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I’ve watched the first eight episodes multiple times over the past several months. Myownbadself’s critique, WITH SPOILERS:

The Good: There is - episode after episode, viewing after viewing - something captivating about watching Bible characters and extras come to life in these productions. I’m not usually a “multiple viewing” person. I have zero problem re-watching these shows. The story lines are mostly compelling. The acting is generally excellent. The costumes work well enough for me. The talent all interact with warmth and familiarity such that it’s easy to believe you’re watching the real deal. Beyond the technical nicities there’s an intangible thing that marks this project as different from anything I’ve ever seen before (save for a few exceptions like Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” and the Christ scenes in “Ben Hur”). I’m not above believing that God’s hand is all over this thing, despite it’s real flaws.

The Great: I’ll preface this by saying that I am one who has had a transforming encounter with Christ. Laying in bed one night as Person Number 1, I drew in a run-of-the-mill breath. By the time exhalation was complete, I was Person Number 2. In the literal blink of an eye, I was reborn. Completely made new.

From that perspective I watch “The Chosen” Jesus character while he loves, leads, and heals people, and I think, “This guy gets it.” The actor conveys a sense of burdened love for those lost sheep for whom He has come to ultimately die. I don’t know the actor’s theology; but I find him entirely believable as the Savior who saved me from my former hell. His Christ is well aware of the demands on His ministry, even unto undeserved death. He consistently portrays that weighty awareness in his every expression, gesture, and spoken word.

My favorite character outside of the Christ, is “Quintus”, the Roman governor in Capernaum (or Bethsaida, wherever it is). I don’t imagine the actor looking like a Roman governor. But the guy consistently devours the scenery with a cheerful, breezy arrogance that can only come with absolute power.

The Bad: The cast is a veritable explosion of ethnicity, so much so that I find it distracting. Gibson’s “Passion”, for example, did a great job of presenting a credible picture of the characters portrayed. “The Chosen” makes no effort to show a reasonable picture of 1st Century Israel faces in their stories. And that’s their perogative. They are possibly wanting to emphasize the universality of Christ’s efficacy, over any historically faithful representation of 1st Century Israel. I’d say that’s a best case scenario. Worst case, the creators of this show are simply regurgitating modern Cultural Marxist sensibilities in the guise of the Gospel of Christ.

DISCLOSURE: I was not alive in 1st Century Israel, so I cannot say for certain what “man on the street” looked like. I just believe that the producers of this series are stretching the bounds of reality with their efforts to make whatever point they trying to make. I find it annoying; someone else may find the same thing to be a positive.

Also, much of scripture has been misrepresented to give a greater role to women than the gospels presented or that would have been imaginable in 1st Century patriarchal Jewish culture. The paralytic healing in Mark 2, for example, is predicated on a woman boldly leading the charge to tear apart Zebedee’s roof cover in order to get her friend lowered into the house. Not a credible thing for the time and place. And not necessary to make the story of the Gospel appealing to a dying world.

Finally, there are just too many implausibles to not mention them. Most glaring to me is when a husband and wife bar their door against Roman soldiers entering their house, so as to enable Jesus and Friends to escape out the back way. When the wife finally opens the front door for the Romans, the soldiers step in and realize they’ve been had. Rather than killing everyone on the spot (or at least arresting them), the Romans join the homeowners in a cartoonish “Wah wah waaah” posture. No way, no how.

The Awful: The project is infected - from start to finish - with 21st Century feminism. Every episode shows hallmarks of grrrl power in the script. A boy and girl are friends. The boy is characterized by ridiculous quaking fear, and the girl is effortlessly bold. A husband is portrayed as making reasonable objections to his wife’s emotional appeal to help a friend. The wife cuts him off with a threatening look. The husband cowers. This “warning shot” glare is re-issued in a later episode, when unmarried (pre-discipile) Thomas is henpecked by his domineering female business partner.

Throughout the series, if there is to be a strong and decisive spouse in marriage, it will be the wife. The only exception is Nicodemus and his wife. Twice in the first two seasons I remember him saying, effectively, “This is how it is going to be.” But even then, they spend the rest of their marriage with her dressing him and fussing over him in a decidedly emasculating manner.

It was for this reason that I deliberately watched for the writing credits in a recent viewing of the series. I saw only two men listed as writers. I assumed those two men must be either miserably beaten down by or wildly enthusiastic about feminist dogma of this present age. No other way to explain that which no self-respecting man would ever embrace, much less try to pass of as legitimate in these shows.

Then I saw in the article posted here that Dallas Jenkins’ wife is a script writer. Her presence might explain the patriarchy-hating vibe of the series. Ultimately the decision makers in the organization have decided that they will make smashing patriarchy a thing in their shows. This dynamic alone is almost a deal-killer for me; but for the fact that there is so much good presented with the bad. Feminism is IMO from hell. And it’s disturbing to see so much of it in this project, which will undoubtedly reach a wide audience before all is said and done.

I look forward to new episodes of The Chosen. And I pray that God will reveal Himself to the show’s creators in some way that will open their eyes to the darkness they are enabling.