Perpetual Grace, LTD: Felipe G. Usted. Almost First Mexican on the Moon. Part 1

June 19, 2019 3:04 PM - Season 1, Episode 3

Pa (Ben Kingsley) attempts to escape; James (Jimmi Simpson) seeks a rattlesnake; Felipe (Efren Ramirez) undertakes astronaut training. (Epix)

One thumb down!

This episode is narrated by Felipe, who we haven't met yet, I don't think. He is or was a Mexican astronaut-in-training. This ties into the earlier conversation between Pa and the Sheriff about the lack of Mexican spaceflight. The moon themes continue in the lake-tide discussion between James and Glenn. Felipe is also a coroner, which is probably more directly relevant to the plot here, which admittedly has not been described at all in this blurb! Read the recap below if needed.

Episode title card (imgur)

Tell-Tale TV.com episode review

Spotify playlist incl. intro theme

posted by sylvanshine (3 comments total)

Very random notes:

I didn't notice that James' head actually grew larger when he was stuck in the house, shot from behind. When he looked out the window, obviously his face was exaggerated. As I felt I'd tuned out the scene, I rewound it and then noticed that his head is subtlety growing larger in that otherwise still shot. Weird!

This is the introduction of Kurtwood Smith's Uncle Dave character. He is Paul's uncle.

Looking carefully at the title card, there is small text on some pages which I can just make out. It is from the beginning of Homer's Odyssey (Samuel Butler translation). The first paragraph reads: < "Sir," answered Telemachus, "it has been very kind of you to talk to me in this way, as though I were your own son, and I will do all you tell me; I know you want to be getting on with your voyage, but stay a little longer till you have taken a bath and refreshed yourself. I will then give you a present, and you shall go on your way rejoicing; I will give you one of great beauty and value—a keepsake such as only dear friends give to one another." >

The split screen shots are reminiscent of Fargo.
posted by sylvanshine at 3:30 PM on June 19, 2019

Yeah, so my feelings on this show have taken a pretty serious downhill slide when the best they could come up with for Ben Kingsley is having him drive an ice cream van and mutter a stupid chant, for an entire episode. And Jacki Weaver's part was to...sit down, in a field? Pretty serious overuse of greyscale and orange tinting as well. Whatever, there's nothing else on telly anyway, it'll do.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:47 PM on June 19, 2019

Greyscale and orange tint = desert, dontcha know? And it sounds like you haven't gotten the fucking rhythm yet. ;)

I first guessed that the beer top would be used to pick the lock. If your guard is going to sleep and let you have malleable metal, you could pick the lock over night. Or you could use the sharp metal edge to slowly saw your thumb off.

I agree this was an off-peak episode, but I still liked it. I liked meeting Felipe and see his casual perseverance towards being the first Mexican in space*. All those intense sensory experiences are just part of the tests to get into space, and that's his goal.

I appreciate when shows don't lean too heavily on big name actors to keep the interest in the show, because to me, that means your story isn't so strong that it can be carried by other actors. I like all the characters so far, but I'm bummed out that Valerie Spoonts (Dana DeLorenzo) is only the "young, attractive girlfriend/ homewrecker." She was a kickass core character in Ash vs Evil Dead, and keeping her as a mostly silent prop doubly annoying because there are so few notable women in this show.

* Strike that, the second Mexican in space. Rodolfo Neri Vela is a Mexican scientist and astronaut who flew aboard a NASA Space Shuttle mission in the year 1985 Wikipedia). (More from Wikipedia: List of space travelers by nationality, and list of government space agencies, which includes Agencia Espacial Mexicana, AEM, the Mexican Space Agency.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:39 AM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]