by Frankie Fanelli
Messiah is a new Netflix original series as the first 10-episode season was released on January 1st. As the name would suggest it is a religious drama series that takes place and features characters in both the US and Syria.
The initial scenes take place in Damascus, Syria’s capital city. It is under siege after the US pulled out in 2018 and ISIS is about to attempt to take over the city. So needless to say, the show is set in present day and the events taking place are definitely realistic and extremely topical for today’s political climate and state of international relations. All the houses and city street the characters are seen traversing are partially decimated and rubble-strewn, and one of the first scenes features a young boy, Jabril Medina (played by Sayyid El Alami), dragging his mother body out of one such house. Jabril, who has manage to avoid being captured, then encounters a friend that he thought had joined the “rebellion” and together they walk to what appears to be a city square where they stumble upon a man standing before a crowd reciting scripture. Many of the people assembled there are shouting angrily, accusing him of blasphemy and condemning him for misquoting scripture, but the man standing before them remains composed. He tells them that they have experienced more violence than any other group of people on earth, and that he can lead them away from their war-torn home and country to a place where they will live in peace and safety. They call this man Al-Massih. And why? Because he is believed to be a messiah.
We then meet Eva Geller, a CIA analyst (portrayed by Michelle Monaghan). A video clip showing Al-Massih leading a group of 2000 people through the desert has caught the attention of the CIA, and a co-worker fills her in what is happening. Geller, though stoic and portrayed as taking her job very seriously, is hiding some secrets of her own. We first meet her when she is in a doctor’s office of some kind, and later we see her injecting herself with medicine for what seems to be some kind of degenerative disease. Though it is never revealed in the first episode exactly what Geller is dealing with, it is obvious that whatever she is suffering from is serious.
Religion, ideology, and the second-coming of prophets that various religions believe in is definitely a topic of interest that has permeated Hollywood for some time, and this show in particular examines both sides of whether or not this one is the real deal, or simply another con-man who is eloquent and passionate enough to convince masses of people to follow his cause.
Due to the relevant nature of this show, it is definitely interesting to watch because it reminds us of what is going on in other parts of the world and that violence, decimation, and brutal conflict are never as far off as they seem, and even occurring every day in some countries. All of the scenes that take place in Syria and overseas are completely in Arabic and Hebrew and subtitled in English, which is a really important detail. It highlights the ways that humanity is so deeply interconnected, and that race, language barriers, and religion do nothing to stop the innate similarities among all people. Regardless of where you live or what your status is, love, family, friendship, and the human desire to believe in a greater power or simply the existence of something more than meets the eye connects all of us.
However, the way this show is structured constantly left me wanting for more than they gave us and seemed as though it was trying to employ too many characters at once. Just when we are introduced to Jabril, our initial character, and we think the story is going to be about him we are introduced to Al-Massih and his cause. And right as we start to become invested in this character and want to know more about his journey and agenda, the episode cuts to Eva Geller and her work for the CIA and complications having to do with her health and personal life. And just when we become concerned about both her well-being and her investigation into Al-Massih and his followers we meet Aviram Dahan (Tomer Sisley), a Mossad agent who is also investigating Al-Massih and eventually brings him in for questioning in an attempt to crack what Aviram assumed is his calm, saintly facade.
In the end, the show does cover important and intriguing topics having to do with religion, war, and whether or not the concept of truth is completely black and white or exists in more of a grey zone. However, the show constantly utilizes abrupt information dumps and constant “speechifying” in order to violate the golden writing rule of “showing not telling.” This results in a somewhat boring pilot episode that feels like the show’s writers are babying the audience as though they don’t believe that we are capable of making connections and inferences about the characters and what is taking place in the show for ourselves.
TV Wasteland 