Everyone needs good friends. Sometimes, that can be a trap.
The Congregation: The Bride of Christ
All six episodes are now streaming on Viaplay.
In January 2004, two people were shot in the small village of Knutby, Sweden; one was seriously wounded, while the other was found dead. Both were members of a Pentecostal church, as was the woman who confessed to the shooting.
The events leading up to the murder and its aftermath served as the inspiration for Jonas Bonnier's novel Knutby, first published in 2019. The documentary series Pray, Obey, Kill, first broadcast on HBO in 2021, covered the events as well. (The series is not currently available on HBO Max.)
The first season of The Congregation fictionalized these events, leading up to a deadly shooting. The second season, The Congregation: The Bride of Christ, picks up in the aftermath, as the members of the Pentecostal church in Knutby, Sweden, carry on under the sole leadership of Eva.
The congregants believe that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will take place in their lovely little rural village Real Soon Now, and that he will take his bride at that time. Until then, Eva, as the Bride of Christ, is the dominant personage in the church, and all the church members happily obey her every wish and whim, believing that they are demonstrating their loyalty to Christ.
Eva is kind, loving, and encouraging, and is absolutely certain that she has been chosen to lead her followers to The End. On that level, it's easy to relate to the members' desire to belong to a community that embraces them with love and peace. They live together, they farm together, they eat together, and they share everything.
It may beggar belief, though, especially after the events in Season 1. But that's very much how cults gather large followings of True Believers, through the outward appearance of peace, love, and understanding. Everyone wants friends of like mind; everyone wants to be supported, and to support their friends. Many find it easy to follow charming and persuasive leaders.
It's absolutely lovely, until it isn't. And Eva starts showing her true colors before the end of the first episode, striking back harshly against a member for a minor issue.
That's the point at which you would hope the members of the congregation began to question why a woman who claims to be -- or accepts the title of -- "The Bride of Christ" would ever strike back harshly against anyone. A single action does not immediately signal big trouble, but the lack of an apology of any sort is another warning sign that the followers choose to swallow.
Thus, the show steps forward, deeper and deeper into the throes of devoted cultdom, in a quiet and increasingly distraught fashion. It can be a frustrating show to watch, not because of the quality of the writing, direction, and performances, but because it's difficult not to watch without wishing that the members would "snap out of it," to quote Cher in Moonstruck (1987).
The show takes pains before each episode to point out that it's based on a true story, except when it's not (?!), and I don't know enough about the case to know which parts have been entirely fictionalized. Even so, it's the kind of show that leaves a footprint of deep hurt upon the psyche.
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