Joseph Holmes

7 min read ⭑

“The Chosen” wraps up an uneven third season in a triumphant manner, highlighting all the strengths and weaknesses of what might be the biggest faith-based project ever made.

The multi-season TV show about the life of Jesus has had an unorthodox but meteoric rise in fame since it began as a short film back in 2017 by faith-based filmmaker Dallas Jenkins. It seemed much smaller when I started reviewing it back in 2020; now it’s a global phenomenon that’s been profiled by The New York Times and endorsed by legendary screenwriter Paul Shrader. It made so much money when creators put their Christmas special in theaters that they released their third season premiere in theaters. And that made so much money they put the season finale in theaters, which was the first movie to beat “Avatar: The Way of Water” at the Thursday box office.

In Season Three, Jesus and the apostles feel the stress of their growing ministry, face greater resistance from Jewish and Roman authorities and deal with greater conflict between themselves, all threatening to undermine Jesus’ ministry. In the two-part season finale, Jesus has to go with his disciples to avert riots and displacement caused by his message and minister to Peter, who resents Jesus for disappointing him.

“The Chosen,” by the end of this season, has largely found its series formula, and viewers can feel pretty confident that the current format will continue in the show going forward. The show introduces characters from the Bible who have relatable problems and struggles, or it gives a new problem to an existing character. The character then struggles to present that need to Jesus, and once they eventually do, Jesus restores and comforts them physically or emotionally. Meanwhile, the looming threat of Jesus’ enemies grows. If you resonate with this formula, the show works; if you don’t, it’s largely not for you because so much of the rest of the show is inconsistent.

When “The Chosen” works, it really works. The third season portrays famous miracles like Jarius’ daughter and the healing of the woman with bleeding from Mark 5:21-43. It connects this story with themes of rejection and sickness among families. 

By combining well-known stories and characters with problems relatable to a modern audience, the show creates deep emotional stakes for viewers that deepen the audience’s emotional involvement in the story. 

One famous story between Peter and Jesus is presented as the emotional climax of the season, and it’s a must-see. 

The biggest emotional arc this season is the way Peter and his wife, Eden, (Lara Silva) struggle with their faith after Eden has a miscarriage. They question God: Why can others be healed, but their baby died? Not every scene works or rings true, but there is a shocking amount of nuance, authenticity and complexity. It helps that Silva’s performance is exceptional and the clear standout this season.

In one powerful scene, Eden goes to a rabbi — who is also secretly a Christian — for counsel in grief since Jesus isn’t around. He tells her it’s OK not to be happy and to find comfort in the Psalms that are sad and angry. It doubles as advice for viewers. In the absence of Jesus being with us in person, it is good to go to a pastor, and it is OK to sit in a place of sadness with God during grief.

This message and others are so life-giving and will be deeply helpful for so many — which is why “The Chosen” is so intensely loved by its audience. Jesus welcomes the autistic and despised Matthew. He explains to the crippled Little James why he heals other people but not him. He heals Mary Magdalene and Veronica and reminds them they’re loved even if others forsake them. 

The best episodes are the ones where the conflict is real and the stakes are high. The growing conflict with the Roman government and Jewish leaders is a big part of the third season, and it does a lot to balance the interpersonal melodrama of the disciples.

The best episode of the season is easily the third episode, “Physician, Heal Thyself,” taken from Mark 6:1-6. It features the most intense confrontation yet between Jesus and the religious leaders against the backdrop of curious hometown friends and family. Jesus treats his friends and family so warmly, confronts his former rabbis so firmly and suffers the fallout with righteousness. He’s comforted by his mother and his memories of his earthly father. It’s the perfect cocktail of everything great “The Chosen” has to offer. 

The problem is, in between the great scenes, the show is often just so mind-numbingly boring.

“The Chosen” has a habit of spending lots of time on largely uninteresting things with no clear conflict to invest in, while far more interesting things happen off-screen. Endless conversations about olive groves, mini-sermons on over-covered topics, petty disagreements introduced out of the blue and other extended side plots take up a significant amount of screen time. Some of these plots eventually pay off somewhere cool, but since they take so long to explain where they’re going, they’re a chore to sit through. 

