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National Geographic

Rebuilding Paradise – Losing and Finding Community

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Towards the end of Rebuilding Paradise, we see a group of California high schoolers taking up a collection for people in Beauregard, Alabama, where tornados had destroyed the town. Those donating did so out of great empathy, because just one year earlier their town of Paradise was wiped out by a wild fire. That sense of empathy infuses this documentary.

Paradise, CA – Piles of debris from burned buildings close to an antique mall in Paradise, CA. (Credit: National Geographic)

On the morning of November 8, 2018, a spark from a PG&E power line started what became known as the Camp Fire. Within a very few hours, the wind-whipped fire had overtaken the town of Paradise (population 26,500), destroying most of the homes and businesses. People had to quickly evacuate, leaving everything behind. They had to drive through smoke that blocked visibility and fire that surrounded them. The first several minutes of the film (mostly cellphone video) are edited together to create a sense of the panic that residents must have felt.

Over the course of the next year, Howard and his team visit Paradise (and nearby Chico where many of the residents were finding emergency housing). We see the pain, the hope, the struggle through the eyes of a few of the residents: Woody Culleton, who describes himself as the former town drunk who went on to be mayor; Michelle John, the superintendent of the schools; Matt Gates, a police officer who saw his house burning while he was busy rescuing others; and a varied group of others, including young families.

Paradise, CA – Officer Matt Gates. (Credit: National Geographic)

It’s tempting to list the various challenges that the people of Paradise faced throughout the year Howard and his crew were following them, but the film really isn’t so much about that as it is about the people themselves. We get to feel as though they are our neighbor. We recognize them not so much as victims as survivors. That is what the film is finally about: what does it mean to survive such an ordeal.

Magalia, CA – The Cox Family in front of their trailer. (National Geographic/Lincoln Else)

As I watched the film, I couldn’t help but note parallels to the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. The experience of the denizens of Paradise is a very concentrated experience of loss and struggle. They face a loss of not just possessions, but of community. They can’t come together as they have in the past. School officials have to figure out how to do school when you have no buildings. Some families left for other towns to provide their children with a sense of normalcy. Little things took on new importance: a Christmas tree lighting, the local “Gold Nugget Day” parade, an Easter egg hunt amid charred trees, and the high school graduation.

That is why the scene I mention in the beginning of this review struck me as so important. Those high school students were acting as they did because they knew the suffering the people in Alabama were facing—it was the same as they had faced. In a much weaker version, it is what the whole world is facing with the pandemic. And it is a scenario that will repeat again and again in natural and manmade disasters. This film is a reminder of what it means to be a neighbor. The high school collection is how neighbors take care of each other—even neighbors they don’t know.

Paradise, CA – Steve “Woody” Culleton rebuilds his home in Paradise, CA after losing it to the Camp Fire. (Credit: National Geographic)

Rebuilding Paradise is available on virtual cinema through local arthouses.

Hostile Planet: We Will Survive

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(National Geographic)

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to view a few scenes from a new show on National Geographic called Hostile Planet (Mondays, 9 PM/8 CT).  Being an avid nature enthusiast, I was thrilled to spend some time with God’s creation since I don’t get outdoors as much I would like.  However, I found myself cringing quite a bit as I watched.  Perhaps it’s because I have an idyllic view of how nature works.  Yes, I’m sure it can get rough from time to time, but do baby birds really have to suffer the consequences of learning to fly in the form of smashing their heads repeatedly against the side of a mountain as gravity takes them hundreds of feet to the ground?  Somehow, I found myself intrigued, in a macabre sort of way.

The first episode aired on April Fools’ Day and did not bring the baby birds I remembered.  Instead, it focused on the polar regions of our planet and provided an air of familiarity in the form of penguins, seals, and bears with white fur.  I found myself transported to a winter wonderland where the narrator was describing behavioral patterns of artic wolves.  But the voice of David Attenborough’s was not there, replaced with that of outdoor enthusiast Bear Grylls instead.  Grylls made a few brief appearances in the episode, then got out of the way to let the animals and cinematography do the talking.

