The Chosen

The first few episodes stand strong on their own, even divorced from the greater narrative, and build on one another. The cast is great as always and the wonder of which biblical tales will show up next is thrilling. Season 4 is off to a pretty good start, and the show's impressive longevity and devoted creatives seem to have some good stuff up their sleeves.

The Chosen presents the life of the central figure in a major world religion with an unabashed adoration for the teachings of Christ. But it’s also increasingly capable of existing on a level of dramatic storytelling with a historical bent. This balance will only get more important as the chapters and verses of the gospels begin to collide with the realities and demands of episodic television.

Each episode has a different focus and arc. Later in the season, episode seven, bookended by flash-forward sequences, feels very much standalone, though it’s screened with the similarly contained episode eight, which also includes some bloopers after its lengthy end credits.