‘Messiah’ Review: A borefest of biblical proportions

The only affront the show poses is to the intelligence, not anyone’s religious sensibilities

KARACHI: Take any creative writing class and you would realise that coming up with ideas is generally the easiest part of the writing process. Even the uninitiated will find themselves coming up with dozens of enticing premises that would have them wondering why no one thought them up before.

The real test, however, is what to do with a good idea for a story. As anyone who has struggled to finish the first draft of their short story, novel, script or what have you will know, trying to build a coherent idea out of a one-line premise does not always go smoothly.

Still that does not stop people from pitching their premises to creative executives and studio executives, and it certainly doesn’t stop the latter from green-lighting ideas that should ideally have been fleshed out better. The sheer number of bad movies and shows out there is testament to that. If it checks the tickboxes for generating some buzz, take the money and run with it. 

With its latest series Messiah, one imagines Netflix thought it had struck gold. The sheer controversy potential, after all, would be a draw for those looking for an excuse to be offended and those trying to figure out what the fuss is all about. The premise of a maybe or maybe not ‘messenger’ raising alarm bells among governments does seem interesting to say the least. If only it offered more than a one-line pitch.

Binging the show has to be one of the most unrewarding experiences in recent small screen history. Where more than one popular series (Game of Thrones *cough, cough*) have squandered both suspense and audience goodwill after a steady build-up, Messiah, in its first season, never even seems to take off. Everything about the show seems uninspired and tacked together after a CliffsNotes reading of the Bible and last five years’ worth of Newsweek articles.

Messiah’s problems begin with its titular character who, far from posing any reason for controversy, is written without any semblance of personality. There is no attempt to assign him an actual purpose, possibly in the vain hope to turn it into a shocking reveal somewhere down the line. But then any mystery the show’s creators hope to imbibe the character with appears hollow. More insulting is how the writers attempt to convince us the ‘messiah’ gains his burgeoning following. There is no ideology, no new or old set of principles, just ‘miracles’.



It really is a shame because the premise could have been imbibed with so much more. It could, for instance, have been turned into a Hearts of Darkness-esque exploration of humanity’s worst excesses or an exploration of faith and reason, like Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice or Martin Scorsese’s Silence. If the writers had only explored biblical and Quranic accounts of the Prophets, they would have noticed that no Holy figure exists without an arc. Disillusion, doubt, enlightenment and struggle on a personal level all come before a community of believers. And you cannot have believers without beliefs.

In the end, as far as its inaugural season is concerned, there really is no reason to watch The Messiah beyond satisfying some lingering curiosity. The only affront the show poses is not against anyone’s religious sensibilities but against their intelligence.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Verdict: The Messiah is one of the weaker shows Netflix has put out in recent times, hoping to cash in on controversy rather than quality. An uninspired and creatively bankrupt season can only be binged to satisfy one’s curiosity and nothing more.

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