Netflix’s Messiah Review: A very naughty boy!

A young preacher wants to share his message of peace, love and wordly charm with the entire planet in Netflix’s potent new thriller. But the CIA have other ideas.

Is he the messiah? Or is he a very naughty boy?

Same applies, is this show Homeland? Or The Blacklist?

THE PLOT:

So many questions asked of the 10-part Netflix drama Messiah, a political thriller built around the advent in Syria of a young preacher man (played with grace, charm and passion by Mehdi Dehbi), who appears out of nowhere as the next, yip, you guessed it, Messiah!

He catches people’s and (different religions) attentions by fearlessly urging them to set aside old divisions and listen to his message of peace, love and unity, which seems to incorporate the best of most of the main religions.

However, the CIA (particularly the agent Eva Geller – played by Michelle Monaghan – who is recently widowed and nursing a secret) is sceptical. Alongside assorted other cynical parties, the intelligence agency is not convinced that he is our saviour newly born to Earth. They run him through its databases and finds no trace of him, but Eva reckons he can only be either a con artist or a terrorist who has found a new way to bring about a war.

Created by Michael Petroni, Messiah asks a very clear question:

If a man appeared in 2019 claiming to be a prophet of God and built a sizable following through media attention and even social media exploits, how would secular society — really, how would “non-Christian society” — respond?

Would he be embraced?

Doubted?

Treated as a charlatan and a fraud?

Or the new -born Christ intent on saving us all from our coming doom?

We have side stories and characeters, and the show switches it up, going back and forth between Israel and America. A small town reverent in need of guidance, followers who will do and believe anything in which the Messiah preachers. SHady government agency’s and some touching real-life issues what are happening right now in Israel.

Cast: Mehdi Dehbi, Tomer Sisley, Michelle Monaghan, John Ortiz, Melinda Page Hamilton, Stefania LaVie Owen, Jane Adams, Sayyid El Alami, Fares Landoulsi and Wil Traval

Creator: Michael Petroni

Premieres Wednesday, Jan. 1, on Netflix.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Will you be fooled by the new Netflix drama, with its reasonably decent production values and a couple wildly overqualified castmembers (we are looking at Michelle Monaghan, who should be a star of the highest stature by now!) — into thinking that Messiah is a grittier Homeland or The Blacklist?

We doubt it.

Yet, it aspired Culturedemandsgeeks to keep on watching through 10 episodes to see if eventually Messiah would do something surprising or courageous or powerful.

Will we see a second season of this new show?

If the ending of the last episode is anything to go by, we hope so.

3/5 STARS