Cody Lowell

Cody Lowell is a character in the AMC+ animated drama, Pantheon. He is portrayed by Scoot McNairy.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Born in New York City, Cody spent most of his life there and later marries his wife Laurie Lowell. While his wife’s career at a hedge fund flourished, Cody's career as an artist stagnated and he envied his wife for her successful life.

When they were thirty one, Laurie got a promotion and she rented a cabin in Upstate New York as a celebratory vacation for herself and Cody. Cody would buy her a vinyl record of When In Rome's “The Promise” as a congratulations gift. One the way to the cabin, the couple got into an argument and Laurie found the record. She then played the song on her phone and had Cody pull over. She unbuckled herself and strangled him and the couple started making out. However, not long after a drunk driver hit them from behind. While Cody was okay, the impact cut Laurie in two and placed her in a coma.

At the hospital, he looked at his wife’s mangled and unconscious body with fear when he was approached by two Logorhythms employees, Julius Pope and Peter Waxman. They told Cody they could preserve his wife’s mind on a computer and, in an act of desperation to save her life, he agreed. However, Logorhythms lied to him that the procedure failed and gave Laurie’s upload to her company. He gave her eulogy and witnessed her cremation.

Cody eventually made it to the cabin Laurie got them and as he was looking out the window- When in Rome's “The Promise” started playing on his phone, the television, and his car at the same time. When a picture of himself and Laurie appeared on his phone, he knew his wife was not gone.

Laurie figured out ways to speak with him, then see each other. She fed Cody information on the stock market to get money for servers that Laurie could use once she escaped. He had the servers placed on a boat for added security. Eventually, Laurie learned she had a flaw that caused her mind to decay the faster she processed and, upon learning of a second upload, David Kim, had Cody track down and meet up with David’s family as she felt he could cure her.

Helping Free David and Meeting the Kims[]

He meets Maddie on his wife’s behalf and tells her about his wife. Maddie looks up Laurie and finds that she died four years ago. Cody insists his wife and her father are not dead and Maddie gets up to leave, but Cody asks what her favorite song is, along with her father’s favorite song. Maddie says he liked Queen and “You’re My Best Friend” plays over the speakers and everyone’s phones Maddie stays and Cody explains that his wife was talented at reading stock and that he was offered a way to save her after a car crash. Cody explain that Logorhythms uploaded her and lied about it failed. Laurie then calls and Cody and he hands his phone to Maddie. As Laurie explains her plan to Maddie, Cody hands Maddie a bracelet to help free her father. After David is freed, Laurie becomes irritable and starts lashing out at Cody.

After failing to contact his wife for days, he angrily goes to the Kim house and barges inside when Maddie opens the door. He demands she tell her what she did with his wife when Ellen Kim pepper sprays him. After the situation, deescalates, Ellen gets him eye drops for his eyes and he apologizes and thanks them for not calling the police. Ellen says it is not off the table as Maddie and Cody insist Laurie first contacted Maddie. Cody says Laurie has been different since breaking David out and that he was responsible for something and that it was why she wanted to break him out. He explains what Laurie became a UI and what they went through since her physical death.

That night, he joins Ellen for wine on the back patio. Ellen suggests Cody turn off Laurie’s server, which is the equivalent of putting her in a coma, as she voices her frustration on David saying he wanted to upload. She voices her confusion at how Cody and Laurie can still have their relationship. Cody says it is almost the same as when Laurie was alive and says she behaves like she did and they have found workarounds for intimate moments. Cody says he cannot put Laurie in a coma as Ellen voices her concern for the dangers an unstable UI could do. Ellen manages to convince him to turn off Laurie’s server for the time being and, just as he is about to, he and Maddie get notifications. Cody takes out haptic gear and lends a vest to Maddie. He scans Maddie’s face so that she would look more like her. After talking with Laurie, he learns she has a flaw that causes her to decay the faster she processes, concerning him.

