Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for the finale of Netflix’s KAOS.
Netflix may have found its ownTVA-level threat to humanityinCharlie Covell’sKAOS, a contemporary tale of interwoven Greek mythologies.Jeff Goldblumhelms the series as Zeus, a selfish, power-hungry deity whose grip on control of the universe is starting to slip. Butaccording to the story’s narrator, Prometheus (Stephen Dillane), “There’s a plan to bring him down.” Three humans, Eurydice, or “Riddy” for short (Aurora Perrineau), Caeneus (Misia Butler), and Ariadne, or “Ari” (Leila Farzad), have each been given an identical prophecy:“A line appears, the order wanes, the family falls, and kaos reigns.”Coincidentally, the king of the gods was given the same one. Zeus’ paranoid attempts to stop his prophecy from being fulfilled lead him to meddle with the fates of humans and disrupt the lives of those around him. The prophecy has come to pass for everyone individually, and each of their stories funnel down to a slew of KAOS at the end of the season.
In ‘KAOS,’ It All Starts With a Line
A “line” in the recurringKAOSprophecy means tension; a tear in the tapestry, a ripple over still water, a crack in the wall.Zeus discovers a physical line in the form of a new wrinkle on his forehead. Zeus was given a prophecy from the Fates, which is something that only humans receive. After transforming himself into a god by absorbing human souls, he’s gotten used to feeling invincible.That minuscule mark of aging becomes a major problemfor him as he intends to keep his immortality. His urgency to prove that a prophecy (but mainly his own) can be broken leads him to target the prophecy of the devout president of Krete, President Minos (Stanley Townsend). His ambition to stop his own prophecy from playing out causes him to upset social and political boundaries, and to cross the lines that once separated mortals, gods, and everyone in between.
For the human characters inKAOS, the lines that appear are a bit less physical. Riddy decided that she was falling out of love with Orpheus (Killian Scott), which isn’t how their story conventionally goes. They’restar-crossed lovers whose love is meant to last forever.Riddy’s line is her realization that her love for Orpheus is running out. Formerly known as Caenis,Caeneus was born in a tribe of Amazons, which are traditionally a tribe of female warriors. He was forced to leave when his mother felt that his body was unfit for him to become an Amazon. He felt that his gender reassignment in following his mother’s prophecy marked the line in his prophecy. Ari’s line appears when she learns that she wasn’t responsible for her brother’s death during their childhood.That epiphany fractures her sense of self, leaving a crack in the metaphorical mirror she’s been holding up to herself all her life.
Order Wanes Before Kaos Reigns in ‘KAOS’
Dionysus (Nabhaan Rizwan), the god of pleasure, madness, and wild frenzy, tries to break from his designated duty and do something more meaningful with his power.He discovers that love is important to him, and he opts to help Orpheus win the battle between love and death by letting him retrieve Riddy from the Underworld.Allowing a human to bring someone back from the Underworld is a breachin the order of the universe itself. But when it starts looking like the plan might actually work, Poseidon (Cliff Curtis) warns that if Zeus finds out about Orpheus’ success it could yield more dangerous consequences than Dionysus expects.
Hades (David Thewlis), the god of death, with his wife Persephone (Rakie Ayola), queen of the Underworld, warns Zeus that the Frame system is overloading the Nothing. Humans who die are led to pass through the Frame under the pretense that their souls will be renewed. But it’s revealed that Zeus had actually ordered Hades to guide the dead through the Frame so that the gods could harness their souls in order to remain immortal.Just like the Temporal Loom in Marvel’sLoki,the Frame system has become unsustainableand Hades presses for a change in the order.
Ari has a revelation thatresets the order of political powerin her family. Her father’s prophecy reads, “Your end begins in the marital bed: The first child to draw breath will kill you dead.” She connects the dots that even though her twin brother Glaucus (Fady Elsayed) was the first to be born, she was the one who “came out screaming.”She kills her father for lying to herfor her whole life and for killing Glaucus per the will of the gods. In avenging her brother,she flips the political order by assuming her role as the new leader of Krete, now defiant of the will of the gods. The most overt instance of order waning (combusting is more like it) inKAOSis when Zeus destroys the Fates. After President Minos’ prophecy fails to, well, fail, Zeus decides to set fire to the Fates altogether. If the Fates are responsible for writing and keeping all prophecies, then destroying them must be the answer to his problem.
