Michelle O'Meara

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(warning: spoilers) Like many others I was excited to watch this because of recommendations, awards including a BEST DRAMA NOMINATION (!!), but was really let down. Yes it's an older drama but that doesn't excuse the rampant plot holes, boring characters, drawn out, boring plot and silliness of decisions made for the sake of *drama*. To summarise my main beefs: -There was no romantic chemistry between the leads at all. I didn't even like either of them and the age gap was creepy. The only character I liked at all was the cop-turned-lawyer. But even he was made to act the fool for comic relief even though it was clear he was a highly competent, caring and hardworking lawyer...and apparently a really good detective too. -For a drama centred around legal issues the writers didn't seem to have much of a clue how the justice system actually works. Cops are complete idiots so as to make the main cast look better by comparison and the main cast are thrust into unrealistic situations (eg CSIs missing crucial evidence at multiple crime scenes/a victim's daughter's boyfriend being obliged to defend the murder suspect / the prosecution for another trial deciding that not only is the victim dead just from a severed hand AND missing, his entire body was declared dismembered. In 4 hours with a little pocket knife. ridiculous!) purely for angst and forced conflict. -Lousy female lead character arc. I could not see HOW a girl who'd been so brave as to be a witness despite death threats would become a lawyer who didn't give a toss about her clients. And why she'd be so arrogant without even much talent to be arrogant about. Over halfway through the drama (I tapped out at episode 11) she's still awful. The male lead wasn't as bad, I liked him ok at the start, but for a smart guy he sure made some dumb decisions, not least of which was chasing an older, meaner, dishonest woman who shamelessly uses him to further her career. And THEN they busted out the memory loss trope. groan. Ultimately I wish I'd tapped out a lot sooner. Waste of time when I have literally hundreds of K dramas and movies on my list.

Just finished bingeing last night and am extremely annoyed the pandemic wrecked our chances of a second season! Great series! I love a series that makes me think and this one kept me guessing right to the end. Great performances and beautifully shot with incredible international locations really gave the story a huge sense of scale, and made me think WOULD this be how our world reacted to a new 'messiah'? Faith warring with cynicism, the personal influenced by the political and vice versa, and challenging the very nature of our beliefs about who or what is up there. I think it was very realistic in many ways, the grassroots swelling of al-Masih's power through word of mouth and especially social media, the involvement of the rich and powerful and people with their own agendas, from various religious persuasions and walks of life. Spoiler alerts don't really count since the show's been cancelled, so I'm going to air a couple of theories I have. 1. al-Masih isn't the Messiah. He's quite possibly the opposite, and I saw in a review that al-Masih actually translates to 'the antiChrist'. He's an agent of chaos and confusion and while he clearly has some sort of occult powers he doesn't use them for good, only to glorify himself and bring more followers to him. He leaves destruction and political upheaval and betrayal in his wake, and his manifesto was his book calling for social disruption, ghost published by the accused terrorist Oscar Wallace. It was there in how he led his believers into the desert then abandoned them, how he left a tornado-shattered town even worse off by drawing more people there with no resources to support them and not lifting a finger to help anyone. He got people to rely on him - Jibrail and the rest of the refugees, the desperate mum of the girl with cancer, pastor Felix and his daughter - then when they needed him most he left them in the lurch. Abandoning Samer and the other young men directly led to them becoming even more vulnerable...and ultimately Samer being weaponised as an unwilling suicide bomber. 2. Yes, Payam Golshiri was raised by a gifted trickster, was treated for mental disorders, but that doesn't mean his 'miracles' aren't real and that his beliefs about his supernatural purpose are delusional. But it also doesn't mean that he's the messiah, and just because he has powers doesn't mean he's a force for good. He's definitely caused more pain and suffering than he's actually helped anyone. He ignores his followers, uses his knowledge to manipulate people, and even shot a child's dog right in front of him! 3. I think the boy Jibrail is the real messiah, or at least the counterpoint to the false one. The juxtaposition of his humility, peacefully approaching the armed border guards naked and utterly vulnerable when at the same time al-Masih is performing a publicity stunt at the Washington Monument really drove it home for me. Also, when the Imam tried to use Jibrail for political ends he instead opted to give a message of peace and love. He also, somehow, survived a massive bomb blast, and even badly injured he offered comfort to Eva's friend possibly dying in the truck beside him. Plus he apparently raised his mum from the dead like Lazarus! And maybe Eva's friend too? I'd liked to have seen that in S2. I am really bummed this show didn't get a S2... I'm holding out hope that once the pandemic has passed Netflix will be able to film again, and *resurrect* it. ;)

This movie completely and utterly blindsided me when I first stumbled across it, both with the subject matter and themes but also the sheer understated brilliance of how it was done. Every so often I'll start a rewatch, and just can't stop until I've reached the end, it sucks you in so completely. One of the best sci-fi movies ever made, completely mindblowing... and it almost entirely happens in a single room.