If you’ve actually read The Iliad, Metamorphoses, The Aeneid, or The Odyssey; devour myth-inspired fiction like Circe; played every minute of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and Hades; and regularly quote Disney’s Hercules, you’ll watch Netflix’s Kaos with serious knowledge (and probably alone, like me). But if you’ve been elsewhere doing other things, don’t worry. As ill-fated narrator Prometheus (Stephen Dillane) says at the beginning of the show, “Some of you may have heard of me. Don’t worry if you haven’t.”
In Charlie Covell’s Greek mythology-based series, Prometheus gives you a one-liner introduction to each figure and location, but the show’s not Greek Mythology 101 by any means — there’s narrative progression afoot and whatnot. So if you’d like a little more context to get the most out of Kaos, here’s a basic (and I mean it) guide, from the mighty gods to the Earthly human heroes. The king of the gods and big cheese of the weather. The series constantly incorporates Zeus’ signature weapon, the lightning bolt. It’s sewn into his clothing and linens, and you’ll spy a giant bolt under glass in one of the palace rooms on Olympus. Kaos also makes more than a few references to Zeus’ infidelity and constant impregnating of human women, notably leaving out the constant assault element for the show (same goes for Poseidon and Hades).
The queen of the gods; goddess of women’s sexuality, fertility, and marriage; and Zeus’ wife (and sister, as Kaos reminds us). Hera holds a grudge and will often seek brutal vengeance against Zeus’ lovers, but she contains multitudes. As Fry writes in Mythos, “It is easy to dismiss Hera as a tyrant and a bore — jealous and suspicious, storming and ranting like the very picture of a scorned harridan wife (one imagines her hurling china ornaments at feckless minions)…” Luckily, McTeer gives Hera more to do than throw decorations at staff.
But what’s with the bees? Fry also writes of the Greek myth about how the bee got its sting: At Zeus and Hera’s wedding, a competition for “the best and most original wedding dish” saw a small, buzzing, winged attendee, Melissa, present them with honey. For her efforts, Zeus bestowed her with a cruel sting that would kill her if used. Lovely wedding.
