Kaos: Full Season

September 3, 2024 11:02 PM - Season 1 (Full Season)

A darkly comedic and contemporary reimagining of Greek mythology, exploring themes of gender politics, power, and life in the underworld. Zeus (Jeff Goldblum) receives an ominous prophecy that makes him questions his omnipotence, his wife/sister/queen Hera (Janet McTeer) enjoys listening to the complaints of the mortals in the modern city, and Prometheus (Stephen Dillane) narrates from his chains. Created by Charlie Covell and all episodes are streaming on Netflix.
posted by autopilot (31 comments total)

Since it seems that most everyone has watched all or most of the show (and all episodes are available for binging), we can leave the episode one post to encourage newcomers to watch the show and have the spoiler filled discussion over here.
posted by autopilot at 11:03 PM on September 3 [1 favorite]

I feel like keeping a list of all of the fun easter eggs for those of us who obsessively read Bullfinch's Mythology as a child...

• The ferry across the Styx being upgraded to a cruise ship since the population is much larger
• Daedelus working in the Minos court (he created the Labyrinth, too)
• Minos required a sacrifice of seven Athenians every nine years
• The fury kindly one named "Meg" (Megaera means jealous rage)
• The Amazon with a single masectomy
• ...

posted by autopilot at 11:11 PM on September 3 [5 favorites]

One comment I read that was mildly shouted down and mostly ignored on a Reddit thread was asking "is this a metaphor for capitalism?" - by the end of the season some employees of an employee of a nepo-appointment of Zeus have discovered that soul extraction is a one-way process and benefits solely the gods, giving them their power over mortals. So I'm going with "yes" on that one.

. for Dennis the cat.
posted by Molesome at 12:58 AM on September 4 [10 favorites]

There are many things to say about this extravagant show, but I'm just going to single out something that inexplicably captivated my attention: the phones.

Did they make those for the show?
posted by Acari at 8:12 AM on September 4 [2 favorites]

The truck that hits Riddy in the first episode is from a company called Serpent (Eurydice was killed by stepping on an serpent).
posted by snwod at 10:02 AM on September 4 [7 favorites]

The phones look like the ancient ones from a 90s Radio Shack catalog to me. Zeus' wireless looks exactly like one that we used to have. If I were king of the gods, I'd be more worried about folks with analog radio scanners listening to my phone calls.
posted by autopilot at 12:01 PM on September 4

I loved the phones, including the use of pay phones and leaving voice mail messages on machines.

I was very upset about Dennis.

I am always happy to see a trans actor playing a trans character, with their transness being both canonical mythologically AND re-framed/re-told in a much better way. Including that they get a straight-forward (if ill-fated) romance. The overall queerness of this show was just delightful. The motorcycle-riding dyke Furies. The trans/nb Fates (including Suzy Izzard). Prometheus and Charon.

And loving the easter eggs.
posted by gingerbeer at 3:52 PM on September 4 [7 favorites]

Really liked Daedelus being played by Mat Fraser-- master craftsman with special hands.

Prometheus breaking the 4th wall was delightful!
posted by The otter lady at 7:00 PM on September 4 [2 favorites]

I’m 4 episodes in and loving it. Can’t wait to go back and look for all the Easter eggs. I thought my knowledge of Greek Mythology was pretty good, but this show seems to be very detailed and thorough in a way I didn’t expect. And I didn’t expect to hate Orpheus. Is he a pretentious, shallow, insecure, bland, self absorbed twat in the original myth?
posted by pjsky at 7:25 PM on September 4

This was terrific! The modernization just hit so many strong notes.
posted by billsaysthis at 10:01 PM on September 4

This show impressed the hell out of me, but between the thing that Zeus did in the finale and A Quiet Place: Day Zero, can 2024 call a time-out on overly-literal readings of that one screenwriting book ? My heart can't take it.

(I mean, it totally gets my jaded horror-movie-watching ass emotionally engaged in a way that other threats do not. Which, maybe, I should talk to a therapist about LOL.)
posted by FallibleHuman at 9:48 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]

Still recovering from the binge-watch. I have Covid and a fever, so at times wasn't sure if I was imagining some of these beats, but hoo boy. MrsMogur would have loved it, and would absolutely have gotten more of the easter eggs than me (one I spotted: how Orpheus looked back at the poor doomed husband shortly after they arrived in the Underworld. That's when I knew the husband was going to die)
posted by Mogur at 12:57 PM on September 5 [2 favorites]

I think that Goldblum was just so charismatic that they had to resort to having him murder babies and kittens just to properly convey the fact that Zeus is an absolute a**hole.
posted by The otter lady at 2:05 PM on September 5 [6 favorites]

Dennis did feel like Chekov's cat to me and it was stressing me out when Dionysus took him to Olympus, and I regret that I was right. I've been known not to watch shows if I know ahead of time the cat dies (ahem Mr & Mrs Smith), so probably good I didn't know about that part?
posted by gingerbeer at 8:32 PM on September 5 [2 favorites]

I loved this shoe. Especially how it got the utter pettiness and dysfunction of the Olympians perfectly.
posted by lesbiassparrow at 12:13 AM on September 6

All I knew going into this was that it starred Goldblum and was some dark comedy about Greek mythos. I expected something like S1 of Miracle Workers, boy was I wrong. Despite that, it was so great I just watched the whole thing in one go. The gradual reveal of what's actually going on with the gods was done quite well.
posted by Marticus at 6:12 PM on September 8 [1 favorite]

One thing I really liked about the finale is that it worked perfectly as both a season and a series finale, but left things open in case they are going to get another season. (Hera calling Athena or Artemis or Ares? Adore it.)
posted by corb at 7:30 PM on September 9 [1 favorite]

I was thinking Ares, since Hera mentions war.
posted by gingerbeer at 2:22 PM on September 10 [1 favorite]

> how Orpheus looked back at the poor doomed husband shortly after they arrived in the Underworld.

I appreciated how they played the final scene with Orpheus and Riddy, with her saying "look at me" and him not wanting to look at her. He does lose her, then, though not as a pillar of salt. Gave the whole looking back aspect a new twist. Much like how it reinterprets so many of the myths.
posted by gingerbeer at 2:26 PM on September 10 [3 favorites]

though not as a pillar of salt

Lot's wife turns into a pillar of salt when she turns back. When Orpheus turns back, Eurydice merely returns to the realm of the dead in the myth.
posted by miss-lapin at 2:45 PM on September 10 [1 favorite]

Thank you for the correction! Those two myths clearly merged in my head.
posted by gingerbeer at 10:08 AM on September 11 [1 favorite]

It's a totally understandable mistake as both myths are about the danger of looking to your past instead of your future.
posted by miss-lapin at 4:44 PM on September 11

I was really getting into the show and then I was, thankfully, warned about what happens to Dennis, so I'm out after three episodes.
posted by ursus_comiter at 9:32 PM on September 11 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed this, although it was definitely dark. I think it worked ok for me because of the pacing - most of the horrible things happen quickly or offscreen entirely and then the show moves on. I think the sequence with the labyrinth was the worst bit for me personally, in terms of having to sit with the horrific events. But there is plenty of awful to choose from.

I am assuming Dennis and Caeneus's dog get together in the underworld and become best friends, and I will not hear otherwise.

Apparently Hugh Grant was originally cast as Zeus, and it's interesting to think about how the show would have felt in that iteration. Both actors do neurotic yet charismatic petulance well, but Grant would have felt very different in the role.
posted by the primroses were over at 6:10 AM on September 28 [3 favorites]

Liked it a lot and at least is had an ending as it doesn't seem likely to get a season 2.

But the important bit to me is that in my head canon the looks Dionysus gives Dennis and the bottle at the end is his realization that he can save him.
posted by jclarkin at 10:16 AM on October 1 [1 favorite]

Kaos: Kancelled
posted by 1970s Antihero at 3:28 PM on October 8

I'm very cross that it was canceled! My whole family found it enthralling and delightful.
posted by redfoxtail at 5:01 PM on October 12

Very annoyed, and really annoyed at Netflix’s ruthlessness at that.
posted by corb at 6:52 PM on October 12

I'm furious. wtf netflix!
posted by miss-lapin at 8:41 PM on October 12

These days you really have to treat high concept shows as one-and-done. Maybe a pleasant surprise on the rare occasion of a follow-up season.
posted by Marticus at 3:08 PM on October 13

Ah, frustrating. I didn't watch because Netflix shows are usually bad, but then I watched and it's so neat! -- which is why I'm ultimately not surprised that it has not been renewed. Usually if I enjoy a Netflix show, it won't be renewed.
posted by grandiloquiet at 7:32 PM on October 27