We’ve been trained to know that life in the Artic is brutal and that only a few animals can survive the harsh conditions. Those are put on display as male penguins stay alive while keeping an egg warm enough to hatch, then giving it enough food so that the two don’t starve to death.  This has been seen multiple times on nature documentaries.  The hostility is upped a notch when leopard seals decide to have a feeding frenzy and a baby penguin gets to fight for its life on a submerging ice floe.  It’s pretty harrowing to watch.  Artic wolves struggle to survive, but when they need to eat, they can group together and take down a baby musk ox.  When its mother stays behind to watch her offspring die, she suffers the same fate.  Is there blood?  Yup.

Outside of these two examples, Hostile Planet is more like watching a generic nature documentary, albeit with significantly better camera work (thanks to Academy Award-winning cinematographer/director Guillermo Navarro (Pan’s Labyrinth).  This is not a bad thing, but there wasn’t enough hostility for me.  Perhaps that will change in subsequent episodes.

(National Geographic/Tom Hugh Jones)

While watching the struggles of these animals—especially a polar bear attempting to navigate a never-ending maze of ice—I began to think about how life is for humans.  We might not live in the Artic, but we face struggles that seem to never go away—slogging in a dead-end job we’re unable to get out of; watching loved ones fight diseases; making ends meet for our family.  It can get to a point where we’re ready to just give up.  Yet we are able, somehow, to make it to the next sunrise.  The apostle Paul noted that for followers of Jesus, there is a hope that can be held on to in those difficult times: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV).  Life can certainly be hostile, but we definitely have the ability to not only rise up, but thrive in the face of adversity.  If there’s a lesson we can learn from the penguins, polar bears, and artic foxes, that is it.  Thanks for the reminder, National Geographic.

The Story of God S3:E1 – Struggling with Evil

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(National Geographic/Maria Bohe)

As humans, we have the desire to do good, but cannot always find the ability or capacity to do so.  To this end, we walk upon the earth where a constant battle plays out in our hearts and souls.  The goal is to eventually get rid of evil in our lives.  But we fall down constantly and have to deal with the effects of sin as a result.  Often, we attempt to give these struggles a personification.

We call him the devil or Satan.

In the first episode of The Story of God (Season 3), host Morgan Freeman takes a look at who exactly the devil is and has been made out to be over the centuries.  There are some major differences between religions, yet there is one common reality: nobody wants to be filled with evil.  There’s something about the light that has the ability to penetrate darkness and yet overcome it (see John 1:5).

Freeman takes a look at three religious groups – namely, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism – and sees that the groups look at the devil in very different ways.  For the Christian, Satan is the prince of demons and is one to avoid.  Jesus himself was tempted by the devil in the Gospels as he fasted for 40 days and nights. When one is weak and hungry, there is a tendency to do things that are not in one’s best interest (example: those Snickers commercials on television).  Monks at a 5th century monastery recreate Jesus’ struggle daily in the Judean desert as they fast and constantly battle with the devil for their lives. To them, death with faith is better than life with no faith.  Thus, a living faith in God is critical in order to ward off Satan.

If it turns out that people are filled with demons and such, they must be removed to avoid the controlling influence of evil.  In the Catholic church, this means exorcisms (prayers to the soul who needs help) must exist.  Freeman interviews an individual who had gone through five years of exorcisms  to rid himself of the struggles he was facing.  It was interesting and reminded me of watching an individual be healed of demon possession while I was at a Christian festival three decades ago.

But in some faiths, the goal is to win the devil to our side.  Buddhists think in this fashion, struggling to convince his minions to become good via offerings that will tame their minds.  To this end, a person becomes their own enemy and their own protector.  Hindus focus on elevating their spirit above all over tendencies.  In their view, there is no such thing as 100% evil; a speck of light exists somewhere in a person. Thus, there is no true devil.

Satan is a finite being through the Christian tradition, having been thrown to earth after he attempted an overthrow of God’s throne (see Isaiah 14:12).  As a result, he can only be in one place at one specific time.  I get frustrated with people who constantly blame the devil for all of their individual problems when there are more than 7 billion other people on Earth—as if our struggles demand his personal attention.  It’s likely one or more of his minions—CS Lewis discussed this quite eloquently in his novel The Screwtape Letters. Satan exists—and our job as followers of Jesus is to resist his (and other demonic) advances, knowing that in the end, the result of the battle has been determined.  Spoiler alert: The good God wins. Light overcomes darkness every morning with the rising of the sun, a subtle reminder to each of us to keep struggling on.  And we will look up and keep doing just that.

Season 3 of The Story of God continues on National Geographic each Tuesday at 9 PM/8 CT.

