cow's review Jeff goldblum's furiously fun Greek gods drama is a masterpiece hilarious profound and moving this fantasy series is an utter Triumph its tale of Zeus and co- living in the modern day is intelligent twisty and action-packed cows the new Venture from Charlie kovell the creator of Channel 4 drama series the end of the F asterisk asterisk King world is anything but chaotic multistranded immaculately paced and plotted it's a reimagining of Greek mythology that is subtle and intricate witty rigorous hugely intelligent funny and brutal it flies koval's script is a masterpiece so confident so apparently effortless so light on its feet as it builds an alternative modern world in which pantheism and Zeus still rules and gods mix with Mortals rarely to good ends the Eight Episodes are stuffed with action jokes however much events darken as we go on and Grace notes a huge cast of characters is deployed without a single one feeling underdeveloped or unnecessary with Covell using them to interrogate what it means to be human to have power to be desperate to have free will or not they are all folded seamlessly into its furiously fun Embrace I can give you no better or certainly no shorter indication of the overall tone of the thing than to say that Jeff Goldin plays Zeus white suited in debonaire he swaggers happily round his sprawling Palace and Gardens on Mount Olympus until the day a new monument to him in Creet is publicly unveiled and found to have been desecrated by a gang of Trojans then he finds a new wrinkle on his forehead that he decides must be the Fulfillment of the first part of a prophecy that will see his Reign end and Chaos rule instead all of his neurosis and insecurities begin to flare to such a degree that within a few episodes it feels like quite a departure in its vulnerability for Goldblum best known for roles based on impregnable cool as he plots Vengeance on Humanity his wife Queen and sister as an asteris onscreen caption notes Hera the suitably magisterial Janet mcer tries to encourage him to keep his dignity and the doing out of punishments and the investigation the initially unseen narrator of events turns out to be Prometheus Steven delain former friend current prisoner chained to a rock liver eternally pecked at by an Eagle it's all coming back to you now an immortal enemy of Zeus he is doing his best to bring about the Fulfillment of the prophecy ASAP helped by various unwitting humans down on Earth and residents of the underworld this is overseen by David thulis as Hades which would have been an equally good way of queuing you into the tone of the thing now that I think about it uicy known as rid Aurora Perino is about to break up with her devoted Rockstar boyfriend Orphus Killian Scott when she is killed in a car accident and finds herself on a literal fery across the sticks with the help or hindrance the God of Pleasure being something of a minor chaos Merchant himself of dionisis naban rwan Orpheus sets out to bring her back from the underworld via some heartbreaking scenes involving the couple seeking their dead son such moments are scattered throughout the series whenever you are in danger of enjoying it as a mere romp reminding us that the ancient m dealing hard Eternal truths as well as allowing us to laugh at gods and Mortals shagging about and getting changed into bees for their trouble while orus fights to reach his beloved however she is busy forging a connection with canas mijia Butler and discovering even worse things about their new home than you might imagine for the underworld there is much much else unfolding too ready to be knitted together in the fullness of time by koval's skilled hands ariadne Leila farza is uncovering the treachery of her father minus while dadless Matt Fraser is feeding something of monstrous mean down in a sort of Labyrinth and prison beneath their palace Billy Piper replaced Cassandra all but destroyed by the burden of forever being ignored and disbelieved Medusa Debbie mesar is waiting in the wings the Medusa an underworld newcomer asks in Celebrity strick and all she lets a snake out from under her headdress to prove it the fan is through thrilled and there is just about everyone else you'd find in a classical education and or a children's book of myths and legends too love stories tumble over treacheries while scenes dance along the edge of Comedy SL tragedy just ask Zeus's bulbas and the fates and Furious Spike peoples and divinity's wheels you don't know quite what the next twist or turn may be but you know that it will be funny profound moving or all three as well as being as compelling and rewarding as you could wish it's an absolute Triumph thank kovell and the god