The Messiah

In staying with the content of the show. Mea Culpa.

I recall that. CIA does not task senior case officers to vet recruits, so I dismissed it, but your point stands. The world is full of hard truths. Today's snowflake generation does not know how to deal with them. Just consider the faux outrage over the death of an Iranian terrorist.

There are important questions everyone below the age of 30 should be asking, of themselves, and society. So far, all I see is whining about things they have no knowledge or experience. I am not advocating it, but war has a way of clarifying thinking. By the time I was 30 I had married, divorced, had three children, started a business and fought in three wars, not counting Cold War. 

I feel closer to my father and mother's generation than my own boomer generation and so distant from the snowflakes as to be from another planet. Think of it as Glenn Miller, Dorsey Brothers as opposed to well--anything today. 

That is the birth of the entitlement generation. It is not Vietnam, drugs, sex and rock n' roll, but a philosophy that the government is some how responsible for everything everyone feels. My son's mother would have a Freudian explanation if some nut case Arab had not murdered her.

That attitude is evident in the Grand Inquisitor also, Marx was little known at the time it was written. KFZ, you, I Brad and Tim are anachronisms in an age of feelings without emotion, courage without cause and hatred for no purpose other than political power.

To quote George S. Patton, "God I hate the 20th century"

I binged my way through Netflix’s Messiah.

Typical of such series, it’s stretched out too far. But then Netflix has become like one of the old studies in Hollywood who were cranking out movies like Lucy and Ethel were cranking out chocolates on the candy line.

And because this is a Netflix product, it’s highly politically correct. Feminism, anti-white-ism, and anti-Americanism are on display. For this Messiah, the solution to world peace is for the United States to withdraw all its troops from the world. As one review put it:



I had to scroll down through a lot of obsequious 10-out-of-10 reviews to find a reality-based one. If you think the typical fare of “originals” from Netflix are good, then that explains the 10-out-of-10 reviews. Netflix, generally speaking, is representative of the worst of the worst.

The balance of “Is he or is he not the Messiah” is played well in the first 3 or 4 episodes. I think it's very well done for a while. But then the plot unravels somewhat into various offshoots. In particular, I find Michelle Monaghan (although quite beautiful) leaving me with a feeling of dread if this is the best the CIA has to offer. She and her other higher-up chick executives seem based in a reality even more out of touch than a supposedly deluded Messiah. It's hard to believe anyone in the agency would see this guy as a threat.

One of the more interesting characters is that of Reverend Felix. Again, I would say given that this is Netflix, it’s fair to say that his character is somewhat shallow and stereotyped. And yet there is something interesting and real about him. He believes in the Messiah but then throws a temper tantrum when the Messiah cuts him out of the loop.

His wife is a cold customer. In fact, the maternal instinct in this series is zero. All the women are suitably devoid of warmth (except for the blond mother with the child suffering from an illness). They are, after all, “serious” in their careers.

Tomer Sisley is also excellent in the intrinsically corrupt (if not evil) Israeli operative, Aviram Dahan. His is a very good cinematic snarl.

There are themes here amidst the clusterf**k of stretched-out Netflixian interplay of characters — whether they intended these themes or not. First off, this series is by no means “original.” To a great extent, it is “Touched by an Angel” dressed up in political intrigue.


So if he’s not the Messiah, Netflix writers will have to either back-fill with a lot of nonsense or leave the question open.

What you can say when watching a program like this is that we sure could use a whole lot of Messiahs wandering around, fixing things, healing people, dispensing hope and good advice. But the far-fetched political scheme (that is assumed to be the case by the CIA and others) that becomes central to this robs the series of anything approaching serious thought.

And the Messiah himself is lamely played by Mehdi Dehbi who has the persona less of a would-be Christ and more of a second coming of Deepak Chopra as he dispenses substanceless inanities. Given the Netflixian theme that women are smart (and usually in the important positions of power) and men are all dolts, this somewhat feminized metrosexual Jesus is right up their alley.

The most that this Jesus 2.0 can offer is his “Touched by an Angel” shtick, something much more convincingly and forcefully done by Roma Downey and Della Reese.

But this is Netflix. On the level of a light soap opera, Messiah is certainly watchable. But as anything approaching thoughtful or subtle, it’s a mess.

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

I had to do it in three sessions. I spaced out the usual,  progressive propaganda. It is so expected as to be non-existent. I found Avi to be the most real character in the entire series. Although, Shin Bet generally does not operate outside the borders of Israel. Avi is torn by the necessities of keeping Israel safe, "Behold, he that keepth Israel shall neither sleep, nor slumber", and his conscience. It is an interesting duality. 

I found some subtle anti-semitism in the series also. Just making Al-Masih Iranian should be a clue. But don't forget the chief doubter, Eva is Jewish. So, that is a string they can pull on if there is a second season. Making POTUS a Mormon is also an interesting turn, with Al-Masih quoting from the golden tablet. I wonder why he did't read  through a top hat as Smith was supposed to have done?

Overall the idea is an interesting one. Evangelicals have been writing similar kinds of end times stories for at least 50 years. Still we wait. 

Netflix did not have to go far to find the model for Avi.
The IDF, Shin Bet and Mossad are to many western eyes dislikable. The hard as rock Sabra (native Israeli) is not a joke. Avi is a natural outgrowth of the continuous war Israel has been fighting for the last 70 years of statehood and the 50 years of settlement before that.  We understand that the world will never love us, they may respect us, even fear us but love us never, for we have to much audacity. 

Sabra is a native to Israel fruit that has a very hard skin, and is sweet and succulent on the inside.