Perpetual Grace, LTD — Episode 7, 8, 9 and 10 Review

It’s The End Of The Show As We Know It

By Mark

Pa has picked the wrong people to kidnap, he asks them to take him to a computer, they take him to their laundrette. On arrival they are surrounded by many more and larger guns than he has.

James meanwhile has a visit from an undertaker that Uncle Dave has arranged, it seems to work. Paul visits his Uncle Dave and convinces him he shouldn’t talk to Walker, Texas Ranger anymore.

James and Glenn have a chat in a bar, whilst Glenn’s father is at the bar and still non-the-wiser that his son has returned. James convinces him to go and tell him, and give him the sombrero he bought him, which is a mistake as he then shows it to Walker.

Donald arrives in USA and happens to get into a cash cab, the driver asks questions between where he picks you up and your destination, giving you money for each one you get correct.

He starts easy, but Donald can’t answer so asks to skip to the more difficult ones and races through. The final question is to name the youngest person convicted of murder, he knows this, because it is him.

New Leaf has a bad day, he has Paul/James’ tag on and so is picked up by Walker. He then finds out his parents have passed away. Walker wants to know who he is, how he’s mixed up in all of this, but New Leaf keeps quiet.

New Leaf then sells his massive surplus of glasses to Glenn’s father in the pawn shop in order to buy a gun.

We learn that James wants the money from the church to send the eleven girls of his firefighting friend to college, to be their secret benefactor.

Episode 8

We flashback to when Theresa Williams, Camryn Jones (“Pete The Cat (TV)”, “Created Equal”), and Paul are chatting, on their way to some magic convention. Theresa tells Paul he heard him talking about taking the money from the church.

As her father is a deacon, she informs him he has to tell him. Paul looks ok with it, but you can tell he isn’t. The next shot is of Theresa down by the river, dead.

Paul and James are sat in their spot, brainstorming how to get two bodies to go through with a fake burial that Uncle Dave wants to go through with, when New Leaf turns up with his gun.

New Leaf tries to kill James and Paul, but misses. They all sit and talk, Paul and James convincing New Leaf that he doesn’t need to kill Paul. Now that New Leaf’s parents are dead though, James realises he has the two bodies he needs for the burial that Uncle Dave wants to go through with.

Jonathan Joy, Julian Richings (“Patriot (TV)”, “Man Of Steel”), a name that couldn’t be further from the truth, turns up as the undertaker, who has a habit of just appearing out of nowhere. He wants the bodies, now, or he’s going to have to get the authorities involved.

Flashback again, Paul takes Theresa to a cabin in the woods that he’s filled with glorious things. He places handcuffs on her, which she thinks are magic ones, but they aren’t, he just wants her out of the way for a few days whilst he gets the money from his parents.

He tells her not to try the trick she keeps talking about near the water, though that’s what she wants to do. He leaves her in the cabin, writes her father a postcard telling him where she is, and sets off to get the money.

Episode 9

Pa and Ma are surrounded by Cartel, their days look numbered.

Donald arrives in town and discovers that Paul Allen Brown is the inheritor of his money. He decides he needs a gun, and he doesn’t want to pay for it. So, he discovers, due to the newspapers plastered all over the closed shops, that New Leaf is the ‘bad guy’ in town, and figures he’ll have a gun he can take.

New Leaf won’t sell Donald a gun. So Donald taunts him, calls his father a p*ssy, something that caused New Leaf to kill someone previously. Needless to say, Donald gets his gun.

Glenn heads out to Austin, Texas to find James’ father, who is a former astronaut who has now lost his mind and wonders around Austin in his space suit. He finds him sat on a bench, gives him a talking to, and his father follows Glenn home.

Episode 10

James and Paul continue to try and convince New Leaf to give them his parents. They sweet talk him into it, naming him Mr. Success. It works, they have their bodies, they can have the funeral. They hire a massive truck and ‘cream’ his parents so no-one will ask any questions.

The Cartel meanwhile, dump Ma at the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere. They take Pa further into the scrub and give him a shovel, forced to dig whilst an even older man points a gun at him.

James speaks to Hector and doesn’t want him dead, he wants Hector to go and save them, they don’t deserve to die. Hector, very reluctantly, agrees.

Paul, James and New Leaf chat, it turns out that all want to do good with the money. Paul wants to give some to the father of Theresa, then master the 11 martial arts before turning himself in. New Leaf wants to open another glasses shop, make his parents proud and we know why James wants the money.

James continues to try and throw Walker off the trail, now saying he’s been having an affair with Scotty. Walker is getting all the right answers from people, but he’s having a hard time believing any or all of them.

Whilst sat, thinking, Uncle Dave arrives and asks if Walker will attend his sister’s funeral, with some items to be put into the grave. Walker has a better idea, why doesn’t Uncle Dave deliver them, Walker will show the powers that be his badge and get him through it.

Naturally, this is a disaster for James, for he’s not Paul, and the only person who can identify him as not Paul, is Uncle Dave. Whilst in the car, Walker finally sees the picture of Paul, the real Paul, Uncle Dave gave him all that time ago.

There’s an unbelievable moment when Hector saves Pa from the old man with the gun, but then Pa shoots him. Rather than returning fire, he just stands there, dying. It’s jarring, and sits at odds with everything else going on.

Everyone turns up at the funeral: Uncle Dave, James’ dad, Walker, and the deacon invites Paul Allen Brown to step up and say a few words. James does so, looks around, realises he’s screwed, cut to Pa and Ma hurtling back in a cop car, and there the series endeth.

That Perpetual Grace, LTD was so obviously setup to be more than one series makes it even more of a shame that it doesn’t appear there will be anymore.

The series is brilliantly directed and performed. The dialogue, whilst odd, is just right, everybody says ‘man’ and ‘dude’, whether they’re 16 or 61, it adds to the surreal and dark humour that runs throughout.

I’m guessing numbers had a large influence on why Perpetual Grace, LTD ended up getting canned, but I’d never even heard of it until an email dropped into my inbox with a preview link. What do studios or networks expect? That we’re somehow psychic? That we’ll just know this great series exists? Also, be good to get this in advance next time so we can sing it’s praises before it goes out, not after. A shame, a real shame.

Originally published at https://www.ocmoviereviews.com on February 11, 2020.