Pantheon is the first episode of the first season of the AMC+ animated sci-fi drama, Pantheon.
Synopsis[]
Maddie, a bullied teen, receives help from a stranger online; Caspian, a teen loner and math genius struggles with his parents' toxic relationship; Chanda, a computer engineer, secretly meets with a rival tech giant.
Plot[]
In Sacramento, as Maddie Kim is sitting through a mythology lesson on the newer generation overthrowing the older generation, she gets an email calling her ugly and asking her to kill herself. She she fixes her hair and shifts her legs, the other girls mimic her movements. Maddie asks to go to the bathroom, but the teacher asks for her phone and she runs out of the room. As she sits outside the principal’s office, she listens to her mother Ellen Kim explain that Maddie is adjusting to a recent move and the anniversary of her father’s death is coming up, which the principal understands.
Maddie thinks back to when her father David Kim gave her her mother’s old laptop when he was going through chemotherapy. Maddie becomes angry when he suggests she speak to her mother but Maddie gets angry and her father tells her her mother will be there for her if he does not get better.
Maddie and Ellen drive home in silence and Maddie goe up to her room to find an email from her grandmother. As she browses through pictures her grandmother sends her, Maddie responds that she misses her grandmother.As she types out her troubles, she gets an email of herself with pig ears and nose. She tells her grandmother everything is going great before crying herself to sleep.
Maddie wakes up to find a string of emojis from an unknown individual who knows about the email. After expressing how it hurt her. Maddie deduces that the person is trying to protect her.
At school, Maddie's bullies all get hurtful texts and emails about how they betrayed one another in some form, ending in Samara, the ringleader, attacking another girl, Erin, in the bathroom, an act witnessed by Maddie.
Maddie returns home to find that her contact was responsible for the hacks. When Maddie asks why the person is helping her, the person reveals they know her mother. Ellen enters and becomes angry upon learning that Maddie has been talking to a stranger online. When Ellen asks what the person wants with Maddie, they send a line from a poem and Ellen is panicked. She goes to her room and calls Peter Waxman to demand what he did with David. After hanging up, Waxman calls Julius Pope, head of Logorhythms, who informs is informed of the incident but tells him it is nothing to worry about.
In San Clemente , Renee is shopping for groceries when she gets a surprise call from Pope. He asks how “he” is doing but she says she would update him at check in and they end the call and Renee drives home. At a local high school, Caspian Keyes is sitting in math class looking out the window when a girl catches his eye. The teacher calls on him and Caspian answers the question correctly. As he opens his locker, he sees the girl being guided around by Nicole, a student who hates him, and he goes over the them. Caspian introduces himself and the girl introduces herself as Hannah. Caspian skateboards home and is greeted by his mother, Renee. He goes to his room and skims through dark web chat room and finds an entry from a girl stating Logorhythms faked her father’s death and is holding him hostage.
As Maddie browses through the same dark web chat room, she thinks of when her father taught her why people believe in conspiracy theories and tells her to always seek proof. She then sees Caspian's response asking her for proof and, after slight reluctance, she sends him the messages. Ellen then walks in and tells Maddie to drop it. Ellen says David is not alive and Maddie reveals she found the poem in Ellen's books. Ellen insists that it is not Maddie's father.
As Caspian sends the logs to someone named AngryAngel, three are revealed to be watching his online activities and look into the past chats.
As Ellen is sitting in her room, she thinks of a moment she and David shared as she gets up. Ellen meets Gabe her boyfriend, at coffee house to breakup with him. Gabe talks about his ex-wife who left him and compares her to how much better of a person David was. After a brief conversation, Ellen decides to keep seeing Gabe.
At a hotel, Vinod Chanda is meeting with three people for breakfast. He explains the theory of Uploaded Intelligence could soon be a reality. They ask if Ajit Prasad, Chanda's boss, is working on the technology, and they say Chanda is the true genius behind the project. The men agree to hire Chanda if he leaves Prasad . As Chanda enters his ridshare, he is attacked and drugged.
As Caspian looks through dark web posts, he finds an article saying Chanda is missing. Renee enters and tells him dinner is ready and Cary, his father, is home. Father and son greet each other coldly as Renee serves tofu and bok choy. Cary is annoyed with dinner and Renee says Caspian's teacher says he is ready for college level classes. Cary gives Caspian a problem to solve that an entry level coder could do. Caspian says it is a concurrent problem and Cary reveals he is right. Caspian does not get it until Cary says it is a hierarchy problem. Caspian explains that if someone used the method Cary is describing, they would be fired for causing the system to crash. Cary tries to find a weak point in Caspian's answer but Caspian rebuffs him. Renee takes some of the dishes to the sink and Cary throws the rest on the floor demanding meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Renee cries as Caspian walks off. When her son is gone, Renee stops crying and goes to the garage to find Cary in his car. She teases Cary on his improve during the staged outburst and he drives with Renee pretending to be angry and yelling as Caspian listens to music to drown out their fighting.
Back in Sacramento, Ellen drops Maddie off at school . Maddie gets a message in emojis from someone under the screen name AngryAngel. Meanwhile, Ellen sits at a green light before turning around. Maddie looks at the messages until the teacher closes her laptop. During break Maddie goes behind the bleachers to try to speak with AngryAngel again, but Samara finds Maddie and accuses her of hacking her phone. Samara stops Maddie from leaving and threatens to attack her until Ellen arrives and threatens Samara. Maddie tries to get her mother to back off and Ellen lets go. Samara runs off and Ellen reveals she has been keeping a major secret from Maddie.
In Palo Alto, Waxman is trying to stop a d-dos attack and, upon informing Pope, is told to call Shire and Stern and have them check on someone named Lowell.
Cast[]
Starring[] |
Co-Starring[]
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Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
Episode Guide[]
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| Season 1 |
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"Pantheon" • "Cycles" • "Reign of Winter" • "The Gods Will Not Be Chained" • "Zero Daze" • "You Must Be Caspian" • "We Are You" • "The Gods Will Not Be Slain" |
References[]