On Sunday February 11th, 2024, the Superbowl will be played in Las Vegas, Nevada where the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the San Francisco 49ers. On Monday, February 12th, 2024, the fans of the loosing team along with the sports media complex will go on and on about why one team lost, and the other team won. This, will be the last opportunity for anyone to be a Monday morning quarterback for the NFL until September 5th, 2024, when the NFL season starts up again and fans/sports reporters and commentators can begin Monday morning quarterbacking again on why their favorite local team has lost, (in my case the Chicago Bears) although there’ll be a month’s worth of pre-season NFL games to comment on before then as well.
It’s very easy to be a Monday morning quarterback[i]
when the outcome is well known. It’s
not so easy to be Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes[ii]
or San Fransisco 49ers Quarterback Brock Purdy[iii]
knowing you’ve got a billion or more eyes plus Taylor Swift's resting upon you, pressuring you to
be the best of the best every split second of that theoretically 60-minute game
that thanks to modern TV media has expanded to 240 minutes. Even though I’m pretty sure Mahomes and Purdy
has intensely studied the other team’s play history, neither one of them have any genuine idea how the opposing team’s
defense are going to make mincemeat out of their offense to prevent that
Lombardi trophy from going into their hands. In some ways Monday morning
quarterbacking may be a bit of a catharsis for those NFL fans who wished their
team provided them the thrill of the victory but now must bear the agony of
defeat along with their favorite players.
Now, I have no right to be a Monday morning quarterback for
any type of football game NFL or otherwise. I have never played
football, only watched it occasionally (it seems every time I watch the Bears
on TV they would lose so I don’t watch their games in order to not jinx their
chances of winning) and have no knowledge of the various plays a quarterback
may call. Still, the concept of Monday
morning quarterbacking, IE commenting on things that had already happened and I
couldn’t change them even if I wanted to because I had no control over the
situation or outcome, was running through my brain as I took in a Monday matinee
of my favorite TV now movie series “The Chosen”.
The reason why I’m saying “The Chosen” is both a TV and a
movie series is that Lionsgate saw how well the occasional Fathom Events [iv]presentation
of “The Chosen” Christmas specials went when they aired in movie theaters. So,
Lionsgate convinced fans like me, who thanks to the amped up social media "Chosen" FOMO
output had to spend $22 bucks for a ticket, a dixie sized
cup of cherry coke and a snack sized box of hot buttered popcorn to watch
episodes 1-3 in the movie theaters rather than wait for it to show up in “The
Chosen” app sometime in March or April for free. And
yes, when Jonathan Roumie and the rest of the cast warned in those social media
FOMO posts how “The Chosen” season four would break your heart. I should have
heeded their call and brought the tissues.
It is excellent, wonderful, and still one of the greatest adaptations of
the gospels of our time.
Yet, there is this inner critic/dreamer TV writer who feels as excellent as the episodes of “The Chosen” season four I’ve seen so far are. I arrogantly have the chutzpah to feel I could have done it better. Or at least written it better. I flunked acting in high school and there is no denying the performances of the actors. The cinematography is incredible and I can't hold my arm steady for a shot for 5 minutes let alone 5 hours. I know Dallas Jenkins still would have been the better director since my director experience is limited and lousy as well. But still, no offense Mr. Jenkins, part of me feels I could have written something just slightly better. Uh slightly.
As far as the current season of “The Chosen” the first problem I’m seeing is that season four didn’t pick up right where season three left off. For those of you who haven’t checked out “The Chosen” on their app, or as part of Angel Studios’ app, or as part of an Amazon Prime account which quite frankly, I don’t even know of anyone on the planet who doesn’t have one, or maybe didn’t watch it weekly on the CW last year because who actually watches live TV for TV shows, season three ended with Jesus going to The Decapolis of Judea to offer clarity of his gospel message after the disciples Andrew and Philip bungled Jesus’s teaching so badly it caused a civil war to break out there. When Jesus arrived over 5,000 people from the Decapolis showed up to hear him preach in a rather deserted field. This led to the famous miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 with just five loves and two fish from all four Gospels[v]. Decapolis is far from Capernaum by land, so Simon Peter decides to put his fellow fisherman’s skills to the test by obtaining a rowboat for all 12 disciples to use to row back to where five of the disciples are originally from. They leave Jesus alone on the shore, per Jesus’ request, so he can pray all night. Then towards the dawn the disciples find Jesus walking on the dark and stormy water of the sea of Galilee with Simon Peter as [vi] the gospel of Mathew and John indicates. Simon Peter’s walking on water was a great way to end the tension/blame Simon Peter had for Jesus since Simon Peter found out that his wife Eden miscarried their baby while he was away preaching Jesus’ gospel message to Caesarea Philippi alongside Judas.
