If there is one show that can change the world, this series says it all. You hear stories of people who went through challenges or consider them not religious and eventually had a change of heart due to this show. With the fourth season out in theaters and the series streaming in different platforms including Netflix, let’s do a review.

What is it about?

Based on the gospels of the New Testament, The Chosen is about the life of Jesus through the eyes of Jesus’s disciples including Simon Peter. Faith is a big theme in The Chosen, as well as companionship, overcoming personal challenges and breaking the mold of what society wants you to be.

Characters

Jesus of Nazareth (Jesus Christ)

This character needs no introduction, He is the man of many roles. He is a teacher, craftsman, guide, friend, mentor and most importantly, the Messiah and Son of God. He is wise beyond his years, humble, polite, caring, patient, kind, independent with man but dependent with God, but also funny and a true leader in the gospel.

Simon Peter

Simon is Jesus’s right hand man, aside from denying his connections with him 3 times during Jesus’s trial. Before he gave his life to Christ, he was a struggling fisherman who is trying to pay off his debts, a husband to a lovely woman named Eden, and sadly a man who had fallen off the wagon and sinned. He is charismatic, honest, protective, hardworking, stubborn, and loyal.

Matthew Levi

Before answering the call to follow Jesus, Matthew lived comfortably, has servants, worked as a tax collector for the Roman government. And due to his position, the Israelites hate him and prefer not to be seen with him. He is neat, smart but single minded at times, a bit awkward, mildly strict, a bit of a klutz, a risk taker, goal orientated, professional and cautious at times. The actor mentioned the he has autism and most viewers who are on the spectrum can relate to him.

Andrew

Andrew is Simon’s brother and a fellow fisherman. He was a follower of Jesus before his brother decided to follow Him. He is cautious, filled with the Holy Spirit, a bit of a klutz when it comes to his dancing but also gets along with anyone.

Mary Magdalene

Mary is our main gal in Jesus’s discipleship and one of the first people to answer the call. When we first see Mary, she was a woman with many wounds; she lost her father young, was SAed by a centurion, drinking away her problems, and hiding away in the Red Quarter in Capernaum. After Jesus transformed and saved her, she is brighter, cleaner, and has hope and Fatih within herself. As Lilith, she’s violent, lost, scared, and tired of everything. As Mary, she’s sweet, caring, loyal, shy at times, and beautiful.

Quintus

This young man is the praetor of Capernaum, meaning he is has similar duties to today’s governor, serving the will of the people and the Pilate. He is almost snake-like, but respectful among the Romans and Jewish officials in Israel. He believes that the people want to be ruled so that they have something to complain about and he believes it’s in their nature. Snake-like as in quickly agitated, ready to strike at a moment’s notice, but also skillful, strategic, charming, and could easily be a villain that anyone in the audience would like.

Nicodemus

Nicodemus is a highly respectful Rabbi among the Pharisees and a beloved husband. Aside from being the best of the best, he feels conflict within himself. Which is why he approached Jesus. He is wise, strict to the Jewish law, but he is also a curious man with questions about things he doesn’t know yet.

Eden

She is Simon’s wife and the sister of Jehosaphat and Abrahim. She is a woman of faith, loving, strict, strong during hard times She is the one that believes in Simon’s testimony and encourages him to filling Him. Even though she is a minor character, she already became an anchor to her husband and hopefully the rest of Jesus’s disciples in future seasons

Episode summaries

The first episode is based on scriptures in Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:1-3 where Jesus heals Mary Magdalene from her demons. Now before we get to see that happening, we get the introductions of Mary, Simon Peter, and few other disciples. It starts off with Mary Magdalene’s father comforting the young Mary, who couldn’t sleep due to fear with the words of the prophet Isaiah:

" Thus says the Lord
who created you, O Jacob,
and He who formed you, O Israel:
'Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name.
You are Mine.'"

Fast forward to a grown Mary, who goes by Lilith due to the demons that lived in her, who woke up with blood on her face and her hands and heard of a man crying for help, possibly because she attacked him, and felt ashamed. Meanwhile a pharisee rabbi, Nicodemus, and his wife wife were traveling to Capernaum but got stopped by Roman soldiers for help in regard to taxes. We eventually get to be introduced to Matthew, the tax collector, who had a rough start to the morning stepping into some doo-doo and getting stink eyes among the people. Upon arrival, Nicodemus does a sermon about fish, especially catching fish during Shabbat and it was caught by the attention of a local rabbi named Schmuel. A centurion interrupts such discussion in need of help to perform an exorcism on the woman in the Red Quarter (Mary), later it was a failure and she scared him away. We eventually get to met Simon, who was losing in a fistfight with his brother-in-law with people betting, eventually Eden knew about it. After the fight, Simon and his brother Andrew are trying to figure out how to pay their debts to the Romans, but the desperate Simon decides to fish anyway. When Eden asked about the catch, Simon had to lie. When Mary woke up after Nicodemus's attempted exorcism, she finds herself scared and not even the words of Isaiah helped her from reliving her trauma. So she went to a speakeasy to get a drink and was able to talk to the bartender, Sol, about her issues and how it's getting worse. In trade of a drink, she brought her precious doll so Sol can give it to his nephews, which concerns Sol. After his attempted exorcism on Mary, Nicodemus's wife reassures her husband that he did everything he can and he must let it go and remind him of his position and authority. The next day, Mary attempts to jump off a cliff to end her suffering but backed out after seeing birds flying around her, which led her back to the speakeasy. When she ordered to give all the drinks to her, Jesus stopped her. When she ran away, Jesus followed her, called her by her name, and healed her.


