The AMC series "Pantheon" is a rare U.S. produced animated drama. It reminds me of the late '90s and early 2000s science fiction anime that used to be popular in nerdy circles, before the YA action franchises took over. There are direct references to "Ghost in the Shell" and "Neon Genesis Evangelion," but the obvious precursor to "Pantheon" is "Serial Experiments Lain," which is as much of an existential horror series as it is a terribly prescient story about the early internet age.
"Pantheon" is based on the short stories of Ken Liu, and revolves around the concept of Uploaded Intelligence, or U.I., where human minds are scanned and uploaded into computers to live out a purely digital existence. A teenager named Maddie Kim (Katie Chang) receives strange messages from someone online - maybe her father David (Daniel Dae Kim), who died four years ago. Her mother Ellen (Rosemarie DeWitt) is obviously keeping secrets. Meanwhile, a disaffected young hacker named Caspian (Paul Dano) discovers that his parents (Taylor Schilling, Aaron Eckhart) aren't what they seem, and have ties to Logarhythms, the company founded by deceased tech genius Stephen Holstrom (William Hurt). Then there's Chandra (Raza Jaffrey), a brilliant engineer who we see being kidnapped in the first episode, and then having his mind forcefully and horrifically uploaded to the cloud in the second.
While not as cerebral or as scientifically rigorous as some of its progenitors, "Pantheon" succeeds at being a techno-thriller that is both intelligent about the ideas it explores, and also genuinely thrilling to watch from episode to episode. With a little shadowy espionage, a little body horror, and a stellar voice cast, "Pantheon" is genuine hard science fiction aimed at discerning adults. The mysteries unfold at a satisfying pace, and come together in a gratifying way. The animated medium allows it to be more ambitious than anything comparable in live action. I want to tread lightly because of the spoilers, but how the U.I. appear and interact with each other, their virtual environments, and how everyone uses technology is all very thoughtful and well considered. There's a lot of nerdy content here, from Maddie having emoji-only chat sessions, to Caspian running through logic problems at the dinner table. At the same time, the writers are careful to keep relationships and emotions at the forefront. A lovely, self-aware tidbit of information from an early episode reveals that U.I. are less productive in the absence of emotion, because emotion is a prime driver of problem solving.
One area where there's room for improvement is the show's animation. "Pantheon" is a rare animated series where the episodes are forty-plus minutes, and even for an eight episode season, the budget couldn't have been insubstantial. However, I wish the designs weren't so bland and familiar - the whole main cast could blend in with the background extras from "Invincible" or "The Boys: Diabolical." We get some interesting depictions of digital spaces, but so much more could have been done here. While I appreciate that "Pantheon" is very accessible and the writing and characterizations are especially strong, I wish it would take more chances when it comes to the visual storytelling. A big reason why anime like "Lain" and "Ghost in the Shell" are so iconic is they pioneered so much of the visual language of how we depict the internet and virtual worlds. Pantheon is clearly very fluent in this language, but also feels a little compromised in how literal and dialogue-heavy it is, always careful not to step too far into abstraction and ambiguity.
And while "Pantheon" flirts with darker horror and paranoid conspiracy elements in the early episodes, eventually this gives way to a much more straightforward narrative about the morality and philosophy of creating a new technology. I love the way that the show keeps escalating from episode to episode, never letting the status quo remain unchanged for too long. It really commits to exploring multiple facets of the U.I. from several different points of view. The societal implications are wonderfully grim, though never nihilistic. I want to stress that this is a series for adults, despite the relatively low incidences of onscreen violence. There are deaths and disturbing subject matter galore, about on par with something like "Black Mirror." In the end, though, "Pantheon" is more optimistic, and more about the better side of humanity than I was expecting.
Best of all, a second season has already been greenlit. I can't wait to see more.
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