The Second Coming

By all accounts, I’m not supposed to have liked this. But let me say up front, I loved it.

I didn’t see that it was such a huge theological blasphemy. To me, RTD seems to have missed the point of a minor piece of doctine called ‘Ascension’. See, the original story is that God came and walked about as an ordinary bloke, chatting to people and showing them what’s really important. Along the way, he proved a bit of a thorn in the flesh to the religious and political powers-that-be, since his way of living would have disempowered them pretty quick. So they did him in. The next bit is a bit confused, but it’s pretty clear that the message is that even death isn’t enough to extinguish real love and meaning. Then, after a few days back with his mates, this resurrected guy just waves ‘ta-ta’ and buggers off out of it, leaving his pals to get on with it as best they can. Sure there’s that stuff about a ‘sense of his on-going presence’, but essentially they’re on their own. Of course, human nature being what it is, within a hundred years, religious and political individuals have turned a very simple message back into something they can use to control people, to restrict access to the Holy to themselves, and generally to screw things up. Division, reformation, counter-reformation, revival - all try to get back to where we started. And about a hundred years after each, we see the same bloody powermongering and posturing.

So I really don't see that God needs to turn up again to be got rid of. Take a look at the world outside your door: could we honestly be telling God to bugger off in more explicit terms than we already are?

So no, I wasn’t bothered at the idea of humanity telling God ‘thanks but no thanks’ - it made perfect sense. Nor was I surprised at Steve willingly scoffing his bolognaise. Compared with crucifixion, death-by-pasta sounds like a positively nice option.

There were things I had theological issues with: The whole ‘miracle’ thing, for starters. See, Jesus didn’t do miracles to get people’s attention or convince them. He did what was needed; healing sick people, feeding hungry people, catching up with his mates when they’d gone on ahead, and making sure they all got home safe. And frankly, he seemed to prefer people didn’t make too much fuss. The oldest Gospel (St Mark) has Jesus telling so many people not to talk about it that scholars have postulated what they grandiosly call ‘the messianic secret’. Meaning Jesus preferred to keep it a bit hush. So seeing a footie stadium all lit up like day, I couldn’t help asking ‘why?’ It’s simply not the sort of thing Jesus would have done. A few spectacular healings down at Christies or a revival or two in the MRI morgue would have been a whole lot more in keeping. Though I guess probably bad taste. Mind, a great idea for a Rift in space time, that column of light!

And of course this is terribly christian-centric. What has happened to God as viewed by Islam? Judaism? Hinduism?... and all the other isms? Though I suppose Buddhism can still carry on unperturbed. And then there’s the whole business of creation not being a once-upon-a-time thing so much as an ongoing practice. If the ‘Family firm goes out of business’, I suspect the shareholders would go bust too!

Not to mention the sheer unlikeliness of it. Let’s face it, a bloke walks in off the moor claiming to be the Son of God: he won’t be wandering around Manchester doing miracles. He’ll be confined under a section of the mental health act stuffed up with haliperidol, unfit to do owt except sit and stare.

So why did I like this?

I liked - no loved - this because of its presentation of Incarnation. Between RTD’s script and Eccleston’s huge on-screen energy and presence, the effect was for me exactly right. Watching Steve wrestle with the dichotomy of human ignorance and divine omnipotence made sense of something people have struggled with for millennia. Seeing him succumb to the temptation to use his abilities to nip out unseen so he could visit his girlfriend was the right sort of humanity (Psychic paper, anyone? RTD does like to flog a good idea!) Seeing him tempted to do the whole ‘finger clicking’ stuff showed the dangers of incarnation. Watching him agonise over what was going to happen to the whole human race caught just a glimpse of divine compassion. I find myself wondering whether any other actor of the generation actually has the presence and power to carry this off, and I can’t think of one.

See, that’s why I loved this. That Steve guy reminded me of Jesus, just as I imagine him to have been. The man who was God, realising that his beloved humanity faced Armageddon, choosing his own destruction instead, out of love for them. Yep! I liked this.

Now: the screen caps. There are a lot of them. Kudos for this goes in very large part to director Adrian Shergold, who does a brilliant job with all those close ups of making the most of his lead actor. And of course to Chris for being so damned sexy.

I sort of dried up on the captions, and just concentrated on getting these gorgeous images posted.

Imagine waking up to this one your pillow…	Junior Eccleston pics?	So is this one Real too?
	I want… chips!	Don't talk with your mouth full!
Yeah… that's how I feel about cigs, too!		And we never see the clothes come off. Sigh!
All clean and shiney		Happy and relaxed. Or great acting.
	So was it real beer?
	Techno whizz he is NOT!
Some wretched priest pinched me sheets!	OOOOoooohhhhhhh!
		Fantastic!
	I'm thinking of a Cornish ice cream…	…with lots of chocolate sauce….
…and extra sprinkles!	Hooray! The clean captions for those last pics!
	No doubt about it: he makes a great corpse. This is the sort of death scene actors reputedly cue up for., with lots of gurgling and throwing oneself around.

A Second Coming Screensaver - shamelessly indulgent choice of images.

Back to RevdKathy's Bit

Back to ChristopherEccleston.net