Just saw the first episode after having heard recommendations from a couple people for a long time now. shyt was fire. The most authentic-feeling representation of Biblical times that I've ever seen.
Basically, it's following a bunch of folk in Nazareth before they met Jesus. (Jesus gonna show up soon, of course.)
Ton of characters are introduced right in the first episode:
- Young tax collector named Matthew who is on the spectrum. They don't make it a sympathetic disability, breh is an obnoxious little prick who doesn't give a shyt and everyone hates him.
- Woman prostituting herself in the red light district named "Lilith", but I'm pretty sure she's Mary Magdalene under an assumed name. The portrayal of Jerusalem's "Red Quarter" is solid, they don't go too far over the top but there's a ton of debauchery there.
- Old, powerful Jewish rabbi named Nicodemus. Seems like he could be a nice guy but is too caught up in his own power, and everyone around him are sycophants with very punchable faces. The bad acting of the extras is distracting, but you can let it slide cause the main characters are mostly fine.
- Fisherman brothers Simon and Andrew remind me of 1930s union workers, almost borderline gangsters. Simon's wife is a ride-or-die but her brothers are thugs, like the guy who marries into that crazy mob family and constantly worries that it was a mistake because they don't fukk with him. But you get the impression she makes it worthwhile off-screen.
- Multiple Roman soldiers, all of whom are arrogant a$$holes who you can tell think they're above everything. Most powerful one is "Quintus", and it looks like he enjoys fukking around and playing people off of each other, which is going to lead to some fireworks.
Sets are solid, dialogue is solid, like I said the acting by the extras is weak at times but I'm gonna ignore that. The plotting and characterization are what's interesting. It feels like real people in a real time period, not just characters in a parable.
There were a number of Black faces that show up, though no main characters yet. I can imagine idiots thinking that's "woke" but Libyans, Ethiopians, and Simon the Black are all mentioned in Book of Acts, Jerusalem had to have been a trade center to a degree. I think all of the Black characters were traveling merchants of one type or another but there may have been at least one religious student.
I'm gonna keep watching. Saw some reviews that said the first 3-4 episodes are slow and it picks up after there, which is interesting cause I liked the first episode.
www.rottentomatoes.com
www.imdb.com
