Mark Kermode reviews KAOS - Kermode and Mayo's Take

mythological dark comedy television series uh created by Charlie cell um who was the British actor writer best known for adapting the graphic comic series end of the effing world so this sort of does for Greek mythology what baz lurman did for Shakespeare in as much as you know turns it into something as glossy and eye-catching as an episode of of Miami VI Vice so it's set in a world in which gods Walk Among Us and a fairly rancid bunch of Gods they are too at the top of the tree there's there's Jeff goldblum's Zeus which I mean I'm kind of on board already Jeff Goldblum is Zeus right yeah that sounds good An Almighty and Invincible power who looks walks and talks exactly like Jeff Goldblum because the thing that Jeff Goldblum does when he's playing God is he plays him as Jeff Goldblum because fine so he takes advice to some extent from uh is it Prometheus who's in the process of having his liver eaten by a vulture for all eternity but he's pulled out of that on regular on regular occasions in you know to for track suited conversations with Zeus who's lost his gold watch and he needs to know where it is he sort of you know takes advice from somebody who he's also having eaten Janet mctier who was you saw Ozark didn't you yes I didn't watch as many I watched a few episodes yet it as much as you did okay well I absolutely love Jan who was fabulous in Ozark is is her who is US's wife who honestly comes on like she could eat Zeus and everyone else for breakfast uh Cliff Curtis is Poseidon Billy Piper is Cassandra David thulis is Hades in this Nether world in which everything is in black and white which is the inverse of um well is it the it's the same is it so yeah with it's so it's taking its lead from Po and press Berger's uh matter of life and death in which the after life which may or may not be Heaven is in black and white you also get appearances by Eddie isar Killian Scot Debbie mael I mean to Uncle Tom Coby and all it is a big cast it is a big sprawling drama um so the trouble begins when Zeus notices a wrinkle on his forehead he decides that that may be the a sign a prophesied sign that his Reign is coming to an end and he goes down to earth he discovers that on Earth all the humans are getting on well and they seem happy and he doesn't like the fact that they're happy because if they're happy and they're not fearful of the Gods then they lose respect for the gods he wants people scared he wants you know he wants scared humans particularly after a uh a monument to the gods is desecrated with some graffiti and a huge pile of manure meanwhile there are three humans who were sort of connected interconnected unknowingly with an ancient prophecy that may be related to the end of Zeus's Reign and they start to discover their connections on either side of the you know of this world and the next so as you can tell so it's it's Eight Episodes long I've watched four of them so I'm like three and a half hours in and it is it is it is a big sprawling multi-layered everyone's in it drama of which there is much to enjoy not least the fact that I just love Jeff Goldblum and Jeff Goldblum is being the most Jeff Goldblum he's been in quite a long time as youth I think Janik mat is fabulous I think that the the kind of Gods on Earth thing actually weirdly reminded me of Z I mean I'm sure that wasn't an aesthetic touch point but there is something of zanado do you know if you remember you know you send Zer down to earth to open a roller disco there is some of that going on I only I only remember the songs now it's playing in my head new John OB a place where no anyway fun so whilst I was watching it I did think I wish I knew more about the you know the actual myths that this is drawing on like for example if you got somebody like Natalie Haynes I'd be really interested to know what somebody like Natalie Haynes who really knows this stuff inside out thinks of it and I was very conscious of the fact that you know I know some of the names I know some of the things but I'm not really very up on the mythology but it's you know very very good ensemble cast I mean like a real rainbow nation of talent um admirably kind of forward-looking open-minded narrative good gags looks good all that's on the plus side on the downside and I'm I'm I'm I'm finding it quite quite hard to get my head around this I'm halfway through it and I am not yet gripped to the point that I can't put it down I mean like when we if you think this is a bad comparison but baby reindeer I watched pretty much in one sitting because every time it ended I just needed to know what happened next and I know that the same has been true of the shows that have really really got under my skin that you you do that thing about it's 2 o'clock in the morning the multistranded plot is very multi- stranded although it is it is all starting to tie up by the end of episode four the strands are starting to come together the ambition and the scope is admirable but and perhaps this is appropriate for something called chaos it is fairly chaotic and I would find a little more Focus making it easier the other thing I did think is I'm a film critic I'm not a TV critic although we've been doing TV here on this show and it was one of the few times in which I thought you know I'm sort of slightly out of my depth because it may be that it's just because of because of the fact that I'm fundamentally a film critic who likes narratives to out over a confined period maybe I'm just not quite attuned to the rhythm of this I mean that said we have watched extended series and I've got on with them and and and I'm enjoying this I'm definitely enjoying it I'm definitely going to go back and watch the rest of it and there are some you know there are some really nice things in it but it hasn't yet become essential to my life and I was kind of surprised by that because I like the idea I like the cast I like the scope I like the the Creator I just there's just there's something that hasn't quite this the vulture hasn't quite bitten my liver yet and I'm 4 hours in and I kind of think well you you don't want that I mean that would mean that you would be in unspeakable Agony well yeah although of course you know but it's mythological Agony so it's not real but you know what I mean when you think this is good there's loads of good things in this there's loads of really interesting stuff in it and it's running firstly I wish I knew more about the source material secondly I really really all the bits that Jeff Goldin were on there are little bits of the plot that I'm losing track of that I'm kind of drifting in and out of interest in that particular thread and I just think that after three and a half hours it hasn't yet properly got its hooks in me so it's fine I don't know that it's great will they make and let me see if I can get the intonation right will they will make cash from chaos which which pistol was it who said I think that that's actually Temple chuda no cuz I tell you what that line comes up in um rock and roll Swindle yeah yeah but it's in the song in which they're auditioning all the different people aren't they it's in the song in which it's the song is the thing called anyone can be a sex pistol and each line is done by a different person and one of the people is Temple Judah who then went on to be the sort of the replacement of Johnny rman I think but that all get cashed from chaos although that line comes from it is sung by somebody we've never heard of before or since the line that get that picks up after that that is Ronnie bigs was doing time till he did a bunk so I that's why anyway maybe it turns up in a couple of places okay fine yeah it was just a convoluted way of saying do you think it's going to be successful well it's yeah because I think you know look hey I I'm no I'm no predictor of uh of success or failure I mean I think it's big ambitious sprawling loads of great cast members very very entertaining I I don't know that it's essential I mean I don't know that it's I don't know that you can't live without it where can I watch it Netflix thank you