The Promised Land Pilot: Recap & Review
Updated: Jul 19
The Promised Land adapts the biblical story of the Exodus but with a twist: instead of giving us a straight dramatic retelling, the show applies the mockumentary style popularized by The Office to highlight the ironies and human foibles embedded in the biblical source material. The Pilot Episode introduces us to the key characters: Moses, Aaron (Moses’ brother), Miriam (Moses’ sister), Zipporah (Moses’ wife), Joshua (Moses’ assistant), Korah (a rival leader), and Chisisi (an Egyptian soldier pretending to be an Israelite). It draws on a variety of biblical texts, focusing primarily on Exodus 18, the story of Moses’ reunion with his father-in-law Jethro. Below I’ll give a brief summary of the episode and my initial impressions (Spoiler: I was pleasantly surprised).
*Update: After writing my review, I had a chance to sit down with Mitch Hudson, writer-director of The Promised Land, and discuss his approach to biblical adaptation, comedy, and more. Watch our conversation here.
Summary of The Promised Land Pilot Episode
The Pilot for The Promised Land has three primary plots:
Moses, Aaron, Joshua, & Jethro
The episode begins with a cold open adapting the story of Israel’s battle with the Amalekites. Although the story is played for laughs, it follows the underlying biblical source material (Exodus 17) quite closely. As the Israelites battle the Amalekites, Moses is tasked with holding up his staff. When he lowers the staff, the Israelites start to lose; when he lifts it back up, the Israelites start to win. But holding a staff up for hours can get pretty tiring and so Aaron and Joshua have to get Moses a seat to sit on and help steady his arms. Eventually, Israel prevails.
After the credits, the main storyline begins with Moses, forced to settle an endless queue of disputes and petty squabbles. It’s tiresome work - but Moses takes delight in the honor of pronouncing “I have spoken” to applause and acclamation.
This status quo is disrupted when an obsequious messenger, Joshua (or “Josiah” as Moses repeatedly misnames him), arrives with news that Moses’ wife, Zipporah, and father-in-law, Jethro, have arrived. Moses is so-excited to be reunited with his wife - having not seen her since the bridegroom of blood incident (Exodus 4:24-26) - but he’s even more excited to see his adoring father-in-law. His sons also return but are always off-screen, nowhere-to-be found - a reference to how Moses’ sons are mentioned in Scripture but never actually play a role in any story.
Jethro is surprised to see what’s become of his son-in-law - and a bit concerned when he sees how Moses has made himself the only arbiter of justice for such a large community. But when he gently tries to encourage Aaron to share in the burden of leadership, Moses’ ego is stung and he becomes defensive. Fortunately, Jethro has the wisdom to soothe Moses’ insecurity - while also helping him see the importance of sharing authority and responsibility.
After Jethro departs, Moses takes his words to heart and decides that it’s time to share responsibility with his brother, Aaron, who will help judge small matters, his sister, Miriam, who will help deal with disputes among women, his wife, Zipporah, who will organize a music group, and even his new assistant Joshua (appointed by Jethro, much to Moses’ chagrin).
Miriam & Zipporah
The show begin with Moses’ sister, Miriam, playing the thankless role of secretary - forced to sit and record what the men are doing while her own suggestions are either ignored or credited to her brother. We learn that she was a rising musician in Egypt before she was forced to go along with her brother’s political revolution - and now her musical abilities go largely unappreciated. Still, she takes some pride in being one of the only women who’s able to read and write.
But Miriam’s angst is amplified after Zipporah arrives and is immediately recognized and applauded as a musician - even though she lacks Miriam’s literacy. To make matters worse, Zipporah is way too talkative and cheerful for the introverted and sardonic Miriam. Finally, Miriam can’t take any more of it. She lashes out at Zipporah and storms off.
Fortunately, Zipporah is gracious and able to smooth things over with Miriam. In a show of gratitude, when Moses invites Miriam to help settle disputes among women, she offers to share the job with Zipporah. But, to her chagrin, Moses (obliviously) announces that he has another job for Zipporah - organizing a music group (the very job Miriam would have wanted).
Korah & Chisisi
While most of the Israelites look up to Moses with the utmost respect, the Pilot does introduce us to a voice of opposition: Korah, a Levite who resents Moses’ hierarchical power and envisions a more unified family of Israel (with himself at the head, of course).
