Strange Angel (2018–2019) User Reviews

Compelling

[wesleypipes777 · 8/10 · 28 June 2018]

It's a shame the only few bad reviews left here are unrealistically low to the point that they obviously have a problem giving credit where it's due. Everyone is entitled to an opinion but a 1 or 2 rating for a show that clearly is deserving of more only exposes the fact that these people lack the attention span to read a novel or even a comic book all the way to the end. They are likely best suited to read the funnies section in a newspaper and that's about it.

Strange Angel is only 2 episodes in and it's a slow build so far but an intriguing one. If you have any interest in scientific history or the occult, there is more than enough here to keep you interested.

Parsons is a rebel and free thinker at heart forced by societal and financial conditions to maintain a pretense of normalcy for the time being. You really get the sense however that it's all eating at him and he only needs to be presented with the right opportunity to become reacquainted with his true self.

Enter the quirky unpredictable neighbor "Ernest" who lives by his own rules. He's not your typical rebel without a cause however, quite clearly he is driven by a deeper philosophy. On the surface Jack feigns rejection and they clash a little in the first couple of episodes though there's something about him that Jack finds undeniably compelling.

I'm looking forward to seeing where this story leads as Jack is inevitably introduced to Aleister Crowley the infamous British Occultist & Philosopher. This will be where things get interesting and the story will truly take off.

rocket fuel

[urthpainter · 8/10 · 18 August 2018]

Strange Angel, even in todays wide array of television shows, is truly a unique experience worth watching by seasoned media fans.

A description I like is combining the film the Aviator with David Lynch's new Twin Peaks. This may not be accurate, but it gives an idea of what one will be getting into. The presentation is really pretty strait forward - there aren't many cryptic film making techniques. The weirdness comes in the shape of reality bending scenes, and the crazy content. I would say if a viewer likes Man in the High Castle, they would probably also like Strange Angel. Strange Angel is way more grounded, being based in historical non-fiction, but both have very unique content, a slow pace, and a similar approach to main vs surrounding characters.

Strange angel is a period piece, taking place in the late 30's Los Angeles. The main character is a blue collar worker at a chemical plant, but has dreams of realizing practical rocket technology which he pursues with his academic, best friend. Combine this with an indoctrination into a sex cult, and hallucinations that both the main characters experience regularly? Things get pretty interesting. There is a beautiful mix of logic, science, science fiction and the occult.

But nothing moves in too much of a hurry. Despite rocket technology playing a major role, the pace of Strange Angel is pretty dang slow. This will be the limiting characteristic to many viewers, but it shouldn't be. This show is wildly entertaining. Episodes build up to big scenes, and the entire season builds up to an excellent final episode.

The casting is as good as TV gets. The two main characters, husband and wife, are immediately likable, and easy to route for. Both are textured, flawed individuals searching... for a better life? success? happiness? Interesting, because their goals are never really crystal clear, and there is a lot of dealing with daily events - just like in real life. But in spite of distractions, difficulties, set backs and conflict - the two are constantly trying to grow and evolve, while overcoming challenges. I'm not saying the viewer will always agree with choices made, or all their motivations, but everything is always so intriguing! Surrounding characters are equally well cast, and their activities always intertwine with the story of the Parsons (the main characters). There is a clear vision to the scripting, which likely took a great deal of work to refine.

I'm obviously a fan of everything this season has achieved, but the number one quality may be the camera work, cinematography. The visuals, their construction (effects), the design of shots, and the pace established is top notch. Really all the production is excellent, and Strange Angel lives up to the new norm of incredible, movie like episodes, that many recent shows achieve.

So why an 8, not a 9 or 10? Occasionally, even I want the show to get on with the content - where you know a big moment is coming, but the build up can at times feel delayed. I would have liked the season to include at least one more episode. While I loved the last episode, I was surprised how many questions were left unresolved. Really, Strange Angel has a lot of room to improve. I hope for not only a second season, but a completed vision (5 seasons to complete is what I read) - the unique nature of the show (and delivery method) makes me wonder about it's future.

But hopefully my concerns are for not, and the second season will get made. If this happens, this new intellectual property will likely gain the following it deserves. With all the entertainment fluff out there, it is nice to have some mature programming for adults.

Terrible decision

[urso90 · 8/10 · 6 December 2019]

Very bad news: AMC has cancelled this very good series. No third season. Chronology would be close to the fatal accident of the main character,as can be checked at Wikipedia.

Cancelling this really proves that network execs are idiots.........