The Story of God – Season 3: Conversations on Faith

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(National Geographic/Maria Bohe)

For the past two seasons, National Geographic has partnered with Revelations Entertainment (Madame Secretary) to help viewers answer, for themselves, questions involving God.  Entitled The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, the host (none other than Freeman himself) goes around the world to in order to find out about various religious topics including evil, miracles, and even the Apocalypse.  The show has been picked up by National Geographic for a third season and will focus this time around on deadly sins, visions of God, and that character George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou? referred to as “having a bifurcated tail and carrying a hayfork”—the devil. I recently had the opportunity to talk with the three heads of Revelations Entertainment—Lori McCready, James Younger, and Morgan Freeman—about the upcoming season and what viewers can expect.

McCready mentioned that regarding the series, they felt the devil was just as important as God to cover.  It just took three seasons to have room to make it happen. To that effect, the key purpose of the show is to inspire people to have conversations about faith: how it has moved people, changed individuals, and transformed communities. To this end, the show focuses more on individual experiences versus scholar’s viewpoints. These experiences help to reveal more of a dynamism that the viewer will be able to detect.

McCreary notes that the concept of the devil was something that really surprised her during the filming.  In Christianity, for example, Jesus is tempted and resists Satan’s advances (see Matthew 4:1-11), but Buddhists are commanded to befriend the devil and his minions. Although there are unique differences between religious faiths, there are also connection points that people can use to build bridges and community, according to Younger. Freeman added, “Don’t be afraid . . . We’re not that far apart.”

The Story of God with Morgan Freeman will be shown on National Geographic beginning March 5th at 9 PM (8 PM Central).

Mars S2E6: Christmas on Mars?

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We found water . . . but at what cost?

One of my biggest struggles with the ending of the first season of National Geographic’s series Mars involved pacing. I didn’t feel there was enough of a discussion of potential life on the planet to justify the last-minute declaration of life on the planet. Thankfully, the producers did a much better job with the second season’s ending. Loose plot ends have been tied while questions remain, leaving open the potential for a third season.  That’s about all a viewer can ask for, right?

As the fifth episode ended, Amelie (Clementine Poidatz) was having a caesarean for her firstborn.  A huge bluish-colored baby was taken away . . . leaving her to wonder out loud if she would ever hold the baby.  The good news: the child survived.  The bad news: Amelie still hasn’t held it for two months as its been on a ventilator.  We’ll get back to this drama in a second, but there’s a more pressing issue for both the IMSF and Lukrum groups.

It seems the mining corporation is having a difficult time drilling for water and Kurt (Jeff Hephner), the leader, is as desperate to find some as Marta (Anamaria Marinca) from the IMSF.  He resorts to trying something unproven on a new planet—explosives to break the rock.  In an attempt to bring Marta into the actions (and because his daughter wants to be a microbiologist), Kurt has her make a trip to gather some water for study.  Without checking with Commander Hana (Jihae) first, he proceeds with the explosion, which succeeds in bringing forth water.  Marta grabs a few samples, but the blast triggers an earthquake that completely destroys Lukrum’s compound—and nearly does the same for Olympus Town.  Kurt feels remorse over what his actions caused and feels even more when he goes to check on the other workers, finding the buildings destroyed with numerous casualties.  While he continues his search, he is pinned by wreckage that breaches his spacesuit and kills him.

Our mistakes sometimes have significant consequences.

When Olympus Town can’t get a signal from Lukrum, they rush over to the crash site in an attempt to help. Two groups of workers have survived—one in a protected area of the wreckage; the other (including new member Robert [Sammi Rotibi] in a rover). All make it to Olympus Town safely.

Amelie notices an issue with the ventilator and must make a decision with Javier (Alberto Ammann)—take out the breathing tube to see what happens or simply watch their child die along with the ventilator.  They choose the former option.

Meanwhile on Earth, people know about the earthquake and are seriously concerned if Mars habitation is even a future possibility. IMSF Secretary General Amanda Richardson (Cosima Shaw) isn’t sure what to do, as her vote to sanction Russia for working with Lukrum failed and left her with little to no power.  Lukrum then acquired another agreement with China, making things worse for her.  But the earthquake provided her an opportunity to work alongside an extremely smug Roland St. John (Esai Morales), who suddenly has little leverage politically.  They appear in a joint news conference, where Richardson blindsides St. John with a video from Commander Hana, showcasing that the two groups can get along (this was the basic premise of the documentary sections of the episode) and that life there is possible when Amelie and Javier introduce their daughter Gabriella to the citizens of Earth. St. John vows to get her back, but the episode ends.

