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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Lucy Mangan

Unchosen review – Asa Butterfield’s creepy cult show is a total waste of all this talent

Two men in the water at a baptism.
Oh dear, oh dear … Asa Butterfield and Fra Fee in Unchosen. Photograph: Justin Downing/Netflix

Unchosen is set in the world of a Christian splinter sect. Everyone lives simply in grace and harmony, following Christ’s teaching of peace and love for all humankind, with men and women sharing equally in domestic and other labour. They exist as shining lights for what is possible when you set aside the patriarchal nonsense and other accretions that gather around religions. Every episode is a delight and nothing much happens because everyone is living such a good and godly life.

I jest! Unchosen is not here to break new ground. It is here to deliver by-numbers drama that has inexplicably attracted the talented likes of Siobhan Finneran and Christopher Eccleston to its cast and you should proceed with your expectations lowered.

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