[scritterz · 9/10 · 31 January 2020]

This was the most intriguing show I've seen in years. To bad the powers that be have no confidence in those that watch. The acting was very good and the production excellent. The pace was a little slow and the storyline super complex. Kudos to the writers for their handling of the start of space travel, occultism, WWII, complex personalities and out and out madness so well.

The main character, Jack Parsons, was one of the most intelligent and odd people who were most influential to the future of America during the late 30s and early 40s. I think the series did a great job with extremely difficult subject matter. I had no problem following the story.

Compared with most TV series today points out some huge obstacles for this series. Watching this requires a longer attention span than Spongebob and more intelligence than the family dog. The writers had a LOT of very different subjects to educate themselves about - Then they had to educate the audience. Everyone involved obviously worked very hard to produce a series worth the time to watch. I wish that Hollywood thought better of their audience or maybe realized that curious Intelligent people are consumers too.

Maybe if we are lucky someone else will pick this series up and finish out the originally planned five seasons. I'm not holding my breath.

an intriguing if not always compelling oddity of a show

[RetroRick · 7/10 · 1 February 2019]

It's difficult to know how to classify Strange Angel. I haven't read the novel it is based upon, nor did I know a great deal about Jack Parsons beyond the fact that he is something of a hero in both the world of science and the occult.

As such this is a show that most people, who will presumably know as little as or less than I do on the matter may need some persuading to watch. It's basically a bio-pic in series format on a rather strange but fairly intriguing subject that either will or won't hook you by the end of the first or second episode.

In this respect the early episodes are probably more interesting than the later ones although in fairness the story is well told and developed throughout.

Parson's life is certainly interesting. He's an obsessive amateur rocket scientist / chemist with all the vision of a great man but none of the formal paper qualifications that would make his life a lot easier, not least because all the resources he needs to make his vision become a reality exist at the university, Caltech, his friend and colleague studies and works at.

This outsider's struggle against a disbelieving and often contemptuous academic scientific community provides the story arc in this first series (and I am assuming it is more or less true to life). Within that over-arching frame-work there is the more intimate and closely related struggle with his personal life and the evolution of his beliefs in relation to his scientific ambition.

Much of the drama here revolves around tensions with his conservative, Christian but none-the-less generally supportive and long-suffering wife Susan (played by the fetching and talented Bella Heathcote).

Acting as something of a catalyst here is the occasion of a friendship with their charismatic neighbour Ernest (Rupert Friend). Ernest happens to be an enthusiastic initiate of a mysterious initiatory order that we learn stages strange sexually charged rites and masses. Ernest and his fellows at the cult / temple speak of having no boundaries, and of there being no law but 'do as thou wilt' and appear to engage in strange and possibly sexual practices.

A devout Catholic Susan is initially nervous but unsure about what is going on, particularly when she learn's her husband Jack continues to attend after she flees her first attendance. Reading up on the cult - Thelema - she learns of the notorious reputation of its found Alistair Crowley and rumours about dark practices that go on at it's meetings.

That's pretty much as dark as it gets though. The series as a whole ultimately feels rather like a subtle but not that subtle advert for the ideas presented by Thelema and the couple's encounter with the strange new ideas and practices of the temple are shown as liberatory, literally in Susan's case as having the potential to emancipate her from the sexual and psychic repression of her current life (and indeed current religion).

In this perhaps the main antagonist in the series turns out to be Susan's over-bearing and strangely unpleasant father, who since she works for him still to somewhat dominates her life, including within the religious sphere.

If you had any doubt at this point that Catholicism and Thelema don't like each other, you won't have by the end of the series. Catholicism here simply represents sexual repression and hypocrisy (and by extension misery), whereas Thelema's represents the forbidden fruit of pursuing one's dreams and overcoming one's inhibitions and inner demon's to live a better life.

The darker sides of Thelema are alluded to but barely touched upon, and it is hard not to get the impression that the series (and presumably the books it's based on) is wholly on the side of Crowleyian view of 'love under will'. That's fair enough, but those who may be persuaded of this, should also be aware that there really is a darker, and perhaps - Crowley would certainly not disavow the description - a wickeder side to some aspects of Crowley's ideas. Not for nothing did Crowley describe himself as the Beast, even if some of that may have been him scandal mongering and revelling in notoriety.