Searching for a Cure[]

The next day, he, Maddie, David, and Laurie are thinking of ways to fix the flaw when David starts to glitch and Laurie realizes Logorhythmsfound his servers and she backs up as much of David as she can. The background falls apart as Cody leaves and warns Maddie to do the same. Cody joins the Kims upstairs and enters her room to reveal the servers are being turned off and Laurie reveals Logorhythms bought the company that owns the building earlier that day. Everyone waits anxiously as Laurie reboots David. David is revived and does not remember the last twenty four hours. Laurie brings him up to speed as they discuss how to fix the flaw and bring David back to full speed. Cody suggests they get a floating data center like Laurie, but Maddie insists that they set it up at the house. Cody says they would need special equipment and Maddie demands he buy it as he has the money. Cody tries to talk the Kims out of it, but they do not relent.

Over the next few, days, servers, cooling systems, and a decile generator arrive at the house and they set it up, drawing attention from the neighbors. Once everything is set up, they log into the server and discuss how Logorhythms found them. They deduce that they are using a tracking system to find them and Ellen and Cody express concern that it is too dangerous to attack again. As they think off where Logorhythms would keep the data on uploads, Maddie mentions the black site in Norway, confusing the adults. She mentions Caspian to Laurie , but she does not recognize the name.

They eventually find the black site and think of ways to gain access. When Ellen mentions Pope's phone, they hack into it to get the files, unaware that Pope is letting them to track David. However they trick a team into going to the wrong location and his wife and David collect the project files, discovering Vinod Chanda. Ellen and Cody leave the meeting and talk about the discovery of Chonda. Ellen is unsure if this means there are more UIs, but Cody feels their might only be three. Ellen compares UIs to discovering fire and thinks of the turbulence this technology can bring in the future when Maddie enters to reveal David and Laurie got all the files. After Laurie and David comb through the files, they find Caspian Keyes- a clone of Stephen Holstrom who was made to cure the flaw- and seek him out.

Finding Caspian[]

Upon learning that Caspian is missing, everyone searches for him. As they think of how to find him, Laurie glitches and Cody emphasizes the urgency of finding Caspian. Shortly after, Maddie gets a call from Caspian saying he needs help and agrees to meet Maddie, Ellen, and him at Sacramento Raceways. When they meet, the three see Cary Duvall in serious condition and Caspian refuses to leave his side until Cody offers to drop him off at a hospital under an alias.

In the desert, Cody goes off-road and pulls under a bridge. He parks and wipes off his fingerprints. As he walks off, ready to leave Cary to die, he has a chance of heart. Cary begs Cody to just leave him to die, but Cody insists on saving him. He drops him off at a hospital in Palo Alto before heading back to the Kim House.

He returns just as Chonda arrives and tells Laurie not to engage him. Chonda overclocks and Cody, Maddie, and Caspian find themselves alone in the cabin when Chonda demands Caspian tell him how long it will take to fix the flaw, having been alerted of it by Laurie and David. Caspian does not answer and says David and Laurie showed him his files. Chonda tries to leave to warn others but is stopped from leaving When asked what he means by others, Chonda reveals he sent blueprints to upload people to the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Israel, Iran, and China. He selected these governments because he knew they would upload their best operatives and keep it secret. Chonda intends to change the UI's minds where they could see that they are more than human upon meeting him. David chastises Chonda for this as an unknown amount of people could die because of this along with the UIs. Caspian, shocked by what he just heard, leaves.

Rift with Laurie and Attempting to Delivering her Message[]

A couple of weeks after Caspian runs away, he is packing to go to Svalbard when Maddie knocks at his door. He lets her in and she tells him Laurie is planning to reveal UIs to the public. Cody logs into his wife’s server and berates her for her actions. He is hurt she did not tell him she predicted David would tell his family they would tell him. She tells Cody to prepare for her death as the amount she will need to go public with kill her. He says he is prepared for her death and reveals he is going to Svalbard to get Laurie's source code. She criticizes his plans and tells Cody she does not want him to reboot her and kicks him out of her server after he asks why. After failing to log back in, Cody destroys his tech in a fit of rage.

