The CIA, terrorism, and…the Messiah? Netflix’s new series asks a long-awaited question; what if the Messiah appeared?

The first episode opens in a war-torn Syria where the audience is introduced to Al-Masiah, played by Mehdi Dehbi, preaching to a crowd during an ISIS attack. He claims to the crowd that God will save them while a huge dust storm covers the city. A news clip conveniently shows the audience how the storm lasted a month burying the ISIS fleet, freeing the city from the siege. This leads the crowd to believe Al-Masiah was the one who stopped the storm, saving them and claiming himself as the Messiah.

This leads the field of international relations of the CIA agent Eva Geller (Michelle Monaghan), to be concerned, fearing he is creating an army.

The complex topic of religion and politics is well written and acted by the cast, which intensified the quality of the show immensely. Writer Michael Petroni doesn’t shy away from prejudices that religions face such as the war between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the middle east.

Throughout the episode, viewers were taken to multiple story lines which expertly overlapped each other without confusing the audience. For example, the scene where Al-Masiah is preaching to his followers’ whom he has led into the desert transitions into the next scene where agent Geller is conversing to the head of her department. They discuss the issue of an unknown man [Al-Masiah] who is leading a mass of Muslims into the desert with an unknown motive.

The pacing of the show was also executed well. I found myself being sucked into the fictional world; curious about what the next scene had to offer.

The only criticism I have is for the scenes where Eva is alone going through a medical issue. In the scene viewers watch Eva stick a needle filled with an unknow drug into her abdomen. The plot doesn’t give any backstory on why this is or what the drug is.

Overall, I give Messiah 4/5 stars for its amazing acting and creativity. I would recommend this show to anyone who needs a good Netflix binge or to people who are fans of the thriller genre.