A few brief thoughts on The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1 & 2
The season premiere, currently in theatres, introduces some new characters and explores some old themes from new angles.
The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1 & 2 is in theatres now, and it stands a very good chance of being the biggest new release of the week—as I predicted back in August.
I will have more to say about these episodes when they are available to stream, which should be sometime next month. But in the meantime, a few quick thoughts:
Season 3 begins with the Sermon on the Mount. Season 2 showed Jesus preparing the sermon, and it implied that he was inspired to write the sermon—and the Beatitudes in particular—by the actions of his disciples. Now that we see Jesus delivering the sermon, however, the series shows how the disciples are convicted by Jesus’ words. If the disciples once inspired him, he is now inspiring them.
Season 3 introduces Joanna, one of Jesus’ female patrons! I asked The Chosen co-writer/director Dallas Jenkins three years ago if his series would introduce Joanna at some point, and he said yes, it would. And now, here she is. Woo-hoo!
I note, incidentally, that Joanna does not speak with the Middle Eastern accent that most of the Jewish characters use. So is she supposed to be a Roman here? Or is this indicative of a class distinction between Jewish peasants and social-elite types who, like the Herods, are cozy with the Romans? (The biblical Joanna’s husband was “the manager of Herod’s household”, as per Luke 8:3.)
There is a strong emphasis in these episodes on the ability of Jesus’ teachings to reconcile families, and maybe even inspire the formation of new families. There is little sense of the biblical Jesus’ teaching that he came to divide families (e.g. Matthew 10:34-37), and no sense whatsoever of St Paul’s belief that there was no point in getting married because “the time is short” (I Corinthians 7:25-31).
That being said, I continue to appreciate how the series alludes to the sexual intimacy between Simon Peter and his wife Eden—this time, adding an element of humour as a few of the other disciples crash at their house. Eden’s reaction when Nathanael says he can pull a pillow over his ears is kinda funny.
The show’s interest in scatological matters hasn’t gone away: Quintus is annoyed by sewage and “brown” stuff getting into the water, while Atticus makes dismissive comments about Jesus “relieving himself” after he gave his sermon.
The series continues to project rather modern attitudes onto the past. The Roman authorities talk about “city limits” and local by-laws that regulate how close a fire can be to a tent, while the Jewish characters casually talk about “taking a collection for the ministry”, or about the “impact” that Jesus’ ministry will have.
Episode 2 ends with Jesus appointing The Twelve, sending them out in groups of two, and even making some organizational arrangements (such as who should oversee the group’s finances). This scene really, really benefits from the fact that this show has taken great care to establish the disciples as individuals, and you really get a sense of these actors and characters as an ensemble; it’s not just Jesus, a few “lead” disciples, and some extras, the way these scenes typically play in a Jesus movie. And the scene at the end where the disciples get into a circle together before going their separate ways does a really good job of underlining the camaraderie between them. It also gives us a sense of how they might work together as a team in the future, when Jesus is no longer with them.
The episodes are preceded by about ten minutes of preamble, including a music video inspired by the series and an introduction from Jenkins himself. I loved how Jenkins says that, “as a filmmaker,” he is asking the audience to please please please not distract people with their phones during the movie, and there’s an amusing bit where Jenkins asks people to talk about the theatrical release on social media, and we get an image of a text exchange that goes something like, “Did you see The Chosen yet?” “Meh.” “Almost as good as Yellowstone!”
These are the first thoughts that occur to me. But I’m sure there will be others—and I will have a lot more to say about this entire season as it comes to streaming.
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The Chosen interviews:
Season 1: Dallas Jenkins, co-writer/director (Dec 2019)
Season 2: Dallas Jenkins, co-writer/director (May 2021) | Derral Eves, producer, on Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers (Nov 2021) | Dallas Jenkins on the ‘The Chosen Is Not Good’ marketing campaign (Apr 2022)
Season 3: Jordan Walker Ross, Little James (Oct 2022) | Vanessa Benavente, Mother Mary (Nov 2022) | Kirk B.R. Woller, Gaius (Nov 2022)
The Chosen recaps:
Season 1: review | scripture index
Episode recaps: The Shepherd | one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eightSeason 2: The Messengers review | scripture index
Episode recaps: one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | The Messengers
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The Chosen can be streamed via Angel Studios or the show’s app (Android | Apple).