Starring: Ron Perlman, Dana Delany, Garret Dillahunt, Andre Royo, Alona Tal, Julian Morris

Amazon has released its third batch of pilots. I’ve been excited about Hand Of God since I read that Ron Perlman was going to be involved after leaving Sons Of Anarchy. He did some terrific work on Sons, and I was hoping his next effort would be worthy of his skills. It is.

I actually got to watch this after my mom had already seen it, and told me she didn’t like it. My mom loves Sons Of Anarchy, so it’s not that she doesn’t handle “dark subject material”, but she thought this show was too dark and lacked a strong character she could follow. I can almost agree with that statement. It is a dark show. It’s fundamentally a show about a judge who gets messages from God through his son who is on a ventilator after trying to commit suicide following the rape of his wife. Anyone who has sat through SOA in its entirety knows that this is just a drop in the bucket though.

What I will agree to is that there are characters in this show that don’t work. I enjoyed Dana Delany’s character up until the moment she decided to smoke weed, while a man was defecating in a toilet next to her. Also while she carried on a conversation with said man. It felt out of character for the person she had been set up to play, and the scene itself was out of place. It was a bizarre moment of comedy in a dark episode. Andre Royo doesn’t work for me either as an actor, or as a character in this show. I know he was on The Wire, but I would recast him. There’s something very odd about how he chooses to play this role, and it’s almost how Orlando Jones or Chris Rock would play the role. This isn’t a comedy, and you are not the comedic relief. I also didn’t enjoy Julian Morris as the wannabe preacher.

Ron Perlman’s character is solid, and I’d love to continue to watch the show, while hoping that the supporting cast is more fleshed out. Dana Delany’s character was good, until the odd weed scene. I liked Garret Dillahunt a lot. I think he was a good choice for that role. Alona Tal is also good in her role.

I think Amazon will pick this up to series, and they should. It’s from Marc Forster, who after World War Z and Finding Neverland, has my attention. I think it’s the kind of show that could bring a lot of attention to Amazon that it just doesn’t have yet. It lacks buzzy dramas like Orange Is The New Black and House Of Cards. Could Hand Of God be that new show? Possibly.

One thing is for sure is that it has the potential to be a possible awards contender for them. That’s how good I think Perlman and Dillahunt can be in their roles. I was disappointed in the choices that Amazon made in wave two, but I don’t think they’ll jettison this show.

FINAL GRADE: B