The Australian drama “Prosper” is about the Roku channelfollows the Quinn family and their megachurch franchise. Father Cal (Richard Roxburgh) is the smooth, energetic leader, the kind of pastor who doesn’t turn the other cheek but rather hits back harder. Mother Abi (Rebecca Gibney) is the hard-core power player, willing but not always happy to cover up her family’s transgressions — a task that takes up most of her time.
Eldest son Dion (Ewen Leslie) may be too soft-spoken to take over. “If you want to inherit the earth, Dion, you’re going to have to be a little less humble,” an attaché says. Dion’s wife Taz (Ming-Zhu Hii), however, is more than happy to push him. God helps those who help their husbands, right? Issy (Hayley McCarthy) is the pop singer with a showbiz Jesus husband (Jordi Webber) who’s dying to preach himself, while Jed (Jacob Collins-Levy) is the prodigal son who traded megachurch for soup kitchen but now finds himself sucked back into the fold. And the baby of the family, adopted teenage Moses (Alexander D’Souza), is trying to reconnect with his birth parents amid a self-destructive spiral.
“Nobody does church like we do,” Cal boasts. You’d better hope so! His plan to found a church in Los Angeles has his kids scrambling for top spots, proving their spiritual as well as their commercial mettle. They’re vying to baptize a famous young DJ, the way the “Succession” kids tried to close deals. Jesus is Lord, but money is king, and those sprawling buildings, rock concert venues, private helicopters and image consultants aren’t going to pay for themselves.
“Prosper” has enough tawdry scandals to qualify as a soap opera and enough Shakespearean power-hungry to qualify as a fancy drama. Unlike some of its more prestige-seeking brethren, “Prosper” moves; it almost feels distilled. Episodes speed by, and characters tend to announce their plans and allegiances, and what the show lacks in nuance it makes up for in momentum. Many of the juiciest storylines are ripped from tabloid headlines, but the series avoids tinny caricatures and instead finds the real light and desire in its characters, the sincerity of the quest amid the hypocrisy of the outcomes.
