HBO’s ’30 Cash’ Revives ‘Gospel of Judas’ Fable

Given Christianity’s hatred of Christianity in 2020, it makes sense that 2021 should begin with a totally uneducated perspective of Christianity. HBO’s Spanish drama 30 Coins brings back the classic myth of the Gospel of Judas to poison our screens again. Much like the Da Vinci Code, this story never seems to die.

The January 11th episode “The Mirror” continues the story of Small Town Mayor Paco (Miguel Ángel Silvestre), who teamed up with local vet Elena (Megan Montaner) to investigate the strange events that followed the arrival of Father Manuel Vergara (Eduard Fernández) to investigate.

When Paco and Elena come across an apparently possessed mirror, they find a connection to the Gospel of Judas. This leads Paco to ask Father Vergara about the subject, and the priest introduces this group called Cainites, who follow the Gnostic Gospel of Judas which says that Jesus and Judas planned his betrayal.

Basically, the Cainites believe in doing evil because “there is no good without evil” and it’s all part of God’s plan, as if the gospel wasn’t blasphemous enough for the audience. Father Vergara quickly notes that this is just what the Cainites believe, not necessarily true. However, the show seems to go against him at every turn. The entire series revolves around evil demons and members of an ancient organization who hunt down all thirty pieces of silver that were once given to Judas for allegedly having supernatural powers.

This episode also reveals that most of the current Cainite members are “Church,” which defeats the idea that this is a fringe conspiracy. 30 coins seem to follow the Gospel of Judas more than anything else in the actual Bible.

Beyond that, the show itself isn’t exactly a pleasant watch. There is dismemberment, bad language and a lot of blood. The smoking, tattooed, former criminal Father Vergara is of course a terrible representation of the religious sect in addition to the literally bad ones. Even without the Cainites, the show seemed eager to portray the Vatican as a ruthless cultic organization. It makes blasphemy seem almost tame in comparison.

30 Coins continues HBO’s decline into antitheism. We cannot say that we were not warned.

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