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The Families in ‘KAOS’ Are Destined To Fall Apart
Each of the humans inKAOSexperiencesa rift in their familial bonds. On paper, Riddy and Orpheus are meant to be a family, but the development of Riddy’s feelings towards Orpheus breaks up their relationship. Caeneus’ mother sent him away from his tribe in his youth, but his respect for her is truly lost when he learns that she was the one to sell him out and have him killed by the Amazons. Ari believed the best of her father, Minos, and trusted that he loved and lived for her. The Furies show Ari that she wasn’t responsible for the death of her twin brother, and she later finds out that Minos imprisoned him as a child, causing her trust in her father to crumble.
Zeus’ treatment of his family in Olympus eventually gets them all to turn on himat his most insecure point. Dionysus already struggles to establish an emotional connection with Zeus, as he turns out to be a rather mean and indifferent father. But Zeus’ refusal to grant him more power causes him to act out (albeit with kindness) in an effort to gain respect from him. Hera (Janet McTeer),Zeus’ wife (and also his sister), tries to stop him from creating any more demigods while actively hiding an affair with Poseidon (who is their brother). Fed up with Hera’s disloyalty,Zeus cracks down on efforts to control the actions of his wife. Also unsatisfied with Poseidon’s rule of Krete, he plots to annihilate the city behind his brother’s back. After being warned to address the Nothing, Zeus threatens Hades not to alter the system by electrocuting him. Hera calls a family meeting between herself, Zeus, Dionysus, Poseidon, and Persophone, who stands in her husband’s stead. But the meeting is mostly an intervention to confront Zeus about his destructive behavior, and he only doubles down on his cruelty in response (R.I.P. sweet, blameless Dennis).
What Happens in the Finale of ‘KAOS’?
Lines have appeared metaphorically and physically, order has been flipped on its head, and both human and godly families have completely fallen apart. If the next part of the prophecy is to be fulfilled, then kaos must reign. But what (or who) exactly is “kaos”? “Chaos” has already been running rampantamong the human realm, and frankly around Mount Olympus as well. So does the definition of kaos only refer to Zeus’ lack of control over the way he sees fit to run things, or does kaos refer to a character? In the season finale, Caeneus and his mother pass through the Frame and into the Nothing, but Caeneus suddenly revives and renews his mother. The first thing she says upon regaining her life is “Kaos.” Caeneus attempts to re-orient her senses by reminding her that his name is Caeneus, but she looks at him and persists, “Kaos.” Also in the finale, Prometheus is freed from his eternal torture and is found sitting on Zeus’ throne while wearing Zeus’ robe, declaring to him, “Kaos is coming.” In this sense,“Kaos” could actually be a new namefor either Caeneus or Prometheus,as in the end of an era of Zeus and the beginning of an era of Kaos.
Ultimately,the characters turn their focus to bringing down Zeusand his supposedly gracious systems. The humans decide to defy the gods after realizing that the gods don’t really care about them, Prometheus warned and had since been waiting for Zeus’ power to falter, Dionysus fights for love in the face of Zeus’ general meanness toward him, Hera leaves Olympus and calls an undisclosed descendant to rally some troops, and Hades begins work to actually renew human lives instead of absorbing them to stay immortal. A second season has been set up to see Ari rebuilding Troy as the new god-defiant president of Krete, Riddy setting the living free from blindly serving the gods, Caeneus fighting to help Hades renew souls, and Prometheus having free reign over Olympus.
KAOSis available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
A contemporary series that casts a fresh light on iconic mythological tales, weaving together stories of gods and mortals to reflect on modern societal issues. Through a narrative that blends ancient mythology with current themes, it challenges characters and viewers alike to consider the nature of destiny and human interaction.
