WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Blood of Zeus Season 1, currently streaming on Netflix.
In the many adaptions of Greek mythology, it's rare to see Zeus portrayed as anything other than a douche. The modern Clash of the Titans series had Liam Neeson playing him with a bit more care towards Perseus, but overall, he's a serial philanderer who beds mortal women left, right and center, and doesn't care about the consequences. In fact, when you look at how he abandons these families, he's the epitome of toxic masculinity.
However, produced by Castlevania's Powerhouse Animation Studios, Netflix's Blood of Zeus tries to paint the king of Olympus in a more affectionate light. Unfortunately, in doing this, the eight episodes get him horribly wrong as it just doesn't fit the character from Greek lore or who sowed his wild oats prior to the story.
As his wife Hera grows jealous of Zeus having slept with Electra to produce Heron, the domestic dispute spills over big time into the world of mortals. Hera starts manipulating Seraphim and the Giants to crush everything Heron holds dear, while Zeus wants his latest offspring to elevate himself from zero to hero. And oddly enough, he wants to be his mentor, training Heron as an elite warrior and successor.
What's weirder about this is the fact that he doesn't show the same attention to his other bastards, namely the speedster Hermes and the sun god, Apollo. In fact, as Heron's his seventh child, one has to wonder why he, and no one else, is the Chosen One; the ultimate protege Zeus inevitably wants to pass his mantle down to. The series tries to explain this by having Zeus being in love with Electra but again, this doesn't really work as he deceives her by pretending to be her husband before leaving her and Heron to hide in a life of poverty.
The truth is, even as he hides on Earth as Elias, Zeus has no real reason to love the kid. Seeing him as a brokenhearted and genuine god feels forced for drama's sake, especially when he touts his other offspring, such as Hercules and Perseus. Maybe if we got some insight into what made Electra so special, it'd make sense. Instead, the series makes a contrived U-turn by having Zeus go from arrogant narcissist to puppy-eyed father for no reason.
It's not a smart decision, especially as it goes against his decree that Olympians should not be interfering in human affairs. In fact, with the Fates there on Olympus, Zeus warns his son to never mess with destiny. Then, suddenly, for some odd reason, he suddenly wants to be a good father and do right by his offspring by doing the very thing he swore others not to. "I've been a great many things in my life," he tells Heron in the anime-style series, "but a father has never been one of them." There's no context informing why he's seeking to atone and redeem himself, so this all feels superficial.
Seeing him lie to Hera and sneak around, using his sons to cover for him, is more like the Zeus we know from myth. But as he teaches Heron about calm over anger and wisdom instead of rash emotion and impulsive behavior, it feels like a massive double-standard. At this point, the show just doesn't know how to characterize Zeus consistently.
In training Heron, he's like Yoda but before this, he was a sleazeball breaking these same rules. And what creates even more of an imbalance is when he pledges to be faithful to Hera after owning up to his crap. He takes the blame for all of the chaos he's caused on Earth and begs her to take him back, but she rejects him because she too has no idea who he is.
The King of the Gods should be a cocky, confident egotist who owns his stuff but doesn't renege on them, whereas this apologetic Zeus feels emo, polarized and questionable at every turn, making him a weak iteration of the Thunderer.
Starring Jason O'Mara, Mamie Gummer, Chris Diamantopoulos, Derek Phillips and Jessica Henwick, Blood of Zeus Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.
