Hand of God (TV series)

Hand of God is an American drama television series created by Ben Watkins. The premiere episode is one of two drama pilots that Amazon streamed online in August 2014, along with Hysteria. Viewers were allowed to offer their opinions about the pilot before the studio decided whether or not to place an order for the entire series.^[2] In October 2014, Hand of God was ordered to full series by Amazon Studios.^[3]

Hand of God
Title screen from season two
Genre	Drama Psychological thriller
Created by	Ben Watkins
Starring	Ron Perlman Dana Delany Andre Royo Garret Dillahunt Alona Tal Emayatzy Corinealdi Julian Morris Elizabeth McLaughlin
Opening theme	"An Honest Man", performed by Fantastic Negrito
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	20
Production
Production location	Los Angeles
Running time	45–66 min[1]
Production companies	Universal Television Alcon Television Group
Original release
Network	Amazon Prime Video
Release	August 28, 2014 (2014-08-28) – March 10, 2017 (2017-03-10)

The series officially premiered on September 4, 2015. A second season was ordered in December 2015, which premiered on March 10, 2017.^[4] On September 15, 2016, Amazon Studios announced that the series would end after the second season.^[5]

Plot

Hand of God follows Pernell Harris (Ron Perlman), a corrupt judge who suffers a breakdown and believes that God is compelling him onto a path of vigilante justice. He becomes a member of a church called Hand of God, which proves to be a dangerous cult.

Cast

Main

• Ron Perlman as Pernell Harris
• Dana Delany as Crystal Harris
• Andre Royo as Robert "Bobo" Boston
• Garret Dillahunt as KD
• Alona Tal as Jocelyn Harris
• Emayatzy Corinealdi as Tessie Graham
• Julian Morris as Paul Curtis
• Elizabeth McLaughlin as Alicia Hopkins

Recurring

• Johnny Ferro as PJ Harris (Pernell Jr.)
• Cleavon McClendon as Asa Boston
• Maximiliano Hernández as Chief Toby Clay
• Anthony Starke as DA Gilbert McCauley
• Jon Tenney as Nick Tramble
• Tommy Day Carey as Detective Warren
• Elaine Tan as Anne Wu (season 1)
• Erykah Badu as April (season 1)
• Hunter Parrish as Josh Miller (season 1)
• Sandy Martin as Randy (guest season 1, recurring season 2)
• Jimmy Ray Bennett as Nathan Brooks (guest season 1, recurring season 2)
• Eric J. Krueger as Adam Rieders (guest season 1, recurring season 2)
• Emilio Rivera as Sgt. Kessler (guest season 1, recurring season 2)
• Nia Long as Izzy (season 2)
• Brian Baumgartner as Dr. Olonari (season 2)
• Guy Burnet as Raymond Kelly (season 2)

Episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally released
1	10	1	August 28, 2014 (2014-08-28)
		9	September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04)
2	10		March 10, 2017 (2017-03-10)

Season 1 (2014–2015)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"Pilot"	Marc Forster	Ben Watkins	August 28, 2014 (2014-08-28)
2	2	"Your Inside Voice"	Marc Forster	Ben Watkins	September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04)
3	3	"Contemplating the Body"	Richard J. Lewis	Ben Watkins & Daniel Tuch	September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04)
4	4	"He So Loved"	Sarah Pia Anderson	Becky Hartman Edwards	September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04)
5	5	"Welcome the Stranger"	Ernest R. Dickerson	Sam Forman	September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04)
6	6	"For the Rain to Gather"	Andrew Bernstein	Deborah Schoeneman	September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04)
7	7	"A Bird in Hand"	Peter Medak	Teleplay by : Mark Hudis Story by : Mark Hudis & Ali Garfinkel	September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04)
8	8	"One Saved Message"	Mario Van Peebles	Ben Watkins & Ben Cory Jones	September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04)
9	9	"A Flower That Bees Prefer"	Stephen Williams	Theresa Rebeck	September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04)
10	10	"The Tie That Binds"	Brad Anderson	Ben Watkins	September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04)

Season 2 (2017)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
11	1	"Gathering Dust"	Mario Van Peebles	Ben Watkins & Jim Dunn	March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)
12	2	"Telling Me Your Dreams"	Peter Medak	Ben Watkins & Sam Ernst	March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)
13	3	"We Can't Go Back"	Christine Moore	Michael Angeli	March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)
14	4	"Not Writing a Love Letter"	Sarah Pia Anderson	Daniel Tuch	March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)
15	5	"I See That Now"	Ali Selim	Shernold Edwards	March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)
16	6	"What Do You Hear..."	Stephen Surjik	Dawn Kamoche & Ariella Blejer	March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)
17	7	"When You Pull the Trigger"	Tim Hunter	Teleplay by : Ben Watkins & Michael Angeli Story by : Michael Kastelein & Chris Wu	March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)
18	8	"The Last Thing Left"	Kate Woods	Jim Dunn	March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)
19	9	"What a Man Can Be"	Peter Medak	Sam Ernst	March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)
20	10	"He Must Be"	Ben Watkins	Ben Watkins	March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)

Reception

The series has received mixed reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the first season has a score of 44 out of 100 based on 19 critics reviews,^[6] and an 8.2/10 from IGN.^[7] The average rating on TV.com is 8.3 out of 10 based on 33 ratings.^[8]

Emily VanDerWerff of Vox called the show "mind-bogglingly bad".^[9] Mike Hale of The New York Times wrote that it "loses its focus" and that it feels "attenuated and static".^[10] Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times gave the series a negative review, writing that it had great acting but "little else".^[11] David Sims of The Atlantic wrote that the climax of the series didn't "justify 10 depressing hours of television".^[12] In contrast, Robert Rorke of the NY Post called the show "oddly compelling",^[13] while Tirdad Derakhshani of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "It's such an engaging, original, quirky, and thought-provoking drama, it should be seen."^[14]