‘The Chosen’ Season 4 Part 2: A Darker Jesus Shines
Warning: This review contains spoilers.
(REVIEW) The middle of the new season of “The Chosen” isn’t as strong as its opener — but its darker tone and greater focus still make it largely better than the show’s previous seasons.
I think it’s safe to say that the unconventional release strategy for the fourth season of “The Chosen” can be deemed a success. Opting to release all the episodes in theaters first led to its three-part season opener (episodes 1-3) finishing No. 2 at the box office over that weekend. Now, the next three episodes are slated to be released in theaters.
These next three are unapologetically the “middle episodes” of this season’s narrative arc. They focus on how the characters deal with the shocking events of the first three episodes (more on that later) and build toward the finale. Since nothing in these episodes feels like a “beginning” or “ending,” both the strengths and weaknesses of this collection of episodes come from the individual moments with the characters. Those individual moments feel like they are building on the opening episodes well, even though we don’t ultimately know how they’re going to pay off.
READ: ‘The Chosen’s’ Shocking Season 4 Premiere Proves A Gutsy Winner
As someone who’s been waiting for the show to have more forward momentum and to show more conflict, the episodes do have both those things. Gaius’ payoff as the nobleman whose illegitimate son Jesus heals and whose faith He praises is a satisfying end to Gaius’ arc. It dovetails nicely with how the disciples are fighting over having the seat of honor for Jesus.
This conflict with the disciples and Jesus feels deeply organic and earned (as does the growing conflict with Jesus and the Pharisees). This increases the sense of escalating drama — something that previous seasons of “The Chosen” lacked.
One of the most welcome things this season is that it features a darker — or perhaps I should say “gloomier” — Jesus. During past seasons, Jonathan Roumie’s Jesus felt stagnant while delivering his usual warm smile and pithy wise words. Here he gets a chance to show a gloomier version as Jesus prepares for His coming death and deepening frustrations with his followers.
With Jesus’ death imminent, the showrunners allow us to see how a man who is truly looking ahead to the agonizing nature of His own death and is frustrated that, at this point, his disciples still don’t understand His message. As a result, we see a different side to Jesus. This Jesus is more depressed, more irritable and increasingly more frustrated. One of the best things about “The Chosen” is its ability to humanize Jesus without being unfaithful to the Bible’s portrayal of Him. Given that Jesus expresses similar things in the Gospels, this feels faithful and organic and fits with the growing sense of dread coming in the series that sets this season apart from previous ones.
A big part of this batch of episodes is how they deal with the aftermath of Ramah’s death following the third episode (a plot twist that showrunner Dallas Jenkins dedicated an entire livestream to addressing for the heartbroken fans). Here we see Thomas grieving and the other disciples comforting him. I said in my review of the first three episodes that whether or not Ramah’s death was a good move or not was going to depend on how good the aftermath was.
Here, so far, I have to conclude the results are decidedly mixed. On the one hand, there are so many raw and honest depictions of grief and questioning of Jesus. And there are some truly touching moments with the disciples comforting him. One of the most heartbreaking scenes is Thomas and the disciples having to give Ramah back to her father and suffer his blaming Thomas for what happened. These scenes are all done with deeply intimate and raw camerawork and dialogue that shows how much better the showrunners of “The Chosen” have gotten.
On the other hand, there’s nothing truly new that they are exploring with Thomas’ grief regarding the questions it forces him to ask about God’s goodness or the development it pushes him to, that we didn’t already cover with Peter and Little James last season. The “Why would Jesus allow this?” and “Why does Jesus heal some people and not others?” questions feel like retreads, as intimately done as they are.
It’s also disappointing to see that almost none of the grieving is focused on the female characters. While Ramah was Thomas’ love interest, the show spent time showing the bond that she had with the women like Mary and Tamar. Why shouldn’t they be given spotlights on their grief as well? In general, the women are sidelined so far this season with no real arcs to call their own. This only draws attention to that.
I discussed with some fellow “Chosen” fans the death of Ramah and its immediate fallout in Episode Three. One concern at this point is that we’ve now had three separate disciples who’ve had to deal with this question of “why does Jesus God do miracles for others but not me?”
I don’t think there may be one single theological question the disciples have had to deal with so often. On a narrative level, this feels a bit lazy. Aren’t there other theological questions you could deal with as central parts of people’s character arcs? And biblically, is this the right way to go? The question is certainly one that modern Christians struggle with, but it’s not one that the Gospels focus on a lot. I can think of one story that does — when the disciples ask about the blind man “who sinned: This man or his parents”? (John 9:1-5) — I can’t think of a single time in the Gospels that Jesus refused to heal someone except when he needed to go off to pray.
As is typical in the show, many of the scenes go on too long without a clear point for existing (such as much of the time spent with Shumel and Joseph). Some of the weak character-establishing and development of the disciples that I critiqued in seasons 2 and 3 is coming home to roost this season. The characters who have been well established now are getting a chance to pay off their arcs and have places to fit or react in interesting ways to the new circumstances they find themselves in. But the ones with thin characterizations have little that’s unique to bring to the table. Their comments and bickering feel interchangeable with one other.
Judas also has yet to become a very compelling character who I would be sad to see betray Jesus. Every time we see Judas he feels like the odd one out with the disciples, is saying the wrong thing, and generally being one of the people who’s the “black sheep” among Jesus’s followers and being a general pill. Obviously it’s hard to strike that balance of making a character we know is going to betray Jesus, which I get the impression is what the show wants. But after almost two full seasons of Jesus, I feel we’re running out of time to make me feel bad about his upcoming betrayal.
While the filmmaking is more seamlessly skillful than in previous seasons, there seems to be less experimentation in the middle section than in previous ones. In the second and third seasons, we got epic silent openers near the middle that showed some artistic risk-taking. We haven’t had any of that at this point in this season, which I must confess is a bit of a disappointment.
Overall, “The Chosen” remains one of the strongest pieces of faith-based content being produced these days. The fourth season is, on balance, one of the strongest to date despite some flaws. Hopefully, the groundwork being laid in these middle episodes will feel worth it in the future.
“The Chosen” Season 4 Episodes 4-6 are exclusively in theaters from Feb. 15-28.
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.world, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at his website josephholmesstudios.com.