Your heads must be spinning after binge-watching Pantheon, AMC’s cyberpunk adult animated series that got dropped on Netflix. With an extremely relevant theme at the center of it, Pantheon is mostly great from start to finish, which could only happen thanks to a hugely talented voice cast that has names like Paul Dano and Aaron Eckhart. You are, of course, reading the article to understand what really happened in the ending (and the whole thing) better, and I am hoping to help you out. So, to simplify, I am going to lay down the story according to the chronology instead of the narrative the show followed. Quite naturally, there will be spoilers, so if you haven’t watched Pantheon yet, this is your warning.
What Happens in the Show?
Since simplification is the intention here, I am going to start with the biggest twist of the show that gets revealed midway and changes the course of the story. One of our three main characters, buddying hacker Caspian, is actually a clone of the legendary Stephen Holstrom, co-founder of the tech company Logorythms, who died much before the show’s timeline. Let us go back to the time when Holstrom was alive.
The whole concept of UI (Uploaded Intelligence) was his brainchild, and from what we’ve seen so far, we can conclude that Holstrom did intend to do good. If you think about it, the fundamental difference between AI and UI is that intelligence in the latter is not synthetic; it is directly coming from the human brain. Holstrom managed to develop a process through which one could have digitally uploaded their conscience. There was a catch though: the one who would upload has to die, as in layman’s terms, the bodily brain would practically get fried during the process. Even if we consider that an acceptable sacrifice one is supposed to make in order to help the world, there was another huge flaw. Even after uploading, the lifespan was limited. Like a phone’s battery, it would have ended up being drained and completely damaged in the end. Holstrom’s purpose of helping the world in a better manner by staying digital was not getting fully served because of this flaw. He tried his best to sort this out. Unfortunately, he lost the battle to cancer. But before his death, he took a chance—of making his own clone as a baby. Caspian was made from Holstrom’s gene, and the plan was to raise him the same as Holstrom. The hope was he would eventually grow up and fix the problem. Thanks to his best friend Julius Pope (also the co-founder of Logorythms) and a handful of people who genuinely believed in him, Holstrom died seeing his plan under way. His girlfriend Renee took on the role of Caspian’s submissive mom. One of the employees, Cary, devoted his life to playing the part of the abusive dad—the kind Holstrom had. And that’s how it all started, and what followed is a series of chaotic events that Holstrom probably considered, but he went ahead with the plan anyway. I’m not sure whether to support what he did or not because that would be a very gray area.
Maddie’s Father is Alive
Pantheon begins with Maddison, aka Maddie, a teenage girl who’s still not over the death of her father, David. Her mother, Ellen, is also struggling and trying her best to move on. They’ve recently moved to Sacramento in order to do so. Things are not looking good for Maddie in her new school, as she is labeled as the loner who gets targeted by the bullies. Ellen, meanwhile, has started dating her coworker Gabe, who seems like a nice guy. One day, a random chat box pops up in Maddie’s laptop, and someone starts communicating with her, but only through emojis. Not that Maddie has any problem understanding what this mystery person is trying to say. She soon realizes that this person is actually helping her when her school bullies get hacked and learns quite a lesson (nothing harmful though). A curious and inquisitive Maddie shares this in a forum and gets noticed by one person, Caspian. He is already a tech enthusiast, so it’s quite natural for him to look into the whole matter. Caspian is obviously monitored by Logorythms during all this. Things really kick in when Maddie’s mystery stranger reveals that it is actually her dead father David, who used to work for Logorythms. He still cannot talk and is trapped inside the Logorythms server. So what happened here? Well, like Stephen, David also died from cancer. Before dying, he decided to volunteer as an UI. Ellen was against the decision as she could never accept digital David as her husband. But he still went ahead anyway, but unfortunately, things didn’t work out. Or at least that’s what Doctor Peter Waxman, a common friend of David and Ellen, told her. It turns out that Logorythms secretly kept digital David with them only, and he has somehow figured out his past life and everything, and now he wants to get out.
Meet Laurie and Chanda
You are obviously wrong if you thought David was the only one who has been digitally uploaded by Logorythms. There is, in fact, another one before him—wall street trader Laurie Lowell, who suffered an accident, and her company, Shyer and Stern, duped her husband Cody by telling him she had another chance. The real reason they did it was continuously using Laurie’s brain for making money. There’s no doubt that this is downright unethical, and if Laurie had a choice, she wouldn’t have made this one. But her human body was in a coma, and her digital conscience remained stuck in Logorythms server until she managed to find her way out of it. But the flaw that doesn’t let the UIs live forever was still there, and it started affecting her. One of the pivotal points of this story has to be Laurie getting to know about David, which actually happens thanks to Caspian unknowingly sending Maddie and David’s conversation to her. After that, Laurie had to get David out of Logorythms as he, being the only other UI, might end up helping her. That’s why she tried freeing him by briefly hacking Logorythms. When that doesn’t work, she contacts Maddie through Cody and also warns her to not communicate with Caspian (as he’s being watched). When Maddie and Ellen walk in the Logorythms building and have their chat with Pope, Laurie gets the perfect opportunity to do her magic, all thanks to the 3D printing bracelet Maddie was wearing (Cody gave it to her). Thanks to Laurie, Maddie finally manages to free her father and activate him upon coming home. That’s not what Ellen wanted though, as she went to Logorythms in order to kill the UI that was made from her husband’s brain. But Maddie couldn’t let her father go. Her attempt at reuniting her UI father and human mother goes in vain, though, as both David and Ellen realize that it is simply not possible and they must move on. But they choose to remain in contact. That’s the best possible way this show could have handled the relationship. We don’t get to see more of Gabe though, but considering the amount of chaos that happens, Ellen hardly gets the time to think about that aspect of her life.
