Parish (2024) : Pilot - Season 1 - Episode 1 - RECAP

8 months ago

After watching TV Series for so long you kinda learn how to have a bit of patience with the story line specially on the first episode, some series take the first episode to present most of the main characters by telling part of their story and purpose without much going on other than then talking without much action or drama. Parish seem to be that kind of series, there was not a lot of action, you do get a few car chase scenes after all its a series about a retired wheel man but it was mostly talking than anything else, I hope I don't have to drop it from my posts because to be honest trying to understand what to post about I have come to learn that there are some times I need to drop series and stop because they are not that interesting or there are better and new things to talk about.

Episode one present most of the main characters like Gracian Parish who they call Gray, his wife Ros and daughter Makayla who have mix feelings on how to feel about Parish son death, then on the bad guys side there is The Horse the gangster Parish ends up driving for and his brother Zenzo Tongai who is not as patience and Colin who to be honest I'm not sure for how long he is going to last, he is the one in trouble and suck back Parish into his old life besides Parish is drowning in debt.

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18552362/
Platform: AMC+

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The episode opens up with a scene from the future, even though Parish did get to drive a red Porsche Macan he is never stop by the police, this is a cool car chase that he ends up leaving the police behind, Macan GTS is very fast car that would leave behind that Crown Vic in a blink of an eye although it doesn't show what variant Parish is driving, the character of an old retired wheel man does suit Gian Carlo Esposito with his grey hair and shades.

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Parish runs a luxury taxi service type, I like how his character falls into all the details of a dedicated man to his ride, this reminds me of Jason Statham back in the day when he use to play the Transporter, another dedicated driver who look after his car more than anything else. Parish is also drowning into debt between tuition, mortgage and his taxi business probably not doing so well to stay up float so he is looking for help, legally; trying to get a loan from the bank but they already know how bad his debt problems are and he might not have a long enough record of keeping this business up float, all we see at his shop might be money he made from his old days as a wheel man driving for shady people.

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There is Sister Anne, she works at Saint Claude Church, she seem to run either an orphanage or day care not sure, Parish goes there to talk to her, trying to take a breath from everything going on, looking for some peace and advice that holds him up from going back to his old ways. I like Gian Carlo southern street accent, its not so common to watch series develop in the south so this brings a different surrounding to a gangster type content, not New York or Los Angeles which are the most classic ones. Sister Anne use to work with him for sure, she is fully retired too and feels lucky to be alive but different than Parish she is afraid of having to go back to that life although Parish is not, this is probably understandable because he kinda make it out, build up a business out of it, not so profitable but he was able to keep his regular life while she dedicates now to the church, I don't think there is nothing wrong with it but Parish current life conditions in his mind he might feel as a winner, like he fool his old life so going back is not so hard, he wont think about it too much WHEN the opportunity presents.

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Colin and old friend from his old life present this opportunity to Parish, he is with business with The Horse, a gangster from Zimbabwe who needs a driver, at first Parish obviously said no, no matter how Collin ask for this only favor but it was actually very easy to convince Parish to be honest, next day he was at Colin's place asking for the details of the job, they could have look for another way for this to happen and don't look this predictable, probably put Parish on a tight situation rather than just the lack of cash.

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There are a good amount of nice cars showing up during the episode, Porsche Macan, Cadillac CT5-V, Audi R8, Mercedes G Wagon, even if this are base models still cool cars for the naked eye, but its more impressive when the wheel man do all kind of tricks with crappy cars and still gets away.

The moment comes and Parish meets The Horse who is a very cool men, its his brother Zenzo who is ruthless and probably after his brother power, its here when Esposito does his best work at been respectful but also from the streets, showing this is not his first rodeo and he is too old to be intimidated or treat like a kid by anyone including The Horse.

I think car guys would enjoy this series the most, it is a series that has started a bit slow and for now what I get is that the main focus will be Parish struggles and conflicts with his old life and how much trouble will Collin get him in, even makes he think that at some point Colin will betray him because to be hones the hole wheel man and car chasing wont build up this series, keep bringing the cool cars, give more details on them and going full throttle when the times come and this might turn into a good series to watch because the first episode did felt a little vague, like there was missing something. There is also a lot to be develop, looks like The Horse life is not as simple as it seems, he has his own problems with his family, he probably inherit the business from his father who is asking him for cash every month.