But Korah doesn’t have much time to oppose Moses during the Pilot. He’s too busy trying to uncover more details about the identity of Chisisi - an “Israelite” whose face seems oddly out of place. Chisisi, we learn, is actually an Egyptian soldier and not an Israelite. Having washed ashore after the miraculous destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, Chisisi has been pretending to be an Israelite.
Throughout the episode, Korah and Chisisi play a game of cat and mouse and get up to various hijinks. Korah’s efforts are unsuccessful, but he remains suspicious of his supposed Levite kinsman.
Review of The Promised Land Pilot
I went into The Promised Land with a bit of skepticism. Faith-based comedies can be pretty cringe - especially when they try to ape a more mainstream show (like The Office). I’ve also been underwhelmed by some of the other biblical adaptations that have come out in the wake of The Chosen. And the promotional materials for the show didn’t quite allay my fears. But I’m happy to say that the Pilot for The Promised Land overcame a lot of my doubts and inspired a lot of hope for what the show could become.
The Promised Land walks a fine line, avoiding two opposite and equally unpleasant extremes. I could easily imagine a version of the show that’s basically a standard adaptation of the biblical material with a few lame jokes and zany characters sprinkled on top. I could also imagine a version of the show that’s only loosely tied to the biblical material - treating it as mere premise paint for a more standard comedy. The Promised Land refuses to settle for either watered-down comedy or watered-down biblical adaptation - it fully embraces both aspects of its nature .
On the one hand, The Promised Land is a full-fledged comedy, not a drama with jokes sprinkled on top. Like a good comedy, its humor comes from thrusting ordinary, messy humans into difficult situations that they are completely ill-equipped to overcome - without ever allowing them to give up or lose hope. While Christians and Jews often think of figures like Moses, Miriam, and Aaron as larger-than-life, omni-competent paragons of virtue, The Promised Land portrays them as real humans (with all the pettiness, insecurities, and ignorance that we see in ourselves and in those around us). This is precisely what allows the show to be consistently entertaining and funny.
But The Promised Land is also a full-fledged biblical adaptation. The show follows the outline, dialogue, and themes of Exodus 18 with a surprising degree of precision - perhaps hewing even closer to its source material than a typical episode of The Chosen. The show’s humor is not a distraction from the biblical story - it’s a way of highlighting the very same realities that the Bible itself is highlighting (e.g. our foolish desire to rely on ourselves instead of sharing the load with others as God intended). The show also demonstrates an understanding of the broader narrative of Scripture. It depicts characters with an eye toward explaining or setting up their future actions and decisions (e.g. Aaron’s eagerness to lead is setting up his role in the Golden Calf incident in Exodus 32, the rivalry between Miriam and Zipporah is setting up the tension in Numbers 12, and Korah’s perspective is already anticipating his rebellion in Numbers 16). And, as a cherry on top, close students of Scripture will enjoy the meta-humor - jokes about the peculiarities of the biblical text itself like the joke about Moses’ sons that I mentioned above.
Of course, as one would expect from an independently-produced show, the production quality of The Promised Land has limitations. Sets and costumes aren’t exactly top-notch, and the scale of the Israelite camp can only be hinted at. But the genre of the show and the camerawork and scene design help minimize the importance of such issues (which would be fatal for a more serious dramatic adaptation). Indeed, the fact that we can’t see everything happening often makes things more funny than they would be otherwise (e.g. in the case of the Amalekite war). That said, a little more money could probably improve the quality of the show in a variety of small but important ways. That’s not a criticism though - that’s a reason for fans to support The Promised Land, with the hope that, like The Chosen, it will slowly but steadily improve as it gains financial resources and support.
A few other scattered thoughts before I go:
I liked Moses, but Miriam was definitely my favorite character.
The Chisisi character may not be historically plausible, but it was a fun window character and diversion from the main plot
I've done extensive study into Exodus 18 and so I was pleased to see how well the show handled the text.
The show does deliver a "moral of the story" moment but manages to do so without becoming too earnest, cheesy, or moralistic. Part of that seems to be due to how the moment is undercut by the characters' very human limitations.
What did you think of The Promised Land? If the show continues, would you like to see me continue to produce reviews or other resources? Let me know in the comments below!
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