Is there life after death? That’s an age-old question that countless numbers of people have wanted to know for thousands of years. It’s also been the premise of TNT’s new summer television show appropriately titled “Proof”.
I was skeptical at best when I saw an early preview for this new series mostly because I’m a firm believer that something exists beyond this plane. What is it? I don’t know. But I didn’t really want to tune into a weekly fictional drama that might be slanted towards proving an afterlife doesn’t exist. I’m happy to report that wasn’t the case.
“Proof” stars Jennifer Beals as Dr. Carolyn Tyler, who is a very skilled heart surgeon incredibly dedicated to her career. After being initially approached by billionaire Alan Turing (Matthew Modine) and told he’s cancer-stricken and desires to know what happens after one dies, she indicates she really doesn’t know. That’s when the viewer sees a quick flash of her own near-death drowning experience (NDE) from years ago. When Turing says he wants to hire her to investigate cases to discover whether there’s actually life after death or not, she instantly balks at the idea and graciously declines. Like many of the doctors she works with, Carolyn tends to believe in science and fights the idea that anything beyond death even exists. But when her boss, Dr. Charles Richmond (Joe Morton), strongly suggests she aid Turing in whatever he needs solely because of the money Turing plans on investing into their hospital, she reconsiders for him. After accepting Turing’s offer, she then forms a team consisting of Dr. Zed Badawi (Edi Gathegi) and Janel Ramsey (Caroline Kaplan), who together go on to explore various events and instances of possible life after death.
Probably the most fascinating element of this new series is the fact that Dr. Tyler has her own hidden agenda. Not only because of her own NDE, but also because she lost her son in a car accident when she was driving the two of them some years prior. Struggling to move on and forgive herself, she hopes to find out whether her son lives on in some afterlife or whether his death was his ultimate end.
While I’ve never had an NDE myself, nor had any experience of seeing ghosts or anything else beyond this plane of reality, I’ve done enough research over the years to feel there’s got to be something beyond this life, I just don’t know what it is. Watching “Proof” reminded me of many of the books I’ve read about this subject and enthralled me completely through each of its 10 episodes.
There are plenty of moments where I’ve wished myself that I had my own proof of an afterlife, especially as of late over my frustration with all the pain I’ve been going through for so long now. But alas, I’m in the dark like most of us are here and do my best to live my life with faith that hopefully something really is beyond this life. Whether my Higher Power chooses to ever reveal any of that to me during the rest of this existence or not remains to be seen. Until then, I’m going to continue watching well-written television shows such as “Proof” because it shows like this one that ultimately help me to keep the faith that life after death truly does exist.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