All told I enjoyed the series even if I felt it dragged more than it should have done. It's well acted, and all the main leads are pretty good, particularly the actors that play Jack and Susan. Like others if there's a further series I probably won't be tuning in unless they tighten up the writing. I also felt it was a little bit of a shame that after so many episodes of subtly exploring the ethical tensions between conventional religion and Crowleyianism it resolved everything in such a black and white manner, in favour of the latter. Just remember the abyss stares back at you if you look at it too long

Over all though it made for interesting telly. Worth a look

A show about a lesser explored side of LA & counter-culture Americana

[BenjAii · 10/10 · 16 June 2018]

It's a vanishingly rare occurrence for the occult to crop up in popular entertainment outside of the horror genre, but "Strange Angel" is that rare breed.

If you dial back a few decades from the birth of the 1960's counter-culture in California and look for the precursors of psychedelia, LSD & Hippies, you could trace some of its parentage to the bohemian experimentalists in "Strange Angel".

It's 1939 and as William Gibson would say, the future just isn't very evenly distributed yet. Jack Parsons can see the future is in space. That still sounds futuristic when Elon Musk talks about it in 2018 and like Musk, Parsons wants to do something to make it happen. What happens next is the true story of the man who helped spark that future and his unlikely tutelage under the teachings of Aleister Crowley.

One episode in and this is already looking good. I'm especially enjoying Rupert Friend's turn as a wild eyed mercurial next door neigbour, who initiates/baptises Jack into the Crowleian mysteries via a swimming pool.

I'll be curious to see how this show does. The real Parsons died at age 37 under mysterious circumstances, but certainly packed enough drama into his short life to fill out several seasons if it all works out for "Strange Angel".

Off to a Slow Start

[mbara33 · 6/10 · 20 June 2018]

As the author of a best-selling book (Dark Mission: The Secret History of NASA) that deals with Jack Parsons, Crowley, Hubbard and their influence over JPL's occult patterns, I have to say the pilot was disappointingly slow. The show's writers chose to focus on a fairly non-descript period of Parsons life, but that's no excuse for how dull the episode was. The show pretty much glosses over what a complete lunatic Parsons actually was, and how poorly he treated many of those around him. There was never really a point in his life where he was in any way "normal" as is portrayed in the show. He had major emotional problems and his hatred for Western Civilization and its mores defined him from an early age. I know the shows creators were going for a slow set-up, but not much at all actually happened in the episode, nor is there really a hint of who Parsons really was or what he would become.

That said, the show has some potential and I'm sticking with it, hoping the writers, directors and producers pick up the pace and get to the juicy stuff. Honestly I could have written them a more interesting take on Parsons life and the extent to which NASA and JPL are still influenced by Parsons relationships with L. Ron Hubbard and Crowley. But, I won't get that chance so I hope they go deep into the story and bring out the honest truth about what Parsons really desired, which was no less than an apocalypse. How they treat the Babalon Working will be the key to it all. It will be interesting to see if they recognize that the Working was the basis for the film "Rosemary's Baby" as well. I'm all for ripping the lid off the occult freak show in Hollywood as well as NASA, and I hope they can pull it off.

Strange IS good.

[alkalain-919-261622 · 9/10 · 23 June 2018]

Forget the ridiculously low reviews, this is a well done, interesting and imaginative show, most of the complaints are about the slow pace, which for most grown-ups who do not suffer from some form of ADD, is just fine. The three main characters are well played, the plot based on a true story has great potential, and the fantasy sequences are superb. And we haven't even started with the cult business yet which, based on Crowley's sexually charged form of occultism, will surely give us some compelling cinematography.

More about Cultist Rituals than Rockets ...

[Vic_max · 7/10 · 3 August 2019]

What got me interested in watching this show was the idea that it involved the dawn of rocketry in the US in the 1930s. Based on that, what could be more cool? I mean ... von Braun, the creation of JPL, the Nazis, the start of WWII, launchpads, explosions ... and the stories you could tell!

Well ... it's not really about that. The rockets are actually the very, very slow background story. It's more about the life of Jack Parsons (the lead character), his wife and circle of people around him that become part of an intense new-age type cult. It's not the kind where you're forced to stay in it, but the kind with unusual sexual rituals and beliefs for the times.

Interestingly - these are actually based on real people ... cult and all. It's amusing to watch all the visuals of what's going on in their mind as they struggle with core questions of life. It's even cool to see Parsons believe he's manifesting the rocket project forward.

However, I'm in it for the rocket story. I'll put up with the cultist story-telling for a little longer, but not sure how long I'll last. It turns out that the show based on a book about Parson's cultist life ... but I do hope the show expands beyond that ... way beyond that.

