The Chosen One could be Netflix’s most interesting coming-of-age fantasy show after Stranger Things. Both shows had kids at the center of the plot, with a few adults helping them reach their final goal. In The Chosen One, there were only a few adults who were trying to help Jodie find his calling. One of them is his mother, Sarah.
Sarah saved Jodie from being kidnapped in the prologue of the show and drove off to Mexico. She knew her son Jodie carried some powers, and to make sure nobody exploited him, she left the country in the hope that no one would follow her. Set in the late 1990s, Jodie is now a 12-year-old kid who is on pills to control his seizures. The seizures are nothing, but the dreams Jodie comes across frequently. Sarah always stays by his side and has been a good parent to him so far. Even when he plans to head out into the desert with his friends to look for a mythical creature, Sarah does not stop him.
But she has hidden his parentage and lineage so that he does not abandon his life here to search for his father. There is a possibility that she does not know how Jodie will take the news. Through this season, we are told about the powers Jodie, as an infant, carried within himself right after his birth. It was his wail that disturbed everyone around him and caused the trembling of every object in the hospital. There is no specific reason why Sarah decided to take her child. She was legally bound to give away her son to the group/cult as per the contract. The most clichéd answer could be that Sarah developed an attachment to her unborn baby. She might have come across some information about the group’s affiliations. She, as a person, does not lean towards any religious belief. On learning what the group represents, she wanted to raise her child away from the brainwashing he would be subjected to.
Jodie had never informed his mother about the dreams and visions. Once he does that, Sarah asks him to leave the town with her. We get to hear from Jodie that the mother and son have been on the move for a long time. Baja has been one of the places that Jodie feels connected to. Since the boy is reaching his teens, he’s become determined to stay back in town, for he has grown closer to his friends. He is not keen on restarting his life with another identity. Jodie, for the first time, stands up to his mother, and the woman is surprisingly not taken aback. This was something she had expected at some point. Sarah and Jodie’s multiple passports with different names are revealed. It is implied that they lived in different towns using these fake identities before moving to Baja. Sarah closed every avenue that could lead the group to her and Jodie. These passports disclose their real names. She was Marie Christianson, and her son’s initial name was Jodie Mitchell, which Sarah changed to Jodie Christianson.
After a lot of contemplation and hoping Jodie would somehow understand her situation, she reveals that his birth was a miracle. Sarah had never gotten physically intimate with anyone. Sarah was under the impression that Jodie would finally understand her situation. Her son was in no mood to wrap his head around so many details because he felt his life had been a compilation of lies. Sarah also talks about the medication he consumes daily to control his emotions so that there is no outburst from his end. She is aware that his outbursts could draw attention to him, which she is not keen on at the moment. Sarah did everything she could in the hope that Jodie could be rescued. She is not carried away by her son’s popularity, as the village calls him a messiah. Unlike the Virgin Mary, she was not willing to support her son and the madness that he was causing in the town in his name. She is certain that people are possessed by the idea that religion is their only answer. Sarah probably knew what ran through Jodie’s veins, and she did not want him to use his powers to help them. There could be a possibility that Sarah lied about Jodie’s father. She knew who it was but was not keen on opening Pandora’s box.
Sarah comes across Lemuel, who claims to be looking for kids like Jodie, who show powers. Initially, many were under the impression that Lemuel might be from the group Sarah was running away from. He claims to have come down to save his mother and son from the troubles that will befall them. Sarah, after seeing her only son move away, keeps tabs on him. Something that Jodie’s friends also noticed. Sarah wasn’t willing to give up on Jodie because she knew the boy would need her at some point.
Sarah attends Tuka’s funeral and is heartbroken. With Jodie not in her life anymore, the only information she received about her son was from her friend Elvis, who is close to Jodie as well. It is perplexing to see Jodie get detached from his mother so quickly. It could be that his powers are manifesting into something powerful that is probably alienating him from his mother and other friends. As Jodie uses all the power he has in him to bring Tuko back to life, Sarah realizes her son has collectively become too powerful and lets him go as the group that was looking for Jodie arrives. It is not clear if it was Sarah who invited them to take Jodie away or if it was Lemuel who was lying all this time. Sarah’s contribution to Jodie’s life seems to be over, as per season one’s conclusion. But since she was the one who was aware of that world, which she was briefly part of, Sarah could very well be involved in her son’s life from time to time and guide him to do the right thing.