For example, instead of seeing the disciples going from town to town preaching by themselves for a full episode, there’s only a brief, silent montage — and the recap conversation takes longer than that montage. The audience is told about John the Baptist confronting his doubts rather than seeing them firsthand.

These problems are at least gone during the two-part season finale. The stakes are high, and the emotions are higher. The characters’ unique personalities and perspectives bounce off each other in believable and entertaining ways — I particularly appreciated seeing the “brainy” Matthew, Judas and Thomas work together. The jokes cut the tension without undermining it. The different groups that Jesus addresses in the crowd are well-defined through dialogue, acting and costuming. And the rising tension leads to a catharsis that is believable and largely satisfying — both for these episodes and the season as a whole. Its climax is the perfect combination of a fictionalized but relatable emotional arc that recontextualizes a classic gospel story in a way that helps viewers deepen its relevance in their own lives.

Jonathan Roumie’s Jesus is iconic as always, but he’s not given a lot of new character depth to explore this season. He has the same comforting eyes, defiant half-smirk and friendly laugh. He comes off as a parody of himself, recycling greatest hits from previous seasons. 

Because the show has largely decided what it’s going to be, I’ve personally accepted that the show will never resonate with me as much as it does others in the faith-based community. And that’s OK.

The show is largely built around the moments where Jesus heals people and tells people he loves them — and then they cry and we cry and everybody cries. The show is built around telling people they are helpless, but that’s OK because Jesus loves everyone and will take care of them, and in doing so he fulfills humanity’s deepest need.

That just isn’t my deepest need. I like those scenes well enough, but the stories I love best are the ones about heroes who learn how to overcome challenges and save the world with the help of a wiser mentor. I don’t want to be comforted in my helplessness; I want to be empowered.

Partly, I recognize, this is a guy thing. And while “The Chosen” has a few hero moments, those are fewer and far between. 

The Chosen Season 3 two-part season finale is now available to watch in select theaters. The first part is available online on YouTube and then The Chosen App starting Feb. 5, and the second part will be available Feb. 7.

With a focus on big emotional moments and a focus on a specific kind of vulnerability, the show appeals more to women than men. In the Generation Z documentary, for example, the women in the audience wept openly while the men were mostly neutral. 

I would like to be able to share this series with my Christian guy friends, but they mostly groan at it. In an era when young men are seeking wisdom from YouTube stars, I’d like the Jesus of “The Chosen” to offer an alternative. It’s just clear that won’t happen.

But I’m growing to accept that. “The Chosen” doesn’t have to be all things to all people. What it is doing, and what it’s doing for the faith-based audience in particular, is pretty spectacular sometimes.

For starters, it’s a great introduction for Christian audiences to appreciate uncomfortable conflict in storytelling. 

I’ve talked before about how the Christian audiences’ allergy to conflict is a theological problem as well as what’s largely keeping faith-based movies from telling great stories. Jenkins regularly reads comments on YouTube livestreams before and after his show and explains why it’s necessary for conflicts to exist rather than be waved away. He’s putting in work to make Christian audiences better, and hats off to him for doing so. 

It’s also really gratifying to see a faith-based project made by someone who’s familiar with the technical aspects of filmmaking. The use of things like black-and-white silent montages and dolly zooms really enhances the portrayal of these classic Bible stories. 

I look forward to the next seasons of “The Chosen” because I want to see more of what makes it great: Jesus casting out demons, the Pharisees fighting to diminish the influence of Jesus and the disciples working to become the men they are called to be.

And I know there are so many people who do resonate and respond to “The Chosen.” It’s a project that in many ways serves as a modern Christian ministry. The fact that it’s telling stories for a religious audience with the quality that the audience deserves ultimately makes me grateful “The Chosen” exists.

Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York City. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.com, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at his website josephhomesstudios.com.

This article is republished from Religion Unplugged under a Creative Commons license.

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