There are definitely questions to possibly be answered in a future season (in addition to St. John’s response to Richardson): What became of the water Marta collected? What did she discover?  Was Mike ever released from his cell or was he sent back to Earth? Did Robert return to IMSF? How was Gabriella’s childhood? How did the scientists create the first cloud using their terraforming practices?  I think we need to explore further, National Geographic.

My biggest takeway from the episode was a hypothetical situation. Knowing that Gabriella was the first person born and raised on Mars, I began thinking what it might be like to raise a child with completely different holiday traditions (sort of like Life Day was in the Star Wars Holiday Special).  There would obviously be something with the day humanity landed, the day life was discovered on Mars, and perhaps the day water was found.  But how would holidays like Christmas be handled? Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem . . . on Earth, not Mars. For kids, there would really not be a context to work with (I’m trying to imagine Joseph and Mary taking care of a baby in a cave wearing space suits, and it’s not working).  Belief in Christmas would have to be . . . on faith.  But it’s a good kind of faith—a faith in the God who created the universe and placed the moon, planets, and stars exactly where he wanted them (see Psalm 8:3-4).

Viewers now have to have faith that National Geographic adds a third season of Mars to their schedule.  If not, I’m thankful for the journey and what I’ve learned along the way.

Mars S2 E5: Dancing with the Enemy

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“Stand down, Mike.”

Rival companies, questionable practices, power issues, contagions, and a pregnancy—these have been the focal points of the second season of Mars (National Geographic, 9 PM/8 CT).  Tonight brings us to a thrilling conclusion—or maybe it will provide more questions than answers.

Before we get there, we should consider the last episode and find out what we’re possibly in store for. After the virus issue was handled thanks to some smart thinking by Marta (Anamaria Marinca) and doses of penicillin, the workers at IMSF must deal with something completely beyond their control—the actions of their leaders on Earth.  Russia has entered into a deal with Lukrum Industries and Roland St. John (Esai Morales). This threatens the IMSF and forces Secretary General Amanda Richardson (Cosima Shaw) to do something to get Lukrum’s attention. Her main option is to levy sanctions on the company to get them to end the agreement.  It sounds difficult in theory, and it is.  In flashbacks to today, we’re reminded that when big companies get huge, there is little (if anything) that can stop them—even when it comes to governmental control and oversight.  This episode, more than its predecessors, calls out these large companies for their past actions and questions what (if anything) can be done to limit their control.

Of course, the Lukrum colony on Mars is continuing its mission but needs more power to make it happen. Olympus Town, headed by Commander Hana (Jihae), agrees to this, but when she and Robert (Sammi Rotibi) take a trip to check out a possible source of water, her assistant commander Mike Glenn (Gunnar Cauthery) refuses and completely shuts Lukrum off from all electricity, placing their entire colony at risk of death. Javier (Alberto Ammann) defies his orders and gets them back online just in time. Hana and Robert, alas, do not find water, and on their way home discover the mutiny that has occurred at Olympus Town.  Mike soon finds himself relieved of duty.  In addition, Robert tells Hana that because he’s not being allowed to create and build things by the IMSF, he’s leaving IMSF to help Lukrum.  There have been hints at a possible romance here, but they’re effectively quashed when the two have their last meeting,

Javier has an additional issue. Amelie (Clementine Poidatz) begins to experience contractions at the thirty-week point, forcing her to make the decision to have a caesarean for her baby.  Things seem to be going smoothly, until she briefly sees a rather large bluish-colored baby (?) being carried out by another doctor. Her cries go out into the nothingness of space as the credits roll.

You’re probably not going to like the vote, Madame Secretary General.

Industry and science have always had a very delicate relationship.  Science wants to discover and prefers things to be pure and unexploited so they can better humankind.  Industry wants to discover as well, but is willing to create, process, and market so they can better humankind while making lots of money for themselves and their shareholders.  Take one of the two out of the equation and humans suffer as a result. Just like in a marriage, there must be some give and take from both sides in order to make the partnership work. Ecclesiastes says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up” (4:8-10).  There will always be tension between the two groups, but they must learn to co-exist and work with each other.

