Critic Reviews

From the triumphant scenes in which Maddie and David rekindle their relationship inside a World of Warcraft-like video game to Chanda’s disturbing encounter with the ghoulish remains of UIs past, the wildly inventive Pantheon paints an online world as a place of boundless possibility, a lifeless digital abyss, and everything in between.

Pantheon’s clearest strength as a series is its willingness to engage with the ethics behind uploaded intelligence: the process of downloading one’s consciousness into the Cloud. ... Pantheon’s most vivid accomplishment centers on emotion. Unlike the Metaverse’s flat and lifeless animation, Pantheon’s key interrogation of virtual consciousness and emotion almost operates like a recipe, questioning how much a dash of sadness or a pinch of joy defines the human experience.

It’s a portrait of a rapidly changing world that takes care to document the emotional carnage left in its wake, to gripping, troubling and ultimately quite moving effect.

A gripping, cerebral, remarkably high-concept animated sci-fi series

Buoyed by an excellent voice cast as well as Titmouse Animation visuals that are sharp, emotive, and imaginative, it’s a bold attempt at creating a unique streaming sensation, all of it revolving around a captivating conceit: uploaded intelligence.

The plot somewhat inelegantly switched modes at the 11th hour, stuffing in as many ideas as it could before credits rolled. But even despite its issues, this story aimed for the stars, melding its high-flying ideas with affecting drama. The result is an ambitious, imperfect, and thought-provoking sci-fi series that forces you to stop and look toward the future, however uncertain and frightening that may be.

The creators of “Pantheon” dive deeper into their concepts with each of the four episodes sent for press, sometimes too obviously underlining their themes instead of letting them feel organic, but there’s no denying that this show casts a unique spell that grows with each chapter. My initial apprehension after the premiere had given way to curiosity.

There is an adjustment period required by “Pantheon”—one needs to reconcile the almost guileless quality of the imagery with the dauntingly futuristic tale being told and the disquieting notions being proposed. All in all, it’s worth the effort.

Given enough time and patience, the vast web of the overlapping ideas in “Pantheon” might solidify into a deeply satisfying sci-fi story. Whether or not it will get the chance, or else snag the audience that might be particularly intrigued by it, is another story that only time (and the reach of AMC+) can tell.

Not all of Pantheon’s ideas are original, but they’re combined into something profoundly ambitious and fundamentally optimistic about humanity’s future, which feels perfectly timed for the cultural moment – even if these episodes were completed more than two years ago.