Now, adapting the Bible for film and TV in some ways is no
different than adapting any other book or historical event. There are some details that can get ignored,
some you can play around with, but there are some details that are crucial to
the plot you must include and “The Chosen” is no different. So,
one of the crucial plots is, spoiler alert, the beheading of John the Baptist
by King Herod Antipas. Jenkins puts this
biblical plot point in episode1 of season four of “The Chosen” but I never
would have placed it in episode 1. I
still would have kept it in season four but maybe held off on the beheading of
John the Baptist until episode 2 or 3 or maybe even 4 of season four. In my version of episode 1 season four I may
have included a foreshadowing of the beheading of John the Baptist by including
a scene of Herod Antipas and John the Baptist have philosophical/ecclesiastical
discussion of the whole morality of having sex with your sister since I would
have Herod argue that Adam & Eve are almost clones of each other and the
human race began with Cain and Seth taking their sisters for wives. This would
have been an illusion of Mark 6:20[vii]
and the Baptist rightly calling Herod on
his BS that Herod still took is sister-in-law for a wife, which, according to
the law of Moses constitutes incest.
Instead, my version of season four episode 1 of “The Chosen”
would have began with a lot of the scenes revolving around Magistrate Quintus(no
he’s not in the gospels but logic dictates the city of Capernaum had to have
had some Roman magistrate to oversee soldiers and tax collection) and his
dilemma of the tent city of the followers of Jesus encamped on the outskirts of Capernaum that take place in episodes 2 and 3 of season four. I may have even driven that dilemma home for
poor Quintus by bringing to life a scene Jesus referenced in Luke 13:1-5[viii] about Pilate killing a bunch of Galileans and
mixing their blood with the blood of their sacrifices at the temple giving
something for high priest Caiaphas, introduced in episode 3 of season four, to
worry about and heightening the tension for anyone who upsets the applecart.
I think I may have
included in episode 1 or even 2 of season four, the whole Zebedee olive oil
selling subplot and the possible betrothing of Thomas and Ramah. However, in my version Ramah’s father Kafni
would have overseen any interaction between Thomas and Ramah with Ramah still
trying to convince her father Thomas was a good match for her.
However, the primary thing I would have done is brought to
life the rest of the story of the feeding of the 5,000 as illustrated in the
Gospel of John chapter 6 :22-70.
This passage is better known as “The Bread of Life” passage where Jesus
famously proclaims “I myself and the bread of life, no one who comes to me
shall ever be hungry nor one who believes in me shall ever thirst” [ix] Now John 6:22 talks about how those 5,000
or so listeners from the Decapolis realized Jesus was gone and decided to stalk
him across the sea of Galilee to Capernaum making that tent city go from bad to
worse. I would have kept the explosion
scene between Magistrate Quintus and Roman Centurion Gaius to illustrate the
tensions. I may have had Quintus order
Gaius to slaughter everyone in the tent city, but Gaius doesn’t want to do
this.
Now the reason why Gaius may not want kill everyone is I’m
pretty sure Jenkins has set Gaius up in season three of “The Chosen” to be the
Roman Centurion who asks Jesus to heal his dying servant [x]
as referenced in the Gospel of Luke. This biblical scene has not appeared in
“The Chosen” yet and I’m not sure if it will at this point. I
think in my version I may have had Simon Peter and Gaius meet Jesus/heal his servant maybe
before the rest of the 5,000 Decapoleians show up. I may have put it afterwards. The bottom line my
initial “Chosen” spec script I sent to Dallas Jenkins was about the Transfiguration of Jesus(a scene he has publicly admitted he didn't want to film) instead of this
idea which would have been at least 5-10 million dollars cheaper because it wouldn’t have included spectacularly expensive special effects.
But back to my version of episode 1 (Or maybe at this point
episodes 1 & 2 or even 3) of season four of “The Chosen” and its conclusion.
So, we have Capernaum’s population tripling overnight and
the crowd is posing a hazard to the local authorities. Jesus understands this situation and begins his
bread of life sermon. [xi] and emphasizes how to live forever one must
eat his flesh and drink his blood. Jesus Jewish audience knew Jesus wasn’t
talking metaphorically. They knew he was
advocating some kind of divine cannibalism at least to Jewish ears. The Gospel of John goes on to explain how in
John 6:66 “From this time on many of the disciples broke away and would not
remain in his company any longer” This
would have given (slight spoiler alert) a way to end the relationship between
Thomas and Ramah that would have been slightly less heartbreaking than what I
saw on the screen. Let’s just say my
theory of Ramah being AKA one of the other women referenced in Luke chapter 8
vs 2&3 the way Nathaniel is AKA St. Bartholomew was shredded in the last
act of episode 3 of season four.
