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
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