Hand of God: Amazon’s New Heavy Handed Series

Making its official premiere this past Friday, September 4, 2015, Hand of God is an Amazon Original drama series starring Ron Perlman (Clay Morrow of Sons of Anarchy) as the Honorable Judge Pernell Harris.

As an Amazon originals fan, I was excited to see this premiere and am writing based upon my initial impression of the show. I’ve only watched the first few episodes and so far here’s the quick synopsis:

Things are quickly turned upside down for the no-nonsense Judge Harris after Jocelyn, his daughter-in-law is raped and son PJ is forced to watch. The pilot opens with PJ in the hospital and on life support after a suicide attempt. Judge Harris, meanwhile, has “lost his mind” when he’s found naked, speaking in tongues and baptizing himself in a local fountain. He apparently gives $50,000 to a shady pastor, Reverend Paul Curtis (Julian Morris) and his immodest lover Alicia Hopkins (Elizabeth McLaughlin).

Paul and Alicia have convinced Judge Harris to fork over cash to fund their fledging born-again church, aptly named “Hand of God,” taking advantage of his most vulnerable state as he’s devastated by PJ’s coma. The Judge’s wife, Crystal Harris (Dana Delany), is behind the scenes, speaking to shady Reverend, well, more like warning him to stay the hell away from her husband. Yes, the Honorable Judge Harris who in the pilot we already see is not so honorable and not that faithful of a husband. But, things are changing quickly for the Judge. He’s having a change of heart due to his newfound change of faith. Pernell suddenly begins hearing his son speak to him, either telepathically or perhaps through the hand of God. The Judge feels that PJ wants him to find the man or those responsible for raping his wife and, hence, the suicide attempt.

Others think he’s delusional, but Judge Harris is led by what he believes is a higher calling to embark on a dangerous “who done it” cat-and-mouse game. Unexpected allies start to form; one in particular is a convict who the Judge thinks God has “chosen” to help him find the rapist. Judge “Maximum” as he’s known in legal circles because he tacks on the maximum sentence available suddenly feels called by God to release born-again Christian, KD (Garret Dillahunt), to bring the rapist to justice. Trails of blood and visions that only he sees leads Judge Harris to uncover that local cop Shane Caldwell (Wes Chatham) is somehow involved in the crime.

Now out of jail, KD tracks Caldwell, kidnaps him and forces a confession after stabbing him repeatedly. With his dying breath Caldwell asks for God’s forgiveness and whispers, “they made me do it.” Perhaps Judge Harris really is on to something.

This leads the judge to more visions and potential clues from the ether, whether its PJ seemingly whispering in Harris’s head while he’s apparently talking to his psychiatrist or seeing things on TV that no one else can. Harris and now KD are entangled in a mess as the police investigate the “missing” Caldwell, which eventually becomes a murder case that includes the judge as a person of interest and KD as the suspect. I don’t want to give anymore away regarding the plot, especially for eager Amazon Prime members and fans of Amazon Originals.

Hand of God feels like a better written and better casted Season 2 of True Detective. There are some similarities. Especially in the series intro, although the score and graphics are different, the style and overall vibe including editing is quite similar. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of True Detectives is that the show was criticized for all of its angry, brooding, conflicted, and dirty characters. Whether it’s a protagonist or antagonist or supporting character/role, there needs to be some sort of redeeming quality. If not, all the ugliness might turn off the audience.

Hand of God has good intentions and it definitely has much better dialogue, as it avoids the annoying pretentious one-liners that T.D. suffered from. The acting is equally better. The stakes in the story’s conflict are much higher and the plot is less convoluted. However, from the judge to Mayor Robert “Bobo” Boston (Andre Royo) to the cops and justice system to the spiritual leaders in this story, everyone involved is headed to the same downward slope as those in T.D. suffered from in that everyone is dirty and the sliminess of all those involved leaves an unflattering taste for viewers. If everyone is written as despicable and morally defunct, then the show definitely drives home the point of hypocrisy. But, it might lose viewers and ratings if none of the characters develop an arc and provide some hint of likability. I mean, create at least one or two decent human beings with a moral compass.

If everyone is unattractively corrupt, selfish, morally destitute, and down right hypocritical, the viewers will eventually tune out and turn the channel. Even in Sons of Anarchy, another Perlman vehicle, the characters were conflicted despite their corruption. See Rotten Tomatoes 36% critic rating, but 71% viewers rating. Interesting Amazon struts a 4.5 stars rating, which is rather high and IMDB has the show rated at 8.9/10 stars.

I’m hoping that H.O.G. develops better and that season two, which I am sure there will be one, keeps their viewers in mind and decides to add a little something called likability to their characters and create a less contrived storyline. I’ll write more about the show later when I’m done watching the series. Still, the series is a decent effort, despite the fact that the characters need better development. It’s a show worth taking a look at.