Kaos – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Prophecy

Episode 1 of Kaos starts with narration from Prometheus. He’s a prisoner because he knows too much about Zeus, King of the Gods. According to our narrator, Zeus is worshipped but he’s also a transcendent, unmitigated bastard. He’s also married to Hera, Queen of the Gods… and his sister.

However, there is a plan to take him down involving 3 humans on Earth, and a prophecy. The first of our protagonists lives in Crete; Riddy. She has a pet cat called Dennis and a husband called Orpheus whom she doesn’t really listen to.

One person she does listen to though is a strange woman who shows up at the supermarket. She rattles on about how Riddy has a scream, not a smile, and then proceeds to steal some cat food. She also mentions the Trojan Horse and claims that “today is the day” that she leaves her husband.

Riddy is actually falling out of love with Orpheus, but they’re not communicating and she doesn’t want this to disrupt their life right now. When Orpheus leaves, she promises that she’ll show up to his big event that night, unbeknownst to her that life is about to turn upside down.

Back on Earth, we catch up with the God of Pleasure, Dionysus. He’s bored of his job and wants to get more involved, but his father, Zeus, won’t allow it. Dionysus gets him a watch as a gift but unfortunately, he’s not too enthused by it. In fact, he already has a better one from Hercules.

When Dionysus leaves, deciding to adopt a human name of “Julius” and find his own purpose, the big Olympia Celebrations crescendo with a reveal of… a sign reading “Fuck the Gods” and a pile of literal shit.

Zeus is angry and believes this is blasphemy. Zeus has a crisis of confidence and brings in Prometheus to ask if he’s likable. I mean, the guy has been tortured by a cliffside, with his insides pecked out by birds every day, so of course he has nothing but good things to say.

According to Prometheus there’s a prophecy, and he gets our narrator to read it out. “A line appears, the Order wanes, the Family falls and Kaos reigns”. And the perceived line? A vertical wrinkle on Zeus’ forehead. Prometheus claims it’s not going to come to pass… but in reality, it absolutely can – and probably will.

Back on Earth, we soon learn that Orpheus is a celebrity and loved among the people. There are even flyers up all over town with his face. Calli, his assistant, drives with him out to his concert… but Riddy ignores his calls. In fact, she heads to the church of Hera, and requests a divulgence with the tacita. Humans head here to confess their darkest secrets, not knowing that in reality, their confessions are  kept by Hera herself, and they give her power. They soothe her heart.

Riddy makes her confession that she doesn’t love Orpheus anymore. This will, I’m sure, be important later in the story. Riddy continues, claiming she needs to leave him but can’t… because of the Gods. She prayed to the Gods 10 years back asking for her mother to come home but her prayers went unanswered. The tacita, as it turns out, is actually her mother, and in the middle of this, Riddy defies the Gods (and her mum) cursing them out.

Riddy has no idea that Orpheus is performing on stage and dedicating his latest song to her. Dionysus hears the music and decides to head over there himself, and finds his purpose in the words he’s singing. Remember that strange woman? Well, she shows up outside the church with Riddy and out of nowhere, Riddy is struck down by traffic. Turns out, she is going to leave Orpheus… she’s going to leave everyone.

Calli tells Orpheus the bad news up on stage, and Dionysus even shows up at the funeral too. His purpose is going to be helping Orpheus. Orpheus decides to head out and buy a gun after drinking heavily all night. However, Dionysus shows up right as he’s about to pull the trigger and takes a bullet for his troubles. He’s fine, obviously, and tells Orpheus that there’s a way he can see Riddy again without dying.

Now, the funny thing with prophecies is that they’re only for people, not Gods, and Zeus actually used to be a person. Prometheus has been waiting thousands of years for his plan to take shape, for everyone to be in the right place at the right time. And it seems that time is now, as horns blare and Riddy wakes up in a large boat.

The Episode Review

Kaos looks like it could be a lot of fun. The show has a quirky, unique energy to it and this is helped along by the modern spin on the Greek Gods. There’s no fluffy clouds and happy, colourful gods like that seen in films like Hercules, but a more surrealist look at how the world could operate with Greek Gods watching over everything in another plane of existence. 

The characters are decent so far, although it remains to be seen how Hera plays into this and whether she’ll usurp Zeus at some point, despite him being the King of the Gods. It’s almost certain that she’s going to have a hand in sharing Riddy’s confession about leaving Orpheus, but we’ll have to wait and see how that plays out.

Riddy being killed is definitely one of the more surprising parts of the show, and the tension that’s likely to arise when she and Orpheus see each other again (given Riddy wanted to leave him) has the potential to be a proper powder keg. Will she fall back in love with him or will this cause “the family to fall apart”?

I’d imagine, given that boat, we’re likely to see Charon the ferryman, transporting these guys and gals to the underworld in episode 2. So far so good though; Kaos gets off to a solid start.