This is not a review I ever hoped to write. As someone who thoroughly enjoyed the first two season of The Chosen, I had high hopes for the third season, and although the show delivered its usual offering of powerful emotions and creative storytelling, it took (in my mind) its first major misstep.
It was not the controversial "I am the law of Moses" line. In fact, the episode in which this line occurs was-in my opinion-the best episode of the entire series. Instead, Season 3's biggest misstep was the storyline of Simon and Eden's marriage woes, particularly Eden's miscarriage.
Up front, I must be clear that this storyline is not bad in and of itself. Quite the opposite-this plot line doubtlessly resonated with many viewers, and I am glad that a show as popular as The Chosen is serving as a platform of Christian love for those who have suffered such tragedies. And yet...from a purely biblical/historical perspective, does this storyline belong in the show? Remember that The Chosen invites us to "see Jesus through the eyes of those who knew Him," and we have strong reason to believe that the way Simon Peter sees Jesus this season is not how history truly unfolded.
Specifically, there are three reasons I believe the miscarriage storyline does the show more harm than good.
1) Eden's tragedy-which is almost certainly fictional-does not enhance the biblical scenes; it distracts from them.
From its very first episode, The Chosen has added backstories, characters, and sometimes entire story arcs that do not appear in the Bible. Yet I feel the storyline of Eden's miscarriage crosses a line that previous creative liberties did not. Specifically, the other "extra biblical details" have (in my mind) served to honor and amplify the biblical events. For example, Simon Peter may or may not have made a deal with the Romans to turn in Jewish fishermen, and Matthew may or may not have taken a personal interest in Peter's debts, as portrayed in Season 1. Yet both of these storylines help to amplify the miraculous catch of fish. Not only is Jesus demonstrating His identity through the miracle, but He is also delivering Simon from his debts and performing a sign that will eventually lead Matthew to follow Him. These storylines enrich the biblical event and make it resonate.
In contrast, Eden's miscarriage effectively steals the spotlight from the biblical two-by-two mission. Granted, the Bible says little about this mission, but The Chosen often expands single sentences from the Bible into memorable stories. It did this in its very first episode with Mary Magdalene. The Bible simply tells us that Jesus cast seven demons out of her, and The Chosen fleshed this one detail into a plausible and powerful episode. It could (and arguably should) have done the same thing with the two-by-two mission, but instead, it opted to focus on Eden's storyline.
And this brings us to the real issue-Simon Peter's wife almost certainly did not have a miscarriage in real life. It is very hard to believe Peter and the other biblical authors would never mention it, particularly since they record Peter's mother-in-law being healed. One would think Eden's miscarriage-and the lasting trauma endured by the couple-would be at least as noteworthy as Peter's mother-in-law having a fever.
And yet The Chosen not only includes this fictional storyline but elevates it as the main focus of Season 3. As a consequence, the biblical miracles it does portray are cast in a negative light. When Episode 5 opens with Eden having a miscarriage and closes with a shot of Eden looking sad and lonely, it is hard to feel joyful during the middle of the episode when Jesus heals Veronica and raises Jairus' daughter. These miracles deserve to be portrayed as the Bible presents them-as beautiful examples of Christ's love. Instead, The Chosen sets them up as a mere catalyst for the question "Why did Jesus help these people, but not Eden's baby?" And this is a question we shouldn't even be asking. The Bible raises enough hard questions about life without a TV show having to invent one.
Likewise, the much-anticipated feeding of the 5,000 has the life sucked out of it when the show forces us to see it from Peter's bitter perspective. We are encouraged not to marvel at Jesus' power but to be angry with Him for not helping Eden. The same goes for (spoilers) the climactic scene of Jesus walking on water. Here, the show's ability to make us see Jesus through the disciples' eyes backfires, and it becomes too easy to view Jesus as cold and uncaring as He stands at a distance from Peter in the heavy storm. Are we really to imagine that Peter was yelling questions to Jesus about a miscarriage when he walked on water, and the New Testament authors just edited that out?
