Stream It Or Skip It: ‘KAOS’ On Netflix, Where Jeff Goldblum Is Zeus In A Tale Of Greek Mythology Set In The Modern World

For some reason or another, we can sus out shows that are very self-satisfied. What do we mean by that? What we’re talking about are shows that essentially give off a vibe to the viewer that “WE’RE DOING SOME SOPHISTICATED SATIRE HERE, PEOPLE!” In other words, satiristic elements are stuffed into every inch of the show, and it’s irritating. A new Netflix series has a lot of those elements, but there’s also a performance that’s so worth watching that it might make that self-satisfaction less of a factor.

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Opening Shot: As we push through the clouds, the show’s narrator, Prometheus (Stephen Dillane), introduces himself while the introduction to “Money For Nothing” plays. “Some of you may have heard of me. Don’t worry if you haven’t. All you need to know for now is: I’m a prisoner. Why? Because I know too much about a certain person.”

The Gist: In a massive mansion above the clouds on Mount Olympus lives Zeus (Jeff Goldblum), King of the Gods. “He’s a transcendent, unmitigated bastard,” Prometheus says about Zeus. “But don’t worry; there’s a plan to bring him down.”

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Zeus is driven by his ego, of course, but he’s also neurotic as hell. He tunes in on his projection TV whenever the humans in Olympia honor him. When an unveiling ceremony in Krete goes wrong, showing a pile of manure and graffiti saying “FUCK THE GODS” in place of his image, Zeus vows revenge. It’s up to his sister/wife Hera (Janet McTeer) to calm him down and tell him he’s better than such petty behavior.

In Olympia, Eurydice (Aurora Perrineau), nicknamed “Riddy,” is over the whole gods thing. In the supermarket, she sees a grubby woman named Cassandra (Billie Piper), who predicts that Riddy will leave her husband Orpheus (Killian Scott) that day. While Riddy acknowledges to herself that she’s fallen out of love with Orpheus, a huge rock star in Olympia, she can’t bring himself to tell him, or leave him.

Also in Olympia, Zeus’ son Dionysus (Nabhaan Rizwan) is enjoying being the god of wine, pleasure, and partying, but he wants to demonstrate to his dad that he wants to do more. He gives Zeus a watch for his birthday, on the advice of a gyro stand proprietor on Earth, but Zeus prefers a digital watch Hercules gave him instead. After Zeus literally makes Dionysus pound his head on the table as a rebuke, Dionysus vows to find a human and make that person’s life better.

Zeus sees a new wrinkle on his head, which worries him. He calls Prometheus from his exile — he’s chained on a mountain face, with his guts getting pecked by crows — and asks him about it. He’s afraid that a prophecy he got is about to come true: “A line appears, the Order wanes, the Family falls and Kaos reigns.” Prometheus lies and tells Zeus not to worry about it, but Prometheus knows better, because he’s the one putting Zeus’ downfall into motion.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? KAOS strives to be a snarky “gods among us” tale like Good Omens but doesn’t quite reach that show’s heights.

Our Take: There’s a lot about KAOS (or is is Kaos ?) that tries way too hard to generate something approaching satire. Created by Charlie Covell ( The End of the F***ing World ), the modern version of Olympia that is presented to viewers hits you over the head tell you that this is an alternative universe, one where Greek gods reign, but no one is wearing togas and ivy wreaths on their heads. Products on shelves have god-like names and everyone salutes the gods with a motion that makes them all look like they’re smacking themselves in the head. But those satiristic touches lack any kind of bite behind them; they just sit there, waiting for the viewers to recognize them and nod.

For the most part, the story moves at a plodding pace. We’re going to be introduced to other humans aside from Riddy and Orpheus — Caneus (Misia Butler) and Ari (Leila Farzad) — who will all come together at some point and help Prometheus execute his plan to bring Zeus down. While we liked Aurora Perrineau as Riddy — she has some history that makes her despise the gods’ influence over humans — the fate of her character takes a surprising turn at the end of the episode. All we see before that turn of fate is her being sanguine over the fact that she no longer loves Orpheus. If that’s how much we’re going to linger over meeting the other mortals, it’s going to make for a long first half of the show’s season.

The saving grace of KAOS is Goldblum. As you might expect, he uses all of his signature neurotic, weird charm while playing Zeus, and when we see the human side of Zeus come out, we want to see nothing else. McTeer does a good job as Hera, playing off Zeus’ paranoia to make sure he doesn’t do anything rash.

But when Goldblum isn’t on screen, the show pretty much grinds to a halt, including the self-indulgent needle drops of old songs like “Don’t Fear The Reaper” that seem to extend on far too long in many cases.

Perhaps as we get introduced to the mortals and more gods, like Poseidon (Cliff Curtis), Hades (David Thewlis), Medusa (Debi Mazar) and more, things will come together and the pace will pick up. But the first episode dragged on and felt a bit too happy with itself to feel like a satisfying watch.

Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.

Parting Shot: Riddy finds herself on a huge ship with what seems like thousands of other people. “I Know What I Know” by Paul Simon plays.

Sleeper Star: Dionysus tries so hard to get favor with Zeus, and it’s shown in Rizwan’s performance, as is his seething hatred for his stepmother Hera.

Most Pilot-y Line: Orpheus’s original song is incredibly boring, as if the musical taste of people in Olympia is basically Coldplay and nothing else.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Despite our reservations about KAOS , we are riveted by Jeff Goldblum as Zeus, and we hope his performance makes up for a series whose satisfaction over its own cleverness shows in almost every frame.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Company and elsewhere.

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