Per Christum

I rarely watch Hollywood dramas. However, since I frequent Episcopal blogs (and used to be an Episcopalian), I just had to watch “Book of Daniel” about an Episcopal priest, at least just once. Well, I did last night. Some Christian groups have vilified the show, while a progressive Episcopal Diocese is actually promoting it by establishing a blog about the show. So I figured my review would fall somewhere in the middle.

Let me give a brief summary of the first one hour episode. Keep this length in mind, because a lot was going on in such a brief show. As you read, look for as many Hollywood stereotypes and pet issues as possible.

The show is about Daniel Webster (Aidan Quinn), an Episcopal priest addicted to pills. He talks to Jesus, who is a sort of weird best-buddy meets Dr. Phil figure, although I think they did portray Jesus respectfully. The show starts with Webster giving a sermon about how unrealistic it is to try to fight temptation. He is married to an alcoholic wife named Judith who drops plates to get attention in the household and drinks in the afternoon. His son Peter is gay, and is pursuing his dream of cancer research despite his father wanting him to be a doctor. Oh yeah, the reason for his change is that his brother died from Leukemia. Rev. and Mrs. Webster take an active interest in their gay son’s love life.

The rest of the family consists of a daughter Grace and an adopted Chinese son Adam. Grace was arrested for selling drugs to fund her budding anime (Manga) ambitions. At the end Webster finally sees her art and agrees to fund it other ways besides through selling drugs. Adam is dating the daughter of the rich, white, local country-club going church member, portrayed as a semi-bigot, who says “I really don’t mind that he is Japanese.” Adam always gets in late (and feels his girlfriend up in the priest’s garage), and Webster seems indifferent to all of this, except to kind of laugh about it.

Webster’s bishop is a tough, conservative lady named Beatrice Congreve, who is romantically involved with a married bishop from New England, Webster’s father. Both are conservatives and both are portrayed as hypocritical, because Webster’s mother (as we learn in a future episode) has Alzheimer’s. Of course, those who are in the Episcopal church know that there is no real true conservative female bishop, or a true conservative bishop from New England…but you have to have somebody conservative to bounce Webster’s ideas off of I guess.

It turns out (keep in mind we are in the same episode) that Webster’s brother-in-law Charlie embezzled church money and then takes off, eventually ending up dead. Webster doesn’t want to go to the police, so he goes to someone who has underworld mob contacts, and guess who he goes to? The local Catholic priest! The Catholic priest assures Webster that his secret is safe with him, even though all the nuns do is pray and gossip all day. The brother-in-law turns up dead, with items shoved up his rectum (”did they find the money” his wife asks, to which Webster replies, “no, but they did search everywhere.”). The Catholic priest tells Webster all of this while sitting in an Italian restaurant and bar with mobsters.

Whew! So much jammed into one show. So many perfect Hollywood characters and stereotypes. While I enjoyed parts of the show, including some of the humor, and some of what Jesus had to say, the premise is just too Hollywood. Sure it shows a real-life, human priest, which is good, but I just can’t handle watching so many cliches in one hour, especially when applied to religion. All that is missing is the daughter being Wiccan. Maybe in a future episode. One last thought: Would Hollywood portray any other religious groups like this or just Christians? I can’t imagine an Muslim imam being portrayed like this. I can’t imagine that when Webster wants underworld contacts the show writers would have him visit a Muslim cleric with Al-Qaida connections!

I guess I don’t quite object to the show in the way some Christians do. I don’t think it should be banned or anything. Heck, I even had a good laugh at the Catholic stereotypes, after all, we can’t take ourselves too seriously. I just think it is a silly cliched show. Of course, I almost always think this when Hollywood gets a hold of religion. Any opinions?

Cross Posted to An Aid to Memory