From culture editor Kate Lucky: I’m always happy when a critic can put a piece of art in context for our readers. The best reviews don’t just evaluate a new TV show in a vacuum; they explain how it relates to other shows and films and books, how this new culture has been shaped by older culture.

One good example is our recent review of House of David. Turns out, there was a David miniseries in the 1990s. Another show about “a battle-weary king, a powerful and resentful prophet, and a resourceful young shepherd” aired as recently as 2016. But House of David depicts Bible passages that aren’t shown in these movies. Why does that matter? Our critic explains.

In today’s piece about Last Days, a new movie about the young missionary John Allen Chau, our critic compares this film to other tellings of the martyr’s story—a National Geographic documentary from 2023 and a feature article from 2019. This compare-and-contrast turns out to be key to understanding what Last Days does well and where it misses the mark.