So then . . . what will happen to Mike?  How will Robert like Lukrum?  Will there be a power play for Richardson’s position at IMSF?  Will someone finally discover liquid water? Will Amelie get to hold her baby?  We’ll have to find out tonight when Mars concludes its second season.

Mars S2E4: Looking to the Past

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Be careful with those lab specimens . . . (photo credit: National Geographic/Dusan Martincek)

When we last left our intrepid bands of explorers, the strife so prevalent for the half of the season was placed on hold as one of the IMSF scientists decided to go alone out into the Martian landscape.  The fourth episode of Mars (National Geographic, Mondays at 9 PM/8 CT) begins with a brief reminder of how close Marta (Anamaria Marinca) was to dying from lack of air and/or becoming a human popsicle. She begins to recover and is extremely lucky that frostbite hasn’t claimed one or more of her fingers and/or toes. Immediately (and as could be expected), she is confronted by Commander Hana (Jihae) for putting herself and the rest of the crew in harm’s way.  Since she’s still on a hospital bed, Marta can’t run from the rebuke of her superior (not that she would anyway).

In another part of the science center, Javier (Alberto Ammann) and Amelie (Clementine Poidatz) have fallen in love with each other again and are looking forward to life with their future child. This could be a bigger issue when it’s born, but for now, the parents seem to be happy.  Until . . .

All of a sudden, members of the Lukrum company begin to fall sick. They’re not ill as a result of the flu, but something significantly more sinister.  It starts with a cough, followed by a lot a blood and (in one case) death.  Nothing seems to be able to stop it from affecting people or spreading among the colony.  Just as this knowledge is discovered, it seems one of the scientists returning from an outdoor expedition begins coughing and exhibiting the same symptoms.  He’s placed in an isolation portion of the lab, but Javier checks on him and suddenly discovers he’s got the same thing.  Amelie can only watch from behind glass as he suffers from an unknown contagion.  What can be done?

In order to solve the problem, Marta realizes that she has to go backwards in her thinking. One of the samples that showed movement in the lab at the end of the third episode has mutated and doesn’t respond to ordinary drugs on Earth. Realizing this, her thinking leads her to understand that penicillin may be the answer. But will it be in time for both colonies?  And what can she do (if anything) while still recovering from her near-death experience?

In times of trial, it’s time to get along. (photo credit: National Geographic/Dusan Martincek)

I was very surprised by the goriness and gut-wrenching emotion of the episode—it almost had a Michael Crichton Andromeda Strain feel to it.  The real-life portion of the program brought the viewer to the Arctic again, but this time to northern Russia where reindeer are dying from a new strain of anthrax.  Again, the government and oil companies don’t want the public to know about the issue, but if left untreated, things could get a whole lot worse for the people there—and potentially the general public.

This brings me back to Marta’s realization. In order to learn from the past, we have to look there on occasion.  In fact, for the nation of Israel, one of the key words of life is remember. They looked back to the time when the angel of death passed over the houses of the Israelite people yet killed the first born of all the Egyptians, leading to the Exodus, parting of the Red Sea, and eventually claiming a land flowing with milk and honey (see Exodus 11). Christians take a look back every Christmas to the birth of Jesus on the outskirts of Bethlehem (see Luke 2). In addition, we all look at the past to be sure we don’t keep making the same mistakes over and over again.  Looking back is truly a good thing—as long as we don’t lose sight of the present and the future.

Two episodes remain. There’s still much to discover on Mars.

Mars S2E2: Can’t We Just Get Along?

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Amelie (photo credit: National Geographic/Dusan Martincek)

The second season of Mars (National Geographic; Mondays @ 9 PM/8 CT) has already had a fair share of tension. When the scientists discover that a drilling company named Lukrum wants to mine the planet for profit, they’re not happy about it.  An uneasy truce is created to share water and electricity, but the miners proceed to take advantage of the scientists at every turn. The second episode picks up with Lukrum using 10 percent more water than allotted. Uncertain as to what to do, Commander Hana (Jihae) makes a plea to the head of the IMSF on Earth, Amanda Richardson (Cosima Shaw), for help. Richardson doesn’t feel she’s getting respect from her colleagues and begins to assert herself in a way that will distance herself from her predecessor.  Hana doesn’t like the bossy, somewhat petulant response that suggests the IMSF and Lukrum have a different relationship outside of Mars.

