Fans of crime drama shows will want to check out this original series on PureFlix!
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It's been interesting to see more and more faith-based films being released in recent years, but this is the first faith-based television series that I've heard about:
We'd been introduced to Pure Flix earlier this year, when we were invited to join their summer Family Camp, which integrated activities, movie nights, games, devotionals, cooking and discussion questions around a central theme each week to bring families together for some good, clean fun.
We were excited to participate, but halfway through the first week, we made the decision to at least get away to camp for the summer and then our lives became a flurry of trip-prep and travel, so we ended up missing out on all the fun.
Then I heard about this Pure Flix Original television series, Vindication, which stars Todd Terry (from Breaking Bad) and I thought it was worth checking out, since there have been several standard-network crime dramas that we've enjoyed watching.
Season One went live last year, so I knew we'd have a good number of episodes to watch before "catching up" to the premiere of Season Two.
Because I knew that Pure Flix was a family-friendly streaming service, we watched the first episode together as a family. Well, we did until I quickly realized that the series was best suited for teen-aged viewers with their families, and not Gv-aged kids.
There wasn't anything graphic that showed up on the screen, but the theme of the show was just better suited for someone a bit older to watch.
That was okay, because Gv had wanted to get back to her Percy Jackson book anyway!
So G and I continued watching, and when it ended, neither of us had liked it. I had hoped the quality would be better and that it wouldn't seem overly "preachy," but it definitely came across that way from the start and the storyline felt very disjointed and confusing. We hadn't even realized until the final scene ended that the show's focus was actually on the detective character!
So, G was out, but I'd already committed to watching the entire first season. Luckily, I'd just done fifty bazillion loads of laundry that day, so I knew I'd be able to spend the following day binging the rest of it while folding clothes.
It worked much better for me as a Binge Show than it had the night before.
This time, I didn't mind the shortish episodes -- and the fact that each show focused on a different story no longer seemed disjointed, because I realized that the main character was actually the detective and that there was a plotline relating to his daughter that was developing over the entire series.
Now, at times the Christian message still seemed pretty forced and so it probably won't become my favorite show ever to watch, but it definitely grew on me and wound up being okay.
At the start, it really reminded me of an afterschool special (I know I'm totally dating myself here, but it really did seem like deja-vu for one of those!), but that's actually probably a good thing for families with teens, because it really covers the gamut of current-day issues (teen pregnancy, trafficking, drugs, etc.) and would probably be a great launching pad for some important discussions while watching it together.
I do also think there are lots of people who would fall in love with this show. I have to honestly say that I've never watched the Hallmark Channel (just seeing ads for things on there makes me want to roll my eyes out of my head), so I'm not truly certain what things on that network are actually like, but I would imagine people who like that channel and other "feel good" media would also like this series. Additionally, anyone who's a big fan of some of the other popular faith-based movies would likely love this. And I really did appreciate how each episode included a surprising twist and affirmed positive decisions and outcomes for each one, so I can definitely see how a devoted fan base has already developed for the series.
Season Two's new episodes are already being released on Wednesdays, so check out this trailer and see if it might be up your alley:
#VindicationMIN
I'm so curious - did you watch the trailer? What did you think? Does it seem like a show that you'd like or love? I'd love to hear! Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.
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