Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
God speaks in mysterious ways. And Amazon’s original series Hand of God believes He speaks in bloody ways as well.
Pernell Harris is an unlikely recipient of memos from his Maker. Until recently he’d gone to church only twice in his life: for his wedding and his mother’s funeral. He lies, curses, cheats on his wife and has been engaged in underhanded dealings for much of his life. Never mind that he’s a judge—and one who slaps other lawbreakers down with near Old Testament vigor. He figures he’s owed a certain amount of, shall we say, leeway.
But that was before someone raped Pernell’s daughter-in-law while forcing his son to watch. Before his now-comatose son tried to kill himself, blowing much of his brain away. In the aftermath of those tragedies, the not-so-honorable judge found God through the machinations of a charismatic pastor who’s not above using the Bible to further his own fame. Or at least Pernell’s found … something. His still-unconscious son is speaking to him, after all, and he’s seeing visions full of blood and horror. He believes that God is directing his steps down a dark-but-holy path, to expose the culprits behind his daughter-in-law’s rape and smite them with a terminal vengeance.
Hand of God is rooted in a compelling question: Does God speak to us today? But when the script answers with a grotesquely rendered “Let’s hope not,” it’s not a promising start for serious spiritual discussion.
The series stands as one of Amazon’s first real bids to be taken seriously as an entertainment creator, not just an online entertainment warehouse. But it would seem that Amazon seriously miscalculated. Vox calls Hand of God “excruciatingly terrible television.” The Los Angeles Times says it features “miraculous acting and little else.” And Plugged In will now chime in with this: Sometimes when you pile on grim upon grim, bleak upon bleak, you’re left with a big stack of nothing.
OK, to say there’s nothing here is probably unfair. Hand of God has lots of things to talk about, actually: lots of sex, lots of unprintable curses, lots of really horrific moments of violence. It’s almost as if the show, like Judge Harris, believes that the blood can save it. Alas, Amazon mistakes the true blood of Christ for gallons of fake hemoglobin it has apparently stored away in one of its warehouses, and the only thing you get when you bathe in that stuff is really, really messy. It’s probably a stretch to say Hand of God makes Game of Thrones look like How to Train Your Dragon, but rarely have I seen a show as rawly discomforting or spiritually bludgeoning as this one.
While it’d be nice if Judge Harris could find real salvation somewhere down the line, the show he appears in deserves no such consideration.
In the wake of his son’s suicide attempt, Judge Harris goes missing for three days and is discovered in a public fountain, naked, speaking in tongues. He later tells his wife that he thinks he was baptized, and that God wants him to find the person who raped his son’s wife.
Despite his “conversion,” the judge still proceeds to engage the services of a prostitute. (We see explicit movements, breast nudity, etc.) Other seductions also get screen time, as does a bit more nudity. There are references to sexual acts and body parts. A man is forced to expose himself to Pernell’s daughter-in-law in the hopes that she’ll identify him as the rapist. (She’s deeply traumatized and spits in Pernell’s face.)
Pernell and the preacher visit Pernell’s son, with the pastor “praying” over the comatose man while Pernell repeatedly jabs the younger man’s bare foot with a pocket knife, hoping to draw a reaction. He only draws blood: The dark red liquid pours out of the wound and runs out the door and down the hallway. More blood, at least in Pernell’s mind, spills from a pitcher. A man stabs another man several times and watches him bleed out. A guy gets beaten with a chair and is kicked into unconsciousness.
City mayor Bobo Boston and Pernell’s wife, , share marijuana in the bathroom while he defecates. People drink wine and whiskey. They say the f-word about 25 times, the s-word nearly that many times, and spit out “h—,” “d–k,” “p—y” and “a–.” God’s name is misused about 10 times, usually with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is abused twice.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
An elf mage contemplates on connection and regret as she watches her human friends grow old and pass away.
