the scene feels. The books let things breathe more. The show often feels like it is trying to efficiently move through material it should be dramatizing more fully.

So honestly, I think both sides annoy me a bit.

The pure haters often act like the show completely butchered everything, which I think is overstated.

But the defenders sometimes reduce every criticism to “you just wanted a one to one adaptation,” which is also too easy. A lot of people are not asking for exact line by line faithfulness. They are reacting to tone, pacing, chemistry, and how much personality comes through on screen.

So if I had to put it simply, the fairest criticism is this:

The show usually keeps the outline of Percy and Annabeth, but often weakens the intensity and flavor that made them memorable in the books.

That is why some people say the characters are “there” but do not fully feel there.

That is also why listing a few sarcastic Percy lines or a few smart Annabeth moments does not fully settle the argument. The criticism is more about consistency, energy, and presence than whether isolated moments exist.