I am enthusiastic about Pantheon, but generally agree with your nuanced take.

I mean, in the first half we have such heady scenes as this where they discuss solutions to the classic Dining Philosophers Problem. Brilliant and, imho, a bold move from the writers to include something that in depth.

And yes, later on, it gets more mainstream with anime fight scenes in video game virtual reality, and concepts echoed from classic media like The Matrix and The Truman Show to make it more engaging to non techy audiences.

Personally I liked 95‰ of it. It took chances, was willing to pull from a lot of resources while still remaining somewhat original in its presentation, and had endearing and engaging characters.

I'm stoked that Amazon picked it up as AMC cancelled it reneging on its commitment to producing a second season. I haven't been this excited about a tech show since Mr. Robot or Halt and Catch Fire.