“The Chosen”- Review of Season One

Tell me I am not the only one who saw advertisements on Facebook for this series? 

I didn’t really know what to think of the series when I saw the advertisements because I didn’t know much about it. I just thought, “Oh, it’s another Christian series,” and that was basically it.

Recently, I’ve been wary of Christian media. There have been a lot of movies I’ve been disappointed in. “Breakthrough” was not a breakthrough for me (grateful for the true story of the boy being saved, but the movie…ick. If you want me to talk about why, let me know.).

Before I dived into another potential rip this apart and become very frustrated, I wanted to learn more. Melissa Doughtery is a Christian YouTuber who helps viewers have a better grasp of understanding false teachings and she covers a lot of topics, especially for new believers. I found her last year and have learned a lot from her. I highly recommend her channel.

Melissa recently did an interview with one of the actors in The Chosen. Jordan Ross plays “little James” in the series. After hearing the interview, I was curious to check out the series and I had hoped I would enjoy it. This is what attracted me to the series.

Benefits of The Chosen

• It is saturated in scriptural references 
• It slows down the story of the Gospel so that the audience can gain a greater perspective for the story
• Because the pace is slower the miracles and special moments for Biblical characters are made that much more amazing. They are not glossed over or something incredible happens and it’s the next big scene, which happens with movies because of a crunched time frame.
• The director wants to do 6 to 8 seasons, meaning Christ being on the cross won’t happen most likely until the last season.
• In season one, not all of the disciples have been selected yet.
• The disciple Matthew has a mental disorder and he tends to be a favorite for most views. He became my favorite, too. (In scripture, he does not appear to. Again, this is an aspect of Christian Fiction. It poses the question why would Matthew, a Jew, possibly become a tax collector who was hated among the Jews?” 
• It is not only focused on Jesus’ perspective but the perspective of the disciples, helping the audience connect better
• Being Christian fiction, bear this in mind for the series, the show focuses on potential things that might have happened. Like why did Jesus heal the mother in law of Peter. (Sidenote: I learned eema means mother.) When Jesus told the Samaritan her life, what might He have said to her? Why did Nicodemus not become a follower of Jesus?
• The slow pace of the miracles really showed me how Jesus’ ministry escalated in towns and why the crowds grew so numerous. I’ve read the stories, I just didn’t have a full grasp of what that looked like to onlookers.

Issues People Might Experience

• Jesus is shown as human. He dances. He plays with kids. He jokes with the disciples. Some people really struggled with this aspect and cannot watch the series because of this. That’s completely okay. Viewing the show myself, I appreciated how they were able to make Jesus stand set apart than anyone else, yet, they did show He was human. Jesus is out camping by Himself and struggles to make a fire. I like this because He didn’t abuse the power of God. He never used His power to serve Himself, and that really spoke to me. Life wasn’t going to be easy just because He was the Son of God, that wasn’t the point of Him walking on this earth. Never thought about it as much until now.
• Some scenes where scripture is shown because this is Christian Fiction the scripture being discussed is not in the “right” setting. For example, the episode where Jesus camps out by Himself, which can I say I love because it really illustrates He has no place to lay His head, kids in the area become curious about this strange man. He begins teaching the children and I believe some of the scripture He teaches is from the sermon of the mount. So things like this, I think, some people might struggle with.
• This series is NOT to replace the Bible, thus Christian Fiction. However because it is Christian Fiction some do not like that aspect, and that’s completely okay!!

Overall, I did really enjoy the series. There were a few things I did not like, but those were minor, and again, related to the Christian Fiction aspect. I watched this series with my husband and a lot of discussions came out of it. He doesn’t know a lot about scripture, and it made him ask a lot of questions. He also really enjoyed the historical research that went into the series. The series focuses also on the Romans, of course, and how the culture affected all involved. Some famous Romans are in the series. 

I appreciated that for Christians who are well seasoned and mature the series still has something to add, and others who do not know as much about the Bible or are young in their walk, there is a lot to take away. The hope is that people can watch the series and desire to learn more, to turn to the Bible.

Something very interesting about this show is that it is not owned by a big corporation or Hollywood. The director doesn’t have to worry about others telling him what can or can’t go into production. So they rely heavily on donations. In fact, they are already halfway funded for season 2. The show is not cheaply made, either, it’s well done. 

Every time someone donates or buys the dvds the money also helps others view the show for free, which I think is awesome. Out of every movie or Bible series I’ve seen, hands down, this is my favorite. 

To view The Chosen, on Roku I found a free app called ReDiscover and it’s on there. There are apps available for phone devices to view. Here is the official website.

Comment Below:

Have you heard or watched The Chosen?

Community Prayer for June 2020

Monthly Scripture – (NKJ) Psalm 85:07, “Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.”

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