Slow and Unsteady

[Afternoonsand · 5/10 · 1 February 2019]

The pace of the show is very slow. There appears to be about fifteen minutes of content per show with filler everywhere else. As with most of the CBS original shows the content is not worth the time watching. Sad as CBS can and does produce some very good shows.

Hope it gets renewed

[edck-08603 · 9/10 · 27 July 2018]

I've watched the first 6 episodes so far. I think the story line is good and the casting is fab. I think the show explores a lot of social restrictions and thinking from this era in an accurate way. The story of Jack Parsons is an interesting one, and it works well as a TV series.

It's not heavy on shock value (lazy writing) which could have been a problem with the topics of occult and sex parties. I think the pace is a little slower than I would like but it's acceptable. Surprised by the low rating as this show is definitely higher quality than most of the stuff that is out there. Most comments are favorable.

Decent enough but do you want a second season?

[TheTruthofItIs · 6/10 · 14 October 2018]

This was a pretty decent season 1. There's an A-story and a B-story to follow. The A-story is about how a visionary (Jack Parsons) breaks the rules and conventions of the time - America, 1938 - to advance the science of rocketry - remember, it was all propeller aircraft at the time. So this is another study in perseverance and overcoming everyone throwing obstacles in your way. The B-story is where you find the soft "R" side of this series, the cult of the occult. Familiar with Alistair Crowley? The season finale only mildly set the stage for a season 2 and there's supposed to be five of 'em. Was season 1 good enough to interest me in a second one? I don't think so. There wasn't enough grab, enough of a hook. And most drama series dial it back in their second season, so they tend to be boring while they build back stories and other superfluous plotting we don't care about.

It's like if Cassavetes made a TV show

[Felonious-Punk · 5/10 · 15 June 2018]

Fantasy show about a man who is in obsessed with doing something great. It's not the best acted or directed show, but it's tied to history, and it's tied to excitement, and it's tied to religion and strange cults. The parallel story of the Asian hero adds to the color and taste.

I don't understand why this show only has a 6.9

[object22 · 9/10 · 24 April 2019]

This show is fascinating and top notch in every way script/acting/production. I hope it is finding its audience and gets to finish telling it's amazing story!

Season one was good, season two is awful in every way

[random-70778 · 14 July 2019]

Wow, this show took a massive dive in quality. Either they a) did not expect it to be renewed and just three together a story line and terrible plot and dialogue writing or b) got renewed on a deeply slashed budget or c) some demographic analysis told them most of their audience was idiots and they needed to profoundly dumb down this show.

All the historical accuracy on rocket development is GONE. All the nuance is gone, everything is in your face childish soap opera plotting Even the accuracy of the LA occult movement and the interesting con-men running it is gone.

It is as if they decided their audience was idiots

Interesting if uneven

[creer-720-461537 · 7/10 · 4 September 2022]

Interesting show, uneven acting and at times awkward plot lines but good production values.

It seems that much of it is fiction made up by George Pendle to make a good story. For me that undermines the entire project. A few new characters and a few imagined situations are forgiveable but he's written his own fantasy.

The final episode had a decent conclusion, if more Austin O. Spare than Aleister Crowley, but what was in the cakes of light, hmm? Not perhaps what you expect. Most of the cult of Thelema seemed to be an excuse for an orgy.

At the very end we also get to see that charlatan El Ron, lol.

Note that when he heard of the exploits of Parsons and El Ron, Crowley said they were idiots.

Disclaimer : I read a lot of Crowley stuff in my youth. While in some ways it stays with you, it's hard to get any sort of objective view, though that maybe is half the point. He had some advanced ideas amongst everything else. If I'd seen this show back then, it might have saved some time.

And feel sorry for Leah, the Ape of Thoth, and her and Crowley's baby Poupee, that Crowley, deep in his ego, let die from neglect.

Refreshing

[jeff-97580 · 10/10 · 19 June 2018]

In a world of immediate gratification and Marvel super powered attention getters. It's refreshing to see a show that was written with dynamic range (and somewhat lower "jolt" count editing). I'm so over the "This one goes to eleven" concept in story telling. Strange Angel is a step back in the direction of proper story telling. It should mature nicely.

Excellent sociological study of genius, 1930s California, with a dash of western mysticism

[jaoneal · 10/10 · 25 June 2018]

The is an excellent show that I desperately hope finds its audience. It is an excellent portrayal of late1930s/early 1940s California--as well as the seeds of the counter-culture movement and the ground-work for the evolutionary technological leaps made in California's aerospace industry (and ,later, silicon valley). It is told through an examination of Jack Parsons, a 'real-life' founder of the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) at Cal tech that would go on to become the center of the intellectual world for all things related space exploration.

