Review: Excellent Cliffhanger
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 12, 2013
QUICK HIT - Mirrors continues where Identity left off and deeply explores the theme of finding true beauty in humanity.WARNING! SPOILERS FOR IDENTITY BY TED DEKKERWhen last we left our intrepid adventurers, they were trapped in the psych ward of a local hospital--one dedicated to fixing the most extreme cases of mental illness. Christy and Austin have long searched for their true identities...but now Dr. Kern Lawson is telling them they are actually Alice Ringwald and Scott Connelly, two of his patients in need of serious mental help. Paranoid. Delusional. Unable to know reality. That their minds playing games on them, making them think they're trapped against their will.Christy and Austin have to escape. But how? Underneath all of this, thoughts niggle that perhaps Dr. Lawson and his staff are right and they are mentally ill. Maybe they're fighting against their source of salvation. Mirrors, episode two of Eyes Wide Open, forces Christy and Austin to take a good, hard look at themselves and decide upon the truth. What is an illusion and what is not?Mirrors offers some great action scenes and provides some of the deepest philosophical points of Eyes Wide Open. Austin rebels against the medical staff, frantically attempting escape. Christy is more open to the suggestion that perhaps she isn't well after all. Their journeys each have their own paths which reach a climax and then leave the reader hanging until Unseen. Especially powerful is the theme of beauty that Ted brings into the serialization. Christy is convinced she is ugly and if only she were beautiful then she could truly find herself. People would love her and she would in turn love herself. Perhaps Lawson can teach her to see through the illusion of her mind and reflect back her true self. Unless maybe her true self really is ugly.Are we all ugly creatures? Perhaps most modern theology would say so. So sin-ridden that there is no good thing in us. Ugly because we are sin. Ugly because we are sinful. Christians often denigrate themselves to ugliness...but is this true theology? Or are we, despite our sin, beautiful creatures? These questions are powerful and soul-rattling and Dekker makes his point within the fictional realm well.A solid second installment, Mirrors adequately furthers the storyline with a cliffhanger meant to ensure that you won't pass on Unseen.