Hugh Higgins

A friend wanted to watch it with me and I almost got up and left after a while because it can be a little repetitive and draggy. However, it does recover, with fresh inventiveness and energy. Costuming is amazing, if one has an eye for that, and special effects for the robots are quite remarkable. The music is fine, the singing excellent. Strong production values everywhere. The story struck me as a little too obvious and not exactly veridical yet we cheered on the protagonists most of the time. It is really an opera! That is, a weak, boring, predictable story line is an excuse for costumes, stagey hijinks, and most of all music and singing. In the case of Jangle, also exuberant choreography. I might enjoy a second viewing sometime because, knowing the trajectory and style, I could relax more rather than fight its peculiarities in my mind. There was a lot to observe and ponder even when it made me uneasy.

I feel like writing an extended essay about this first season (I really hope there are more). I won't do that here. The creators and writers steer a fascinating course between endorsing their "Messiah" and doubting him, as do the characters in the drama who meet and interact with him. Meanwhile there is plenty of time to get in semi-political and ethical points and questions, such as, How venal and cruel is Israel toward Palestinians? How dangerous and wrong are the hard-line Muslims? What is the U. S. role in all this as exemplified by the female CIA agent? And so on. There is a lot of soul-searching going on in the characters, and therefore in the viewers, about "Who can I trust? Can I trust G*d? Or anyone who claims to represent him?" and so on. The production values are good, the directing and acting good, the screenplay a little slow and dragged out but this more or less fits with the contemplative mood of the series. Very well done.