And here’s where another part of my Catholic upbringing
would come in. I would make Simon earn the name of Peter to a degree.
When the crowds start to walk away (after all cannibalism
sounds crazy and who wants to follow a man who advocates cannibalism) Simon Peter
starts to panic. He goes to the
disciples one by one trying to convince them to stay with Jesus. For the sons of Thunder that may be hard to
do now since their father Zebedee is convinced, he’s bet his entire life’s
fortune on a looser messiah. Others
like Mary Magdaline, Simon the Zealot, Matthew, Nathaniel have nowhere to go
but to Jesus and stay. Tamar, Thaddeus
and Little James may not understand but they love Jesus and will follow him to
the ends of the earth. Thomas is
heartbroken over the breakup with Ramah and realizes he’s got nowhere to go
either and stays. Andrew and Philip know that John the
Baptist told them Jesus was the Messiah and who are they to question their BFF
John the Baptist’s judgement. I would
have also perhaps had Judas nearly walk away until he runs into his former
mentor Hadad who urges him to stay. Hadad
would urge Judas to ponder CS Lewis’ famous liar, lunatic, or Lord dilemma when
it comes to Jesus [xii] with Judas coming down on the lunatic liar
side. This would have given Judas a
noble purpose to turning Jesus in to Jewish authorities later in the show. The cannibalistic nature of John 6:22-70
would have also drove home the fact that Jesus is a blasphemer to the religious
authorities as opposed to the ranting and raving Jesus did to the scribes and
Pharisees of Mathew 23 after Jenkins moved the healing of the blind man in John
9:1-41 from Jerusalem’s old city[xiii] to
Capernaum. I’m sure there was
more significance of that healing of the young blind man from birth in the Sanhedrin’s
backyard than it would be for the local synagogue but I’m sure Jenkins had
reasons to move that blind healing to Capernaum as well. I would have used Jesus casting out a demon
in Mk 1:21 and the precipitating incident maybe for some of that Mt 23 dialogue
or maybe I would have held off of the healing of the blind man until season 5
along with the Mt 23 rant because the gospel of Mathew seems to imply that
dialogue took place in Jerusalem instead of Capernaum.
But, as I said, I’m Monday morning quarterbacking a tale I
thought of two years ago but never typed up.
I know Dallas Jenkins from his
social media posts was stressed out trying to edit “Chosen” season two while
filming season three and trying to write season four with his co-writers which
was not easy. Ultimately the “The Chosen” is his drama baby,
he’s the quarterback of the show and the cast and crew have to follow his calls
no matter what a fan like me may think or feel otherwise.
There are days when my life is busy or I choose to do
something else instead of work on my “Chosen” TV ideas (or blogposts) and
sometimes when deadlines need to be meet and you need a way to give Yasmine Al
Bustami time to work on NCIS Hawaii[xiv] that’s what you come up with. As I stated before I’m not sure I even have
the talent to write a teleplay or a screenplay.
I’m still wondering if I even have a talent for writing in general.
Still, it’s fun in my mind to ponder what might have been if
only I made a different choice.
[i] https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/Monday%E2%80%93morning-quarterback#:~:text=Britannica%20Dictionary%20definition%20of%20MONDAY,people%20after%20something%20has%20happened
[v]
(Mathew 14:13-21;Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:12-17 and John 6:1-14
[vi]
Mathew 14:22-33,Mark 6:45-45; John 6: 15-21
[vii]
Mark 6 Vs 20: “Herod feared John knowing him to be an upright and holy man,
and kept him in custody. When he heard
him speak he was very much disturbed but felt the attraction to his words”
[viii]
https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/23873/who-were-the-galileans-whose-blood-pilate-mingled-with-their-sacrifices
[ix]
Jn 6:35
[x] Lk
7 1-10
1. [xii] Lewis, C. S., Mere
Christianity, London:
Collins, 1952, pp. 54–56. (In all editions, this is Bk. II, Ch. 3, "The
Shocking Alternative.")
2.
Lewis, C. S., Mere
Christianity, London:
Collins, 1952, pp. 54–56. (In all editions, this is Bk. II, Ch. 3, "The
Shocking Alternative.")
[xiii]
https://dannythedigger.com/pool-of-siloam/#:~:text=Biblical%20Ties&text=The%20pool%20is%20mentioned%20again,the%20restoration%20of%20his%20eyesight.
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