A few days later, Maddie calls him and he goes to her house and he puts on her gear, as he destroys his, and logs onto his wife’s server. When he Maddie asks how he plans to stop Laurie, he tells her he cannot change his wife’s mind and is only there to say goodbye to Laurie. Maddie leaves and Cody speaks with Laurie. Laurie stops recording when she sees Cody and they apologize. Cody says he is going to Norway to get her source code, but Laurie reveals that if he succeeds, that version of her will have no memory of her being an upload and not remember the last two years. Cody insists he would still love her, but says she did not love Cody at the time, hurting him. Cody says he just wanted to spend more time with Laurie as she said he resented her for her career taking off. He denies this but she reveals that after learning that he could love her without touching her and the devotion he had to free her, made her fall back in love with him and she does not want to go back to who she was then and said she is only able to go public because of the support Cody gave her.

Cody joins the Kims joins the their backyard as they hold an honorary burial for Laurie, holding a pair of his wife’s earrings. He states that they are not her talks about Laurie’s first funeral. As Ellen says he must honor his grief, Cody states he would rather honor Laurie’s dying wish to reveal UIs to the world. As Maddie expresses her doubt that people would react positively to learning of UIs, Cody berates her for supposedly siding with Chonda. Ellen insists no one will believe them as Cody points out the server in their basement. When Maddie points out that her father wants to remain secret for his own safety, Cody mocks her and he and Ellen get in a scuffle. Ellen knees Cody in the groin and after getting up he insists he is going public.

Cody gathers a small group of protesters outside Logorhythms base in Palo Alto and, after David releases Laurie's message, the crowd greatly increases. He is interviewed by a reporter and tries to ease the growing frustration of the crowd to no avail.

Later Life[]

Months later, he is identified from the protests and is called to Washington, D.C. to testify before congress. While admitting his wife was uploaded, he does not give any other names, only saying he knows that she was not the only one but is unaware of the identities of any other uploaded beings.

After uploading becomes more widespread and legal, he becomes a UI.

Appearance[]

Cody is a man of European descent in his mid thirties with a tall and skinny build. He has short cropped dirty blonde hair with stubble and light brown eyes. He dresses in hipster fashion and has plugs in his earlobes.

Personality[]

For the most part, Cody is a calm person, generally being rational and level headed. However, he can be quick to anger at times. He is devoted, caring greatly for his wife after her upload despite losing the ability to have physical contact with her.

Relationships[]

Laurie Lowell[]

Cody loves his wife dearly, however he was jealous of her success in the workplace. He was grief stricken after her accident and physical death. When Laurie was revealed to be alive in the cloud, Cody was elated, doing everything he can to see and hear her, as following her instructions to get money from the stock market. After learning about the flaw, Cody feared losing Laurie a second time.

The two had a falling out after Laurie hid her intent to make UIs public knowledge insisted Cody not find her backup. He became enraged when she refused to give him a reason why he should not get her back up. A day later, the two reconcile just as Laurie records her message, finally telling Cody she does not want him to get her backup as she did not love him at the time of her accident and does not want to go back to that. She also explains that she fell back in love with him after seeing his strength and devotion to someone he could never touch.

After her second death, Cody attempted to carry out her last wish and go public on UIs. He was touched upon seeing her message.

Maddie Kim[]

Cody and Maddie are warm with one another. After meeting her on Laurie’s behalf, Cody explained how Logorhythms tricked the both of them. After Laurie became more aggressive with him and vanished for a few days, Cody stormed over to her house and demanded she tell him what happened to his wife, only backing down when her mother pepper sprayed him and apologizing afterwards. Upon insisting they set up her father’s server at the house, Cody tried to talk Maddie and her mother out of it for their safety. After the Kims criticized his attempt to go public, he has a falling out with them. Upon testifying before congress, he denied knowing of any other uploads to protect the Kims.

Ellen Kim[]

At first, Cody was indifferent to Ellen, but apologized after she pepper strayed him for breaking into her house. That night, the two talked about if someone could be human without a body. Upon Maddie insisting they set up her father’s server at the house, Cody tried to talk Ellen and her daughter out of it for their safety. After the Kims criticized his attempt to go public, he has a falling out with them. Shortly after his wife’s message opisthotonos shown, Ellen joins his protests in Palo Alto. Upon testifying before congress, he denied knowing of any other uploads to protect the Kims.