This concept of being worlds apart provides the focus of the documentary portion of the show.  The folks in the Arctic are drilling for oil, but there are people who want a different outcome to occur—namely, the protestors of Greenpeace. Equipped with their own ships and quick-moving watercraft, they push as far as they can—and then some—to get their points across. The two sides are never going to agree, but is there a happy medium where the two can coexist?

All the animosity between the two groups comes to a head when, at a party to celebrate the arrival of a spacecraft (and to take Amelie [Clementine Poidatz] back to Earth), a member of Lukrum inadvertently mentions their discovery of liquid water.  Marta (Anamaria Marinca) immediately takes a side for science, and before long, a full-scale brawl ensues.  Where is Commander Hana when all this is going on?

You never want to see this. (photo credit: National Geographic/Dusan Martincek)

It turns out she has a few issues of her own to deal with in addition to Richardson’s cold and curt message to her from Earth.  Hana’s sister and former head of the IMSF (also played by Jihae) is on the flight to Mars, but there’s a medical problem she’s kept from everyone. Sadly, it claims her life before she lands on the planet. But as there is death, there is life (in a weird sort of way), as Amelie chooses not to return to Earth at the last minute due to a discovery of being pregnant.

The second episode of Mars reminds me that we are not our own and are simply allotted time on Earth by God. While here, we must learn to “live at peace with everyone,” as Paul noted (Romans 12:18).  That doesn’t mean we always have to agree with others, but we do have to take the initiative to coexist as best as we can.  Making the most of our individual spheres of influence will go a long way to keeping harmony within arm’s reach—even though we may never get to a place where people completely agree with us or our views.

But with all the tension on Mars, the third episode is shaping up to be quite a doozy. Make sure to tune in next week and catch it for yourself!

Mars S2E1: Unity Can Be A Good Thing

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(photo credit National Geographic)

Just when you thought the adventures of the International Mars Science Federation (IMSF) were completed upon finding life on the red planet, it’s time for a new season of drama!

Mars was one of the highest rated shows on National Geographic last year, prompting six completely new episodes of the hybrid drama/documentary (Mondays @ 9 PM/8 CT).  I’m thrilled, and after watching the first episode of the second season, think the show has chosen a fantastic topic to explore: How do two groups of people co-exist on a new world with completely antithetical hopes, dreams, and plans?

Set five years after the end of the first season, much has changed for the group of scientists calling the planet home. The declaration that life exists on Mars (at the end of Season 1) turned Olympus Town into a reality and brought more scientists to the planet for research. But they knew it was only a matter of time before science brought about industry wanting a lucrative place in the terraforming of the planet, not to mention lots of money. It comes in the form of Lukrum Industries, run on Earth by Roland St. John (Esai Morales), an enterprising businessman, and led on Mars by Kurt Hurrelle (Jeff Hephner), who eschews standard convention and pushes as many boundaries as possible, often stepping over them with absolutely no remorse.  The IMSF, now led by Amanda Richardson (Cosima Shaw) from the first season, is hesitant to create any partnership with Lukrum. She makes the decision to help even though the mining company arrived completely intent on using the good graces of the scientists to provide them with water and electricity.  This frustrates the commander Hana Seung (Jihae) and the rest of her staff, who anticipate difficulties going forward.

It seems the drama portion of the show has been ratcheted up a notch, as we begin to see the struggles of the main characters manifest themselves. Robert (Sammi Rotibi) is tired of not putting his skills to use (having built the city); Spanish Mission Specialist Javier (Alberto Ammann) feels that his love, French doctor Amelie (Clementine Poidatz) has lied to him as she reveals she’s leaving in a few months due to losing her mind; and the Russian biologist Marta (Anamaria Marinca) is frustrated that there have been no other scientific discoveries in five years.  Add in the act-first-and-apologize-later mentality of Lukrum, and things are going to boil over at some point.

(photo credit: National Geographic/Dusan Martincek)

I’ve always appreciated how well the documentary portions of Mars have meshed with the dramatic ones, and this season is no exception.  It does feel like there’s less documentary, but I somehow don’t feel bothered by that fact. The first episode relates the situation on Mars to drilling for oil in the Arctic—there’s nobody around; it’s dangerous; and simply existing is a goal at times.