2) Simon Peter's long-term character development is now based on a purely fictional event.
Peter is obviously a "main character" of the New Testament and thus of The Chosen as well. The Bible admittedly tells us little about his emotional ups and downs during Christ's three-year ministry, but we know he argued with Jesus at times and eventually grew scared enough to deny Him.
The Chosen had a powerful opportunity to forge a brotherhood between Peter and Judas with the two-by-two mission. Imagine an episode of Peter and Judas doing ministry together and becoming close-so close that Peter would be shocked, even heartbroken, by Judas' eventual betrayal of Christ. Such a storyline would serve to amplify the biblical narrative.
Instead, The Chosen made Peter's biggest character-defining moment in this season (and possibly the entire show!) consist of a purely fictional event. This strikes me as problematic. Unless Peter decides to never mention the miscarriage after Season 3 (which seems unlikely), this will be a tragedy that radically affects who he is and how he behaves for the rest of the show. And yet-as mentioned above-the miscarriage is never even hinted at in the Bible. Why couldn't the show draw from actual biblical events, such as the two-by-two mission, to shape Peter's character instead of inventing a tragedy that almost certainly never happened?
3) Eden's tragedy is the main storyline of Season 3, while Seasons 1 and 2 had a biblical event as their main storyline.
Season 1 told the unfolding narrative of Jesus gradually revealing Himself as the Messiah and calling His earliest disciples in the process. We were introduced to Peter, Matthew, Mary Magdalene, and others-all in the context of signs and wonders that Jesus actually performed in the Bible. Season 1 memorably ended with Jesus talking to the woman at the well and finally revealing Himself as the Messiah. While extra-biblical details were added along the way, none of them "stole the spotlight" from this Messianic focus but rather enhanced it.
Season 2 continued the narrative of Jesus calling the apostles, simultaneously building to the famous Sermon on the Mount. Along the way, it sparked controversy with Jesus rehearsing for His sermon, being questioned about the sermon by John the Baptizer, and enlisting Matthew as His scribe. But the point remains that Season 2's central focus was a biblical event-the Sermon on the Mount. And it found clever ways to introduce biblical figures, such as Judas, as it told that overarching story.
Season 3, on the other hand, seems to have no central focus on a biblical event. This season is not about how Jesus' sermon affected people; the Sermon on the Mount is barely mentioned after Episode 2. This season is not about Jesus being rejected at Nazareth; that event takes place in Episode 3 and seemingly has no lasting impact. This season is not about the feeding of the 5,000 or Jesus walking on water; those events are a dramatic way to close the season, but one would be hard-pressed to say the season was visibly building to them.
The simple fact is that Season 3 could-and should-have been about the disciples' two-by-two mission. We should have seen (and heard) them putting the Sermon on the Mount into action, as Matthew did in Season 3's wonderful second episode. We should have seen the disciples struggling with their feelings of unworthiness and self-doubt as they acted as Christ's hands and feet. Instead, the show's creators teased the two-by-two mission as a major story arc, only to shove it aside to make room for Simon and Eden's tragedy. As a result, we ended up with a season of The Chosen that is primarily about nothing that happened in the Bible.
The above points may sound harsh, so I want to reiterate-I love The Chosen and I think the creators' hearts were in the right place as they crafted this season. They wanted to shed light on tragedies that are all too often ignored. Eden's story certainly does that. And yet...a show that is purportedly about Jesus and why He came to earth is simply the wrong place to invent such a story, especially when it distracts from biblical events and totally redefines actual figures from history.
In short, Season 3 of The Chosen told a well-intended story. But it wasn't a biblical story. And for a show that centers on biblical history, that story felt out of place. Hopefully future seasons will recapture the emphasis on bringing the Bible to life instead of using the Bible as a platform to tell fictional stories.
10 out of 17 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink