By Ben McEachenFriday 21 Apr 2023#FollowingTheChosenPodcastsReading Time: 3 minutes
Serious things are about to be discussed, from angry Jesus through to a husband and wife finally confronting a painful loss.
But the latest edition of #FollowingTheChosen podcast also manages to bang on about awesome wordplay and The Castle.
So, what does one of Australia’s greatest comedy movies have to do with Intensity in Tent City, episode six of The Chosen‘s Season 3?
Plenty, as pointed out by Hope presenters and TV/film reviewers Laura Bennett and Ben McEachen.
SPOILER: Ben and Laura discuss deep and meaningful stuff, as well.
“Straight to the Pool Room”
Avid watchers of The Chosen know the third season has been building to an eventual, emotional conversation between disciple Simon (Shahar Isaac) and his grieving wife Eden (Lara Silva).
When Intensity in Tent City gets to it, Laura and Ben were gripped by this imagined exchange about sudden loss and bitter questions.
Laura also noted echoes of The Castle in the awkward “what do you call this, Darl?” beginning to the important conversation.
“It had that dynamic to it as I’m watching Simon and Eden,” Laura said.
“The Chosen visits The Castle.”
Apart from its unexpected link to the classic 1997 Aussie comedy, this sequence revealed the power of contrast throughout The Chosen.
Out with the old
Laura and Ben are fans of how The Chosen episodes often build to placing elements back-to-back, in poignant contrast.
Before Simon and Eden’s strained conversation, this disciple was part of Jesus’ latest round of healing miracles.
Having witnessed Jesus do the seemingly impossible for others, he immediately returns home to discover that such miraculous power has not showed up in his own family.
As Ben and Laura wrestle with the projected idea of “who does God/Jesus perform miracles for, and why?”, they tap into the “new wine, new wineskin” thread of this episode.
For what feels like the first time in The Chosen, Jesus (Johnathan Roumie) gets proper angry and intense with religious leaders who fail to see their Messiah before them.
Such a notable showdown should prompt all viewers to think about right responses to Jesus, especially from those who considered as leaders of God’s people.
Come down from our high horse
Before we stay on our high horse about the sorts of negative, nasty reactions depicted on-screen, Ben hopped down.
Discussing Intencity in Tent City caused Ben to realise that, at different points in the episode, he felt as if “I can understand why some people didn’t get it”.
“Especially if your vision of the Messiah, this Saviour king, was different [to Jesus] or your understanding of God’s laws were different to what Jesus is bringing in.
“Perhaps I could have been one of those [doubting] people in the crowd.”
“Well, we don’t know,” Laura said.
“All of us have blind spots.
“One of the takeaways from this episode is, at least, try to have an awareness of your blind spots or be open to the suggestion that you have them.”
Listen to #FollowingTheChosen in the player above or watch the video below.