Hand Of God

Series Review : Hand Of God

Aired on : Amazon Prime

My Rating : 6 out of 10

If you like watching TV Series, this is a great time to indulge. Everyone is trying to produce longer content hoping to jump on the viewers’ binge train. I have started trying out Amazon series only recently, even though I have been a Prime member for a long time now.

Amazon’s original “Hand Of God” is based on an interesting premise. The lead protagonist believes that God is directing him to deliver justice. Pernell Harris (Ron Perlman) is a morally corrupt judge in a fictional California town of San Vicente. He comes from a rich powerful family that has lot of influence on this town.  His son PJ (Johnny Ferro) has been in coma for many months, inflicted by a suicide attempt after being forced to watch his wife getting raped. Police have not been able to make any progress, and the case appears to becoming an unsolved mystery. PJ’s wife Jocelyn (Alona Tal) decides to end her husband’s agony by taking him off life support. In complete despair, Pernell suffers a breakdown and starts hearing God talking to him via PJ. This is the synopsis of just the pilot episode!

Pernell starts following the clues which he believes are being sent to him by God. These clues surprisingly help him in solving the mystery one step at a time. He enlists KD (Garret Dillahunt) a believer and a criminal, to do his dirty work. Helping Pernell along the way of faith, is a couple with dubious past, Preacher Paul Curtis (Julian Morris) and Alicia Hopkins (Elizabeth McLaughlin). Pernell’s wife Crystal (Dana Delany) is a pragmatist, but not less corrupt. She tries to keep things in control with the help of Bobo Boston (Andre Royo) - who is a family friend, and the sly mayor of the city.

As you can see, this is a rich palette that promises a complex canvass. That promise remains only half fulfilled. The main reason for this is the parallel storylines of the script, because the acting is generally good. On the plus side, the main storyline works really well as a mystery. The viewer gets enough information to figure out the mystery via the visions Pernell get. The resolution of the mystery is satisfying, because it’s not dumbed down in some explanation. The rest of the plotlines suffer from varying degrees of superfluousness. Yes, each of the plotlines has surprises, twists and tries hard to be engaging. That doesn’t help, because these bylines are so obviously irrelevant. On top of that, almost all the characters are un-relatable, and unlikeable. It’s hard to cheer for anyone except the mayor.

The script contains many other elements than mystery. For some reasons, not give enough space has been given to the tragedy element to impact us. The subplot related to the preacher couple, may be controversial and offend some viewers. I am not a religious person, and I found it interesting in the beginning but later it became a distraction. Nevertheless, the novelty of all this, is a big plus. These elements are uncommon.  The political machinations are mildly interesting, but that’s something we have seen before. The plot is indeed multi-dimensional, but the characters are close to being uni-dimensional. The tone of the entire season is a big plus. It’s serious, dark and humor is nearly absent. 

I can only give a mixed recommendation for this series. Sometimes it’s engaging, sometimes it drags. Although I was overall satisfied with the first season, I am unsure if I will watch the second and concluding season. Maybe they should have cut the superfluous material and made this a single season series. It’s correctly rated TV-MA and in my opinion, not for teenagers.