Alright, let us talk about Vinod Chanda now. Among the three people who were turned into UIs, he has to be the most unfortunate one, as the painful procedure was not only done to him without his consent; he was also kept alive when it was happening. This one is not on Logorythms though, as the person responsible for Chanda’s situation is his boss Ajit Prasad, an Indian billionaire from Mumbai who runs a company called Alliance (guess Mukesh Ambani is not aware of the existence of Pantheon)! Ajit is using a knockoff tech of what Holstrom invented. He has even tried it on people from Mumbai slums before finally doing it to Vinod. Chanda is a genius, of course, who fits Ajit’s requirement—writing code after code in order to take over the world. However, thanks to the ghosts from the slum (the ones who had to be Guinea Pigs for Ajit), he also gets out of the alliance’s control and promptly executes his revenge on Ajit by killing him and his family. But like the other UIs, his digital future is also limited. It was only a matter of time for David, Laurie, and Chanda to come together and team up. That obviously happens, but things are never simple in this show.
What is the main conflict?
The genuinely admirable thing about Pantheon is the show not resorting to the usual good versus evil formula once the story is set. Even though initially it did seem like the story would eventually become Logorythms versus our heroes—Madie, David, Ellen, Laurie, Cody, Chanda, and, of course, Caspian—this show ultimately chooses to take things elsewhere. Yes, Logorythms action is still questionable, but Julius Pope is not quite the big bad that you see in techno thrillers. He actually intends to honor his best friend’s wishes and do the world some good. On the other hand, we can’t deny that what Chanda had to suffer was nothing short of terrible, but the path he ultimately chooses to take is dangerously chaotic. Unlike David and Laurie, who both, despite everything, still consider themselves as humans only, Chanda starts seeing their kind as some sort of gods—who can do anything. Even before he actually meets David and Laurie, he has already caused the damage by spreading the UI technology to all the powerful players in the world. Chanda’s agenda is to create chaos and then take over humanity. But the only thing that spoils his plan is the fact that all the UIs are slowly disintegrating. His primary reason to team up with David and Laurie is finding the cure, but slowly you realize what he is up to (and so does everyone).
David and Laurie are also not exactly on the same page, but their conflict is rather justified. Given she was the first one, Laurie’s condition is much worse than David, and she has a more urgent need for a solution. Her last retort is going to the public with the news and warn the world about what might fall on them. David, on the other hand, believes that it will only bring chaos and endanger his family. The second half of the show is mostly spent with David desperately looking for a solution while arguing with both Laurie and Chanda.
Caspian, of course, is the guy who can actually find a fix, given he is the closest to Holstrom we have. However, things don’t always work like that. He might be a clone, but he is still a real person after all. Obviously, after finding out the truth—his whole life, including his parents and girlfriend Hanna—is a lie, he is bound to have a meltdown. It is not humanly possible to instantly come up with a solution just because you are the replica of a genius who died years ago, right? So despite Maddie trying her best to add Caspian into the fold so that he can find out a solution, he ultimately takes off and chooses to be a simpleton, away from all the chaos. That’s only a temporary thing though, as Julius Pope does manage to find him, which was bound to happen.
Is David Dead?
By dead, I strictly mean dead in the digital life because human David is dead from the beginning. Before going into the discussion regarding his fate, I must appreciate how wonderfully the story has managed to integrate the popular video game “Rein of Fire” into the narrative. David practically lives inside the game, and it becomes the world of Maddie as well. Thanks to the advancement of VR, all the intentions between David and Maddie (and all the other UIs and humans) seem extremely real. That said, the show does raise the question regarding the digital experience of someone that you’re unable to physically touch. There’s a scene where we see Ellen directly asking Cody how he is able to love Laurie when he cannot get intimate with her, which is an extremely valid question.
Anyway, it ultimately comes down to the point where Laurie realizes she doesn’t have much time as there’s no cure on the horizon. Hence, she decides to go public and records a video where she shares everything. Unfortunately, she falls prey to Chanda, who has now gone fully rogue, who destroys her sever before doing it. Cody still goes ahead and fulfills his wife’s wish, but sadly, he doesn’t find many that believe him. With Laurie gone, David remains the only obstacle in Chanda’s path. Had he not (very smartly) taken a copy of Laurie’s confession video, Chanda probably wouldn’t have blackmailed him by pointing an Indian missile at Sacramento. But that’s where things stand in the end—David has to get out of his home server; otherwise, Chanda will obliterate the whole of Sacramento.
Well, no way David can just give Chanda what he wants—so, like a true hero, he chooses to fight and contain the threat for the time being. That brings an end to his digital life, but before that, he also makes sure that Laurie’s video gets out in the open. That obviously makes the already chaotic world (all thanks to the recent activities by Chanda and other UIs) going fully berserk. People start demanding answers from Logorythms while Pope keeps hoping that Caspian is going to save the day. Even though Caspian intends to put a full stop to the whole UI thing, Pope is not entirely wrong. He does manage to convince Caspian that even if he shuts everything down, the technology cannot be prevented anymore. So it’s better to find a fix and hand it over to someone who can actually help the world. Pope’s concept of one single UI helping the entire earth actually makes sense. That UI has to be chosen by Caspian, and if there’s any person he can actually trust, then that would be David. He is the best of the lot, and I don’t think Pantheon can survive as a show without the digital David Kim. There’s no doubt that we are going to see more of him, given Logorythms has kept a copy of his code. It is all but certain that he is going to be revived in the next season by Caspian. Anything other than that is not going to make any sense.
