Messiah - Netflix - (**Spoilers**)

Hodors Appletart

i really enjoyed but i'm a sucker for any kind of religious exploration

i was glad they left it a bit unambiguous in that the kid who found the wreckage had a history of telling tall tales was Avi really dead and brought back?

Slydice

Oh.. i dunno.. they still had that whole .. the kid lies about stuff intro and yer man was unconscious so he 'didn't see nutin'

cdgalwegian

Watched the first 7 episodes so far. It's kinda bland, and drags in sections, with some predictably wishy-washy pronouncements from the lead, but there's some interesting stuff in it, which has kept my interest up. This includes the doggedness of the skeptics (mainly Michelle Monaghan's CIA character, and even a timely clip of arch-sceptic James Randi) keeping pace with seemingly impossible scenarios. The geo-politics is dumbed down a bit, where it even manages to roll in a lightning fast overview of Sam Huntington's 'Clash of Civilisations', but in the second half so far, the pace has been picking up. Looking forward to seeing how it finishes up.

cdgalwegian

Finished watching this, and I'm torn. The slow build-up might have been purposeful in order to increase the momentum effect, because at episode 9 it really was pretty good, becoming sedate and reflective in the finale, episode 10. So it was like a sedate Homeland mystery-series slowly waking up, before pausing to set up another series. The inbuilt ambiguity was inevitable, but it was a little tedious.
There was however an interesting ideological playbook being revealed that would be interesting to see being played out in a second series. This - and as 'the People of the Book'- all having an Abrahamaic origin, and thereby a different take on a Messiah- means how the show deals with the Messiah and Mahdi interpretations- and what this 'Messiah's agenda might be, could be quite interesting, and maybe provocative. I'm torn, but I'm in for a second series.

golfball37

Must say I found it very disappointing overall. I wouldn't recommend it.

cdgalwegian

golfball37 wrote: »

Must say I found it very disappointing overall. I wouldn't recommend it.

I didn't find it very disappointing, but, overall- as a Homeland-lite/mystery mesh- it is sub-standard; even the very last scene with 'the mystery element' had a just-introduced caricature liar wheeled in to cast doubt on what had just happened- which was very clunky.
What interested me though, and what I'd be interested in seeing in a second series, is the 'Clash of Civilizations' motif that was touched on explicitly in one scene, and hinted at in the last episode as being central to the Al-Mesih character's behaviour. Apart from that, it's pretty forgettable. But if it's done properly (not necessarily with a bigger budget) the 'clash' motif could make the second series, well, biblical (so maybe a bigger budget then:pac:).

cdgalwegian

re Clash of Civilizations:

Spook_ie

I found it worthy of a binge watch, looking forward to a 2nd series

neris

Watched all episodes, started off good but then seemed to go all over the place. Dont understand why they gave the mother and sick kid so much time in it. Wouldnt really recommend it

Washout

Is this like a modern version of Highway to Heaven?

cdgalwegian

Washout wrote: »

Is this like a modern version of Highway to Heaven?

:pac:

Wait... I am assuming you're joking (as virtually every review would show it's not), so:

Yeah. Mirror image, except for the car bombs, sex scenes, torture scenes, geo-political machinations etc. Oh, and I suppose rather than being about a goody two-shoes doing goody two-shoes stuff, this is ambiguous about whether the central character, as a preacher, is the Messiah or... a terrorist. So all in all, not a bad comparison.

It's got quite the divide among critics and ordinaries:

Ann22

I binge watched it over 3 days and was totally engrossed. I loved it and hope there's another season. The actor plays a deadly Jesus-like person.

worded

Anyone know what shampoo / conditioner he is using?

Ann22

worded wrote: »

Anyone know what shampoo / conditioner he is using?

Yeah nice shiny hair despite the desert sun and dust and he has such a beautiful face .I think I'd be believing every word he said and following him up and down the sand dunes too...lol!

worded

Ann22 wrote: »

Yeah nice shiny hair despite the desert sun and dust and he has such a beautiful face .I think I'd be believing every word he said and following him up and down the sand dunes too...lol!

Ive walked through the undulating sand dunes of Brittas Bay Wiclkow in mid July at around 6 and lots of people were following me .... but they all seem to wander when we reach the car park. But with the right kind of shiny hair, maybe some day ......

I’ve seen the Life of Brian too many times and associate the word Messiah with it.

PTH2009

Where did he get all the fancy clothes out of ??

Even the supposed messiah has to carry his own gear around and work out at the local gym ha

Potential-Monke

I think they got the level of 'is he/isn't he' just right. I was guessing for most of the series as to how it would turn out, and it turned out, well, the way I thought and also not the way I thought. I like the ambiguity. Was the kid at the end known for lieing? The 'unconscious' part was deliberate, to hide the possibility that Al-Massih told the kid to lie and give him $20 or something, but it has intrigued me enough to watch a second season, should there be one.

Hodors Appletart

Potential-Monke wrote: »

IWas the kid at the end known for lieing?

not lying exactly, there was one scene where there was some kind outdoor school where this kid rocked up late and started telling a pretty tall tale to explain his lateness, all the other kids started ribbing him by saying oh last week the excuse was this other unlikely reason.

When he starts talking about some stranger coming back from the dead, he will be dismissed as a storyteller.

Slydice

Cancelled:
https://twitter.com/WilTraval/status/1242936463316008960