By now, some of you may have watched some of the episodes of Strange Angel, the TV series “inspired” (that’s what it says in the opening onscreen credits) by George Pendle’s biography of the same name. It’s trippy watching as most of the characters and events depicted are not historically based least of all the rendition of the Gnostic Mass the main private and public ritual of the Ordo Templi Orientis and its liturgical arm the Ecclesia Gnostic Catholica. Many episodes have brief scenes coming from various parts of the Mass, sort of – but turned topsy turvy and played for maximum perv appeal. Meanwhile, the Washington Post opined:
“’Strange Angel,’ the new CBS All Access series, is a show that lives up to its provocative title. It’s based on the life of Jack Parsons, who aimed for the heavens by building rockets — and becoming deeply involved with a ‘sex magick’ cult.
“The show, which draws its title from a biography of Parsons, is set in 1930s Los Angeles, when a young Parsons was recently (and unhappily) married and working as a janitor at a chemical company, sweeping up residue to use in his rocketry experiments with a strait-laced friend. That’s where Parsons puts his salary, too, so he and his wife are behind on their mortgage.
“Portrayed by Irish-American actor Jack Reynor, Parsons is a brawny fellow with a slender moustache, the bluest of eyes and a desperate longing to succeed in the field of rocketry — a field that, a professor warns him, ‘does not even exist.’ The fact that Parsons has no college degree does not deter him. Then again, his hold on reality seems a bit tenuous. He slips into comic book-inspired fantasies of slaying a giant feline with a bow-and-arrow.”
