"The Book of Jer3miah" is nothing if not unique. It's a web series made by a group of college students with a very successful transmedia component. It's a conspiracy thriller where advanced technology and promptings from the Holy Spirit both work to advance the story. The show has comic relief, but it takes some of the strange aspects of Mormon doctrine, history, and folklore that ground the story refreshingly, sincerely seriously--it's a rare thing in Mormon fiction, a story that would lose all of its power if transposed into any other religious tradition. It goes to scary, troubling places, asking hard questions about religion and morality, and it tells a fast-paced, twisty story.
The show isn't perfect--it takes a couple episodes to get going and there are certainly many traces of the unbelievably low budget. But, in many ways, these aspects don't really feel like drawbacks--there is a handmade quality to the series that is not only charming, it's inspiring. There's something invigorating about seeing such an ambitious project tackled with such limited resources--there's an energy that runs through "The Book of Jer3miah" that elevates it above most of its bigger-budgeted competition both in the web series world and the world of Mormon film. It's an excellent, exciting, occasionally unsettling and frequently unusual piece of work. I just hope there's a second season on the way.
The show isn't perfect--it takes a couple episodes to get going and there are certainly many traces of the unbelievably low budget. But, in many ways, these aspects don't really feel like drawbacks--there is a handmade quality to the series that is not only charming, it's inspiring. There's something invigorating about seeing such an ambitious project tackled with such limited resources--there's an energy that runs through "The Book of Jer3miah" that elevates it above most of its bigger-budgeted competition both in the web series world and the world of Mormon film. It's an excellent, exciting, occasionally unsettling and frequently unusual piece of work. I just hope there's a second season on the way.