Much like Kerouac's New York of the 1950s, California in the 30s was chafing against the "High Church" Protestant paradigm of what it meant to be 'American'. It was a hotbed of spiritualist movements, with reading groups and acolytes of Blavatsky, Gurdjieff, and a variety Rosicrucian/Kabalist/Hermeticist, teachings, popping up on every corner.

Into this mix, add the influx of serious intellect from Europe as it sought to escape Hitler's rise, and you have an extremely fertile ground for open-minded questioning of 'established truth' and important intellectual break-throughs. You also have the ingredients of what may become a ground-breaking tv show.

One thing that truly sets this series apart is that whenever this period of exploration into the Western mystical tradition is treated at all (in TV or Movies), it usually turns into a cheap excuse for regurgitating tired "Manson Family" tropes. Eastern Spiritual traditions = Good; Western Spiritual Traditions = satanic/bad. This show offers hope for avoiding this dichotomy as it explores the spiritual yearnings of occult seekers as essential to their creativity in the non-spiritual (real-world) realm.

I do worry a bit it will eventually play up the sensationalist, 'manson family/satanic panic', trope; If for nothing else, simply to attract more eyeballs. But at least the first handful of episodes are truly an excellent exploration of a unique cauldron of sociological, historical, and spiritual ingredients that work in California at the time.

What the Hell this wants to be ?

[pkpera · 2/10 · 21 June 2018]

Starts with some Chinese medieval (or earlier) hunter, superhero - just to see that main 'hero' likes cartoons. Then, they leave factory with dirty faces after work . Were no washing rooms in California factories in those years ? I'm sure there were, this was just to make some effect - typical for inspired serials, movies ... Science part was very shallow, and was little of it. OK, title suggests something else. What will be more in E2, according to what was shown after end.

I will skip rest of this. Overdone, not realistic. What is target audience ? Surely, we will see plenty of ratings 10 here.

Ratings:

Acting overall: 6

Story: 0

Direction: 4

Shocking value: 10

Historical value: 0

How can this show be rated only 6.3!? I almost didn't give it a try...

[premalmandala · 9/10 · 29 July 2018]

I don't know what's going on with the people that score that tv show so poorly. It so obvious when you give it a try that this show is being created with real creativity, a story line super interesting, the quality of image undeniable, where actors are good at what they portray...the way the fantasy mixes with reality is not overdone but brings a definite plus to the watcher. I hope even with the low rating it will remain as this show is awesome! Give it try!

Could Fall Asleep

[randbark-2 · 1/10 · 22 June 2018]

Very slow and methodical plot. And, the acting is incredibly horrible. Don't waste your time.

Excellent!!! This is where nasa started!

[metatron-17305 · 10/10 · 16 August 2018]

I love this show so much! It shows haw nasa came about, and how people who think outside the box and Don't except conformity are the people who actually change the world.

Finally, A GREAT NEW Show worth watching!

[pianodad-26361 · 10/10 · 18 June 2018]

Drama, SciFy, Mystery, This show has it all. Acting is suburb with a great story that can stand on its own, and then you throw in the occult and a huge dose of suspense with a great cast, has me wanting more... I had to write this review to let my fellow viewers know, this is a jewel in an ocean of dung. So much stink smelling up the air waves, and finally a show that will entertain as well as keep you on the edge of your seat. I hope the show catches on.

Brilliant!

[mariared-849-823291 · 10/10 · 15 July 2019]

I love this show, the story, the characters, the atmosphere. I think season two is even better and more exciting then the first. I hope there will be a seaon three at least.

Mockery

[utahleni · 1/10 · 21 July 2018]

It's good till the 5th episode, then the whole thing turns into a Spielberg joke. It's based on a real person's life, so it's really disgusting that they make him out to be collaborating with the "NAZIS" to build missiles that will nuke every city in Europe. Oh please, give me a break, yawn! Then at the very end of the episode he literally turns into a werewolf. All this, after his wife is made out to be a frigid Catholic fanatic, who's own father wants to have sex with her. As well, she's conspiring against her husband with her priest. Also, the nasty Anglo Protestants that head the university are trying to ruin him. Oh, an attractive African woman is interested in him sexually, as well as his buddy neighbor whom is madly in love with him. The ritualized oral sex was interesting. Needless to say that this moronic filth can only come from the diseased inbred minds of Hollywood.