The Chosen (Season 1)

By
⭐10/10

Two Chosen reviews on this blog back to back? What good little church boys this website must host - except no! This show took me years to watch! In fact, I was the one to originally recommend the show to Tim, and here he is reviewing season 4 while I only finished 1. His reward awaits him in heaven. 

There are a few reasons I took forever to watch this show, and none of them are the show's fault. We watched it as a devotional of sorts, oftentimes when we missed church (is this me saying I only missed church 8 times in 2 years..?). I found this show super edifying, often giving me a better appreciation of the gospels and the characters in them. 

But the bigger reason was that I always felt super emotionally invested every time we watched, and I shed tears pretty much every episode. It wasn't something we just tuned into on a Tuesday evening. It's hard for me to separate the craft of this show from its source material, but I think the way it sets up conflict only for Jesus to come in and have his moment was special every time. 

I'm probably getting ahead of myself. This is a independently funded retelling of the Gospels. That sounds kinda like my worst nightmare, and so I was amazed that this show is actually good. I'm not going to say it's the greatest cinema ever, but it's super serviceable in bringing this story to life. Better yet, Jesus is not always the main character, not even making an appearance until a little ways in. It's more about the disciples and the other important characters in this story. 

This is such a tricky show to make, and so I'm impressed that they seem to have the favour of pretty much every Christian who watches it. Every move Jesus makes probably says something about the creators' beliefs, and yet they potray Jesus in a way I love and that feels believable and authentic. Jonathan Roumie is given a task of biblical proportions (get it) and you feel his warmth and devotion in every interaction. 

Everything in this show feels intentional, thoughtful, and made with a lot of love and care. I am so grateful it is being made in my lifetime. 

Comments

  1. Tim Dyck9 April 2026 at 11:10

    I don't know if you can take credit for me watching it, Jess' parents were early on this and evangelized hard, but let's just say I don't often take their recommendations.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Philosopher in the Valley & My Reflections on Leaving Palantir

By
Image
This book was perfectly timed to my paternity leave, a time where I was not actively working and could reflect on my job. The post will be a short review of the book, followed by a much longer section where I will attempt to verbalize all my thoughts on Palantir. Thoughts on my time there, what I did and didn't like, and why I am leaving. I am not writing this as some manifesto. I have been explaining to a bunch of people in my life why I have been considering leaving, and my thoughts never feel coherent, the reasons change day to day. This is for myself to reflect, and I might even continue to edit it as I remember things. I thought this book was excellent, a biography of Alex Karp, but also a tale of Palantir's history. The author was around Karp for an extended period of time, providing a lot of details that even I did not know. It lays out all the Palantir milestones over the years, many of which I remember quite clearly, but hearing about it with a bit more distance is co...
Read more

My Favourite Books of 2025

By
Image
    I read a lot of books this year as usual, and spanning a ton of different genres and categories. That's pretty evident in my favourites as well, as I have a book or two from most of the genres I read, and I loved them all for different reasons.     Most of these will be repeats from some of my monthly favourites, but these are the ones that really stood the test of time! Here they are, in no particular order.      This fantasy book from an underrated author is about Maeve, whose hands were badly burnt as a child, and so she has lost the use of them. She has spent the last ten years with her aunt and uncle, who were healers, but now she's finally returning home to the family she barely knows anymore. She feels misplaced as they're still adjusting to how she needs to do things now, but she finds solace in her youngest brother and the stray dogs she adopts. When they all disappear into the forest one day, she goes after them, and adventures begin....
Read more

July Reading Favourites

By
Image
Look at that cover! This is a YA horror book written by a trans Canadian author that knocked my socks off. A small town has secrets it's trying to hide, and after the death of a boy and a newcomer arriving, things start slipping out of control. It's a book about being trans or queer and living in a small town, and how a community creating a facade of a perfect town can backfire. Also maybe closing your eyes to anything that's "not your business" is not good actually! It's violent and full of rage, and I loved the way it played with time and perspective. Check the triggers, but if you're interested in reading it, I'd recommend going in blind without looking at reviews or a longer description! This is a short book of essays about ableism and disability justice, specifically relating to technological advances for disabled people. Most of the essays focus on a different type of technology for different disabilities (prosthetics, hearing aids, cures for aut...
Read more