One episode of “A.D. The Bible Continues” was provided for review purposes prior to broadcast.
Let me start this off by saying this: I am far off from being the most religious person in the world. I was born almost as far down south as one can physically go in this country, but thanks to my parent’s laissez-faire attitude toward religion and church (god bless ’em), the same belief system was instilled in me. I may believe in something, I may not, but first and foremost I don’t judge anyone who devoutly follows religion (thanks again, mom and dad) and subsequently may be looking forward to NBC’s A.D. The Bible Continues (a continuation of their mini-series The Bible, if you didn’t pick up on that).
Christianity may be ubiquitous, but the religion has been the subject of a few Hollywood-level stinkers over the years, so perhaps a TV event series could straighten out the dogma-spewing, narrow-focused belief systems most of these movies keep recycling. Pie in the sky thinking for NBC’s 2013 event series The Bible, most agreed. Another thing I should point out: I never watched The Bible. I went into A.D. cold and came out, unfortunately, even colder.
Starting off with a slight bang, including Jesus’ accusation, arrest, and inevitable crucifixion, all within the first eight minutes, the show sets a bit of a pace that the premiere’s subsequent forty minutes can’t even come close to sustaining. The crucifixion scene is short, but feels protracted, and nears questionable levels of entertainment value when we begin to see slow, patient shots of nails entering palms.
Elsewhere in the premiere, the evil powers-that-be – embodied in a priest, Caiaphas, and a governor, Pilate – brood, good guys hide, and pretty much everyone either bemoans or counts down to the day Jesus is prophesied to awake from death. And, SPOILER, he does, thanks to the help of a soldier/angel/thing riding an asteroid to earth that appears to be escaping from that terrible Legion movie. Have my wasted Summer days of youth in Catechism begun paying off yet?
