WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Blood of Zeus Season 1, currently streaming on Netflix.
Netflix's Blood of Zeus undoubtedly has many similar traits to Clash of the Titans. Both stories revolve around Zeus having a demigod son outside of his marriage to Hera, with this young warrior being positioned as a savior, protecting mankind from gods and monsters alike.
However, when you factor in how convoluted the plots get for the Clash of the Titans movies, Blood of Zeus is way better in its streamlined story -- not to mention its characters are a bit more interesting, especially on the villainous side.
The more recent Clash of the Titans movies pack way too much story in, with Zeus using Perseus to undo some of his sins. With Acrisius/Calibos, not to mention a bevy of monsters such as the Kraken and Medusa coming to light, there's just no breathing room for fans to emotionally connect to anyone, hero or villain alike. Everything just happens in a flash as if it's a video game, especially in the original '81 film. The 2010 film also got it even more wrong, using Io as an immortal love interest, only to kill her off, which negated Andromeda's role as the person we thought he was fighting for.
Complicating Perseus' love life like this, plus, cramming in threads on lineage, honor, duty and also how badly he wants to show Zeus he's a hero, feels like the creatives don't know which angle to pursue. Another major downfall is the villains: Zeus is an inconsistent character, while Hades and Ares in the new series are just so bland and predictable. This doesn't give us much depth to the story. In stark contrast, despite its flaws, Blood of Zeus tells a more compact story with proper villains.
Heron takes the place of Perseus as Zeus' half-breed son, but there are also Hermes and Apollo in the mix, who create conflict and family turmoil as Hera hates all these bastards. This shapes a credible villain in her, reiterating that this cast is a lot more interesting than Clash of the Titans'. This is mostly because they're humanized more, especially with Seraphim being corrupted by Hera to kill his mom, Electra (who's also Heron's mom).
The love triangle and drama with Electra is well done, not to mention Heron's focus isn't running down Alexia, which means the eight episodes just deal with one particular dynamic of his life, not stretching Heron too thin in the narrative. Most of all, Seraphim's journey -- understanding how the gods have toyed with him and others -- actually has us rooting for him to destroy Olympus in a thought-provoking, sociopolitical story.
In this cartoon, villains like Hera and Seraphim think they're acting for the greater good, which pushes Heron to grow past revenge and mature as he grows to understand loyalty and family while accepting his birthright is to be a better version of Zeus for everyone -- even his enemies. Last but not least, the Kaiju-like Giants here have way more personality than the Kraken or Titans. They came up from the blood of Titans and seeing them striking deals with the gods, while also betraying them, really is a welcomed dimension in what's essentially Game of Thrones for Olympus.
Starring Jason O'Mara, Mamie Gummer, Chris Diamantopoulos, Derek Phillips and Jessica Henwick, Blood of Zeus Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.
