MARTIN SCORCESE PRESENTS: THE SAINTS: Episode 1 and 2: “Joan of Arc” and “John the Baptist”

Here is the decision. Martin Scorsese's docudrama series retells the lives of Catholic saints, and its first two hours — Joan of Arc and John the Baptist — are genuinely beautiful to look at. Liah O'Prey makes a believable Joan, the period detail is right on target, and both episodes honor an unshakeable faith and the call to do God's will whatever it costs.

But the series has a problem you should weigh before pressing play. It omits important biblical passages and, most tellingly, leaves the Holy Spirit out of Jesus' baptism entirely. The commentary — led by Scorsese and the controversial Father James Martin — feels limited, and a humanist anti-supernaturalism creeps in, turning God-acting-in-history into merely a human story. Add war violence, an implied virginity examination, and adult references, and the caution is real.

So: watch, but watch with discernment — and preferably at home, Bible nearby, ready to fill in what these episodes leave out. That's why we say wait and see.

Two saints, two episodes. In "Joan of Arc," a 15th-century peasant girl in a war-ravaged French village begins to hear voices she comes to understand as sent by God. They send her — dressed as a man — to convince a king to hand her an army against the English.

In "John the Baptist," the son of a Levite grows disgusted with the hypocrisy of Jerusalem's leaders under the Roman puppet Herod. He wanders into the Judean desert, where a people desperate for the promised Messiah await someone to prepare the way. What each of them must give to answer that call is the heart of the tale.

Three stars, and here is what they mean. The cinematography is exquisite — masterful period work in "Joan of Arc," with wardrobe and set locations that produce genuinely wonderful images. When the series wants to look beautiful, it does.

The weaknesses are in the execution. The acting is rushed in many places, and in "John the Baptist" the chemistry between the actors simply isn't there. The two epilogues, meant to add insight, feel limited instead. And "John the Baptist" undercuts its own storyline by omitting the biblical facts that give it meaning, so the drama misses the mark it was aiming for. What's left is a handsome series that never quite rises to the story it's telling.

These episodes carry a strong Christian, biblical worldview — but an undeveloped one. Joan's story exalts exactly what Scripture exalts: belief in God and the courage to fulfill His will even at the cost of your life. The John the Baptist episode acknowledges the existence of and the need for a Messiah, and shows John longing to find God, to please Him, and to do His will. One voice in the epilogue even affirms that Jesus is "fully Man and fully God."

Yet a humanist anti-supernaturalism runs underneath. In the epilogue, the director frames Jesus as one who came to bring people comfort — with little said about salvation or eternal life. Worse, the baptism of Jesus omits the Holy Spirit descending as a dove and the Father's voice from heaven, and drops John's own promise that the Messiah would baptize "with the Holy Spirit and with fire," keeping only the fire. The series also rewrites John himself, portraying him as uncertain whether a Messiah is even coming — where Scripture shows him leaping in the womb at the sound of Mary's voice. The result turns a story about God acting in history into merely a human one.

One editorial note: the commentary is led by Scorsese and the controversial Father James Martin, and it shapes how these lives are read. Weigh that as you watch.

Strip the Spirit from the Jordan and you lose the point. Scripture keeps Him at the center: "the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove" (Matthew 3:16).

Scorsese has made something beautiful and something incomplete: gorgeous images wrapped around two sacred lives, with the Spirit strangely absent from the center of it all. Watch with your Bible open and your discernment engaged — which is why we say wait and see. Looking for something the whole household can watch instead? Try our family-friendly picks.