Pilots are a tricky thing, and the pilot for Amazon Studio’s Hand of God was one of the streamer's highest-rated yet. So based off of those ratings, Amazon gave it a full series order. But while Ben Watkins’ drama has a unique and promising premise, over its 10 hourlong episodes that falls away to reveal an incredibly slow series that doesn’t seem to know what it’s trying to say.

Hand of God stars Ron Perlman as a powerful judge, Pernell Harris, who believes that God is speaking to him in order to solve a number of crimes against his family. The series starts in the aftermath of Pernell’s son PJ’s suicide, which itself was the aftermath of his daughter-in-law Jocelyn (Alona Tai) being raped (an act PJ, played by Johnny Ferro, was forced to watch). PJ’s suicide attempt landed him in a coma, and Pernell becomes increasingly convinced he can wake him out of, if only he obeys what God — through PJ’s voice and Pernell’s hallucinations of him — directs him to do. And that includes murder.

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Image via Amazon

As Pernell gets involved with a con-man preacher (Julian Morris) and his true-believer wife (Elizabeth McLaughlin), Hand of God starts to reveal the half-baked theology behind the question of whether or not Pernell is suffering a breakdown (as his tough-as-nails wife Crystal, played by the excellent Dana Delany, believes), or if he’s actually seeing signs from the Almighty (and if so, why and to what end?) Pernell also enlists the help of another true believer, the emotionally complicated ex-convict KD (Garret Dillahunt), who carries out his dirty work. Despite the fact that Pernell makes murderous decisions based on what could be mental hallucinations, his hunches for who deserves justice turn out to largely be correct, leaving viewers to decide the truth.


Hand of God is partially a crime story, insofar as Pernell is motivated by a promise he made to PJ that he would find out who had raped Jocelyn. And, as the series’ episodes unfold, there are hints of a larger conspiracy that involves the police force (which Pernell has ties to) as well as a powerful company in league with the city’s mayor — who is also a close friend of the Harris family — Robert “Bobo” Boston (Andre Royo).

The connections here are tenuous though, and the subplots, including those regarding Pernell’s mistress Tessie (Emayatzy Corinealdi), city politics, and Crystal butting heads with the preacher and his ministry never catch fire. The first season is also framed with a lawsuit over whether or not to turn off PJ’s life support, a fight that Pernell continuously has with PJ’s widow Jocelyn. But Alona Tal is never a strong enough presence to carve out her own niche in the show, and when the focus leaves the dynamic duo of Perlman and Delany, things essentially grind to a halt (an exception is Dillahunt as the wayward KD, by far Hand of God’s most fascinating figure).

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Image via Amazon

Marc Forster, who directed the series, keeps Hand of God’s style consistent and engaging, especially during Pernell’s hallucinations. The show has an intimate and relatable feel to its settings, even when it comes to the Harris’ sprawling house and glamorous surroundings. But Hand of God never really gets its hands dirty, even when it comes to digging up bodies — it’s dark without being gritty, and it becomes a bit of a dirge by taking itself too seriously to incorporate enough humor or levity to offset its sex, violence, and drama. It’s one of the show’s many elements that feels half-done, and adds to the fact that despite being on Amazon’s streaming platform, it’s not a show to binge-watch.


Hand of God has moments of intrigue, and a certain pull when it comes to some of its character’s plights (although it certainly misses a step by not incorporating Pernell's judgeship almost at all). But by and large, it’s a messy work without a clear direction or statement to make. It dabbles, but it never commits. And a full season of being noncommittal is a lot to ask of an audience choosing from 400 other scripted series throughout the year. While Hand of God lays out an interesting premise with a promising cast, it doesn’t quite deliver. And it will take more than a faith in the show to get past that.

Rating: ★★ Fair — Only for the dedicated

All 10 episodes of Hand of God premiere Friday, September 4th on Amazon Prime.

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Image via Amazon