The ending of the first season of Mars was, in my opinion, way too abrupt. Thankfully, Executive Producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer seem to have fixed that problem in the opening episode, leaving the viewer with a cliffhanger regarding if unity is even possible with the two groups.  Here on Earth, we have enough tensions and challenges for a lifetime—between countries, between companies, between individuals.  Paul encouraged the one of the New Testament churches to “[b]ear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:13-14 NIV). If only these words were put into action, perhaps we could start the process of restoring relationships, which can lead to so many other good things.

I know the folks on Mars could use this advice.  Otherwise, the animosity and tension is going to possibly spiral out of control.  We’ll have to find out.

The Long Road Home: Lessons Learned

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(Photo: National Geographic/Van Redin)

When we last left the eighteen trapped soldiers in The Long Road Home (National Geographic), they were surrounded on all sides by enemy insurgents carrying human shields.  Lt. Shane Aguero (EJ Bonilla) gave the command to open fire while the screen went to black.  It was an effective way to end an episode, that’s for sure.

The final three episodes chronicled the continued search and rescue of not only Aguero’s team, but a second platoon led by Staff Sgt. Robert Miltenberger (Jeremy Sisto) who had a broken down vehicle, limited protection, no method of communication, and a bunch of soldiers who had never fired a gun in combat before.  Sadly, the result was exactly what you might expect.  Insurgents saw the weakness and attacked it mercilessly, leading to a number of significant injuries and deaths.

Aguero’s team was also in significant danger after the shots rang out in Episode 5.  They still had a house of refuge, but insurgents were still swarming.  The main problem was a lack of ammunition, dwindling by the second. Their interpreter  Jassim al-Lani (Darius Homayoun) was still around, but even he was in trouble if the ammo ran out.

As you might expect, there was some good news. A tank finally found them, but only after Aguero put himself in the crosshairs of death for the third time, chasing the tank down with a flashlight. Miltenberger makes a dash to keep an insurgent from bringing friends, but finds himself looking down the barrel of a gun—just as he predicted.  Thankfully, the person wanted to help him.  In the end, the soldiers in both platoons were rescued and taken to the base, where their injuries were treated.

But not everyone was able to successfully recover.  Pfc. Tomas Young (Noel Fisher) was left paralyzed thanks to a bullet that hit him before he ever fired a shot.  Specialist Israel Garza (Jorge Diaz), always the jokester, didn’t survive his wounds.  The scene where members of the Army inform his unprepared wife Lupita (Karina Ortiz) was difficult to watch.

I thought the ending was well done as Lt. Col. Volesky (Michael Kelly), in a gathering of the soldiers, called out the names of the eight soldiers who died, giving them the honor they deserved.  The role of the surviving soldiers was reinforced when they had a meeting the next day and told about their upcoming mission.  It wasn’t a ‘one battle and you get to go home’ deployment; it was ‘stay until the mission is complete, then go home.’ In the end, the ambush cost eight lives, injured over 60, and left soldiers with physical, emotional, and spiritual scars.  War isn’t fun; that’s for sure.

(Photo: National Geographic/Van Redin)

So what can we learn from all of this?

* As just noted, life doesn’t stop just because an attack occurs. We sometimes have days when it seems everything goes wrong.  We’d like to crawl into the bed and hide until the sun shines again.  But that’s not the way life works.  Instead, we have to draw on our reserves of courage and determination (or just ask God for some wisdom – see James 1:5) and go out again into the world.

* Sometimes bad things happen, as with Pfc. Young. We have to choose how to handle the adversity—can it be used for good in some way, shape, or form? If so, we can make a positive difference in the lives of those we come into contact with (see Romans 8:28).  Or we can choose to wallow in negativity, passing that on to people who don’t deserve it.

* I was struck by the role hope played in The Long Road Home. It would’ve been extremely easy for Aguero to give up as the odds were definitely against his squadron. But deep inside, he continued to hold out hope of being rescued even when the world around him was burning. That didn’t mean he was able to sit idly by; he had to lead his troops, play the role of counselor, and go after the tank after it drove by them numerous times.  Hebrews mentions faith “is the confidence that what we hope will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (11:1 NLT).  That hope turned into faith, which eventually saw his troops rescued with only Chen dying.

The Long Road Home brought the realities of the Iraq War into homes across the country. It wasn’t easy to watch at times, but was a necessary reminder of the sacrifice and bravery our soldiers make on a daily basis. Thank you, men and women of the Armed Forces, for all you do!