The Faithful: Women of the Bible Episodes 5 and 6 Recap & Review
- Kevin Keating
- 6 minutes ago
- 8 min read
The Faithful: Women of the Bible Episodes 5 and 6 (“The Woman Who Loved") bring Fox’s biblical mini-series to a conclusion with the story of Leah (played by Millie Brady) and Rachel (played by Blue Hunt), the daughters of Laban (played by James Purefoy) and sister-wives of Jacob (played by Tom Payne) who give birth to his twelve sons (Genesis 29-35). Below I’ll offer an overview of the episodes and share my review/reaction.
The Faithful: Women of the Bible Resources
What Happens in The Faithful: Women of the Bible Episodes 5-6? (Summary)
Episode 5 begins by distinguishing the two sisters: Rachel, the younger, is a strong and capable shepherdess, who keeps the flock of her family, in spite of the incompetence of her two older brothers, while Leah, the older sister, has taken over for her deceased mother as the family matriarch. Even as Leah and Laban begin to worry about her lack of marital prospects, her kinsman, Jacob, arrives in town (cf. Genesis 29:1-14), falsely claiming to be the elder son and heir of Isaac and to have been robbed of his rich possessions on the way to Harran.
As Jacob stays in Harran, Leah is certain that he plans to marry her – not knowing that he is actually catching feelings for her younger sister, after overcoming his initial distaste for her tomboyish clothing and lifestyle. When their brothers discover that Jacob is actually an exile and not the firstborn, Laban gives Jacob the chance to stay and work seven years in exchange for one of his daughters – but the whole family is shocked when Jacob takes this deal with respect to Rachel, not Leah. Initially, Rachel vows to set Jacob straight, but his profession of love wins her over and she accepts the offer – creating a rift between the two sisters, who had been so close (cf. Genesis 29:15-20).
After completing the required seven years of service, Jacob demands his promised wife, Rachel. During their wedding feast, however, Laban and his sons lure Rachel away just before the marriage can be consummated and Leah gets Jacob drunk, pretends to be Rachel, and sleeps with him, effectively marrying him. The next morning, when Jacob realizes what happened and objects, Laban insists that he had to marry off his elder daughter first but agrees to give Jacob Rachel too, if he will then stay and serve for another seven years (cf. Genesis 29:21-29). Resenting the treachery, Jacob initially spurns Leah and only gives his affection to Rachel. Yet Rachel does not conceive – and Leah does, from their one night sleeping together (cf. Genesis 29:30-32).
Episode 6 opens with the birth of Jacob’s first son by Leah, Reuben. Although Jacob assures Rachel that this will not change anything, raising Reuben with Leah naturally draws him toward her. Later, while Rachel is away traveling, Leah seduces Jacob and they conceive Simeon (cf. Genesis 29:33). Rachel is furious at Jacob. While he still prefers her, he now continues to sleep with Leah and conceive several more children (cf. Genesis 29:34-35).
Eager to conceive herself, Rachel convinces Leah to give her some mandrakes that her son Reuben found in exchange for letting her sleep with Jacob again – a trade that leads to Leah conceiving, not Rachel (cf. Genesis 30:14-18). Taking pity on her sister, Leah encourages her to stop relying on practical reason and to instead sacrifice to the Lord with faith, and the Lord hears Rachel’s prayer and allows her to conceive and give birth to her first child, Joseph (Genesis 30:22-24). The birth is arduous and nearly kills Rachel, but leaves her happy.
Having completed the second term of pledged service, Jacob asks Laban to allow him and his family to depart with an agreed portion of the flock (those that are speckled and spotted). Unfortunately, Laban is deceptive and secretly removes the striped and spotted lambs from the flock so that Jacob will have nothing and be forced to stay (cf. Genesis 30:25-36). Fortunately, Jacob receives a dream that guides him over the next six years so that he increases the flock agreed upon for him (cf. Genesis 30:37-43).
Recognizing that Laban and his sons feel entitled to everything, Jacob convinces Leah and Rachel that they need to depart secretly with the flock while Laban is busy, but when Laban finds out he pursues them (cf. Genesis 31:1-23). As they approach, Leah discovers that Rachel has stolen Laban’s household idols (cf. Genesis 31:19), but Rachel urges her to say nothing, insisting that she has a plan. When Laban arrives, he chastises Jacob for not letting him part properly with his daughters and for stealing the household idols. Jacob swears that the thief will die, but Laban unable to find them because Rachel sits on them and claims she is having her period (cf. Genesis 31:25-35). Rachel then slips the idols into the clothes of one of her brothers. When the idols slip out, the brothers begin to accuse and fight with one another over the inheritance and Laban hastily retreats.
Finishing the remainder of the journey, as they approach Canaan, Jacob is reconciled with Essau (cf. Genesis 33 and Episodes 3-4). Two years later, the family is content and the two sisters are at peace, until Jacob’s dream of twelve sons reignites the rivalry between the two sisters. Leah is willing to concede to Rachel, but fears that she may die if she tries to birth another child. Her fears prove correct. After a grueling birth, Rachel gives birth to Benjamin, who she names for her pain but Jacob names for strength. Before she dies, Leah promises to raise Rachel’s son as her own, parting on positive terms with her sister.
