Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

Well I’ve now watched the entire season 4 of the Chosen at the theatre several thoughts.

Maybe it’s because I live in Massachusetts but there were less people at most of the shows I went to. The best attended was a Saturday Matinee. The worst was a Cold Sat Evening. Yesterday’s Friday Matinee was meh.

The local theatre has switched to all recliners and table service. Got to maximize the revenue and with so much streaming you need to give folks an excuse to leave.

I suspect that the bad economy hurt attendance since everyone knows the shows will be streaming in a month.

Lot’s of faith based movies pushed in previews the biggest being Cabrini which looks like it will be great. The irony is that the whole “strong woman in a world of men” theme that the left loves is cancelled by the fact that because of her deep catholic faith she would not be given charge of orphans in NY or any blue state these days.

Ok spoilers follow so if you don’t want to see them don’t

I think 4-6 were the strongest episodes.

The big question for me going into the season was: “Would I see the bread of life discourses?” which take place directly after the feeding of the 5000. Answer no, it seems to be the only part of John’s gospel that is being skipped. I suppose it’s possible that they’ll do it in season five and move it to Jerusalem & holy week but the key line from Peter is moved to the final episode and is given totally different context and thus less impact. My Parish priest predicted this after season 1 as it’s tough to dodge the reality of the Eucharist when John Chapter six is covered in the whole.

There were extras at the start of each movie showing the best was in the first where they did a birds eye view of the sets with the camera traveling over them and lines from the previous seasons being spoken. That was great.

I liked the flashback to Zachariah and Elizabeth in the John the Baptist episode and how they ran it parallel, it worked well (and again gave the reason to dodge Bread of Life).

The conversion of Simon to Peter when he declares him the Messiah was interesting as the presentation was in keeping with the protestant understanding of Jesus’ response but the reactions of the disciples was completely in keeping with the Catholic understanding of that speech.

There was one moment in the 8 episodes where the entire theatre laughed that’s when Thomas says that Ramah said she didn’t want an engagement gift, Peter goes up to him and pulls him away and everyone laughs.

I liked the rehearsals of the dance that doomed John, the idea that there was a lot of practice to get the desired reaction from Herod made it better.

The moment I saw the first 30 seconds of episode 3 I knew what was coming and almost said it to my wife at that moment but she would never have forgiven me for being right.

I was surprised at the consequences for both Quintus and Gaius of these actions. I wouldn’t think Quintus would have been demoted for killing a Jew and didn’t see Gaius being promoted after defying a direct order.

The most uplifting moment of the season was the healing of Gaius’ son hands down. Particularly him putting out the candles to the roman gods in his house.

Jumping ahead it seems to me that both Gaius and Atticus have decided that Jesus is divine. The difference being Gaius believes he “The” God and I think Atticus thinks he is “A” DemiGod. I suspect Atticus being a polytheist will be in favor of his execution because as a rival demigod to Rome.

I expected to see more follow up Quintus in Jerusalem, Maybe he’s be the centurion who believes at the cross, maybe he’ll be part of the crew the scourges Christ or maybe he’s done. I have no idea.

The evolution of Shmuel has been very well written and it becomes clear that he is looking to do the fiar and the right thing but isn’t discerning it properly. His actions in the final episode of the season were one of the most dramatic moments of the season to me and I think his reaction to the death of Christ is still up in the air.

There is one giant plot hole in the series in addition to the loss of the bread of life stuff. A lot of what drives this season is Thomas’ reaction to both the death of Ramah and the rising of Lazarus however all of this is only made possible by completely ignoring the raising of the son of the Widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17) to wit:

Soon afterward he journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her,

“Do not weep.”

He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said,

“Young man, I tell you, arise!”

The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst,” and “God has visited his people.” This report about him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.

emphasis mine

While in terms of teaching the lesion of why God allows suffering it works well and dramatically it works well to those who know scripture it’s a reminder that while this is an excellent show and a fine way to introduce folks to Christ it’s not scripture and is not a substitute for scripture. The exclusion of this miracle for the sake of dramatic license gives that important reminder.

The involvement of Mary the mother of God in this season is excellent. From the visitation (with the younger Mary) to the entry to Jerusalem with Mary at his side is very Catholic, particularly the warning about the sorrows, but the best scene is during his first visit to Lazarus’ house where he speaks his frustrations to Mary that his disciples just don’t seem to get it.

Mary Magdalene is handled perfectly this season and Jesus’ line noting that the source of her worries is that she’s been paying attention is something. Dallas has set up a lot of key scenes with her from what I suspect will be season 6 here.

I was dying to see Pilate’s wife’s reaction to seeing Jesus’ face and recognizing him from her dreams but alas that must wait for season 5.

Didn’t expect to see Simon’s brother & Veronica again.

The “two miles” scene was very clever and completely unexpected.

Jesus mentions that the raising of Lazarus will be his last sign, that’s actually not correct. You will recall that Peter cuts the ear off of one of the folks who come to seize Jesus in the garden and Christ heals him. Maybe that’s an oversight or will be left out.

I really liked how they gave plenty of time to the reactions of Lazarus, his sisters and Jesus’ disciples to his raising. How they played Judas both here and with the anointing of Jesus really worked.

All in all it’s a great season, the only real plot flaw as I noted was the Widow of Nain thing. But the quality of it overall was great. It was worth the dough and I have high hopes for season 5.