Perpetual Grace, LTD Review: Fiveever (Season 1 Episode 8)
The tragic event by the water six years ago becomes the framing device for Perpetual Grace, LTD Season 1 Episode 8, “Fiveever.”
“Fiveever” brings Damon Herriman a spotlight episode, providing a closer look at a man seen from afar for most of the run so far. The magic brings Paul Allen Brown closer to the forefront, showing how light his heart is while reflecting back on the darkness he inadvertently caused.
The flashback pieces show how kind Paul is, doing bad things in the nicest way possible. Theresa’s repeated wishes that she reverse what she overhears about the wire transfer is this heartbreaking notion, where we start to question Paul throughout the episode of what he’s really capable of.
As more and more information comes, and as they walk along the water, your mind immediately starts to wonder if he’s going to cause her death, as Walker always thought. But for it to turn into a mistake, where real cuffs and not the Houdini cuffs are unable to come off underwater and lead to Theresa’s drowning, is such a difficult outcome.
Perpetual Grace, LTD handles the moment with planting the idea in your head and never showing it, tastefully and elegantly done. It’s a reminder of how the show can suggest and create a reaction, a great sign of expert storytelling.
New Leaf’s confrontation of James and Paul is perfectly ridiculous, going from murderous anger to the trio sitting friendly on a hill and complimenting each other, as is the Special Boys custom. The scene underscores a lot of the episode’s theme, of New Leaf being unable to see a future because of his past.
It also comes during the floating technique as Paul teaches James how to accept the future in his heart more than the past. Jimmi Simpson shines during this scene, James at first balking at Paul’s words but continuing, slowly warming to the possibility of being free of his past. It becomes this lighthearted moment, a lightening of his heart that is much-needed with the guilt he bears the brunt of throughout.
There’s this belief in these characters of the past defining them, when the past should be a catalyst to what comes next. It’s what makes Paul such a wild card on the show; arguably, he has the worst offending past of the bunch, with the death of a young girl. But he refuses to let that define him, as much as it weighs on him during the conversation with New Leaf.
Teaching the Special Boys in the barn to hunker down and disappear is more a metaphor, by that token: he’s the case for freedom, while Walker looks to shackle. It’s a word that comes up with Glenn, even, where he emphasizes that he’s free during the interrogation. And now that James sports the ankle bracelet again, he’s no longer as free anymore.
One of the pieces of Perpetual Grace, LTD I haven’t touched on is the use of repetition of images. It’s more present here: James and Paul meeting at far distances on the hill; James being reminded by Mr. Joy to come to the funeral home in a tight close-up so Joy is completely blurred; Walker and the parlor during questioning; and Michael Chernus’ magical fight dancing.
They all add to this almost disorienting manner where time passes differently on the show. Everything feels like it happens on top of one another, rather than in a straight line, creating this fascinating movement where the three days meant for Ma and Pa’s return is stretching on forever, as though it is an endless dot on the horizon.
It’s just like the Houdini cuffs coming in the mail, and Paul leaving the shack: three days can be an eternity when bad things happen during that time. Time doesn’t matter in the near-term, while the long-term, it’s the most important thing.
A beautiful moment comes with Kurtwood Smith’s Uncle Dave reminiscing on Ma and Pa in the toll booth. The wonderfully poetic and internalized soliloquy as the rain falls around the toll booth is one of the more striking marriages of word and image on the show, a testament to writer Steven Conrad and director James Whitaker here, along with Smith’s sorrowful reading.
Jimmi Simpson. CREDIT: Lewis Jacobs/EPIX
Playing the credits in silence with the tragic image by the creek is a tough ending, a reminder that while the show is primarily comedic and full of smart idiots, as Uncle Dave would put it, there’s a child’s life, and eleven orphans, that are the cause to so many of these conflicts.
Perpetual Grace, LTD Season 1 Episode 8, “Fiveever,” is a deep and rewarding episode, allowing more of the past to come to the surface. Framing it all with the shedding of the past, just as New Leaf and Walker demand answers of the past, is a fun little conundrum heading toward the end of the season.
With Donald Deloash creeping ever closer, and Ma and Pa still caught, it’s an intriguing set-up where no one’s likely to come out of this with what they want. But it’s so much fun to watch everyone fight for what they want along the way.
What did you think of this episode of Perpetual Grace, LTD? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Perpetual Grace, LTD airs Sundays at 10/9c on Epix.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.