Twenty one years later, Leah oversees the ravenous Benjamin’s wedding ceremony, assuring him that his mother would be proud of the man he has become. Although he misses his mother, the two are able to join in the rejoicing as they see God fulfilling his promise to multiply the descendents of Jacob.
The Faithful: Women of the Bible Episodes 5-6 Review
Episodes 5 and 6 are the strongest installment of The Faithful Season 1. A few elements really struck out:
Cast & Chemistry: Although the preceding installments have had a couple decent performances, the acting hasn't been a strong suit for The Faithful so far. What struck me in Episodes 5-6 is that the performers actually seem to be having fun and playing off of one another. I was particularly surprised by how much I enjoyed James Purefoy’s hammy portrayal of the sometimes scheming, sometimes bumbling, sometimes selfish, sometimes caring Laban. The interactions between the core three – Millie Brady’s Leah, Blue Hunt’s Rachel, and Tom Payne’s Jacob – are often melodramatic, but that's kind of the point. At the very least, I bought that these were three people who all cared about one another but we're also struggling with deep personal hurts and struggles
Time Passing: Episodes 5-6 handle the passage of time much more effectively than the previous installments. The pan-as-time-passes technique works quite well, and the pacing works fairly well – at least in Episode 5.
Moral Complexity: In the previous installments, it felt like there was a much clearer sense of who was in the right and who was in the wrong. Perhaps due to the nature of the underlying material, it's harder to define a clear and consistent “good guy” and “bad guy” – that shifts over time and in some cases it feels like everyone (or no one) has a legitimate point of view. It would have been easy to demonize Leah, but instead the show makes her into the most pious of the three.
Biblical Engagement: Episode 5 follows the shape of the biblical story fairly closely – introducing elements to explain anomalies in the narrative (e.g. Why did Jacob wait a month to propose? Why was there such confusion over the subject of his proposal?). Episode 6 eliminates the role of the maidservants in conceiving children for Jacob on behalf of their respective mistresses. Given the constraints of the run time, this was a necessary simplification. But there are trade offs – we miss the parallels to Sarai and Hagar, which highlight how, yet again, the women are trying to fulfill God’s purposes through human scheming. Even so, I think the show runners made the best of what they had.
All of that being said, Episodes 5-6 did have some problems:
Pacing: While the pacing for Episode 5 felt just right, Episode 6 felt rushed. Ideally, this same content would have been spread out over at least 1-2 more episodes (at least one for the birthing battles and at least one (maybe two) for the separation from Laban). The pace didn't leave a lot of room to explore how the characters were feeling about the flurry of significant events and also caused some actions and decisions to feel artificial or forced.
Big Picture: The show continues to undersell the larger biblical narrative that these personal dramas are a part of. Part of me feels like some sort of narrative frame set later, during the Exodus, could have helped. It would have allowed us to understand the long-term ramifications of the rivalry between the sisters (i.e. the fault lines between the tribes descended from each of them) and also provided a context for understanding why God was so involved with the fertility of this one specific family
God’s Role: Episode 6 seems to suggest that God enabled Leah to give birth to so many children while not allowing Rachel to do so for quite some time because Leah was more pious and Rachel never really tried praying until Leah encouraged her to do so. Not only is that not in the text, I think it's a dangerous over-simplification. I would hate for a barren woman to take away the conclusion that her condition is simply a result of a lack of faith. The Bible makes it clear that people of deep faith and piety can go for years upon years without receiving a child (see Elizabeth and Zechariah in Luke 1). Conversely, people without faith sometimes conceive immediately (see Hagar). Genesis presents this story as being primarily about God’s compassion for the disadvantaged and vulnerable than being about who has more faith. Both women act faithlessly but God still has mercy on them because of his covenant commitment and his compassionate character.
Whitewashing: While this installment allows for more moral complexity than earlier ones, The Faithful still has an annoying tendency toward making the characters involved act better than they actually appear to be in the text. As I noted above, the decision to excise Zilpah and Bilhah, the concubines used by Rachel and Leah in their birthing race, minimizes how both sisters (not just Rachel) are relying on (sinful) human means to fulfill God’s purposes. In general, I think the show tries a little too hard to make both sisters appear congenial and caring toward one another. There’s also nothing in the text that suggests that Rachel stole Laban’s idols as a “contingency plan” – rather, the implication is that she was worshipping idols alongside the true God. The fact that God seems to bring home Jacob’s oath about the possessor of the idols dying reinforces that fact (the show undersells this point).
One final point: Episodes 5 and 6 contain a mixture of campy humor (usually involving Laban and his sons) and soap opera melodrama (usually between the sisters). I think that’s 100% intentional, so I’m not pointing this out as a criticism per se. Just as there’s room for biblical epics like House of David, there’s room for biblical soap operas, and if there ever was a biblical story fit for the genre, it’s the story of Rachel, Leah, and Jacob. This isn’t my cup of tea, but I suspect there is an audience out there for it. I just think it’s worth setting expectations before going in and knowing what The Faithful is aiming for. This is not a high-brow take on the story of Leah and Rachel – and that’s okay.
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