I know, this isn’t technically a “review”. The way I’ve covered The Messengers for Gloryosky, the site might as well exploit this doomed show as best it can.

The Messengers was cancelled by The CW on May 7, 2015. That’s not surprising. While the fourth episode of the show tightens up the writing to a certain extent, there’s still the problem of characters going to wherever they’re most dramatically convenient.

I find the character pick-and-mixing per episode artificial. Peter is segregated to his own plot and backstory this week, while Raul, Erin, Vera and Joshua stop the assassination of a world leader at an energy conference. The Man outright tells people in cahoots with him that they work for him. There is nothing subtle about The Messengers. It makes The Flash’s genuflecting at DC Comics history a study in restraint. Also, The Messengers needs to state its boundaries, yet The Messengers outright states four episodes in that angel powers only work at the most urgent (read: climax-appropriate) times. That’s bad on a program service where iZombie throws curveballs on a dime.

I understand The Messengers sets up an episodic structure, and “Drums of War” attempts to tell two stories per week, instead of three or four. Some of The Messengers’ problems look like they will be fixed as the season goes on. At the same time, with a series-low 650,000 viewers for the third episode, I’m not sure if The CW will abide the show for a full season if the ratings tank even more – which, luckily enough, they haven’t.

I don’t think the ratings decline has anything to do with the religious overtones. It’s a show called The Messengers, an attempt to wed The Book of Revelation with Heroes. The Messengers isn’t cancelled due to growing secularism. The show’s cancelled due to the “previously on” summaries being clearer than the actual show, viewership declining by almost half in two weeks, and writing that outright tells the viewer how lazy it is. I like the idea of The Messengers, yet it’s flubbing that idea with its execution.

Live-tweet session:
The Messengers 1.4 (“Drums of War”)

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