TV Show Review: Resurrection

From the moment the first commercial echoed the a capella words “I’m coming home, coming home, tell the world I’m coming home” I wanted to know how ABC’s new show Resurrection would mirror culture’s desire to have life after death.

After all, this is the same station that has heaped a pile of shows I refuse to watch: Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family, Nashville, Revenge, Scandal, Betrayal, Desperate Housewives, Trophy Wife, The Bachelor / Bachelorette, and Dancing with the Stars. (I will make four exceptions: Once Upon a Time and Marvel’s Agents of Shield (though I have not watched them), Wipe Out and our house’s favorite, Shark Tank.

ABC does not reflect my family or my family’s values. With our little spare time, we have become increasingly choosy about the television shows that we do watch. But the echoes of “coming home” triggered a deep desire to hunt for the moral truths in Resurrection.

The plan was to watch one episode, ravage it for hidden spiritual truths, post an article, and move on with my life. But in a frustrating line of suspense similar to the beginning episodes of Lost, I had to postpone the writing until watching episode two. It’s now the morning after this episode and after live-texting the event with  my mother and engaging my coworkers in a serious discussion of “will Jacob’s body be in the coffin” – a conversation found to be disconcerting by coworkers in ear shot that have yet to watch the show – I may be hooked.

When you hunt for Biblical truths, you can find them no matter how strongly or weakly they were intended. Appropriately, the first character to return to life is named Jacob. Plus, he had been gone for 32 years – the commonly accepted age of Jesus at his death. The next two characters that have (or will) return are also solid Biblical names: Caleb and Rachael. Caleb, though dead for years, believes it  has only been three days (hmmm… who else was dead three days in Christianity?)

The television series is based on the book The Returned by Jason Mott. I have not read the book so I cannot say how accurately the show follows the book.

My first assumption of the show – that Major J. Martin “Mary” Bellamy, portrayed by Omar Epps, would be the guardian angel returning the “lost” to their families. But no. The characters in the show are just as puzzled by the events as their audience on the other side of the screen.

Resurrection spotlights the struggle with faith. Though both parents are convinced that Jacob is their son, they disagree with each other as to whether or not that is good. The dad finds out that the DNA, biologically speaking, says that Jacob is his son. He retorts, “Believed what? The impossible? That he’s not in that vault where I laid him 32 years ago?” Bellamy replies, “Maybe you’re missing the real question – do you want to believe?”

Jacob’s best friend growing up, Tom, is now a pastor. In episode one, he asks, “I’ve been preaching the miracles of God. Now one happens right in front of me and I don’t believe it.” His sermon at the conclusion of the show states:

Even John had doubt. When he was in prison. How did Jesus respond? By personally reassuring him? No. He told John’s disciples: go to him, remind him of the miracles you have seen [mom walks in with Jacob] So um … why didn’t Jesus … I don’t know. Not even John knew. How he got here on this earth. How long he’d get to stay. He was human. And like us, he was given the tools to ask the questions; not to know all the answers. That might seem unfair. But isn’t that the price of human understanding. Isn’t that what it means to have faith?

Like the tagline asks, What if someone you lost returned? Is this a large-scale miracle in America like never seen before? Or is the beginning of the end with the dead rising? Will they find some sci-fi-tastic cloning project?

How will faith respond with faced with the impossible? Resurrection portrays the blind believer who wants no evidence, the reticent onlooker, the violently resistant, and the determined to discover the truth at the risk of personal loss.

In hunting for truths, I unearthed a treasure chest full of question marks. Why doesn’t Jacob question the technological advances even though it’s been 32 years? Why does Caleb think he’s only been unconscious 3 days when his daughter has clearly aged years? Is this phenomena only in Arcadia, Missouri or will it be worldwide? Will the “returned”  have to die twice and their loved ones experience their death anew?

I wouldn’t dare guess the motives of the original author or of the show’s director or writers. But redemption can be found in these profuse struggles between doubt and belief. I can only hope that Resurrection reverses the pattern of shows ABC has been airing and enlighten us with an intellectual and spiritual discussion.