Kaos review: comic retelling of Greek mythology starring Jeff Goldblum
The new series captures audiences as it 'never takes itself too seriously'

From video games to novels to musical theatre, "revisionist retellings of ancient Greek myths have been having something of a moment lately", said Louis Chilton in The Independent. But few have been as punchy as Netflix's "Kaos", from the British writer Charlie Covell, who is best known for Channel 4's "The End of the F***ing World".
Billed as a "Succession"- or "White Lotus"-flavoured take on the gods of Olympus, it stars Jeff Goldblum as Zeus, depicted here as a neurotic, leisurewear-clad billionaire. He's first seen "mincing discontentedly through his pink mountain-top shag pad", said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times. The designers turn out to have had "Barbie levels of fun" throughout. Zeus's spotting of a wrinkle on his forehead triggers a midlife crisis and a complicated plot featuring versions of Cassandra (Billie Piper), Hades (David Thewlis), Prometheus (Stephen Dillane) and others. Structured as a sour comedy of manners rather than a fantasy, it's "engrossing, imaginative and fun".
The series is perhaps an episode or two too long, but what's great about this "enjoyably unusual" show is that it "never takes itself too seriously", said Carol Midgely in The Times: the Underworld here resembles "a drab multistorey car park at an Amazon warehouse". After a while, you start to wonder if the ancient gods aren't so remote from today's "brat billionaires, using the world as their whimsical plaything". Wouldn't, "say, Elon Musk secretly love to chain Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg to a rock and have an eagle peck out their livers every day?"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
6 sun-drenched homes by the sea
Feature Featuring a large patio overlooking the ocean in Laguna Beach and a marble rainfall shower in Norwalk
-
Garsington Opera opens its summer festival with two 'very different productions'
The Week Recommends A 'fabulous' new staging of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and Donizetti's fake-love-potion comedy L'elisir d'amore
-
The Rehearsal series two: Nathan Fielder's docu-comedy is 'laugh-out-loud funny'
The Week Recommends Television's 'great illusionist' has turned his attention to commercial airline safety
-
The Ballad of Wallis Island: bittersweet British comedy is a 'delight'
The Week Recommends A reclusive millionaire lures his favourite folk duo to an island for an 'awkward reunion'
-
Aston Martin Vantage Roadster: 'a rare treat indeed'
The Week Recommends The Roadster version of Aston Martin's new Vantage coupé makes even 'the most mundane journey feel special'
-
Bad Friend: Tiffany Watt Smith explores why women abandon friendships
The Week Recommends A 'deeply researched' account of female friendship through history
-
Film reviews: The Phoenician Scheme, Bring Her Back, and Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
Feature A despised mogul seeks a fresh triumph, orphaned siblings land with a nightmare foster mother, and a Jane fan finds herself in a love triangle
-
Music reviews: Tune-Yards and PinkPantheress
Feature "Better Dreaming" and "Fancy That"