Abhiroop Das
Created by Lena Waithe, Paramount+’s crime drama series ‘The Chi’ steps into its eighth and final season with Emmett, Victor, Bakari, and many others at an odd precipice in life. After the deaths of Quentin and Douda, all of South Side Chicago is seemingly sent into chaos, forcing many to pick sides between Reg and Nuck’s respective gangs. However, both characters have their share of skeletons in the closet that are just waiting to come out, and a single incident sets this fallout into motion. In the middle of the episode, Pastor Zeke’s mysterious demise in the previous season is brought up at last, forcing many, including Papa, to change their perspective on the old man and his legacy. One of the many ways this transition is brought forth is in how the show sheds a new light on Pastor Zeke’s Church of the Living Water.
Church of the Living Water is Invented Specifically For the Gray World of The Chi
The Church of the Living Water is a fictional construct created by the writing team of ‘The Chi’ specifically for the story. First introduced alongside Pastor Zeke in season 6, the church soon becomes a part of the narrative’s larger commentary on crime in South Side Chicago. While Pastor Zeke may be a popular religious leader among his community, he secretly also runs a money laundering business with Douda and his mob. As such, the church encapsulates both the show’s brightest and darkest shades of storytelling. However, with Zeke dying towards the end of season 7, what we see in season 8 is possibly the final appearance of the Church of the Living Water. This time, the setting is stripped down of all of its context, allowed to serve as a stage for some of the story’s emotional beats to date.
Given that the Church of the Living Water is depicted as a megachurch, it is possible that its broader look and design is a nod to real-life megachurches or congregations in real-life, more specifically in South Side Chicago. However, while there may be some superficial connections between these real-life institutions and Pastor Zeke’s church, a fundamental difference lies in how the show turns the setting into a vessel for its commentary on crime. In real life, famous Chicago megachurches like the Salem Baptist Church, located at 752 East 114th Street, or the Trinity United Church of Christ, located at 400 West 95th Street, are known as centers of community, learning, and spirituality. Pastor Zeke’s church, by contrast, is largely built around a fictional set of storylines, which make it distinct from any potential real-life counterparts.
Another facet that plays into Church of the Living Water’s sense of realism is that much of the show is filmed on site, with real environments in Chicago giving the narrative shape in real time. While the exact filming location of the church hasn’t been revealed as of writing, it is possible that a mix of set-crafted interiors and real-life exteriors completes the overall look. The cinematography of ‘The Chi’ has always centered around evoking a sense of familiarity, and that design philosophy is carried over to how the show portrays Pastor Zeke’s church from beginning to end.
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