Review: Pantheon “Reign of Winter”

Man, hour long episodes of shows give the ability to showcase so much and Pantheon does not let up. “Reign of Winter” shows the type of purgatorial hell Chanda is in, with his mind completely scanned into the computer at his former boss’s company. There is so much going on here, I love how things are progressing.

What made the intro to “Reign of Winter” so special to me, is the time spent playing anMMO. I’ve spent so much time playing games like World of Warcraft. I’ve wanted the next technological breakthrough to occur that never comes, like VR and haptic touch.

Caspian, however, is doing exactly what most people who are conspiracy theorists do, and they’re chasing that dragon to a solution that won’t turn up. And the fact that he came out and told his “mom” about what he’s researching is a bold move. I think Caspian is the more intriguing character early on, because he is the antithesis of what a main character is doing. He’s smart and intuitive. He’s following leads he uncovered to uncover a bigger plot. My early vote for spin off series is for Caspian, for sure.

What’s getting me is this entity that’s in Chanda’s little space of server. Is it a virus? is it something that will destroy his mind? Is it from his mind? There’s so many questions early on, that it just soidifies this: The plot will continue to build onto itself. There’s so many twists and turns that will keep the viewer watching and needing more. Don’t worry, though. We get answers later on.

Like, is Caspian’s “mother’ really the friend with benefits of Holstrom? Maybe she’s the wife? Now I’m really digging this story. Layers and questions are so overwhelming, and I’m loving it. On top of that, the entire scenario with Caspian’s ” parents is insanely good. There’s so many layers and questions as the show goes down, and the added machinations that the insanely smart Caspian hasn’t even sniffed yet makes this all the more well written.

One thing I neglected to mention was Maddie and pops playing Reign of Winter. During the first part, things seem to be going well. But you see something change in David as the game progresses, because he completely obliterates a party and almost the entire surrounding area. Again, this is the type of shit I wished was in massively-multiplayer online games. However, you see David’s obsession continue to grow more and more, because Ellen wants nothing to do with him now.

Things go from bad to worse with Maddie, David, and Ellen. Let me tell you. Yeah, I can’t imagine how it would feel to have a dad in a computer, with a mind scanned into it. However, Ellen is absolutely unreasonable. The only thing Maddie and David want is to have Ellen talk to David. What makes it worse is that Ellen self destructs her relationship with Gabe.

And…that makes things kind of fall into place. Her self destruction leads her to talking to David, finally, putting to rest so many emotions, so many hard feelings, and so many things that needed to be said. I’m not psychologist, but Ellen and David needed this. At least the healing can begin.

Unfortunately, this is not the response Maddie wanted, and that’s just sad. In spite of how Maddie feels, this is needed. The hard edge David was getting seems to soften a lot. Later on, these two just seem to get closer and closer even though they’re now “broken up.” The Eddie Vedder story is amazing. In the end, everything came through.

Speaking of sad, Caspian is fucked up. The entirety of his situation is gaslighting and emotional manipulation to the nth degree. Renee faking Carey breaking her arm with a hammer is a masterclass in emotional manipulation. However, they almost getting got by Caspian with their whispering. How, you may ask? Carey backed out of breaking her arm at almost the exact worst moment.

Meanwhile, the final segment of “Reign of Winter” can only be summarized as: consequences. Pope seems to have fallen into a trap in this symposium. He goes from bring the only one, to not even number 1. Caspian gets Hannah, even though she noticed his beat up hand. Speaking of, Carey is sitting in his car, in the rain, on the side of the highway. Chanda got rebooted, again, this time with his “real” self getting the hell out of his purgatorial hell.

What else can I say? While not as shocking as “Pantheon” or “Cycles,” there was a lot going on, and the story telling really did a great job in keeping me entertained and intrigued. The world that AMC and Titmouse is creating is just another example of great storytelling. The audio of the voice actors are significantly better than in “Pantheon,” and that’s all I can ask. There’s so much to unpack, you will need at least a second showing to grasp all of the episodes. If you have been sleeping on Pantheon, you’re doing yourself a grave disservice