The existence of this show has made it entirely possible for me to stomach Amazon's recent cancellation of Patriot, a two-season masterpiece that never got a chance to show off how brilliant and brutal and funny it was. Why? Because the creator of Patriot, along with honestly more than half of its castmembers are here now, making Perpetual Grace, LTD, on fucking Epix of all places. It's arguably even better than Patriot was and its first season was just flawless and oh fuck wait a minute how is this even-less-accessible, less-hyped show ever going to find the audience Patriot so desperately deserved and needed? Gah!
Let me pitch this delightfully weird and wonderful show, all-star cast and all.
It all starts with a plan. Just the easiest little plan. In New Mexico, somewhere near the border of old Mexico, a guy named Paul Allen Brown (Dewey Crowe from Justified) has a scheme to rob his wealthy con-artist parents (Ben Kingsley and Jacki Weaver). It involves sending them to Mexico to look for him - their missing son - while an interloper named James (Jimmi Simpson) steals Paul's identity and empties out his parents' bank accounts back home. Then Paul and James will split the money fifty-fifty. Couldn't be simpler.
This goes, as you might suspect, immediately and hilariously awry. What Paul fails to mention to James is that he's a person of interest in the murder of a little girl from Texas. So when "Paul" attempts to make a transaction, a Texas Ranger (Terry O'Quinn) gets an alert and heads straight to New Mexico to grill James-as-Paul about the murder. Also up James-as-Paul's ass is a convicted murderer (Chris Conrad) whose dying parents lost all of their money after being grifted by Ma and Pa Brown.
Part of the plan involves coercing an inept Mexican sheriff (Luis Guzman) to occupy Ma and Pa Brown while they're in Mexico looking for their son. Part of the plan involves bribing a Mexican coroner (Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite) to issue death certificates for Ma and Pa Brown. Yeah, well, Ma and Pa immediately figure out something's afoot, escape the sheriff, and murder a prison inmate who just so happens to be the son of a powerful cartel kingpin.
Lots of balls in the air - and this ignores some of the show's best characters like Glenn, a kid with head trauma who James-as-Paul quickly pulls into the ongoing scheme; Uncle Dave (Kurtwood Smith), a wrongfully-convicted kid diddler and the only guy in town who knows that James isn't actually Paul; and Donny, fresh out of British prison with a decades-old axe to grind against Pa Brown and heading straight for New Mexico to track him down.
But that's just the plot and its hiccups. The reason to tune in and watch Perpetual Grace, LTD has almost nothing to do with its story and almost everything to do with its tone, its vibes, and its quirks. Paul Allen Brown? Fucking loves magic tricks. The Mexican coroner? He wants to be the first Mexican man on the moon. Texas Ranger Terry O'Quinn? His name is Walker, and no, he's never once heard of that reference, because he doesn't watch TV shows. Sheriff Luis Guzman? He's an aspiring, terrible writer and his fat dumb sons don't respect him. Ma and Pa Brown? Cold-blooded criminals, but holy shit do they have the best love story you've ever seen.
The way this whole thing is shot? Fucking beautiful. The way it's paced? Extraordinary confidence; patient and deliberate, but never slow. The score and soundtrack? Just perfect.
Watch this show! Pirate it if you need to - hell, I did - but watch this show!
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