The second episode doesn't really follow a specific scripture in the New Testament, but it does show what Shabbat (or the day of Sabbath) looks like for the Jewish community in first century Israel. Especially how important it is to remember that day of how God rested on the seventh day after spending 6 days working on creating the earth. With Mary redeemed and well, she has been able to help out with the ladies in the town like braid a woman's hair and fetching flowers. While doing her duties, a Pharisee noticed a change in her and reported it to Av Beit Din, who sent Schmuel to Nicodemus to him to hear the miracle of Mary. With Av Beit Din's permission, Nicodemus went to see Mary, with light and beauty in her soul. Meanwhile, Matthew went to see Quintus to verify Simon's claims, despite his escort, Gaius's hesitation to not see the Praetor. Despite Quintus's sharp temper, Matthew asks about the spies during Shabbat on merchant vessels and it was confirmed that Simon's debts forgiven. Quintus is very amused at Matthew's claims and gave him a special assignment.  At the speakeasy, Simon, Andrew and a few fishing merchants get together for drinks, and enjoy their time despite Andrew's concerns. And Simon is set on sailing on Shabbat because he knows a few fishermen will be sailing during that time, with much desperation. And yet, Andrew is still against his brother's troubling motives. During a conversation with Gaius, Matthew talks about where he got his "no give up" attitude from and this relationship with his father after a scuffle with an angry customer. Next day, Mary admits that she has not celebrated Shabbat in a long while and is nervous about doing it wrong, luckily the ladies she's with assures her that she'll be fine. When Nicodemus saw Mary, she avoided him at first and then told him how Jesus (she didn't know His name yet) has healed, not Nicodemus, redeemed and transformed her with a smile before going on her way. After coming home, Eden knew something is off by the lack of fish in recent days and Simon had to tell her the truth about the challenges they're facing financially and how he's going to catch fish on the night of Shabbat, which upsets Eden. On the night of Shabbat, Matthew had a hard time attending one and eats with his dog, Nicodemus had a lavish Shabbat dinner with Pharisee officials,Simon leaves early to fish, Mary hosted her first Shabbat with some friends and friends of friends (and nerves), and the most important and unexpected guest of all: Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus revealed that He is a rabbi from some people recognizing Him and formally introduced Himself to Mary. To conclude, Mary reads the Shabbat story of how the earth was created and how on the seventh day, God rested. The third episode gives us a rough idea on what the scripture of Mark 10:13-16 talks about, which is how Jesus is with little children. This is the episode where we finally get to see and know Jesus more than the last episode. We see that He is a nomad like His ancestors like Abraham, has a very close relationship with His Father God Almighty, especially in his time alone with the Father. One day, a little girl goes outside, and wanders into Jesus's camp, left vacant. So she went to investigate it before Jesus returns. After getting the approval of her mother, Abigail and her friend Joshua revisited Jesus's camp to find Jesus praying, talking about the children as if He knew they were there. After he was done praying, He definitely made the children laugh, and made the children laugh more by saying "that's not what sheep sound like". They introduced themselves to Him, and He reassures them that they're safe with Him, much to Abigail's intuition. Luckily, Jesus was patient when Abigail bombers Him with introductory questions. He explains He is a craftsman, and how He makes money is He build things, trade them for food and clothes. He even shows the children a lock and key He's making. Next day, He woke up to more children, thanks to Abigail, and He allows the children to help out with the work He's going to do. He reassures the rest of the children He's of no harm to them and only He knows when His job is done will He move onto the next place. Jesus even admits bread as his favorite food, not just because it symbolizes His body broken up and given to others, but for many other reasons. When He asks if the children knew of the prayer of the Shema and He was moved by how the kids knew that prayer in unison.  Jesus explains that his job is bigger than of a craftsman and a teacher, and that the children have a bigger purpose than just being students. After the day's work, the children discussed within themselves about Jesus and who is He, but they all agree on one thing: they must not tell anyone about Him. Overtime, the children learned more and more about Jesus and they also learned some great lessons from Him as they helped Him out like the Lord's Prayer, as well as stories from Him and His travels. He even gives a sermon about justice to the children. He also explains His bigger purpose which is to proclaim the gospel, the good news, to the poor, free the oppressed, heal the sick. When Abigail arrived at His camp, He has left, but Jesus left behind a playlet for Abigail that He made, and a note saying:

"Abigail,
I know you can read.
You are very special.
This is for you.
I did not come only for the wealthy."

The episode ends with Abigail playing with her new playset with her doll.

Review

For the Director to pursue this project is a little risky because you can go either way, you can make a series about Jesus and be flashy or make a story about Jesus and be beautiful and entertaining and spontaneous as is. And he did an incredible job! Not only did he bring scriptures the miracles and these characters from the Bible to life and give life to them, but it also humanizes these characters. We often see Simon, Peter, or Jesus, or Mary Magdalene as deities. But it really hones in the human aspects of these characters. Like we get to see these characters, struggle, especially with Mary and Simon in the first season. Anas, see Jesus be a character that you can easily be comfortable with and be that person that you would be like “hey I don’t mind going out having a beer with a guy And talking about different stuff”. And I absolutely love the authenticity of this. The creator really did their homework on what the environment looks like and first century Israel, run by Rome and what the people look like there. A lot of Bible stories and pictures to pick Jesus and his disciples as Caucasian, but this is the first, for me, seeing them in their true race of Middle Eastern. The main themes are all about faith, overcoming personal obstacles and finding your calling (and your friend group) and facing challenges head on. So what’s my rating? 10/10