Messiah on Netflix-Why was it cancelled?
The Netflix series ‘‘Messiah’’ is about a CIA officer named Eva Geller’s investigation of a man receiving attention from around the world for claiming to be Al-Masih or the last prophet. His followers believe he has the ability to create miracles such as protecting the church from a hurricane or walking above water. The story is told from six different perspectives: the CIA officer, an Israeli officer, a Palestinian refugee, a preacher from Texas and his daughter, and a journalist. Messiah’s storyline is revealed from the very beginning: a preacher appears out in the middle of the war in Syria and is believed to have miraculously brought peace through a sandstorm. Soon afterward, CIA officer Eve Geller finds something weird about Al-Masih and decides to keep an eye on him. In this series, characters such as the man who claims that he is the last prophet could not reflect religious emotion to the audience and it isn’t known which religion he belongs to. The storyline is another controversial thing that should be handled.
One of my issues with the series is that it never really gave the look of Al-Masih being a swindler was believable. Sure, somehow, the Palestinian boy being shot and healed near the beginning of the series could are some trick. And, I can understand the initial concept Al-Masih studied under some Iranian spy genius so as to enchant the people. And yet there have been too many other events that didn’t be with the scam narrative, namely Al-Masih calmly surviving not once, but two different natural disasters, knowing detailed background information on various folks that interview him and his walking on water miracle at the Washington Mall, which didn’t make any logical sense as a possible magic illusion.
The show keeps planting firm ideological or dogmas, which could be a good thing. But the author feels lacking as far as stakes go. Because news of Al-Masih’s real name breaks, many of the characters return to doing what they were before discovering Al-Masih. Even the reverend, who was able to burn his church before Al-Masih arrived to revive his faith, goes ahead and burns down the church. At the end of the show, we too return to precisely what we were doing before Messiah, slightly disappointed at having spent nearly ten hours watching it. So, it became frustrating for me to watch the same plot again and again.
Overall, Messiah allowed the viewer to look at the religious beliefs of a people through miracles experienced by the young man Al-Masih. We could see how things as dominant cultural values, social devaluation and a person’s own self-concept can lead to a breakdown in how people can be assimilated with religious dogmas. To me, Al-Masih is causing more chaos than he is healing any worldwide wounds. And also, it is ridiculous that people believe him very easily even though he acts like a prophet for Jewish, Muslim and Christians at the same time. So I wouldn’t advice someone to watch it because plot and characters couldn’t reflect the true religious information.
