The Chosen One Review (2023): This action-adventure-drama-fantasy series (El Elegido), directed by Everardo Gout, is adapted from the comic book series American Jesus by Mark Millar and Peter Gross. The series has 6 episodes, each with a runtime of around 40 minutes and stars Bobby Luhnow, Diana Agron, Tenoch Huerta and Carlos Bardem, alongside others.
The Chosen One Plot
When 12-year-old Jodie from Santa Rosalía, Baja California Sur, realises that he has Jesus-like powers after a traumatic accident, he is confronted with the reality of his situation – he must help humanity with his newfound capabilities through a conflict that is several centuries in the making and change the world that we live in once and for all.
– The Chosen One Review (2023) Does Not Contain Spoilers –
The Chosen One Review
This fantasy series is a delightful little watch, with fun, relatable teenagers going through the ups and downs of growing up and, well, realising that one of them is the second coming of Jesus. Of course, Jodie has never been a “normal” kid; we are made to believe from the first minute of the runtime that there’s something special about him and get confirmation soon after that. It makes sense; this is a fantasy, after all.
The series showcases its present story in a 4:3 aspect ratio while the past events are in 16:4, which goes well with the odd themes of the series. The kids are established well enough for you to be emotionally attached to them on this odd journey, and stylistically, these two parts go extremely well, giving us a series that looks great and creates a feeling of dread, uncertainty and confusion that creeps up on the audience. I must say that the choice to keep the show 4:3 was quite clever, and the close-up shots of the characters feel even more claustrophobic and paranoia-inducing thanks to it.
There is also the underlying conversation regarding religion and what it means to have faith and believe in God. Is there a God? What does it mean for such power to be thrust unto a child? Also importantly, what happens when a child starts to showcase these powers, and how does it impact those who live around them? What happens to a town full of religious people when one among them comes out with healing powers that can, potentially, bring a man from the doors of death?
The series will definitely make you think a lot of things about spirituality and religion, but it will make you feel for the kid who is trying to understand who he is as a person. With a murky past that makes no sense and an equally murky future, Jodie’s present is all about figuring himself out and finding the right balance that will define his path in life. That, unfortunately, is a lot of work in itself for a little kid; you feel for him as he tries his hardest to do good, but, at the end of the day, he’s going to do kid stuff as well.
The Chosen One, however, gets a bit tedious apart from some interesting moments. There are moments wherein the series goes on and on trying to prove Jodie’s divine powers, although we know that he’s a special kid and all that. The problem, however, isn’t that the series is showing this; it’s that it’s taking its sweet time in doing so. I think 6 episodes is a bit too long for the simple subject matter, and after the first few episodes, you will wait for something more to happen than Jodie doing miracles.
Also Read: Invasion Season 2 Review: Sci-Fi Series Goes Down Bold New Roads
Tenoch Huerta is in this series as well, and he’s the token bad guy… or maybe not. He’s not really that interesting and quite forgettable in the grand scheme of things, honestly. Towards the end of the series, things get a bit annoying because, obviously, things get complicated, and then a hundred things start occurring at the same time. Now, this wouldn’t have been the worst thing out there had the series not spent the last 5 episodes talking about Jodie’s miracles in-depth and then shown us different characters who ultimately don’t matter in this complicated part of the series.
The biggest problem that, thus, I found was that The Chosen One doesn’t spend time talking about those about whom they should be talking about, instead wasting time behind those who don’t matter. Who is Tenoch Huerta’s character? What is happening in that storyline? And how in the world did the presidency come into the entire thing? Well, it’s not important, so let’s just watch how the priest manipulates the townsfolk for episodes on end.
The Chosen One Review: Final Thoughts
This fantasy action series had the material to be a really in-depth discussion about children being thrust into adult responsibilities, the negativity of corrupted faith and the importance of friendship. Unfortunately, it is unable to hold on to any of its themes and ends on a half-baked note.
The Chosen One (2023) is streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Only Murders in the Building Season 3 Episode 3 Review: The First of Many Suspects is Here!